News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The time before Christmas might be the busiest time of year for businesses, but the time after is the busiest for recycling.
Putnam County Solid Waste Director Doug Ashburn said they can take up to 18 tons of recyclables in a days time following the holidays. Ashburn said the number of recyclables grow every year and when residents bring them in correctly, it is a great help to solid waste workers.
“The best way to do it is to bring the boxes in, already broke down, that will save some time,” Ashburn said. “The plastics, we have a market for ones and twos, if they can have it separated and the paper separated from their newspaper.”
Ashburn said during the holidays, the most time consuming mistake residents make are mixing number one and number two plastics. Ashburn said the recycling number on plastics go up to seven.
“Number ones will be your soft drink bottles, fruit juice containers and cooking oil. Number twos would be your milk jugs, cleaning agents and laundry detergents,” Ashburn said. “The three through sevens, here in the last year, year and a half, we don’t have a market for any of those. If you’ll turn the item over and look at it, it’s clearly marked on there.”
Putnam County cannot accept numbers three through seven plastic recyclables. Ashburn said that 6 percent of the 18 tons of recycling they see has to go into the trash because they are not number one or two recyclables.
The most notable during the holidays, would be disposable plastic cups and cutlery.
