Ringgold City Councilwoman Sara Clark is interested in offering recycling services for city residents. Clark said Ringgold would “move up with the rest of the world” if the city started a recycling program.
“Our sister city, Fort Oglethorpe, is recycling,” she said.
Mayor Nick Millwood said that when he was campaigning for office, “recycling was a concern brought up by a variety of people.”
“People want recycling,” he said. “It is a recurring thing brought up by citizens of the community.”
According to Fort Oglethorpe City Clerk Carol Murray, Fort Oglethorpe’s citizens must subscribe to a curbside recycling pickup service independently operated by Republic Services. In exchange for $17.37 per quarter, which equates to $5.79 per month, residents can place all their recylcables in a 95-gallon cart for biweekly pickup. No contract is necessary.
In a followup interview, Ringgold City Manager Dan Wright said he has reached out to a similar company to get basic estimates for such a service. Though stressing that “this is way early in the discussion process,” he said the estimated cost to provide a recycling can and once-a-week pickup by a third party is $47,502 per year.
“The fee would only be for residential customers that now have city curbside garbage service,” he said. “There would not be any cost savings with the exception of reducing the landfill charges. The total budgeted landfill fee for 2016 is only $57,000. There will be additional discussion at the next meeting to consider a drop-off container like Council member Jake Haynes suggested.”
“I’d like to start out small with a container first to see how much participation [we’ll get],” Haynes suggested during the meeting.
The Ringgold City Council meets the second and fourth Monday of the month at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 150 Tennessee St.