A month after the city of Newton announced it would no longer offer curbside recycling, the city has begun to implement a new recycling system.
The city set up its first two convenience centers this week, one at Northside Park at 506 E. 22nd St. and the other at a public parking lot at 210 N. Ashe Ave.
Newton is opening several new recycling stations across the city for use by residents. City staff installed the first stations in the Orange Public Parking Lot on Ashe Avenue and Northside Park on Wednesday.
The city has identified the West Seventh Street Heritage Trail Greenway and Central Recreation Center as sites for future centers.
Residents will be allowed to keep their home recycling containers to carry recycled goods to the convenience centers. Those who do not want to keep the containers can toss them in the trash.
Newton’s decision to shift recycling from residential pickup to convenience centers is driven by difficulty hiring workers, particularly those with Commercial Drivers Licenses, Newton City Manager Jonathan Franklin and Public Works and Utilities Director Dusty Wentz said.
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In late January and early February, the city suspended recycling collection because of staff shortages in the department. Wentz said the hiring situation has improved somewhat. He said eight of the 13 positions in the Sanitation Department are filled, including two recent hires.
Still, the department lacks the personnel to do recycling in addition to its other tasks, Franklin and Wentz said.
The city considered a few options when it came to recycling, including contracting an outside business to provide the service.
However, Franklin and Wentz said, the recycling packages did not include yard waste collection, and the cost for the garbage and recycling services would mean a higher fee than residents currently pay.
Wentz said the city would be looking toward a more mechanized sanitation collection, noting Newton recently purchased the city’s first one-person garbage truck. He said the city is considering buying another.
The city government will likely eliminate around three unfilled positions from the Sanitation Department and put the money toward debt service on equipment, Franklin said.
He said the city will look at changes to the rate structure for the next budget. In other words: Residents should not expect any changes to their rates at least until July 1, 2023.
Franklin and Wentz also said eliminating the recycling service and moving to the more mechanized system would translate to better service for residents.
“Due to CDL issues or personnel issues, we have kind of fallen behind on some of the service provision,” Franklin said. “We’re working tirelessly to fix that, and that will be solved sooner than later.”
He added the city plans to expand its options for cardboard disposal by adding dumpsters for cardboard only near the convenience centers.
Noting the city’s focus on growth and economic development, the officials also said there would need to be flexibility when it comes to deciding what the city’s sanitation service will look like in the future.
“As the city of Newton grows and is growing, we may have to add more residential trucks every day to pick up more trash cans per day,” Wentz said. “I don’t want to make it sound like, you know, ‘We’re doing it and we’re going to do it with fewer, and we’re always going to do with fewer,’ because I’m not sure.”
Pressures and challenges
Despite dropping the curbside option, Franklin emphasized the city’s commitment to recycling.
“We’re not going to eliminate recycling,” he said. “We need to offer the service because it’s important. It’s important not just to the environment but also to Catawba County as a whole.”
Catawba County has long prided itself on its recycling record.
A January 2021 release from the county noted Catawba ranked first in recycling of all North Carolina’s 100 counties and had ranked within the top five counties every year for the past 20 years.
Whether Catawba County will maintain its spot at the top of the state’s recycling rankings over the next year is unclear. What is evident, however, is that local governments across the state and in Catawba County are facing financial pressures when it comes to recycling programs.
This strain has led some communities outside of Catawba County to do away with recycling collection.
During the 2020-21 fiscal year, 12 towns and cities across North Carolina eliminated or suspended curbside recycling, according to the most recent North Carolina Solid Waste and Materials Management Annual Report.
Most of these municipalities reported the cost of the program as the reason for discontinuing. Some have also pointed to contamination in the recycling stream.
Gastonia, the largest city to eliminate its curbside program during that period, laid out the reasons for ending the service on its website.
“At this time curbside recycling appears to be a broken system,” according to the city of Gastonia website. “Most items put into recycling carts end up in landfills because of high levels of contamination. Education about contamination has not been successful, so curbside recycling is not likely to be an option in the future.”
Representatives from several local jurisdictions, including Catawba County, Hickory, Conover and Maiden have said they have no plans to change their recycling services, at least in the near term.
At the same time, local leaders have identified challenges similar to those cited by communities that discontinued their programs.
During a Hickory City Council meeting in June, City Manager Warren Wood said the city would need to examine its own household recycling program in the coming years. He said many recycled goods are thrown in the landfill because of contamination and the cost of recycling is $120 per ton compared to $36 a ton for material sent to the landfill.
Wood also said the market for recycled goods was not as strong as it once was, a point echoed by Newton City Manager Franklin.
“Usually you could sell recyclables and make decent money,” Franklin said. “That’s not the case anymore from what I understand.”
In August, Hickory announced the city would no longer offer weekend hours for its convenience center. “Despite the city’s efforts to provide information and guidance to convenience center visitors, the new weekend closure is necessary to prevent contamination of recycling and dumping of garbage at the facility,” the city said at the time.
Maiden Town Manager Todd Herms said, “Cost(s) have significantly risen for everyone over the last few years” when it comes to recycling.
Conover City Manager Tom Hart also spoke of some of the difficulties facing recycling programs.
“Finding qualified drivers is increasingly challenging,” Hart said. “Contamination of the recycling stream — basically people mixing garbage with recyclable items — is also a major challenge to the viability of recycling efforts.”
Kevin Griffin is the City of Hickory reporter at the Hickory Daily Record.
