REPORTING OUR RECYCLING TOTALS

In addition to receiving, processing and shipping the millions of pounds of recyclable materials our community generates, one of the jobs of the Recycling Center is to educate the public on the importance of recycling and waste reduction. We do a variety of different types of education in an effort to reach all segments of the population. One new component of this educational program begins with this article. Each month we will be reporting to you how much the Recycling Center ships out on a monthly and year-to-date basis so you can begin to have an understanding of the types of volumes we deal with. In this report you will see how much of that material comes from the City of Rome’s Curbside Recycling Program as well as Floyd County’s Remote Sites Recycling Program. We will be reporting how much money we pay out to the public for bringing their sorted, clean aluminum cans, newspaper, office paper, corrugated boxes and #1 and #2 plastic bottles and jars to us. The Revenues Earned amount is how much the Recycling Center was able to collect that month from the various mills that we send our recyclables to for their raw materials to make new products. And the final amount – Landfill Cost Avoidance – is what it would have cost to send all of these recyclables to the landfill for burying instead of recycling. These numbers are offered with the hope of providing an overall picture of how our recycling programs can be a positive environmental and economic impact on the community as a whole.

Mills need to be able to count on receiving their raw materials from communities such as ours in order to produce their products on a steady, profitable basis. Rome and Floyd County are one of the more active recycling communities in the State, but we only generate a small portion of the State’s overall recycling quantities. However, every community’s “small portion” adds up to a sustainable stream for recycling mills and we need to strive maintain these volumes and increase them as our community grows in size and affluence.

Many of Rome and Floyd County’s industries and businesses have outstanding recycling programs in place and contribute a large portion of our overall recycling volumes. The City’s curbside program makes recycling very convenient for their residents, however, there are many residents that do not participate in the program. We encourage more people to take advantage of this easy way to recycle and reduce their garbage. The Floyd County Remote Site Recycling Program is also underutilized by our residents. Every Remote Household Garbage Collection Site offers recycling opportunities and we encourage more people to take advantage of these recycling opportunities and reduce the amount of garbage they are sending to the landfill.

For more detailed information on all of the recycling programs in our community, please visit our web site at www.romefloydrecycles.org. If there is anything the Recycling Center can do to help you increase your recycling efforts, please contact us at 291-5266.

RECYCLING TOTALS - reported in pounds
	JAN 04	YTD 04
Recycling Center	1,346,145	1,346,145
Curbside	84,825	84,825
County Remotes	69,886	69,886
Paid to Public	$2,761	$2,761
Revenues Earned	$34,126	$34,126
Landfill
Cost Avoidance	$21,471	$21,471