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Suwannee County’s public works director said Tuesday that recent concerns over the county’s recycling program have led to a “flurry of misinformation.”

Jerry Sikes told county commissioners that his office had received a “lot of phone calls about this … and … some implied that we were intentionally deceiving people and that certainly hasn’t been the case.”

Under questioning at the meeting by this reporter, however, Sikes conceded that the set-up at county refuse sites is misleading at best.

A Feb. 5 article in the Suwannee Democrat reported that Suwannee High students’ efforts to recycle certain materials failed, as county workers dumped the materials in the landfill instead. The students, members of the SHS Environmental Club, had deposited the items in recycling bins labeled “paper” and “plastic.”

“Jerry, how long have the igloos (recycling bins) been at the collection sites?” the reporter asked Sikes.

“Quite a few years,” Sikes responded.

“Is there a sign up at any of the collection sites saying that your stuff may or may not be recycled?” the reporter asked.

“No, not right now,” said Sikes.

“But when people put stuff in their they’re assuming it’s being recycled,” the reporter continued.

Sikes conceded that if someone deposits items in a recycling bin, “they should expect that it will be recycled and probably that’s a failure on our part, or I’ll say on my part that we have left those out there. If we need to remove them and remove the perception that we’re trying to recycle right now, until we get a more viable program together, it’s probably what I think we need to do then that way there is no misinformation or perception about it.”

Commissioner Ivie Fowler agreed that a lot of people were under the false assumption the county was recycling.

“A lot of people don’t know you can’t get rid of it, they don’t know what it cost to get rid of it,” said Fowler. “When you start saying well how much will I have to add to your taxes, they usually don’t want to do it.”

Still, Sikes said something needs to done.

“And I know it dampens the public interest in recycling,” said Sikes.

He said he would gather more information on the issue, as well as maybe looking at neighboring counties in a joint recycling effort, and report back to the board at a later time.