Chattanooga councilman cites strain for District 5’s exclusion from new recycling programs

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Chattanooga city council voted Tuesday to move forward with pilot programs for curbside composting and glass recycling.

However, one district will not be participating after their councilman voted against it.

The council passed two resolutions at Tuesday’s meeting, approving hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding.

Two local companies are expected to handle the processing of the materials like organic waste and glass.

However, one councilman voted no.

He says current issues with public works heavily influenced his vote against these programs.

Soon, yellow bins will be filled with glass for curbside pickup in some Chattanooga neighborhoods, with options for composting too.

New Terra will handle pickup for compost and Overlooked Materials will do the pickup for glass.

However, not all council members are on board.

Dennis Clark says he voted no because public works is already stretched thin and still behind on basic services like brush pickup.

NewTerra told us District 5 was removed from their program.

They say that’s after Councilman Clark claimed…

“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.”

But NewTerra tells us their program would not put a strain on public works, as they’re not responsible for pickup.

“Public Works isn’t processing the material — we are. And this was communicated multiple times,” NewTerra says. “We even offered residents a six-week membership to try it out.”

We asked Errol Williams with the city of Chattanooga about Clark’s concerns.

“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.”

Clark says he remains skeptical…

“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.”

Williams says adding curbside glass recycling and compost will nor contribute to the backup in brush pickup going on in the city.

Williams says that public works takes accountability for their side in the delay in brush pickup.