CANNON BEACH, Ore. -- Recycling is admirable. But those big ugly bins? In Cannon Beach, with its design review board, tight sign rules and cedar-shake chic?

Well! really!

The north coastal town takes its appearance to heart, and some fear the appearance of the containers may drive off tourists.

Residents packed a recent city council meeting to discuss Western Oregon Waste's new containers. Some said the 96-gallon containers are too big for older residents to handle.

But most said they thought the containers are coyote-ugly.

"I'm of two minds," said Tr Factor. "I'm a great proponent of recycling. My problem is the size and the way they look."

She said Cannon Beach is primarily a tourist destination where visitors won't want to see the large, gray containers with bright red lids lining the streets.

"The look of our town is very, very important," said Factor. "I just think it's just a visual detriment to the city of Cannon Beach."

Councilman Jay Raskin asked Factor if she had another plan to increase recycling in Cannon Beach.

"If we're not going to do this, how do we increase our recycling when what we're doing now is not working?" asked Raskin.

Factor suggested an ad hoc committee to promote recycling and come up with some other solutions.

Suzanne Linna said when she lived in Manzanita, residents there increased interest in recycling by creating options that included a thrift store where people could bring items to recycle.

She also asked who would assume liability if "people who are old and frail or just very petite" were injured while moving the recycling container to the curb.

City Attorney Bill Canessa said the city would not be responsible in those cases.

Laura Leebrick of WOW told the audience that WOW had been offering side-yard pickup service in other towns for some time and that that service extended to recycling pickup.

The side-yard service allows for the pickup from a customer's yard, rather than from the curb.

Ellie Nelson said she and her family had been recycling in Cannon Beach since the 1970s.

"I have, however, not ever seen as ugly a container as I have now," said Nelson. "I can see the need to commingle, I can see the need to recycle, but let's not make it so gut-ugly that we drive our tourists away. All we have to sell is beauty."

Leebrick said she agreed that most think the recycling containers aren't easy on the eye but said they weren't designed to be.

"They are designed to be durable and they are weighted to stay upright in winds in excess of 30 mph," she said.

Some residents complained that glass cannot go into the new containers. Leebrick offered to work with the city to provide a glass collection route if needed.

But ugly or not, the council voted to adopt them but adopted a suggestion to seek other ways to boost declining recycling rates.

"The reason I think we need a co-mingling program is because the amount of recycling in Cannon Beach has been dropping off," said Raskin. "And I think we all need to do a helluva lot more."