By Randy Garrison

Mayor of Hartselle

I am writing this week to inform all of you of a change to our current Recycling Program in the City of Hartselle. Currently we are picking up recycling in the blue bins on the second and fourth Friday of each month. Last Friday, August 24 was the last day it will be picked up on Fridays.

During the past year changes have occurred which have resulted in the City of Hartselle having to pay to have our recycling taken away by a third party. In years past, when the program was started, the city was able to cover the cost of recycling by selling the material to a third party. However, many of you may have heard in the national news that China, who was the largest purchaser of recycled material, has stopped purchasing the material. The cause given was that too much of the material contained items not recyclable, such as plastic grocery bags.

This has resulted in the lack of a market for recyclables from other countries, the United States, included. In fact, the company that was picking up our recyclable materials actually filed bankruptcy recently.

In saying this we have gone from being paid for our recycling materials to having to pay to have them taken away. However, we have worked with the City of Decatur Recycling to take all of our recycled materials at no cost to the City of Hartselle. This recycling program sorts the material collected which enables it to be sold easier.

But with this change Decatur is only able to process 2 to 2.5 tons of material each day. This means we will not be able to collect all of the blue bins on one day, as has been the case since the beginning of the program. Instead, the bins will be collected Monday through Thursday in a different section of the city. There will be 8 different zones that will be serviced and your blue bin will be emptied once every two weeks. This will begin on Monday, September 10. A letter detailing the routes, along with map of the city will be mailed to all who receive garbage pickup in the city within the next week to 10 days. Please look for your letter in the mail, which will contain the new day your recycling will be picked up, and this will continue every other week afterwards on the same day of the week.

We ask for your support and patience as we begin the new recycling routes and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause to you. If you are not able to determine your recycle day please call the City of Hartselle Public Works Department at 256 773 2643. This information will also be shared on social media and the map will be available at the city’s website www.hartselle.org.

Again, your blue bins will be emptied every two weeks on the day assigned to your particular zone. For example, if your bin is picked up on Monday, September 10, it will be serviced again on Monday, September 24.

Thank you for participating in recycling, and for the part you play in helping our environment. Working together we can leave our part of the world in a better place than we found it.

If you have additional questions, please call Public Works at 256 773 2643