Curbside recycling goes monthly
By Herman Wang Staff Writer
Chattanooga officials are ready to cut curbside recycling collection from weekly to monthly service on Wednesday, over the objections of residents who say the city is making the wrong environmental choice. The controversial plan emerged in response to a 13 percent participation rate for curbside recycling, a program city officials said cost too much in diesel fuel and truck maintenance. As part of the plan, the city has increased the number of drop-off sites from one to five. "Recycling will work if people want it to work," said Dan Johnson, Mayor Ron Littlefield’s chief of staff. "You can talk down about it, but it’s an effort to increase the amount of recycled materials that are actually processed." About half of what gets collected from curbsides is not recyclable and gets taken to the landfill, city officials have said. Frank DePinto, a leading critic of the change, said he doubts the revamped program will work. He is starting a petition drive in an attempt to let voters decide on the 2008 ballot whether weekly curbside pickup should be reinstated. His earlier petition to get the initiative on this past November’s ballot was about 1,400 signatures shy of the 6,372 needed. "Once the reality hits people and they realize they have to spend a lot of time and money, polluting the air by having to drive to the drop-off sites every week, they’ll see this won’t work," Mr. DePinto said. "The new petition will be ready for them." Janis Hache, another opponent of the change, said the reduction to monthly curbside collection "represents a failure of Chattanooga’s civic leaders to take the lead in the city’s environmental future." City residents now will get curbside pickup on the Wednesday of the week of monthly brush collection, which is determined by which zone the neighborhood is in. Paper, plastic bottles and aluminum and steel cans are eligible for curbside pickup. The city also has set up drop-off sites at the John A. Patten Recreation Center in Lookout Valley, at Access Road at DuPont Parkway by the Refuse Collection Center and at the East Brainerd baseball complex at the end of Batter’s
Place Road. The Warner Park drop-off facility will remain open. City officials are negotiating with a land owner in Brainerd for a fifth site. In addition to the items accepted for curbside pickup, the drop-off facilities also will take glass bottles, electronics, batteries and motor oil. Waterhouse Public Relations was paid $100,000 to develop a yearlong marketing plan for the revamped recycling program. Albert Waterhouse, head of the firm, said a Web site, www.recycleright.org, will go online Monday, along with a direct mail and advertising campaign to not only inform residents of the changes but also educate them on how to recycle properly. "We’ll also be working with other media partners to develop public service announcements," Mr. Waterhouse said. The city will monitor how the program works and make adjustments if necessary, Mr. Johnson said. "The process is flexible," he said. "But the fact is, we get a great percentage of recyclable materials with the drop-off sites." Mr. DePinto said petition supporters will meet Jan. 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Business Development Center to discuss strategies for the signature drive. He said they may form a nonprofit organization to raise funds for the drive. "If we have momentum and everything gets rolling, we’ll have tremendous political influence, especially with the mayoral and City Council elections in 2009," he said. E-mail Herman Wang at hwang@timesfreepress.com CALL FOR CURBSIDE Residents need to call 311 to enroll in the city’s curbside recycling program. Paper, plastic bottles and aluminum and steel cans are eligible for pickup. All items must be in blue or clear bags or a covered bin and do not need to be sorted. Steel cans should have food residue washed out. CURBSIDE PICKUP ZONES Area 1, east of Highway 153 and west of Interstate 75, will have recyclables collected on the first Wednesday of each month. Area 2, east of Interstate 75, west of Highway 153 and east of Crest Road, Campbell Street and Bonnie Oaks Drive, will have recyclables collected on the second Wednesday of each month. Area 3, west of Crest Road, Campbell Street and Bonnie Oaks Drive, west of Highway 153 and south of the Tennessee River, will have recyclables picked up on the third Wednesday of each month. Area 4, north of the Tennessee River and west of Highway 153, will have recyclables picked up on the fourth Wednesday of each month. NOTE: also ran in the Tennessee Valley edition.
Staff Photo by Ashlie White Dwayne Madden picks up boxes during the final weekly recycling pickup in North Chattanooga on Friday morning.
