County Commissioner's Office

County Talk
By
Lamar Paris - Commissioner 

Questions the next two weeks will be on recycling issues.
Recycling Issues Part I

Q. How many scrap tires did you collect?  What will be done with all the tires?
A. The Scrap Tire Roundup was successful beyond our wildest imaginations.  It has taken almost five weeks for all the tires to be loaded on trailers and taken to be processed.  We did not count every single tire but the company that was hired to pick up the tires estimated that we had around 10,000.  We have filled four 26 ft. trailers and one 48 ft. trailer full of tires.  These tires will be taken to processing plants where they will be shredded and used as water permeable mulch, on walking and running tracks and as playground base.  Thanks to everyone who participated.  This will go a long way toward cleaning up our county.

Q. Where does the stuff go that we bring to Neighborhood Recycling and who is buying it?
A. The following information comes from Leslie George with North Georgia Resource Management Authority: Union County’s recyclable materials are transported to SP Recycling in Lawrenceville, GA.  From there the paper is made into newsprint.  The corrugated cardboard is made into new cardboard, the plastics are sent to Dalton, GA where they are made into carpet.  If you have carpet in your home you are walking on recycled plastic bottles!  The aluminum is sent to a company to be recycled into new aluminum cans.

Q. Where does the money go from the sale of recyclables?
A. The money generated from the sales of the recyclables reduces the amount of dues that Union County pays to be a member of the North Georgia Resource Management Authority. (In other words the money raised goes directly into our budget to save taxpayer funds.)

Q. What are the benefits to the county of being a member of the Northeast Georgia Resource Management Authority (NGRMA)?
A. Being a member of this Authority has many advantages, among those are that they provide educational and promotional materials for the county, they help support our recycle and litter volunteers. They provide literature and instruction for school children with different environmental programs and workshops.  They negotiate our recycling contracts, apply for and receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants, such as the one that has assisted us in starting our neighborhood recycling programs and recent scrap tire program. They are available to make educational presentations to community groups; they assist us with our “Keep Our Mountains Beautiful” program and much more.

The new Neighborhood recycling program has increased the amount of materials recycled in Union County during 2006 by over 150% from 2005.

For more information on recycling and other environmental programs in Union County, please visit their website at www.ngrma.org.

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