RECYCLING IS SMART

For the last 10 years, the Rome/Floyd Recycling Center has been offering the citizens of Rome and Floyd County the opportunity to “be smart”. Originally funded with money from the 1988 SPLOST referendum, the Center now operates on the revenues earned through the sales of recyclables and the City and County general budgets when our revenues don’t cover our expenses. Budget and major operational changes are overseen and approved by the Rome/Floyd County Solid Waste Commission. Materials accepted are determined by market availability, highest impact on the waste stream and costs for processing and delivering materials to market.

Our Center is recognized State wide for its scope of services, innovative programs and successful annual volumes shipped to recycled markets. The Rome/Floyd Recycling Center has won a number of prestigious awards, both State and National.

Over the last 10 years the Rome/Floyd Recycling Center has shipped out over 100 MILLION pounds of recyclables –(51,000 + tons). If those materials had gone to the landfill instead of the Recycling Center it would have cost over $1,000,000 to bury. We have earned over $ 3,000,000 revenues and have paid out to the public over $837,480 through our buy back program. Now that’s smart.

Our main message these past 10 years has been that “Recycling is Smart…Please Do Your Part”. It is smart to earn money on recyclables instead of paying to throw them away. It is smart to reduce the amount of materials going to the landfill resulting in a longer life for that expensive hole in the ground. It is smart to reduce your garbage costs by reducing your garbage through recycling. It is smart to use recycling as a fund raiser for your favorite charity by bringing your recyclables to the Center for credit. It is smart to keep recyclables out of the garbage so they can be used again and again to make new products. It is smart to use recycled materials to make new ones – the process reduces land, air and water pollution. It is smart to save valuable natural resources by recycling.

Lots of individuals and businesses are certainly “doing their part”. They are taking their recyclables out to the curb for pick up in the City’s Curbside Program. They are putting their recyclables in the recycling bins at the Floyd County Remote sites. They are bringing their recyclables to the Rome/Floyd Recycling Center for drop off and buy back. They are hiring commercial waste haulers to bring their recyclables to the Center. They are participating in the Center’s office paper and corrugated pick up program. And some are finding ways to reduce the amount of waste they generate in the first place.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of individuals and companies that have not shown their “smarts”. Some of the reasons we hear are: My stuff won’t make that big a difference. It doesn’t pay enough. I don’t know how to. It’s too much trouble. Let’s look at these reasons from a different perspective – the Recycling is Smart perspective.

My stuff won’t make that big a difference. Well, if everyone felt that way, there wouldn’t be any need for a recycling center – there wouldn’t be anything to recycle – it would all be going to the landfill. Most of the residential recycling materials that come to the Center are small amounts, but they all add up to large volumes. Many of the non profit donation accounts make good money through lots of people bringing small amounts each time they come. The key is to have lots of people bringing their small amounts. It really adds up.

It doesn’t pay enough. How much is enough? That couple of dollars paid for a trunk full of recyclables is only half the picture. In the City, those recyclables reduce the amount of garbage being thrown away, thus reducing the level of service you need to subscribe for. In the County, those recyclables reduce the amount of garbage being sent to the land fill, thereby reducing your Solid Waste Tax. For businesses, those recyclables reduce the amount a company has to pay for having their garbage taken to the landfill. Removing recyclables from the garbage stream adds life to the landfill. The longer a landfill cell can last, the longer it is before we need to pay for additional space to be added to the landfill. When recyclables are used to make new products, the savings those manufacturers realize through the process is realized as savings to us in the cost of the new products. So how much is enough? Can you really justify that comment considering all the positive impacts recycling has?

I don’t know how to. That’s what the Recycling Center does best. Helps educate people on how to recycle. There are dozens of different ways to recycle – and they are all right. Surely there is one that would suit your situation. Call the Recycling Center for ideas or visit our website or talk with your neighbors. Once you find the easiest way for you to recycle it will become a habit that lasts a lifetime and is good for you and everyone in your community.

It’s too much trouble. This is the hardest objection to overcome. Recycling doesn’t happen by itself. It does take some time and effort to do and here is where people need to ask how much their time is really worth. Garbage is a fact of life. Everyone – young or old, individual or business – generates waste every single day of every single year. Garbage costs money to deal with. The more garbage there is the more money it costs to deal with it. You know where that money comes from – taxes and fees. So the question is, are you willing to reduce your solid waste costs by taking a bit of trouble to recycle? The “Smart” answer here is YES.

Watch for future articles about recycling in this paper. Contact the Recycling Center at 291-5266 or rfrecycl@roman.net for more information. Visit our website at www.romefloydrecycles.org .