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The Kingsport Times-News
By Steve Igo
Published May 19th, 2009
JONESVILLE — The Lee County Board of Supervisors approved the county’s
first-ever recycling program on Tuesday.
A modest start to Lee
County’s recycling effort
carries big hopes for an ever-expanding program in the future. Ashley Long, the
county’s litter and recycling coordinator, projects a total start-up cost of
$10,250 for a fledgling program getting some support from local businesses and
citizens.
Eleven sponsors have committed to purchasing about a third of the
initial 30 32-gallon containers that will be placed at the county’s five
household waste convenience centers. County
Administrator Dane Poe
said the program probably needs more of the containers, but it’s a beginning.
Long said the single largest start-up cost is for a custom-built
8-foot-by-12-foot recycling shelter to be placed at the five convenience
centers at a total of $7,625.
Long said Tri-City Waste Paper Inc. has agreed to take the recycled materials
and will cut the county in on half the proceeds of cardboard the company sells
over $50 a ton, the same for plastics when the company can sell for more than
10 cents per pound, and newspapers when the company can sell for more than $50
a ton.
Items to be recycled will be mixed paper, newsprint, two grades of
plastic bottles and cardboard. Long said the county just needs to sell 275 tons
to break even on the initial investment in landfill savings alone. She cited Wise County’s
recycling total of nearly 8,000 tons in 2008, saving around $300,000 (on the Lee County
scale) in landfill costs, and Scott
County saving about
$105,000 on 2,815 recycled tons that year.
“It doesn’t matter if you look at this proposal with environmental
conscious eyes or financial eyes, this program just makes sense,” Long said.
“I think this is good news,” said board Chairman Carl Bailey. “We could
stint on $10,000 or save $100,000. If the county could save just $20,000 a
year, it would be worth it. We all need to recycle. We need to educate the kids
and re-educate the adults. It’s the right thing, and we’re on the right track.”
Supervisor Larry Mosley said taxpayers need to understand “we are
saving money by doing this” and praised Long’s work as litter and recycling
coordinator.
Sponsors are ahead of the money-saving curve. Long said Lone Mountain
Processing, ICG, Powell Valley Electric and Shelton Insurance have agreed to
pay for 11 of the 32-gallon containers, and Wal-Mart may assist in building one
of the recycling shelters.
Supervisor Jerry Harris said all supervisors should grab a few elbows
and bend a few ears to find even more sponsors.
“Neighboring counties such as Scott, Wise, Dickenson and Buchanan — to
name a few — have already seen the benefits of recycling,” Long said. “In my
discussions with these counties I have often heard the phrase ‘win-win
situation.’”
http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9013951
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