The Johnson County Recycling District is teaming up with the Town of Edinburgh to give southern Johnson County residents a more convenient place to recycle.
Residents who live on the southside of the county will soon have an option to recycle small plastic bottles, paper and some cardboard when a second county recycling center opens next year.
The site in Edinburgh comes a few months after a Franklin drive-thru site opened and more than a year after the county closed its drop-off sites due to issues with residents dumping non-recyclable materials and leaving messes. Some of the items being dumped into the recycling bins would contaminate everything, and all of the contents would end up in a landfill, said Jessie Biggerman, executive director of the recycling district.
Some residents on the county’s southside do not have the option of contracting with commercial trash services to get their recycling picked up, she said.
“It was kind of our No. 1 goal. We knew from all the areas that is the area (where) you can’t get commercial industry to cover the service because of distance,” Biggerman said.
So JT Doane, Edinburgh’s town manager, took what he thought was an ideal location to the recycling district, Biggerman said.
Both the recycling district’s board and Edinburgh Town Council approved the site at 610 Mary Drybread Court in Edinburgh. The new recycling center is in the garage of the building that used to house Edinburgh’s electric department, Doane said.
Edinburgh will pay someone to work at the site part-time. The pay rate for that job has not been set, Doane said.
The recycling district will cover the cost of the fees associated with replacing the bins when they fill up. That cost is expected to be less than $1,000 a month, Biggerman said.
Recycling at the center is free to county residents as the district’s $540,000 annual budget is funded by tax dollars. The Johnson County Recycling District also runs other educational programs and events throughout the year.
Recycling is an important service to offer residents, and Doane wanted to find a way for Edinburgh residents to be able to recycle without having to drive to Franklin, Doane said.
“The recycling option was one I thought could be vital to the community,” he said.
During scheduled drop-off hours, residents who want to drop off their recycling can pull up to the building and deliver their recycled goods to the employee, who will put it into appropriate bins, eliminating the contamination issue.
Plastic bags will not be accepted and residents should sort their goods before bringing them in, Biggerman said.
All items should be separated into three categories which include paper, small cardboard and plastic, and aluminum metals and cans. Plastics that will be accepted include: bottles and tubs, such as milk jugs, water and soda containers, shampoo, soap and detergent bottles.
Glass will not be accepted, and large amounts of cardboard should be taken to the Franklin site, Biggerman said.
The Edinburgh site will open early next year for a six-month trial. How long it stays open depends on how many people utilize it, she said.