Auburn residents who recycle will now have to travel to Russellville with their commodities for at least awhile since the receptacle located behind the ambulance substation has been removed.

The removal is the result of months of abuse by those who misused the bin by dumping items in it other than recyclables.

The straw that broke the camels back was bags of old freezer meat that had rotted for a week causing a terrible odor and maggots.

Logan County Jailer Bill Jenkins, who also oversees the county’s recycling program, said the bin in Auburn has been a problem for some time now. Others items placed wrongfully placed in the bin over the past several months have been drywall, wet carpet, baby diapers and a variety of trash.

The proper commodities accepted in the bin are glass, plastic, paper and aluminum.

“We are not in the trash business," said Jenkins to the fiscal court when explaining why he pulled the bin. Jenkins told the court he wasn’t taking the receptacle back until he could talk to Auburn’s Mayor Dewey Roche.

Roche told the N-D&L he was willing to work on the problem but was skeptical about the outcome.

“I have another place we could put it but until we convince these people to cooperate I don’t know if it will do any good,” said Roche.

One of the thoughts to stop the abuse was to move the receptacle to a more visible location which would provide additional surveillance.

“This is a good service, my wife uses it, but we've got to figure something out. There are people using it like it’s a garbage receptacle,” said Roche adding, “I am willing to hear any ideas about how to stop this. Maybe we need it gone for awhile to convince people to stop.”

Jenkins said when his crew found garbage bags of old freezer meat thrown in the receptacle the smell was horrible. According to Jenkins it took a lot of scrubbing to get the receptacle clean.