Ruby McCartney, plant manager at Athens-Limestone County Recycling Center, uses a forklift Tuesday to move a container of plastics dropped off by residents for recycling.

After months of waiting, the Athens-Limestone County Recycling Center is once again accepting certain types of plastics.

Ruby McCartney, plant manager, said residents showed up with truckloads and trailer-fuls of plastic bags, jugs, film and more — eager to unload several months of collected plastics. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic had prevented local inmates from working at places like the recycling center, which relies on them to help collect and separate plastics for shipping to the companies that will handle processing and preparing them for reuse.

McCartney said plastics with the number 1 on them, like soft drink and water bottles, are shipped to Indorama Ventures in Athens. Indorama said it uses the bottles to make flakes and pellets that can then be used for new bottles, sheets and fibers.

Plastics with a number 2, such as milk jugs or detergent bottles, and plastics with a number 5, such as toys or plastic furniture, are separated into different groups based on their grade or type, then sent to KW Plastics in Troy, McCartney said. They can then be made into resins that are used in packaging, beauty care, housewares, automotive and other industries.

Finally, plastic bags and film go to Trex, a company in Virginia that uses the materials to create eco-friendly decks. However, before the plastics can go to any of these places, it needs to make it from a resident’s home to their local recycling center.

McCartney encouraged anyone who brings plastics to the Athens-Limestone center to make sure they’re clean. This includes rinsing off mulch or potting soil bags and rinsing out jugs. She said it’s OK to leave lids on plastic jugs and bottles.

It’s not OK to bring bags and items that have food on them, though. McCartney said when it comes to plastics, “we will have to throw it in the trash.”

Dropoff hours are 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Bins are stations outside the center with labels to let residents know which items belong in which bin, and weekend or after-hour dropoff is prohibited.

Community collection centers remain closed. McCartney said the trailers used for community collection will likely go back out at some point in the future, but the sudden spike in traffic at the center due to the return of plastic recycling has made it infeasible for now.

Budget request

After speaking with The News Courier on Tuesday, McCartney visited the Clinton Street Courthouse Annex to discuss the center’s next fiscal year with the Limestone County Commission. Among the budget items was a $20,000 request for a used pickup truck.

McCartney said the truck currently in use has more than 247,000 miles on it and is used for servicing community collection centers. While that is the truck she wants to replace, she also noted two other trucks have accumulated more than 170,000 miles each.

McCartney was one of several who presented financial requests during the budget hearings held Tuesday at the annex. The News Courier will have more from the hearings in an upcoming edition.