Muppet Kermit the Frog once said, “It’s not easy being green.” He’s correct; it’s not easy.

It’s a bit lonely, too.

Just 1-in-4 Natchez households is taking advantage of the city’s new curbside recycling program.

That rate may seem low, but it’s apparently cause to celebrate and even enough to help the City of Natchez and the local Green Alliance win an award from the Mississippi Recycling Coalition.

Normally, one would think having less than one-third of the population participate in something like this would mean failing marks for the program.

Believe it or not, however, having 25 percent of the population recycling is considered a good rate, particularly in the South where the initial rate is only 15 percent.

Despite the better-than-average marks, that means 75 percent of the public continues to toss out recyclable goods that could be reused. Instead of being repurposed, that material is being buried each week in an area landfill.

For the 25-percenters, as we’ll now refer to locals who recycle, we all need to urge others we know into joining the ranks.

The technology may not currently exist in the form of “smart” receptacles that could be “read” by a passing garbage truck — or maybe it does.

But we envision a day in which being “green” also saves residents green too — as in dollars.

With a little work, the city could encourage curbside recycling participation over time by tracking the recycling participation at each collection address and offering an annual garbage collection rebate to customers who are recycling.

Even a frog could grasp the benefit of that logic.