Recycle

Ana Arias • June 23, 2008

Recycling glass is no longer cost-effective for the city, Martinsville City Council decided during a meeting Tuesday night.

City Sheriff Steve Draper and Public Works Director Leon Towarnicki presented recommendations for the recycling program after reviewing different options. According to their findings, Draper said, “paper, cans and plastics have reasonably good market value, but glass does not. Hopefully, that market will turn around someday.” Also, the potential for injury from broken glass makes handling it “not worth it,” he added. Draper recommended continuing the city’s current recycling program without accepting glass. That would cost an estimated $15,000 to $20,000, which is included in the fiscal 2009 budget. “If glass has no market, we don’t need to be wasting our money,” said council member Kathy Lawson. Council member Gene Teague said he is “comfortable” with this option, “with the understanding that you continue to explore options that won’t incur more expense for the city,” he added. Draper noted in the presentation that the city’s recycling drop-off area has seen greater success since it was moved to a parking lot at the corner of Market Street and Ellsworth. Currently, the plastic and glass collected there are taken to Greensboro, Draper said. Newspapers are taken to EMI in Bassett, and aluminum is handled by Anheiser-Busch. Local auto parts stores recycle used motor oil. Martinsville is required by the state to recycle 15 percent of its total solid waste, Towarnicki said. In 2007, the area recycled 32.1 percent. He estimated that most of the recyclables come from industry rather than from individual residents. “As a community, we’re doing very well,” he said. Councilman Ron Ferrill suggested offering incentives for residents to recycle or penalties if they do not. “It doesn’t seem like a very high percentage of families in town are utilizing (recycling),” Ferrill said. “We need to make it more convenient.” Draper said his ultimate vision is to implement curbside recycling, but “there’s a lot involved,” he said. The city would need to consider questions such as, “What are you going to do after you pick up those recyclables? Where are we going to put them until they are picked up by a vendor? We don’t want to put a nuisance out there,” Draper said. He added that the cost of curbside recycling has not been determined, but the city would need to hire three more employees to drive and operate the truck. Residents would be provided with either special bags or plastic containers for recyclables, and inmates would sort the items. Ferrill suggested a trial area in one part of the city, noting, “It could be a big expense.” The other option presented during the meeting would be expanding the dropoff program to include another site on Clearview Drive. The area would need to be graded, paved and lit, Draper said, and first-year costs of the city’s recycling program would be $65,000 for both sites.