Arriving recycling trailer will limit some materials
“We have had to cut back on some of the materials we accept right now as a result of a slow market,” said Shirley Beaudoin, director of Interface Industries.
The items not being accepted — at least for the moment — are glass, plastic and newspaper products.
Meanwhile, the trailer will be located at the Maintenance Department across from the city’s offices at 1001 Buchanan Drive on Texas 29 West. It should arrive in January.
“The trailer will be located at our maintenance facility when it arrives and will be open to receive materials Monday-Friday from 7 a.m.-4 p.m.,” Economic Development Director Crista Bromley said Friday. “It will be open during business hours but will have to be secured after hours, so that’s why it will be located behind a fence inside the maintenance facility,”
Bromley represented the city while working on the details to bring the trailer to Burnet.
She said securing the trailer is necessary to keep out prohibited items and to prevent the station from becoming an after-hours dumping ground.
The city did not have to pay the $17,000 estimated cost to acquire the trailer.
“The entire amount needed to pay for the trailer was done by a Capital Area Council of Governments grant,” Bromley said.
The city will also work with Beaudoin’s group, she added.
“We are also working in cooperation with Interface Industries, and that’s why we have to restructure some of the items we can accept at the recycling trailer,” Bromley said. “It’s another outlet and provides an additional source for them to receive items, and it helps promote recycling in Burnet.”
Beaudoin, the recycling trailer could help boost their collection efforts and increase the number of materials available for processing in the future. Beaudoin, who has been the director of Interface since 1995, said the recycling center is limited in what it can accept right now.
“We can’t pick up a trailer with materials we can’t sell; however, we do expect the market to pick up in January or February of next year.”
Beaudoin said the only materials they can receive at their facility at 2421 FM 963 or at the new recycling trailer in Burnet will be white office paper, cardboard and aluminum products. Cardboard and aluminum products can be baled and stored to sell at a later time.
“We just don’t have storage space for anything other than those items, and we can’t put anything else at our site for processing until we have a buyer,” Beaudoin said.
Interface Industries is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:30 a.m.- 2:30 p.m The number is (512) 756-7663.
byoung@thepicayune.com