Fort Smith residents shocked to discover their recyclables were being dumped with regular trash

‘What would you do if you found out your recycling efforts were all for nothing? This was the question faced by Fort Smith, Ark. homeowners after they were told by city officials that their recyclables were being dumped into the city landfill. Though rather than being a recent incident, the covert recyclable disposal has been underway since November 2016, reports TalkBusiness.net. After Green Source Recycling Center, a third-party garbage collector in Clarksville, stopped taking the city’s materials, all gathered recyclables since that time were being redirected to the Fort Smith Landfill.
“Over time, Green Source reduced the amount of material it could take from Fort Smith, due in part to limits on the amount of material they could process according to their permit from ADEQ (Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality). With no vendor accepting recyclables, the city chose to dispose of such material in the landfill until the city could secure a recycling processing contract,” Cal Geffken, Fort Smith city administrator, explained.’
Read more: Fort Smith residents shocked to discover their recyclables were being dumped with regular trash