Paint recycling facility to open in spring

Residents of Bedford County will be able to start recycling their latex paint later this spring, when a facility will be opened to the public.

Solid Waste Coordinator Gay Ervin told the Solid Waste Authority Thursday that everything has been worked out with Shelbyville public works director Mark Clanton, who highway superintendant Stanley Smotherman said went "above and beyond to help the county."

The paint recycling center is to be located at the city's transfer station and will be available during the week of Shelbyville's Spring Clean-up, set for April 12-16.

The idea for the recycling center was raised last year and has already been approved by the Shelbyville city council.

The only requirement for the authority is to supply the materials and Clanton said last year 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 an authority meeting last year 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.

One suggestion made by the authority was to put fliers in area paint stores to educate citizen about the service. The center will accept only latex paint.

As for oil-based paints, those will have to be disposed of during the county's next Household Hazardous Waste event, which Ervin announced will take place on Saturday, April 24.

The county did not have a waste collection event last year, and residents had to travel to Marshall or Coffee counties to dispose of household chemicals and products considered inappropriate for regular landfill disposal.

A letter from the waste event's program coordinator for the state Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), stated last year that they were unable to hold one "due to budget constraints."