West Memphis residents continue to embrace recycling initiative

West Memphis residents continue to embrace recycling initiative

Program sees record numbers in 2017

news@theeveningtimes.com

Re-purpose, reuse, recycle, West Memphis is catching on. A banner year was turned in by recycleminded citizens in West Memphis. The two recycling trailers and one ewaste trailer in the south parking lot of city hall were filled with a record amount of recyclables, but the city was still seeking for a solution to illegal tire dumping.

Aluminum and metal food cans, may be dropped off at the recycling trailers provided by the East Arkansas Planning and Development District. Paper goods including food boxes, milk cartons, junk mail, newspaper, copy paper, magazines, phone books, catalogs and books, cardboard and pizza boxes are also acceptable for recycling. Certain plastics are recyclable too, like bottles, jugs, and rigid plastics.

Some items are not acceptable at the West Memphis trailers. Wood, food waste, PET straps, liquid waste, bio-hazardous material, scrap metal, and wax prod- ucts. Tires are not taken in at the West Memphis site but county citizens may turn in old tires at the county shop on 2349 Highway 64, Marion.

Despite a place for old tires to go, too many are being dumped on vacant lots throughout the city.

Talk of stiffer fines and even surveillance has been bandied around the public works commission during the last year. Commissioners opted for a wait and see approach and looked to the state to take the lead.

“I have no new information on tire disposal,” said commission chair Ramona Taylor. “Have any of you (commissioner) heard from anything from the state?

The East Arkansas Planning and Development District has not gotten back to me yet.”

Public works administrative assistant Rhonda Standridge lined out the record recycling numbers for the public works commission.

We had 14,280 pounds of recycling in December,” said Standridge. “For the year we are at 171,700 pounds, in tonnage that was around 85. One full e-waste

trailer was picked up in December for processing at a recycler.”

By John Rech