Closure of unmanned recyclable collection sites at Wilkes County schools outside the Wilkesboros, effective June 30, makes it even harder to recycle in Wilkes.
This is especially true for rural residents who don’t live within reasonable driving distance from one of Wilkes County government’s three manned convenience centers or the county landfill.
The three manned sites are on U.S. 421 in the Mount Pleasant community, Mount Carmel Church Road in Moravian Falls and Grassy Creek Road in the Austin community of northeastern Wilkes. Recyclables are also accepted at the county landfill on N.C. 268 East in Roaring River.
There is no charge for leaving recyclables at the manned sites or the landfill. (The policy of allowing free disposal of non-recyclable household garbage when accompanied by a similar amount of recyclables ended many years ago.)
Wilkes Solid Waste Director Anderia Byrd said GFL Environmental’s decision to close the unmanned sites at Wilkes schools and near Crossfire United Methodist Church on N.C. 115 resulted from non-recyclable waste being left there, coupled with rising fuel prices.
GFL picked up recyclables at the unmanned sites under a contract with Wilkes County government that it inherited when it bought Foothills Sanitation & Recycling in North Wilkesboro earlier this year.
The contract is up for renewal annually and county officials should bring up the loss of this service in future negotiations, but GFL’s decision with the unmanned sites likely was justified. The towns of Wilkesboro and North Wilkesboro recently also closed unmanned sites for collecting recyclables because they were being used as dumping grounds for non-recyclables.
Because of the closure of the unmanned sites, the county’s three manned convenience centers are now open an extra day each week. As of July 1, they’re open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. The county landfill is still open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
One can imagine that people who dispose of non-recyclable items at unmanned recycling centers and lose that option will be inclined to dump them along some lightly-traveled road.
Otherwise, what about responsible Wilkes residents who want to recycle but don’t live in the Wilkesboros (where curbside pickup of recyclables is available as a municipal service); don’t live in areas outside the towns served by a company that picks up recyclables for a fee; and don’t live within reasonable driving distance from one of the three manned centers or the county landfill?
Wilkes is a large county in land area, stretching over 50 miles from east to west by road and with terrain that increases travel time from one point to another.
Wilkes County government needs to add more manned convenience centers.
This need is especially great in the Millers Creek area and Byrd has been trying to find a site there, but residents (especially taxpayers) deserve this basic convenience in other parts of Wilkes.
