SOUTH PITTSBURG, Tenn. - South Pittsburg's volunteer recycling program has been shut down after a unanimous vote by the City Commission last week.
City Administrator Sammy Burrows said an official with WestRock in Kimball, Tenn., formerly known as RockTenn, contacted him about the city's recycling program recently.
"The deal was that RockTenn would pay the haul bill if they got our recycling materials," he said. "[WestRock] has looked at that and are having to cut out paying the haul bill on that."
At the South Pittsburg City Commission's October meeting, Burrows asked the board to set policy on the matter since the town would have to pay that bill now.
He said hauling the recyclable material could cost the city up to $3,240 per year.
Commissioner Jimmy Wigfall said it didn't seem to make sense for the company to stop paying the hauling bill since RockTenn had always made money from the recycled material that was given to it by the city.
"Their new administration has looked into it and said it's not worth it to them," Burrows said. "They want us to pay the haul bill and give [the recycled material] to them."
He said he spoke with some other area city leaders about the town's potential options.
Recyclable materials from South Pittsburg businesses and homes will head to the landfill now that City Commission has voted to shut down the voluntary recycling program."They said we really didn't have any other options," Burrows said.
One ton of material hauled to the Marion County landfill to be recycled costs roughly $200 for processing, he said, while not recycling the same amount of material at the landfill costs about $30. That doesn't include the cost of hauling the material to the site.
Commissioner Ronnie Lancaster made the motion to shut down South Pittsburg's recycling program.
"If it's just going to cost us money, I think we should just get out of the recycle business," he said.
Mayor Jane Dawkins said she hated for the board to "just close the door" on a program started by volunteers years ago.
"If we had to abstain from it for a while, I'd like to feel like we at least had an open door to [restart it]," she said.
In other business, the board voted unanimously to offer refunds on fees for South Pittsburg's annual citywide yard sale that was held on Oct. 3.
"Unfortunately, it rained," Dawkins said. "Not very many [people] showed up, and the ones that did didn't stay very long. It was just a bad day."
Officials said rescheduling the event this year is not feasible, so the city will refund the $10 fee. If any of the 72 sellers who paid for spots in the downtown area don't pick up the reimbursement, Burrows said those people would be able to set up at next year's event for free.
Ryan Lewis is based in Marion County. Contact him at ryanlewis34@gmail.com.