The Town of Chapel Hill has installed 13 new recycling bins along Franklin Street to collect cans and bottles that were previously thrown in the trash, and another four bins will be placed in Southern Village's central business area.
A $13,000 grant from the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources enabled the town to purchase the recycling bins. The sidewalk recycling project was a result of a successful partnership with Orange County, according to Emily Cameron, a landscape architect with the Town of Chapel Hill.
Previously there had been no convenient locations for recycling in downtown Chapel Hill, with only one recycling bin in front of the old Post Office, and another on the south side of East Franklin Street. The closest pedestrian recycling containers were located on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus.
Recovered bottles and cans from the new recycling bins will be taken with other recyclable materials collected by Orange County to the ReCommunity prove materials recovery facility in Greensboro. The facility sorts, bales and sells the material for remanufacture into new drink cans, car parts, carpets, fiberfill, strapping and new plastic bottles.
