Knox County Convenience Centers seeing long lines after holidays

Posted: Dec 27, 2021 / 07:32 PM EST

Updated: Dec 27, 2021 / 07:32 PM EST

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Based on the long lines at several of the Knox County convenience facilities Monday, many people seemed ready to get the holidays behind them.

“The day we open after Christmas is our biggest day of the year, we actually often refer to it as the Super Bowl of garbage,” said Zach Johnson, operations manager for all seven of the Knox County Convenience Centers.

In an average week, Johnson said they get about 40,000 residents.

“We get a lot more during the holidays, of course,” Johnson said.

While he says they always get a wide array of items to their lots, a few increase and stick out this time of year.

“We take in a lot of cooking oil, people making a lot of turkeys, cardboard, mixed paper, of course people getting a lot of presents in the mail from Amazon,” he said.

It’s that increase in mail and online shopping since the start of the pandemic that has made one dumpster bin much more popular.

“The pandemic has actually increased the amount of packages being delivered to people’s homes so they’re not shopping as much in stores, it seems from the waste streams,” Johnson said. “We’re getting a lot more cardboard than we have been in previous years.”

So, if you’re planning on stopping by one of the waste facilities across the county this week, they ask you to do a couple things before heading over.

“We ask residents if they bring in cardboard that they dump out the Styrofoam in the regular trash before they put it into the cardboard,” Johnson said.

He also asked residents to pack their patience.

“Hopefully we can get everyone cleared out of here with the recycling and trash,” he said.

Knoxville and Knox County residents can take advantage of the County’s Tree-Cycling program. After Jan. 1, 2021, trees can be left at one of the Knox County convenience centers listed below. The trees must be cleaned of all ornaments, lights, wire, string and other decorations before bringing them to be tree-cycled.