The blue bag program helps the recycling numbers here at the landfill. We need to be above 25 percent, and the state's goal is 50 percent.

If it's placed in the blue bag we can bring it to Cherokee for no charge.

In Le Mars, we collect 12-15 tons of recycling each month.

You can use some of the grant dollars to get this program started, and hopefully you'll get enough weight coming in that it takes over on its own. Then the savings you make will pay for the transportation.

If we get the grant, the $40,000 would be distributed on a per-capita basis to the cities and the county. The county would be looking at $12,000 for the 8,900 rural residents.

Then you could allow your rural residents to bring in their blue bags and dump them off.

I think this is a great opportunity for us. We need to start looking at ways to change how we're handling garbage. This would help keep rates down and save the environment.