CHARLESTON, W.Va. — “We’re still in a pause position” was how Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin described the status of curbside recycling in the Capital City in the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“Hopefully, crossing fingers, we’ll have some good news to announce very soon, in the next couple of months, about recycling in Charleston,” Mayor Goodwin said during a Monday appearance on “580-LIVE with Dave Allen.”
City curbside recycling operations were suspended in April when the recycling facility for the Raleigh County Solid Waste Authority, the destination for Charleston’s recyclables, closed to protect plant workers from possible exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19.
Since then, any items put out for recycling in Charleston have been collected with garbage.
The Raleigh County recycling center reopened on July 1 with operations under new guidelines.
However, recycling pickups have not yet resumed in Charleston.
Mayor Goodwin said they’re re-evaluating.
“If we want to have a robust recycling program in the City of Charleston, and, oh by the way, I think we can have it, we need to educate folks on what they can recycle and we need to find a way to do it here in the City of Charleston,” she said.
“Shipping trucks to Beckley with two drivers and two cars and gasoline — that just doesn’t make sense.”