Committee Recommends Trying to Sell Recycling Plant

The solid waste committee of the Ashley County, Ark., Quorum Court will recommend to the full court that the recycling plant building and land in North Crossett again go out for bids to be sold.

The committee met Monday, May 12, and heard from County Judge Larry Kinnaird that Benton County is "ready to go" on its recycling project and is interested in bidding on equipment at Ashley County's recycling plant. He also said that a firm that recycles industrial sludge has been negotiating with Georgia-Pacific to recycle the company's sludge and is interested in purchasing the building and the land.

"We need to put it up for bid," Kinnaird told the committee. He also said the company, headquartered in Texas, will also recycle pallets, paper, etc., n"anything they can grind for fuel."

Kinnaird said the county will keep the baler from the recycling plant and also the self-dumping hoppers for its own recycling project, required by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.

According to the law, all Arkansas counties are mandated to offer a recycling program in which residents can participate on a voluntary basis. The committee is leaning toward a "mobile" system. Collection bins would be placed on a trailer, and the trailer would be taken to towns around the county on a regularly scheduled basis. Residents would take their recyclable materials to the collection points.

Once gathered, the materials would be stored at a central facility, possibly at an open metal building.