The demise of Adams County’s curbside recycling test should not discourage the City of Natchez from continuing to pursue logical plans for recycling.

The county’s pilot program only included 500 houses and only 1 in 5 of those apparently are participating in recycling.

When recycling first began locally in 2013, we encouraged leaders to take a measured approach, going for longevity in the program versus trying to offer services to everyone all at once.

What time is proving is that certain neighborhoods are more likely to recycle than others. That’s OK and should come as no surprise.

The people who are participating now are doing so mostly out of the goodness of their hearts and their own logical understanding that reusing things is better than burying them in a large hole.

To gain more participation in the recycling program, either more education or more direct incentive — or some combination of the two — must occur.

We strongly encourage the city to consider how it might lower the costs of garbage collection for the people who participate in the program and thus reduce the amount of garbage entering local landfills.

Certainly technology could help the collection company keep track of which locations consistently recycle and which do not.

As the city considers over the coming months its plans for recycling in the future, simply swallowing the bill for keeping recycling going, with a less-than-optimal number of participants is not the answer.

The answer to keeping recycling alive in our community for the long haul must include efforts to motivate more use.