KINGSPORT, Tenn. (AP) – The last recycling plant in Sullivan County, Tennessee, that handles paper and plastics for local governments is set to close, affecting recycling efforts across the region.
The Bristol Herald-Courier reports Tri-Cities Waste Paper’s Friday closure will also affect Bristol, Abingdon and Washington County in Virginia.
The Kingsport plant’s parent company, Asheville Waste Paper, has declined to comment on the reason behind the closure. It’s the company’s second recycling plant closure in the past year; the first was in Bristol.
The closest plants that take both paper and plastic are now in Roanoke, Virginia, Asheville, North Carolina, and Knoxville, Tennessee. The director of public works in Bristol, Wallace McCulloch, says the cost of hauling recyclables that far may be too much for his city to afford. Other areas are similarly concerned.