Nashville Mayor John Cooper addressed the city’s waste and recycling challenges on Thursday, saying the outside city contractor had “made us fail.”
Comments, posted on twitter, were Cooper’s first on the issue since the city said Monday it had halted curbside recycling services as an interim measure to free up resources to tackle chronic delays with garbage collection.
Without diverting staff and vehicles dedicated to recycling, garbage would pile up in neighborhoods across Nashville. Contractor Red River Waste Solutions has not collected garbage for all of its Nashville customers on designated days in the past three weeks, according to Metro Water Services.
Red River, the company responsible for most of the garbage pickups in Nashville, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October. The bankruptcy process allows Red River to restructure its business and ultimately keep it going. The city would also need permission from the Texas bankruptcy court to terminate its contract with the company.
On Twitter, Cooper said the city had put all of its Metro Waste Services crews into the garbage collection and were working to secure another garbage collection contractor to “fill the Red River blackout.”
Metro aims to resume curbside recycling services in late January or early February.
In the meantime, residents can take their recycling to 10 recycling drop-off sites and four convenience stores. Residents will be able to bring up to five bags of household garbage per day to Metro convenience stores, which is an increase from the usual two.
For Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, Metro has increased recycling time at Granbery Elementary School from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Related:Nashville Suspends Recycling Collection Services As Garbage Collection Problems Squeeze Metro Resources
Related:Collection of curbside recycling suspended. Here’s where to find collection sites in Nashville
Recycling depot sites
- Bellevue Metro Transit Authority Park and Ride, open 24 hours, 7835 Coley Davis Road, Nashville, TN 37221
- Cane Ridge High School, open 24 hours, 12848 Old Hickory Blvd, Antioch, TN 37013
- Granbery Elementary School, open Saturdays 9 a.m. to noon, 5501 Hill Road, Brentwood, TN 37027
- Hillsboro High School, open Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 p.m., 3812 Hillsboro Pike, Nashville, TN 37215
- Joelton Middle School 24 Hour, 3500 Old Clarksville Pike, Joelton, TN 37080
- 24 hour Lakewood Town Hall, 3401 Old Hickory Blvd, Old Hickory, TN 37138
- McGavock High School, open 24 hours a day, 3150 McGavock Pike, Nashville, TN 37214
- Old Ben West Library Building, open 24 hours (no drinks accepted at this location), 225 Polk Ave, Nashville, TN 37203
- Tennessee State University, open 24 hours, 39th Ave N and John L. Driver Ave, Nashville, TN 37209
- Whites Creek High School, open 24 hours a day, 7277 Old Hickory Blvd, Whites Creek, TN 37189
Convenience stores are open Tuesday to Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
- East Convenience Center, 943A Doctor Richard G. Adams Drive, Nashville, TN 37207
- Ezell Pike Convenience Center, 3254 Ezell Pike, Nashville, TN 37211
- Omohundro Convenience Center, 1019 Omohundro Place, Nashville, TN 37210
- Anderson Lane Convenience Center, 939A Anderson Lane, Madison, TN 37115
Adam Friedman is the Tennessean’s evening reporter covering breaking news, crime, cops and a bit of everything in between. If you have a tip, he wants it. Email him at [email protected] or call him at 731-431-8517.