Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Franklin County has decided to temporarily suspend its recycling program



Franklin County has decided to temporarily suspend its recycling program.

The action was taken Tuesday at the request of solid waste director Fonda Davis who has said for a number of years that the recycling program costs the county more money than its really worth.

Franklin County does not require homeowners to have trash pickup so some people dump their household trash in the recycling bins or in the piles of yard debris people leave for county pickup.

That requires manpower to clean up.

He also pointed out that the trucks used in the recycling program are getting old.

There is one currently in the shop that will cost 21 thousand dollars to repair.

Many of the bins also need to be replaced at about 5000 dollars a piece.

The biggest issue at this time, however, is that there is just no market for the recycled materials.

The price of recycling has dropped substantially in the past few years because China is no longer accepting recycled materials.

Because of that the county is basically storing local recycling with nowhere to sell it – and soon they won't have enough space to keep it and it will wind up in the landfill anyway.

The commission did not say for how long the program would be suspended but commissioners plan to discuss a mobile recycling program to start in the next fiscal year if they can find money for it in the budget.

The vote to suspend the program was unanimous.

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