Searcy renovates for E-Cycle Waste Program

The City of Searcy is taking a giant leap toward meeting mandates that will require adherence by January 1, 2010, banning electronics from the landfill. Landfills will no longer be able to accept any electronics at their facilities from that date forward. The Searcy facility was selected by White River Solid Waste Management District, Inc. to be a pilot program “Hub Site” along with Independence County, to begin implementation of a new E-Waste Recycling Pilot Program. Both Searcy and Independence County were approved for participation in this program by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. WRSWMD is a ten county regional waste management district operated in conjunction with the White River Planning and Development District, Inc. ADEQ has partnered with UNICO, Recycling Business Group in Texarkana through the Green-Fed II E-Scrap Recycling Program, to take electronic waste at no charge for a period of three years. Six semi trailers will be placed around the state for the E-waste and collected by UNICOR, Searcy being one of those locations.

The City of Searcy recently received final approval from Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) for a $30,000 grant to make improvements, renovations and purchase supplies to the Searcy Recycling Center at 405 West Beebe-Capps Expressway (279-1000) in order for the City to participate in Green-Fed II. The Grant is 100% funded from ADEQ and will enable the City to increase the size of the loading dock on east side of recycling center and install a cover. This will allow for easier access for the trucks to load and unload supplies and provide protection from rain or icy weather conditions. The funding will also provide a 53’ trailer, floor jack to aid in loading pallets of e-cycle materials, Gaylord packing boxes, pallets and shrink wrap that will be used in preparing the electronics for shipping.

As depicted in the photo a load of e-cycle materials being loaded onto a semi-truck for UNICOR to take to Texarkana. UNICOR drops off an empty trailer and picks up the loaded trailer.

E-Waste is easily defined as the following electronic items:

The City has begun to notify some of our local schools, industry and businesses about this new program in anticipation of the large amounts of possible e-cycle materials they may have to dispose of. We will be making an effort to distribute information regarding this program to all citizens and businesses very shortly. This article is the first effort of informing the public through the media of the operations and mandates concerning e-cycle materials.

There are many benefits to recycling of any kind. Those benefits add up to dollars and cents in savings from removing items of waste to be disposed of in the landfill decreases the amount of tons of waste the City is charged. Also, the City receives dollars from the sale of most recycling materials, mainly paper, cardboard, plastic, aluminum and tin. However, the City will not be able to sell the e-cycle materials we will be reducing the weight of those materials which will be significant savings. Also, the environmental benefits, resulting from recycling is phenomenal. We should all be stewards of our natural resources and participate in protections concerning our ground, water and air quality for health reasons, at the very least.

Electronics must be dropped off at the center between normal operating hours of 7:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., Monday –Friday (closed on holidays). There will be an after hours drop bin for convenience located on the premises very soon. It is not possible for the City to pickup electronics at curbside at this time. The City will also not be charging fees for these drop off items at this time, as long as we continue to receive free shipping through the efforts of ADEQ and UNICOR, or unless costs of labor and materials mandate reconsideration.

The Searcy Recycling Center also services the counties of White, Cleburne, Jackson and Woodruff, due to their lack of recycling operations and our capacity of service, which also adds to the City’s revenues.

A note to keep in mind regarding hazardous materials: The City cannot accept the following hazardous materials for pickup for drop off: Refrigerants, Mercury, Car Batteries, paints, liquids of any kind, Oils/PCB’s, Acids or Radioactive Materials. The City is looking into solutions for disposal of hazardous waste materials in the near future.

The City is encouraging citizens to begin participating with this program now, so that once the mandates are in place, we will already be acclimated to the process and be in immediate compliance with ADEQ regulations. Please be assured that the City of Searcy strives to take a pro-active approach to environmental concerns and reducing costs in all areas of service.

Mayor Belinda LaForce
January 30, 2008