As Madison County grow continues to grow, so do the programs serving the people. One example is the Recycling Alliance of North Alabama. RANA Executive Director Doc Holladay said the program is serving about 77,700 households, nearly twice as much as the old program. The program has been around for just more than 18 months now after starting in August of 2019.
Holladay said they’re continuing to grow each month, as well, putting out an additional 900 recycling carts each month. “Not only are we collecting more of the right materials, but we actually have about 600 households per month still asking for a new cart, to start the program,” he said. “And about 300 households a month are saying, ‘Hey, I’ve outgrown this one cart, I need a second cart,’” Holladay said.
Holladay said they’re recycling about 40% more than the old program and are also focused on keeping contamination low. So far, he said they have about 50% to 60% less contamination. But, there are still limitations, Holladay said there is not a recyclery here, so they have to truck the reusable materials to Chattanooga. Holladay said this is a factor limiting expansion of the program, right now they only serve single-family households. People who live in apartments or those working in commercial businesses have no easy way to recycle.