After the holidays, people often wonder where to take recyclable items including cardboard boxes, plastic, paper and much more.
Located on the corner of Lester and Columbia streets, behind Arby’s, is the El Dorado Recycling Center, where citizens can drop off their recyclable items for free.
The recycling center is open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Anthony Traylor, solid waste manager, said they accept recyclable items including all paper, such as cardboard, newspaper, magazine, etc. They also accept plastic and aluminum cans.
Traylor said he encourages people to bring their items to the recycling center, rather than the recycling plant, which is located on South Jackson Avenue.
“The plant is where we build up the boxes and the paper, things like that,” Traylor said. “It’s more of a working area. We would rather them take [their items] to the recycling center.”
At the recycling center, there is also always someone on site working to help people unload their items and make sure they are recyclable.
Traylor said that it is important for people to recycle and it’s a “blessing and a benefit to the city of El Dorado.”
He added that it also helps when people sort their items, keeping the cardboard together, paper together and plastic separate. “It will be better and easier on us,” he said. “If not, we’ll take it how we get it.”
Debbie Stinson, administrative assistant to the director of public works, said the new recycling center in El Dorado will be opening up in a few weeks.
The new recycling center, located at 401 Liberty St., will serve the same purpose as the current recycling center, but will be a drive through drop-off site.
“You’ll just drive through and they’ll unload whatever you have, you don’t even have to get out of the car,” Stinson said. “It will be a lot of help for the elderly that like to recycle.”
Stinson added that they were aiming to open the new center on Jan. 1, but it has been extended a few weeks as they are waiting on Entergy to service the electricity in the facility.
“I just encourage everyone to recycle,” Stinson said. “That means it keeps it out of the landfill, the landfill bill is a lot cheaper and it’s just good to recycle. We can get revenue off of recyclables to run the program.”
Kaitlyn Rigdon can be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected].