Nashville-area officials have been asking for the public's input on ways to improve Davidson County's waste and recycling programs.
Metro Public Works and the Davidson County Solid Waste Region Board released a survey Thursday afternoon that asked residents about their waste and recycle habits and asked for input on various topics.
"Nashville's a beautiful city, and we want to make sure that it stays beautiful and it stays clean and that we are as environmentally responsible as we can be," Jenna Smith, public information officer with Metro Nashville Public Works, explained.
The survey was being launched ahead of creating a long-term Solid Waste Master Plan to guide how Nashville manages waste and recycling in the future.
"Nashvillians want to recycle, and we want them to be able to recycle," Smith said.
One of the main topics being looked at has been how to better recycle glass in the Nashville area.
At this time, glass has not been a part of curbside recycling. Instead, people have to bring their glass to one of twelve recycling locations in the Nashville area.
That glass has then been taken to a sorting facility, then taken to the recycle plant in Atlanta, Georgia to be broken down and recycled.
In the last year, the process of recycling 4.4 million pounds of glass cost Nashville more than $143,000, a figure they hope to reduce as part of their master plan.
"We're paying about $40 a ton for bringing glass to the recycling center," Smith explained. "It's actually cheaper to bring it to a landfill."
The plan being formulated with input from the survey will consider different waste streams, such as organics, and how they could be managed and diverted from landfills.
The new plan will also replace Davidson County’s current 10-year Solid Waste Plan which was approved by the Board in December 2008 and will expire next year.
"There's not going to be a stone unturned as far as what we look at," Smith said of the options for a new master plan.
You can click here to participate in the survey, or you can visit Nashville Public Works' website for more information by clicking here.
