Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

To the Editor:
The statement “I’m not in the business of recycling” made by an Elizabethton official is true. In defense of this statement the Elizabethton City Council did try to help the county collect cardboard, mixed paper, and aluminum cans by developing two drop-off areas where city residents could bring these items.
The areas quickly became over run by people mixing their household garbage with the recyclables. Who were these people? Since the city has an organized household garbage pickup system, we can assume most of the mixing problem came from people outside the city who had to drive to the transfer station on Minton Hollow Road and pay a fee per bag of household garbage.
Most people do not realize that the Carter County Landfill is not used for household waste. It is used by contractors, businesses, and others as a demolition landfill. The household waste is transported from the transfer station of a private landfill in Sullivan County,
So what was/is the problem with mixing cardboard waste with cardboard and other stated recycled items? Once a dumpster of cardboard, for example, is contaminated with household waste, the waste must be removed before baling the cardboard. The amount of labor to go through and remove the household waste isn’t available and even if it is available it would eat up the profitability of recycling the cardboard.
Part of the information, while well meaning, caused confusion. Hopefully, this letter will help the public understand the big picture. The demolition landfill is not closing, the transfer station is not closing, and the bailing operation in the Cherokee Industrial Park is not closing.

Charles D. VonCannon
Central Community