If you come by the Recycling Center the week after Christmas you will likely notice the “pile” out front. The fact is that at least 95% of that pile is made up of good recyclable material that we are happy to get each year. The only real problem we have with the holiday after hours material is that it takes us a while to get through it. As long as the wind is not blowing, the material is pretty well contained by our make shift walls of corrugated bales and we work on it until it is all brought in and sorted and processed for delivery to market. Most of the people that use this area during the holidays are kind enough to put their recyclables in bags making our job much easier. Of course we have that small percentage of people that continue to abuse this after hours area by dumping off non-recyclables - like furniture, old mattresses and plain old trash. However, we feel that it is better to deal with this relatively small percentage of trash than to close off the area to the hundreds of people who need access to the recycling drop off area after our normal operating hours.
We have purchased a new video surveillance system that has multiple cameras and will be installing it during the next few weeks. The plan is to film and document those who abuse the drop off area and start issuing tickets for illegal dumping and hope that this will stop these activities. In the meantime, please keep bringing all that good recycling any time you can – it really does make a difference.
For the last 3 years the Recycling Center has sponsored a computer and electronics collection day in January to offer people an environmentally responsible opportunity to dispose of their old electronic equipment after Christmas. This year it will be held on Saturday, January 27, 2007 from 9 am – 2 pm at the State Mutual Baseball Stadium. Contact the Recycling Center at 706/291-5266 for more detailed information.
As we begin the new year of 2007 I
want to encourage everyone to please take a moment to think “recycling” before
throwing anything into the garbage. We
have good markets for your recyclables but we can’t do a thing unless YOU
MAKE THE CHOICE TO RECYCLE.
There are many ways to recycle in our community and I challenge you to
take advantage of them. Happy New Year.