Westside Recycling Center to Shut Doors Effective April 1

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Westside Recycling Center in Opelika will close its doors permanently, effective April 1, 2018. Official press release stated that the Solid Waste Division under the City of Opelika was forced to take the final decision to close the facility located on Grand National Parkway in Opelika, following continuous contamination issues.

According to Terry White, Director, Environmental Services, the center has been facing contamination issue for quite some time. The issue has continued to get worse, he said. Of late, they encountered a container, with about one-third of it filled with glass, and the remaining portion covered with accepted recyclables. The cart, when dumped to the truck resulted in contamination of the whole load, White noted.

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The key contaminant that cause problem is glass, the City noted. Incidentally, the Westside Recycling Center does not accept glass. Also, the processing facility in Columbus, GA, to where the collected materials are transported for further processing, also does not accept glass. The contamination causes the loads to be disposed of, rather than being recycled. The City officials reminded that the only recycling center that accepts glass is the Jeter Avenue Center located at 675 Jeter Avenue.

The closing of the Opelika recycling facility is likely to reduce the city’s single-stream recycling volumes. Meantime, Tipi Miller, director of Keep Opelika Beautiful urged residents to sign up for curbside recycling services. She hoped that the closing of the facility will not dissuade citizens from recycling.

The city curbside recycling service is available for $10 per month. In addition, residents could  also take their recyclables to be dropped off at any of the City’s remaining four recycling centers- Northside Center at 600 8th Avenue, Covington Center at 213 Carver Avenue, Floral Park Center at 600 Floral Street and Jeter Avenue Center at 675 Jeter Avenue.