News

City delivering rollout carts for recycling next week

By Bill Moss, Published: December 14, 2013

Just in time for Christmas wrapping and cardboard boxes, Hendersonville garbage customers will be getting  rollout carts as part of the city's drive to increase recycling and reduce landfill waste.

City crews next week will begin delivering the 65-gallon carts to all city recycling customers at no cost. The new carts have more than double the capacity of the current blue bins that residents have to carry to the curb.
The city is investing $416,000 in the recycling project with $105,000 of that paid by state grants. If city households and businesses increase their recycling at the same rate as other towns have experienced after going to the big rollout carts, Hendersonville would save close to $60,000 in tipping fees, the city said.
Customers may keep their recycling bins and continue to use them to transfer the material into the cart. If customers do not want to use the new cart, they may call the city and arrange for the cart to be picked up. If customers do not want to keep their old recycling bins, those may be left at the curb (empty) and crews will haul them away.
The program is scheduled to begin on Jan. 6 after the city hires two new staff people and purchases a new recycling truck but customers may begin using the cart as soon as they receive it.
Literature and a new recycling brochure will accompany the carts as they are delivered to help customers know what to do with the carts and bins. The brochure will have lots of information about our collection process for solid waste and recycling plus what materials are currently accepted in the new recycling cart.
Customers who have been approved for special collection (walk-out service)
do not need to call to add the recycling cart to this process, we will handle that process within the Public Works office. There is no fee for participating in the City's recycling program and no fee for the new recycling carts.
The city received two grants from North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources to help purchase the new carts and recycling truck. A $75,000 grant will go toward purchase of the carts and a $30,000 grant will offset the cost of the truck. The City's Environmental Services Fund will cover the remaining $134,500 for the carts and $179,000 for the new truck.
If Hendersonville sees results similar to other communities that have switched from bins to carts, it could see  annual savings in tipping fees of $56,800, the city said.
For questions about this project, please call Tom Wooten at (828) 697-3084. More information is also available on the city's web page at www.cityofhendersonville.org.