Belle Morris Community Action Group

Knoxville to start new free curbside recycling program fall 2011

       This fall, the city of Knoxville will roll out a curbside recycling program on a first-come, first-served basis for 20,000 residents who already use city garbage pickup. It will be a single-stream recycling program, which means residents will not have to sort the materials, like you do if you have to take the materials to a drop center. The new program will be at no cost to the city.

       A $700,000, federal energy bock grant will pay for the bins, and a $200,000 grant from the American Beverage Association paid for the research, including a waste audit to see what's in the garbage system and what its inefficiencies are.

      The city plans to run the public service announcments to advertise the program. Sign-up for the program begins late April. So sign-up now by either calling the city's 311 help line or by going to http://ci.knoxville.tn.us/.