For Carthage resident Kerry Baugh, a trip to the Carthage Recycling Center on Macon Street is becoming part of her daily routine.
“I’ve been recycling for about a year and a half,” Baugh said as she took plastic and glass bottles out of the back of her car.
“I think it’s a wonderful service to have,” she said. “I feel like it’s my responsibility to do something for the environment and I’m trying to set an example for my three-year-old. He loves to help recycle and come out here.”
On Sept. 1, Carthage will open its recycling center to people who live outside the city limits of Carthage, thanks to a grant from the state.
Public Works Director Zeb Carney said the city received a $13,000 grant from the Region M Solid Waste Management District to help the city break even on its recycling program while allowing county residents to bring recyclables to Carthage.
Julie Tilley, assistant public works director for the city, said $12,000 of the grant will offset the city’s costs for recycling while $1,000 can be spent on fliers, brochures and other forms of public education about recycling and the service provided by the city.
The city collects paper and cardboard, plastic, glass, metal and electronic waste, such as televisions, radios, cell phones, microwaves and other devices.
There is a $15 fee for each television dropped off and a $10 fee for each computer monitor and microwave oven brought in. Carney said that fee is transferred directly to the contractor that comes and collects the electronic waste.
There is no charge for any other waste brought in.
David Ogle, who lives just outside Carthage, said he brings in paper on a daily basis.
“The plastic stuff, like milk jugs, starts to stink so it’s harder to bring those in,” Ogle said. “The paper stuff, we just put it in a box and I bring it in when I come into town, and I’m usually in town once a day.”
Carney said an average of 100 people come to the center each day it is open. He said 140 people brought out recyclables last Saturday.
He said the city has one full time employee and one full time volunteer at the center at all times.
In the past year, the city has transformed the center from gravel and dust driveways and parking lots and containers scattered around the lot to asphalt driveways and parking areas, buildings to house electronic waste and cardboard and organized containers to facilitate easy access and traffic flow.
The city moved a cardboard baler from the former McCune-Brooks hospital building to the site and now packs cardboard into 1,800-pound bales that are collected every month and a half.
The city also purchased a glass crusher that breaks bottles and packs the glass into special containers..
