If they didn’t get full, people wouldn’t leave bags and stacks of stuff on top of or around the bins, and it wouldn’t look so bad,” Martin said.
“And we wouldn’t have to spend time separating the trash from the recyclables.” If people would rinse out their soda cans and bottles, bees—and rodents—would not be attracted to the bins.
It would also cut down on odor, Martin said.
“In addition to being unsightly, [it] consumes county staff time, adds additional wear and tear and fuel costs to county vehicles leading to the use of more of your tax dollars.” The recycling center has one full time and one part time employee, plus an inmate from the county jail most days.
Each time a full truck of recycling comes into the facility it takes three-plus hours for the men to separate the materials from the trash.
That never happens,” Martin said.
Martin estimates about 35 percent of the plastic that is collected is non-recyclable material, Kelley said.
“It’s marked #1, but we only take #1 and #2 plastics that have screw tops—and the tops need to be removed.
The two types of plastic accepted should be placed in different bins as well, Martin said.
They can help us by recycling the proper materials in the proper way.” Recycling bins are located at Highway 9 and Torrington Drive, off the Morrison Moore bypass at Radar Ridge and during business hours at the recycling center, 1642 Red Oak Flats Road.