 Town Council member Stephen Phillips presents a plan that would ensure more housing has recycling pickup. Photo by Holt Menzies
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by JULIANNE OLSON
Intern News Reporter
The Boone Town Council met Thursday to discuss recycling improvements and parking on football game days.
The town council and members from the Coordinated Recycling Committee discussed new recycling initiatives like creating better access to recycling containers at apartments.
Apartment complexes with five or more apartments are not offered curbside recycling, prompting landlords to rent containers for tenants to recycle their paper, aluminum cans, brown, clear and blue glass; plastic items are not included.
“It may not be
feasible for landlords to offer plastic recycling because the bins will
fill up a lot quicker, which would mean more pick-ups would be
necessary,” Blake Brown, director of the Public Works Department said.
“Finding a way to dispose of plastic just takes up too much space.”
Watauga County is 10th in the state for its recycling, meaning 70 to 75 percent of people in Watauga County recycle.
“Recycling
containers need to be accessible and easy to use for people, otherwise
there will be decreased participation,” Brown said. “Students at
Appalachian State University are leading the way in recycling, so we
need to continue to make recycling available to them in the community.”
Brown requested staff resources for permission to make recycling bins for plastic available throughout Boone.
“Anything we can do to help recycle is great,” Jamie S. Leigh, town council member said.
Melanie
Patterson, owner of Melanie’s Food Fantasy on King Street then
approached town council about game day parking, which she said was
ineffective at the last home game.
The original plan was for ambassadors to direct those parking so King Street was not full of football traffic and tailgaters.
She told the council she had no customers at 8 a.m. when the restaurant opened.
“No one
knew anything; there was no signage or ambassadors directing traffic,”
Patterson said. “The cones in every parking spot gave the atmosphere a
negative connotation, it just did not seem inviting to come in.”
The council told Patterson they would reevaluate the situation after her presentation of concerns.
Photo by Holt Menzies | Chief Photographer
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