Council approves license for recycling facility in Avondale

Only about one percent of Birmingham residents actively recycle. This is an issue that the Birmingham City Council has been trying to address in recent months.

On Tuesday the Council approved the license for Birmingham Recycling and Recovery LLC, which is located on 41st Street in Avondale. For years, the facility has handled recycling services for 25 municipalities, including Birmingham.

Here is the resolution as it appeared on Tuesday’s agenda:

Chris Bartlett, who manages the recycling operation, said this was a big step in the right direction for Birmingham. Due to complications with the parent company changing names, the facility briefly had to cease operations, leaving a glaring hole in Birmingham’s recycling capabilities.

“Thank goodness we were approved today so we can continue to do business in the Birmingham and with the City of Birmingham,” Bartlett explained following the unanimous vote. “We are mainly a commercial facility that processes 3,000 tons of recyclable materials a month. Most of that is brought in from Birmingham and the surrounding municipalities.”

Councilor Hunter Williams, who chairs the public safety committee that recommended the license to the full Council, said Birmingham needs to keep moving toward a more robust recycling program within the city, but Tuesday’s vote was a positive step.

“We spend roughly $7 million every few years expanding the cells in our city landfills,” Williams said. “We, as city leaders, need to set an example and make it as easy as possible for residents to recycle because by not doing so, it’s costing the city a lot of money and resources. Not to mention the damage it does on our environment. However, I’ve been encouraged by the steps we’ve made recently.”

Williams continued by saying that recycling is available to every Birmingham resident and pick-up occurs once a week. All residents need is to do is separate their recyclable goods and place them in bins where their trash is collected.

“We’re going to be pushing these efforts pretty hard,” Williams said — last year he helped provide hundreds of recycle bins to residents in District 2. “The more people start buying into the idea of recycling, the more I believe it becomes contagious to their neighbors and community. We can and must do better.”

The Birmingham Recycling and Recovery facility is a vital part of that effort. In January, Councilor Crystal Smitherman helped launch a recycling program at Legion Field.

Smitherman said she saw a need for a recycling program during the most recent Birmingham Bowl. “I was at the game and had a water bottle that I wanted to recycle,” Smitherman recounted. “I asked if we had anywhere to recycle and I was shocked to find out that we didn’t. Something so simple can make such a big impact…We’re talking about getting recycling bins and putting them at Legion Field so we can encourage people to recycle. We can take those items and reuse them.”

The facility in Avondale collects and separates the commodities and sends them off to various mills across the country.

“I’ve spoken at length with city leaders about how we can improve recycling in Birmingham,” Bartlett said. “Everyone wants to recycling but not everyone wants to go through the hassle of doing so. We need to make it as easy as possible and more available to everyone. This is a great step.”