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Last week, Christiansburg Town Councilman Henry Showalter asked his colleagues to think about residential curbside recycling. Mayor Richard Ballengee, however, seems intent on making the idea go away.

Unlike Blacksburg, where residents have put recyclables out with the garbage for years, Christiansburg relies on drop-off points. Citizens who want to reduce how much the town puts into landfills must deliver cans, bottles, plastics and paper.

Let’s be honest: Most people are not going to do that. They are too lazy or too busy. Parents with kids might struggle to find the time, let alone room for empty cans and old newspapers in a car already crowded with car seats and strollers. Young professionals might be too tired at the end of a long day to worry.

Aversion to inconvenience is not one of the prouder human traits, but it is there all the same. Unless recycling is easy, too many people will pass.

Showalter wants to make it easy.

Some council members seemed interested but hesitant. Mostly they worried about the cost of a new service. The town would need to buy a new truck, tow existing containers or contract out collection. Plus, citizens would need recycling containers. No matter the system, residents would almost certainly pay additional fees.

How much remains unknown, so council asked town staff to come up with some estimates. “We’re gonna keep it on a burner,” the mayor explained as he abruptly tried to end the discussion.

The burner, in this case, consists of giving town staff until March just to come up with estimates. Then, maybe the council will form a committee to study the issue further.

Then what? A few more months for a committee handpicked by the mayor to decide it isn’t feasible? By then next year’s budget will be set, and Christiansburg residents will continue filling landfills with recyclables for at least another year.

Ballengee might have recycling on a burner, but he has not turned on the heat. Months to make a few phone calls? Then a committee? That’s the formula for studying an issue to death.

Showalter said he will bring the issue back before council, burner or not. Change requires that sort of tenacity.