The City of Jackson opened its new Recycling Hub Tuesday. The Hub is located at 74B Conalco Dr., in Jackson, off N. Parkway.
The process for opening the center started more than a year ago, with the hiring of Recycling Coordinator Robin Chance. Her goal is to coordinate recycling efforts and provide education to residents.
“It’s relatively easy to recycle. It doesn’t have to be expensive. You can collect it in some bins, some totes, some old boxes at the house,” Chance said.
In 2020, City officials discovered the plastic being recycled across the City was going to the landfill, as the market for recycled plastic dropped. After that the City removed the plastic bins and replaced them with metal. For two years, people have only been able to recycle cardboard and metal. However, much of that recycling has been contaminated by food and other waste, since there is little education around the process.
Now the Recycling Hub is collecting cardboard, metal, and plastics. There is an attendant on site to help with the process, and to help prevent contamination from organic material.
“So we want to encourage everyone, whether they have a knowledge of recycling or not. We’re here to help. We’re here to teach. We have attendants available to be able to do that. So coming in, whether you know how to recycle or not, we’re going to help you through that,” Chance said.
Mayor Scott Conger said the project cost $30,000, since many of the bins were already owned by the City, and City workers were able to refurbish them, and build the center. Even the Attendant’s shelter is recycled from an old concession stand.
He also said this is the first step to bringing curbside recycling to Jackson.
“The ultimate goal is curbside. So we’ll see how this goes with the volume here. We need to add more to that public education piece, and we’re working with our partners to bring curbside to Jackson,” Conger said.
The Recycling Hub is open Tuesday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Center is closed daily from 1 to 2 p.m.
Julia Ewoldt, julia@jacksonpost.news
If I lived in the city and paid their ungodly high garbage pickup taxes & fees there is NO WAY I would carry my garbage myself! People living in the city still pay county taxes so can use the county disposal sites (and no, I am NOT sorting my trash!)