The City of Knoxville is extending daily hours at the Elm Street drop-off location for construction/demolition debris, tires and other solid waste items to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The Solid Waste Management Facility, 1033 Elm St., opens at 7 a.m. Monday through Friday and beginning March 1 will remain open until 4 p.m. The Household Hazardous Waste Collection Center, at the same location, will also remain open until 4 p.m., but will close on Mondays for hazardous waste processing.
Both facilities are open from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. On the first Saturday of each month, "Amnesty Saturday," city residents may dispose of construction/demolition debris and larger household items at no charge from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
"We are committed to offering city residents the best possible garbage disposal services at the best possible prices," Mayor Bill Haslam said, "We will continue to look for ways to improve those services and our efficiency in delivering them."
According to the city's 2004 Annual Report on Solid Waste, 25,868 tons of construction / demolition waste was collected from 62,000 vehicles at the transfer station. That allows the City to reduce significantly the amount of waste sent to the Chestnut Ridge Class 1 landfill.
The Household Hazardous Waste Collection Center processed 172 tons of household waste, of which more than a third was latex paint. Clean paint is recycled and donated to Knox County schools, and City and County maintenance departments.
In total, roughly 56 percent of the waste collected by the City and its contractors - including brush and leaves - is recycled or diverted from a Class I to a Class III landfill. That well surpasses the state's suggested goal of 25 percent diverted.
In November, the City's contractor, Waste Connections began offering curbside recycling to residents and the success of the program will be monitored this year, Mayor Haslam stated.
The City continues to partner with Goodwill Industries to sponsor eight recycling centers throughout the city.
The City offers weekly residential garbage collection and bi-weekly collection of yard waste.