What's recycled in Georgia, stays in Georgia

Published in the Madison County Journal a month ago. To subscribe to the Madison County Journal visit www.mainstreetnews.com

By Dallas Bordon

Suki Janssen is the Recycling Coordinator for the Athens/Clarke County Government. If you visit her office you might see anything from a lamp stand made of glass bottles to a flower pot made of bottle caps that hold aluminum flowers made from shredded coke cans. These are among many more reusable items that prove the point; there is a use for almost everything that we might toss into our trash cans. Over the years recycling has been a popular growing industry. While Janssen’s office decorations might just be a minor use for items, there are many other products we throw away daily that can be recycled into reusable items such as the carpet we walk on. 

There are some people that might not understand the importance of recycling. It’s not just the tossing items into bins for recycling that Janseen views the importance of but it’s also the facts such as how it helps Georgia’s economy and helps save landfill space. Most residents don’t realize that recycling creates jobs for Georgians. Workers are used to pickup, transport and sort items at many facilities around Georgia such as right here in Athens.

You take the recycling of plastics for example. Georgia’s recycled plastic industry employs 36,398 Georgians with a payroll of $874.7 million and accounts for $1.55 billion in annual product sales in Georgia. Georgia’s glass industry employs approximately 600 Georgians and the paper industry employs 25,000 plus Georgians and accounts for $10 billion in annual product sales in the state.

Statistics also show that the most valuable recycled item is aluminum, in which 48 thousand tons of cans are disposed of in Georgia, has an estimated market value of 80 million dollars. The aluminum recycling industry in Georgia employs more than 100 people and has an annual payroll and tax contribution of $7,000,000. “What’s recycled in Georgia stays in Georgia.” Georgia has many recycling centers throughout the state that handles our recycling needs. With the huge number of facilities in Georgia, the product such as aluminum cans are usually recycled and back on the store shelves within 60 days. And when you think of the impact of one recycled can here’s a fact for you; recycling one can saves enough energy to run a computer for three hours. Also, recycled aluminum conserves 95 percent of energy it takes to create cans from raw materials.

Let’s take a look at the benefits of recycling paper. 1.9 million tons of recycled paper is thrown away each year right here in Georgia. Forty percent less energy is used when making paper out of recycled materials instead of using trees. Seventy gallons of water is conserved when using recycled materials to create paper. Just think about this; recycling five pounds of paper conserves enough water to offset the water you use in a typical shower in the morning.

Like paper and aluminum cans, the recycling of glass serves a huge purpose to all of us. An estimate of 240,000 tons of glass is thrown into landfills each year in Georgia. The manufacturing products from recycled glass conserves one third of the energy it takes to manufacture the same product from raw materials. Next time you flip on a 100 watt bulb think about this fact; recycling one glass bottle conserves enough energy to light that 100 watt bulb for four hours.

Another type of bottle, the plastic type, one recycled bottle alone conserves enough energy to run a television for 1.5 hours. Right here in our state, one million tons of recyclable plastics are thrown away each year. Of the plastics recycled over twenty five percent of all number one plastic bottles are part of that carpet you might standing on while reading this column. One half of all polyester carpeting is made from recycled plastic beverage containers right here in Georgia.

So there’s a risk we take next time we toss a recyclable item into the convenient trash can. “What’s recycled in Georgia stays in Georgia,” in one means or another.

Dallas Bordon is the former Sports Editor of the Comer News/Danielsville Monitor and a regular columnist for the Madison County Journal.