Kingsport adding two recycling drop-off sites

The City of Kingsport is planning to re-establish a recycling drop-off site at the Kingsport Civic Auditorium later this year.

At the same time, the city plans to create a new full-service drop-off site on Industry Drive where not only recyclable materials would be accepted, but household and yard waste would be as well.

These steps are being taken to improve recycling services to the citizens of Kingsport, said Deputy City Manager Ryan McReynolds.

“When we paused our curbside recycling, it took away the convenience factor of recycling for our citizens,” McReynolds said. “Now, we want to focus on re-establishing a drop-off station at the civic and creating additional locations across town. If and when curbside recycling comes back, those new locations can hopefully remain.”

Kingsport paused its curbside recycling service two years ago after the market essentially dropped out on mixed paper, thus making it economically unfeasible to continue the service. However, recycling options still exist in our area.

Sullivan County manages a number of recycling drop-off sites across the county, including ones in Colonial Heights, Sullivan Gardens, on Industry Drive and on Brookside Drive. In the past, a drop-off site was located behind the Kingsport Civic Auditorium, but it was removed to accommodate the construction of the Dobyns-Bennett High School STEM building.

Now, Kingsport hopes to re-establish a drop-off site at the civic auditorium by this fall.

In addition, Kingsport plans to move the existing drop-off site on Industry Drive further down the road and expand it to be a full-service, fully-manned facility capable to accepting not only recyclable materials, but also yard waste, household waste and construction debris.

McReynolds said this site would have normal operating hours and only be for the citizens of Kingsport. Contractor waste would not be accepted. The city is in the process of purchasing the property for the drop-off site and hopes to have the facility up and running by this fall as well.

“Kingsport has a long history of being a leader in recycling so it goes without saying we want to do everything possible to offer this service to our residents, in the most affordable way possible,” McReynolds said.