Right after we moved to Franklin County, I wrote a piece about the green dumpster where we had brought our trash and how it had disappeared one day. I concluded that adventure with relief that the country had evidently just been changing the old green dumpster to a fresh, new one. But friends, I was wrong. Our convenient dumpster site, at the corner of Burnt Chimney and Brooks Mill Roads, was no more.

But it was all part of a bigger picture: Franklin County now boasts a number of spiffier trash and recycling sites at various points around the county. They are open from 7:00 am – 7:00 pm on weekdays (the weekend hours are a little different). And they’re easy to use, as long as you keep in mind some rules:

1. Do separate out your plastics from your cans and newsprint. And rinse that stuff out.
2. Don’t make a separate pile of glass recyclables. Franklin County does not currently have a market for recycled glass, so they go in with the trash.
3. As a corollary to #2, do look for beer served in cans. They have plenty of good ones at the Kroger, don’t worry.
4. As another corollary to #2, Homestead Creamery will let you bring their milk bottles back to the Farm Stand for recycling.
5. Do give yourself some extra time in dropping off your trash, because the guys who work at the sites are helpful and friendly and may have some solid advice to share. Don’t be rude.
6. Do know the hours of the sites. This will prevent you from driving around with a bag of used cat litter in your car because you thought you’d be smart and hit up the trash site on the way to the gym.