Dave and Cindy Sautter
Dave and Cindy Sautter have been married for 17 years. Cindy has lived here all her life, except a decade away in the middle, while Dave came here in 1985. He taught and coached during 28 years at Alliance High School then spent another four years on the basketball court after retiring from the classroom.
Q: How long have you been on curbside, and why did you sign up?
Cindy: It has been quite awhile, when it started – seven years. (Our daughter) Jenny’s the one who talked me into it. She was living in New York and said, “Make a better world for Molly,” our granddaughter.
Q: What do you recycle?
Cindy: We fill a trash bag full plus cardboard boxes.
Q: How has this service influenced your opinion of recycling?
Dave: The service allowed us to get started (from home) I guess. We did recycle before at the Alliance Plaza 12-13 years ago. We had three trash cans to keep plastic and paper separate. Cindy: This is so much nicer. Somebody picks it up and sorts it for us.
Q: Newest thing you’ve added to the bag?
Dave: At some point you started accepting glass. We put in paper bags and use the other (plastic) ones, take them to the grocery store to be recycled.
Q: Why do you feel it is important to recycle?
Dave: I think it’s important to reuse things if we can, especially the plastic. Cardboard goes back, I don’t know what all they make out of it. Napkins we get at the fast food restaurants are recycled materials. That’s probably a good thing.
Q: Other “green” practices at your home?
Dave and Cindy use a sprinkler system to reduce water use. They replaced windows 10 years ago as well as doors which improved energy efficiency. More recently, another layer of insulation covered the home’s exterior before putting on new siding.
Q: Future plans?
Dave plans to “Just keep doing what we’re doing I guess.”