One of the threads that bubbled up Monday in city hall as aldermen batted around verbal proclamations of support for the city’s stillborn Blue Cart recycling program was whether or not recycling is a basic public service (like fire protection or street repaving) or a luxury that taxpayers can’t afford.

That our elected officials are pondering this question in 2010 is a dismaying example of how far behind Chicago is when it comes to its green efforts. Municipal governments in New York City and Los Angeles, cities with comparable degrees of complexity to our own, decided the answer to that question decades ago.

Recycling is a basic city service, something that must be afforded every person in Chicago. It seems self evident to say it, but sadly, even now, the statement must be made.

Only when recycling, through the Blue Cart program, is deployed citywide can citywide education efforts on recycling and its importance take hold. Only then can we start to build a culture here that values recycling and sees every piece of garbage as potential recyclable and reusable. Only then can we start thinking about how we’ll deploy curb-side food waste composting, as San Francisco currently offers.

We urge aldermen to make the case for recycling forcefully as they draw up the 2011 city budget. Find a way to fund the Blue Cart expansion to the entirety of the city, even if it means cutting other popular city-funded programs. That is to say, show us some leadership. Please. Articulate why we need recycling a clear manner, laying out the benefits, costs and the trade-offs. We think those trade-offs will be worth it, and aldermen who want to be taken even remotely seriously as environmentally minded public officials will get on bully pulpit to do so.

Of course — and as usual — we’re in the dark about these trade-offs. We don’t know how much Chicago-wide Blue Cart recycling will cost. No information was forthcoming at Monday’s committee hearing, and Chicago Journal was told the spokesperson handling the matter was on furlough. A call to the mayor’s press office yielded a bland statement.

But, at least we’re not alone in this state. The aldermen don’t have specifics either. Which is perhaps the topic of a future editorial.