The team at Republic Services is eager to resume curbside recycling for Kilgore residents, they’re just making sure all the pieces are in place before giving locals the ‘Green’ light.
The destruction of Rivers Recycling in mid-June 2024 derailed curbside and other recycling efforts for more than a year. Plans to rebuild on FM1252 were delayed multiple times then canceled, leaving a significant gap until a solution took shape.
Gene Keenon’s ready to get recycling up-and-running for good. It’ll take a bit longer, according to Republic Services’ Manager of Municipal Services, but at least there’s progress to report.
The recent opening of the Northeast Texas Regional Material Recovery Facility (MRF) means there’s a place to send recyclables once the operation gets up to speed.
Located at 2306 U.S. Hwy. 259, just north of the former Mansfield Plumbing plant in Kilgore, the metal-wrapped structure has 50,000 square-feet under-roof and is steadily scaling up efforts.
“On July 16, they gave us the word that we could start taking the commercial bins to them,” Keenon said. It’s an important early step, with the resumption of curbside recycling a bit further down the checklist.
In the meantime, he added, Kilgoreites should continue the good habit of separating their recyclables into the yellow-lidded carts provided by Republic Services.
Soon enough, that green-garbage set-aside will be headed to the right place. For now, the NETX MRF administrators are making sure the facility and its equipment can handle the local intake.
The goal, Keenon added, is to get recycling started again as soon as possible so long as there’s confidence it will continue at 100 percent.
“We made it clear to this new company that once we start we can’t be on-again, off-again, on-again,” he said. With the MRF’s doors now open for roll-off recycling containers from Longview, Tyler and other communities, it’s good news for curbside pickup: “If that goes well, they will tell us we can.”
