CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. \u2014 Chattanooga city council voted Tuesday to move forward with pilot programs for curbside composting and glass recycling.<\/p>\n
However, one district will not be participating after their councilman voted against it.<\/p>\n
The council passed two resolutions at Tuesday’s meeting, approving hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding.<\/p>\n
Two local companies are expected to handle the processing of the materials like organic waste and glass.<\/p>\n
However, one councilman voted no.<\/p>\n
He says current issues with public works heavily influenced his vote against these programs.<\/p>\n
Soon, yellow bins will be filled with glass for curbside pickup in some Chattanooga neighborhoods, with options for composting too.<\/p>\n
New Terra<\/a> will handle pickup for compost and Overlooked Materials <\/a>will do the pickup for glass.<\/p>\n However, not all council members are on board.<\/p>\n Dennis Clark says he voted no because public works is already stretched thin and still behind on basic services like brush pickup.<\/p>\n NewTerra told us District 5 was removed from their program.<\/p>\n They say that’s after Councilman Clark claimed…<\/p>\n “Public Works is already stretched thin and still behind on basic services like brush pickup. He also criticized what he called a lack of communication about how the program would work.\u201d<\/p>\n But NewTerra tells us their program would not put a strain on public works, as they’re not responsible for pickup.<\/p>\n \u201cPublic Works isn\u2019t processing the material \u2014 we are. And this was communicated multiple times,” NewTerra says. “We even offered residents a six-week membership to try it out.”<\/p>\n We asked Errol Williams with the city of Chattanooga about Clark’s concerns.<\/p>\n “We understand that the situation may look dire from a citizen standpoint, but we are working on different measures to make sure that we can get it taken care of.\u201d<\/p>\n Clark says he remains skeptical…<\/p>\n “Do they have the capacity to properly work with the compost group to make sure this program is a success? I don’t know yet, but we’re not going to let district five be the guinea pig for that.”<\/p>\n Williams says adding curbside glass recycling and compost will nor contribute to the backup in brush pickup going on in the city.<\/p>\n