Public needs to know more about recycling
Chattanooga halted recycling services in August, citing a lack of truck drivers. Services resumed Nov. 1, after Mayor Tim Kelly raised drivers’ pay.
While I am glad that this pay increase and subsequent resumption of recycling services proved once again that this “labor crisis” is a wage crisis, I am afraid that Chattanoogans and others don’t know/care about what happens to what they toss in the recycling bin.
In 2015 Chattanoogans found out that most of the glass they put in their recycling bins ended up in landfills. Now, glass must be directly taken to one of the five recycling facilities in the city. Considering that the average citizen, myself included, doesn’t typically know everything about what can and cannot be recycled, it can be assumed that we contaminate most of the recyclables in our bins, dooming the contents to the landfills.
If it were up to me, I would limit the curbside recycling bins to (clean) cardboard, paper, and aluminum. I think that other objects like plastics should be personally brought to the facilities to avoid contamination. Ban plastic bags, too.