It has been nearly three years since the city's recycling drop-off center moved from its longtime spot behind Arby's restaurant to its current location at 411 Liberty.
The drive-through facility, located behind Barton Junior High School and across from Rester's Part III Barber College at the corner of Liberty Street and Cordell, is not only the site where residents may deposit their recyclable materials; it is also the base of the city's garbage bag sales.
Though the recycling drop-off center relocated in early 2019, city officials said some residents are not aware that the city program has moved or is still available.
El Dorado City Council members said they want to make sure that residents take advantage of the service.
During a Finance Committee meeting last week, Council Member and committee chairman Vance Williamson reported that expenditures for the city's recycling program are just under year-to-date projections through July 31.
The recycling budget -- which is framed within the overall budget for the city's Sanitation Department -- includes operations for the drop-off center and the processing plant on South Jackson Avenue.
Council Member Willie McGhee noted that it has been a while since the city campaigned for or promoted its recycling service.
Added Williamson, "I get so many questions about it. People think we're closed because (the drop-off center) is not behind Arby's anymore."
The city relocated the drop-off facility to the Liberty Street location in February 2019 after years of discussions about how best to address complaints of unsightliness that occurred at the former location when people left items -- including items that were not accepted in the city's recycling program, such as bagged garbage -- after hours and on Sunday when the center would be closed.
The items routinely piled up between closing time on Saturday and opening time on Monday morning when additional city workers would be dispatched to the site to help clean up litter and clutter that would build up over the course of two nights.
Residents in the St. Louis neighborhood, in which the drop-off center was located, also reported having to constantly clear their yards and city streets of litter and other small debris that the wind would blow from the drop-off center and strew in the immediate area.
Additionally, city officials and members of Keep El Dorado Beautiful said that because of its high visibility, the area behind Arby's needed to be spruced up since it was just a few feet away from West Avenue, one the city's busiest thoroughfares, and adjacent to commercial businesses.
City officials agreed to move the facility to city-owned property at Liberty and Cordell, noting that the city had rented the old site for years and the monthly rental rate had doubled from $250 to $500 in January 2016.
At the time, Public Works Director Robert Edmonds, city officials and KEB members contended that the Liberty Street property is in the same general area and is a convenient, centralized location.
The cost to purchase the property and put up the new warehouse-style, manufactured building was $350,000, which was largely covered by a $250,000 grant that was funneled through the Southwest Arkansas Planning and Development District.
The city kicked in the remaining $100,000.
Edmonds said the Liberty Street location has worked out well, noting that the ability to store and process recyclable materials inside the building helps to keep the site tidy -- for the most part.
Demetrio Levingston, manager of the El Dorado recycling program, has also said that extended hours and additional manpower, a second employee, also help with tidiness.
However, some issues have arisen at the location and the city is working to address the problems.
For instance, there are two roll-off dumpsters on the northeast corner of the building where residents may dump construction materials and household trash, such as furniture and other large items.
"People go in there and they get around in there and throw stuff on the ground and our guys have to clean that up," Edmonds said.
Similar activity occurs after hours with dumpsters on the south end of the building, where cardboard and yard waste may be deposited.
He said people also root through electronic waste items and remove the usable parts.
Consequently, the city is planning to put up privacy fences along those areas and move the dumpsters inside the fences to deter people from creeping onto the property when the facility is closed.
"It'll just be open during normal operating hours. We're trying to deter some of that and that will contain some of the e-waste we got on that side of the building too," Edmonds explained.
"So, it'll look nicer and keep people from scavenging the parts. They pick out all the silver and gold and people who recycle (e-waste) can't use them," he continued.
He said the fencing will probably be erected in November, adding that dumpsters will remain outside the fences to allow people to dump cardboard and other recyclable materials that are accepted at the center, including plastic bottles (milk, water, soda, etc.), newspaper print and magazines.
The tops must be removed from the plastic bottles before the bottles are deposited at the drop-off center.
Earlier this year, the city was saddled with approximately $10,000 worth of repairs after a man drove into the building with a city-owned pickup truck.
The man had escaped police custody in an unrelated arrest in January and bolted from the El Dorado Police Department, which is a block south of the recycling center.
The suspect jumped into a city truck on the north side of the recycling center and crashed into the building while attempting to flee the scene.
"The recycling manager had just gotten out of his truck and walked inside to take some papers to the guy who runs the center and by the time he turned around to walk back to his truck, the guy had gotten in and put it in drive," Edmonds explained.
"He destroyed the door, the door rail and some flashing around the door, a few pieces of tin and pilings for the concrete, so he did quite a bit of damage," he continued.
City trash bags may also be purchased at the drop-off center.
To maximize revenue, Edmonds said the city still holds recyclables until prices rise before selling them.
He noted that revenue from newspaper print has taken a hit within the past year, a phenomenon that is attributed, in part, to efforts by WEHCO Media, owner of the El Dorado News-Times, to transition to a mostly digital format and reduce its print editions.
Within the past three years, the company has stalled the local newspaper press and moved its layout, design and print operations from the News-Times office to company hubs outside El Dorado.
The city's recycling drop-off center is open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and offers a drive-through service.
For more information, call Levingston at 870-866-7219; Anthony Traylor, the city's solid waste manager, at 870-866-7258; or the Department of Public Works at 870-863-4244.