Paint recycling approved for city transfer station

On Thursday, Shelbyville's city council approved placing items used for the recycling process at the city's transfer station.

Solid Waste Coordinator Gay Ervin told the Solid Waste Authority an hour earlier at that body's meeting that she had spoken to Shelbyville public works director Mark Clanton about putting the equipment at the station.

Quick action

All the authority needed was approval from the city council and the matter was put on the city's agenda an hour later by councilman Lee Roy Cunningham, who is also a member of the solid waste authority.

The only requirement for the authority is to supply the materials and Clanton said he would do the rest with inmate labor. The paint recycling would be available Monday through Thursday and on certain Saturdays that would be announced later.

Ervin's paint recycling proposal will cost a little over $1,000. She said during a recent authority meeting that all that would be needed would be two 20-yard roll-off bins -- one for empty paint cans and the other to be used for paint absorption, as well as a few relatively inexpensive items.

The bin would be filled with a load of wood chips to absorb the paint, which would be taken to a landfill. The largest expense in the proposal would be a carport shed for a shelter to keep the paint dry.

The recycling would only have to be done one day every three months and Marshall and Coffee counties already use the same process, Ervin said at the time.

Money saved

The authority was also told that returns are beginning to be seen in scrap metal recycling. For the first quarter of 2009, total revenue from scrap metal recycling was at $8,307, with the recycling of batteries and used motor oil only bringing in around $600 for the first three months of the year.

The county saved a total of $6,539 by recycling and keeping some 293 tons of waste out of the landfill, the authority was told.

The authority voted to review a policy manual that was copied "word for word," according to Stanley Smotherman, from Bedford County Highway Department's manual. Smotherman manages both the Highway Department and the Solid Waste Authority's garbage disposal program.

However some concerns were raised about wording dealing with military leave and the authority will look over the manual over the next month and make recommendations for changes at the next meeting.

Ervin also announced that the county's annual Environmental Awareness Week will be held at the Bedford County Agriculture and Education Center on May 4, 5, and 6 for all the county's first and second grade students.