Most residents will tell you that they favor work to improve the environment — at least until it hits them in the wallet.

Basically, we’re all green until being green starts costing us green.

We all live in a disposable universe.

Pretty much everything we use these days is, to some degree, disposable.

We casually toss out tons of old plastic and other potential recyclable materials annually.

EPA statistics show the average American creates 4.43 pounds of garbage each and every day.

Nationally, more than 65 percent of that is not recycled, and thus, usually gets buried in enormous landfills.

Locally, a small, but determined band of volunteers aims to improve those statistics a bit.

The Green Alliance met this week to continue discussing and planning ways to start some kind of recycling program in the county.

Creating a program would be a good thing for the community, but doing so without adding significant costs is the challenge.

We continue to support the Green Alliance’s efforts, and we hope that, along with city and county leaders, the group can find a way to reduce the amount of stuff that we keep burying in the ground.

Eventually, if members of the Green Alliance keep working at it and take small, measured steps, our community can find a way to recycle more garbage and stay just a bit more green — without it costing us much, either.