TDEC grants
Recycling equipment grantsFranklin County$25,000 | skid loaderVan Buren County $25,000 | paper shredderWarren County $16,006 | roll off containersUsed oil grantsCity of Etowah $6,750 | used oil heaterRhea County $15,600 | collection tank, spill pan, heavy duty oil filter crusher, othersWaste reduction grantsFranklin County $59,154 | horizontal balerOrange Grove Center$200,000 | concrete and steel prep work, MSS front end system
The Orange Grove Center is $200,000 closer to having the equipment it needs to process all the glass sent its way by Chattanooga residents.
Orange Grove has the city contract to sort recyclables but hasn't been equipped to handle the broken glass that winds up in the center from the curbside recycling containers used by thousands of city residents.
The $200,000 from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, one of 58 grants awarded to various municipalities and organizations across the state, pushes Orange Grove to the $1 million mark in its attempt to raise the full $1.6 million it needs to overhaul its recycling equipment to handle the glass.
With the grant in hand, the center will be able to buy all the equipment it needs and begin the installation process that will require an additional $600,000 to complete, said Tera Roberts, the center's adult services director.
"We want citizens to know where we are," Roberts said. "There may be someone else out there who wants to help us reach our benchmark so we can have all this automation and glass equipment put in."
Orange Grove employs 150 developmentally disabled adults, 80 of whom work in the recycling center on Dodds Avenue.
Most of the city's recycled glass arrives at Orange Grove pre-sorted, but the glass arriving in the curbside recycling containers would be hazardous to handle for the workers, who sort the recyclables by hand.
The overhaul will include a new in-feed system and conveyor belt that leads to a glass screen that will shake out the glass automatically. Then a new glass cleaner will separate dust and pieces of other recycled items to ensure the glass is pure enough to sell.
A pair of Hamilton County commissioners led an effort to direct $200,000 in unused discretionary funds to the center this fall that would have helped with the cost. That effort fell short in a 5-4 vote. But the City of Chattanooga, the Lyndhurst Foundation and two other foundations have donated to the effort, according to newspaper archives.
"I feel they do a great service to the community with their recycling," said District 7 commissioner Sabrina Turner-Smedley, one of the county commissioners who tried to direct the discretionary funding to Orange Grove. "These are people with challenges most of us could never fathom, and to see them work, it's inspiring."
Roberts said she is anticipating having drawings and schematics for the new recycling system by the end of next month that will show how the new equipment will work.
Contact staff writer David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.