A decision made six years ago may have been the difference between a prison or a recycling center in the heart of Knoxville. In late 2001, Knoxville and Knox County officially ruled out the possibility of constructing a prison on State Street and instead built a parking lot.
Although built for residents and businesses of the downtown area, it has never been fully utilized, prompting city and county officials to make it the location for downtown’s only recycling center.
Stationed on 27 parking spaces in the lot off of State Street, Knoxville’s 12th recycling center opened Dec. 5. It was a collaboration between Knoxville and Knox County. The county owns the parking lot and is leasing it to the city free of costs. The lease is a two-year contract with a possibility of another two-year renewal.
The massive green and brown dumpsters that line State Street are similar to other recycling centers around Knoxville. The downtown location will also have a Goodwill Industries attendant from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to take donations and assist patrons. Newspaper, cardboard, mixed paper, plastics, glass, aluminum, metal cans and glass are recyclable at the new center.
John Homa, Knoxville’s solid waste reduction specialist, hopes the downtown center will recycle at least 200 tons in its first year. But he said the goal depends on whether businesses and residents take advantage of the center.
While the location may cater to downtown businesses and residents, recycling in Knoxville is on a voluntary basis. “It is a drop off center and people will have to take their recyclable materials to the center,” Homa said. “It is much more costly to provide a pick up service for all materials than to provide a drop off center.”
Costs associated with running a Knoxville recycling center include shipping the recycled materials to the Advanced Polymer Recycling center, where the materials are processed, at $98 a haul; and paying a Goodwill Industries attendant $12,500 to manage the Knoxville center. Homa said Knoxville residents send 50,000 tons of trash to landfills yearly, and out of that, 5,250 tons are recycled.
Homa said the city does not track businesses’ recycling because a majority do not recycle. He says this is mainly due to the costs.
Billy Thomas, manager at Subway on Market Square, said it would be difficult to have an employee take trash blocks away just for it to be recycled. “It’s bad business and it would be hard to even have an employee sort through the trash,” Thomas said.
That doesn’t mean the businesses on Market Square do not recycle. Thomas said every business on the Square has a contract set up with a Maryville, Tenn., company that picks up cardboard. “They come around two to three times a week to pick up our boxes,” he said. “We do not get any money for it, but it would be hard to recycle anything else, let alone pay someone to take it out.” Thomas did say if someone would pick up the extra trash, they would start to sort through it.
Homa’s wish is to keep the contract as long as the city can. “We will recycle there as long as possible and try and look for a site in the area that we can stay for a longer period of time.”
However, David Brace, Knoxville’s director of solid waste, said control of the center is not in the city’s hands.
“Since the county is leasing the land to the city, the county can kill the contract any time they want,” Brace said. He said the county would have to give at least a 30-day notice before they take the space back. “At that point we would have to find another site, but construction by the county wouldn’t begin for six to 12 to 18 months, so we would have plenty of time.”
Brace said Knoxville’s development so far has been urban restoration, which is renovation of historical buildings. He says that process is nearing an end and the county may take the parking lot back to build residential or business districts.
“Until then it meets the needs now,” he said. “It is well lighted, (has) good visibility and is close to the east side for accessibility. We will be there as long as we can be there.”
