City of Athens moves toward no

ATHENS, Alabama - Residents will get new collection cans and see changes in service in August when the City of Athens begins a no-sort recycling program.

Single-stream recycling allows workers to collect recyclable materials without having to sort, said city spokeswoman Holly Hollman.

Sanitation Director Earl Glaze said the city will contract with the City of Decatur for the service because the Athens recycling trucks are beyond repair and costly to replace. With the single-stream recycling offered by Decatur, the city can use its automated garbage trucks to run routes on Mondays and take the materials to the Decatur recycling center.

Hollman said the city will switch back to using the Athens-Limestone Recycling Center if the center begins the single-stream process.

"In addition to the cost of buying new recycling trucks, not having single stream recycling is dangerous for sanitation workers," Hollman said. "Currently, these workers stand on the roadside to sort through recycling materials and place the sorted material in the recycling truck, subjecting them to oncoming traffic."

Crews will deliver the blue 96-gallon carts beginning Tuesday until delivery is completed in about two weeks. A letter explaining the changes and a guide to recyclables will be included with each cart, Hollman said.

This cart will replace the 18-gallon green container residents currently use.

"The Athens-Limestone Recycling Center will accept the 18-gallon green containers, or you can keep the green containers and use them to collect glass and certain plastics to take to the center," Hollman said.

The city will pick up recycling on Mondays starting in August. Those who live west of U.S. 31 will have recycling on the first and third Mondays, and those who live east of U.S. 31 on the second and fourth Mondays. Hollman said this is subject to change if the city sees a need to enhance the routes.

Residents should have the blue cart on the curb by 6 a.m. on collection days. All accepted recyclables can be placed in the container together.

For more information, contact the Sanitation Department at 256-233-8747 or visit athensal.us and click "Sanitation Department."

Call al.com reporter Kelly Kazek at 256-701-0576 or find her on Facebook.