Recycling, Other County Programs Highlighted at Town Hall Meeting

At Wednesday night's Town Hall meeting hosted by Gwinnett County Commissioner Lynette Howard (Dist. 2) Peachtree Corners residents came away with information on the county's recycling plan and other programs to keep the county green and clean.

Howard brought with her two county recycling pros, Tom Keith, the Director of Solid Waste & Recycle Division for Gwinnett County and Connie Wiggins, Executive Director of Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful.

All three fielded questions from the 30 residents who attended the evening event that was held at the Peachtree Corners City Hall.

Keith began the meeting with a presentation on the county's recycling program and answering questions on a variety of topics including why recycling is not available to apartment dwellers.

Keith explained that the solid waste haulers for apartments are served by commercial haulers. Getting residential haulers to serve apartments that could offer recycling is "something we are pursuing," said Keith who acknowledged there is a lot of missed opportunities for keeping more recycling material out of landfills.

Debbie Mason asked about the county providing "wheeled recycling carts," Keith said the cost was prohibitive but said that a quick solution would be to "add a recyclable' stick-on label to your own containers and it would be picked up."

There are a number of items that can be recycled by residents, a full list is available on the county's website.

Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful's Connie Wiggins challenged everyone to "think resource not waste," to find ways that items can be turned into a resource and not dumped into a land fill.

Wiggins said this year 20,000 live Christmas trees were recycled by Gwinnett in the organization's annual "Bring in One for the Chipper." The Recycling Center is located at 4300 Satellite Boulevard in Duluth.

She said the recycling center also offers free document shredding while you watch. "If you're doing some spring cleaning and want to get read of sensitive documents such as old IRS forms, you can watch as they are being shredded," she said.

The free document shredding is available Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Visit the Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful website for more information.

Wiggins also provided an update on the county's efforts to eliminate graffiti. "We're seeing positive trends," reported Wiggins who said by locating hot spots and working with police, they've been able to make a positive impact on reducing graffiti.

Lynette Howard discussed a new crime-free multi housing program that's been her project. The program involves training apartment managers and operators to learn to ask the right questions of applicants to determine if a potential tenant may have been involved with drugs or have a criminal record.

"I'm going to keep working on this program until we have fabulous apartments in the community," she said.

Howard also called on anyone interested in being nominated for Leadership Gwinnett to contact her and reminded everyone there were a number of volunteer opportunities with Gwinnett County. A list is available on the county's website. Part time and full time volunteers are needed in a number of areas.

Contact Lynette Howard by phone: 770.822.7002, or by email at Lynette.Howard@gwinnettcounty.com