Georgia SWANA awards scholarship to two local high school students

Scholarship recipient Octavia Parris.

Scholarship recipient Robert Hardaway II with Executive Director, Norman Barashick.

(Dalton, GA, May 28, 2013) - The Georgia Chapter of the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) has awarded six Academic Scholarships this year to outstanding High School seniors and College students in the state of Georgia, with two of those being awarded in Whitfield County.  The scholarship program aims to support the growth of knowledgeable and responsible solid waste management professionals for the future.

Southeast Whitfield High School senior, Octavia Lynn Parris, was awarded a scholarship in the amount of $1,000.  Dalton High School senior, Robert Louis Hardaway II, was awarded a scholarship in the amount of $1,000.  Representatives from the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority, which is a member of SWANA, helped present the awards locally.

SWANA maintains that the education of students and the general public is an important step in eliminating some of our biggest solid waste management problems.  For more information about the GA SWANA Scholarship program visit www.gaswana.org.

Pictured below are Octavia Parris, Robert Hardaway II, and Norman Barashick (Executive Director DWSWA).

Three Local Schools Place in Nationwide Recycling Contest

Three local schools make it to the Top Five in Georgia

(Dalton, GA, February 28, 2013) – Keep America Beautiful, Inc., the nation's largest volunteer-based community action and education organization, has announced the winners of "Recycle-Bowl", the first comprehensive nationwide recycling competition for elementary-, middle- and high-school students. 65 schools in Georgia participated at the state level recycling as much as possible during the weeks of October 15, 2012 to November 9, 2012. Three local schools placed in the Top 5 in Georgia taking second, third, and fourth place.

Public and private schools in Whitfield County currently participate in Target Recycling at School, a free recycling collection service offered by the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority. With the assistance of the DWSWA's recycling center, 35 local schools were registered for the 2nd annual nationwide competition. Each school received a kit to help promote recycling in their school with posters and educational activities.

At the end of the competition period the weights of the recyclables collected at each school were reported to Recycle-Bowl staff. The national winner was Taylor Primary in Kokomo, Indiana. A full list of statewide winners can be found at www.Recycle-Bowl.org. Below are the top five schools in the state of Georgia for Recycle-Bowl 2012:

Georgia's Top 5 Recycle-Bowl Competitors:
1. Kingsley Elementary School, Dunwoody, GA
2. New Hope Middle School, Dalton, GA
3. Dug Gap Elementary School, Dalton, GA
4. Learning Tree Elementary School, Dalton, GA
5. Brighten Academy, Douglasville, GA

The total amount of school only recyclables recovered nationwide during the 2012 competition added up to 4.5 million pounds, which in turn prevented the release of nearly 1,717 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2E). In real-world terms, this reduction in greenhouse gases is equivalent to the annual emissions from 334 passenger cars.

"Keep America Beautiful is pleased with the great momentum Recycle-Bowl achieved in its second year, thanks to the effort of students, teachers and school administrators across America," said Matt McKenna, president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful. "Recycle-Bowl provides teachers with a great opportunity to integrate math, science and sustainability lessons into classroom curricula through experiential education as well as a way to introduce recycling into a school's general operations."

Recycle & Reuse: Show your love with a newspaper rose

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To celebrate Valentine’s Day (which is tomorrow!), let’s make an upcycled single stem rose from today’s newspaper. Once you know how to make a basic flower shape you may want to go beyond a single stemmed rose and make a whole bouquet, make bigger flowers, or go stemless and use only roses to decorate a gift box or photo frame. Read on for three simple flower-making techniques that are ideal for newspaper but can also be used for other types of paper.

You’ll need newspaper from your recycling bin, a pen or pencil, a pair of scissors, a ruler and an adhesive such as glue, glue dots, hot glue gun, glue stick or tape. For the stem you’ll need a twig from the backyard, a pencil or a tightly rolled sheet of newspaper. Optional is a stapler and a set of markers or paints to color the rose once you’re finished making it. Even adding a little bit of color to the edges will make the flower pop. Also optional is a flower vase, depending on how you want to present the rose to your loved one.

Newspaper rose technique No. 1, The Spiral:

Using your ruler and a pen or pencil, measure a 7 by 7 inch square on your sheet of newspaper. Fold the newspaper or add more sheets to cut out multiple squares at once. You can use any size square you want, however, the smaller the square, the smaller your rose will be.

On one of the squares draw a spiral shape with a pen or pencil. Start at the center of the square and continue until you reach the edges. The spiral doesn’t have to be perfect, but do try to leave an even amount of space between each line. Cut out the spiral shape by starting at the outer edge and cutting along the line that you drew until you reach the center. Cut off the excess paper, like the corner edges of the square-shaped paper. If you have stacked several sheets and cut them together, be extra cautious. The spirals will get tangled up.

Place the end of your stem at the outer edge of one of the spirals and tightly roll up the strip of paper, following the spiral shape until you get to the center. Lift up the stem and flower and let the paper unwind slightly. Pinch the bottom of the flower and adjust the width of the petals. When it’s the size you like, add glue to the bottom and any loose edges that may cause the flower to fall apart. To give it a more natural feel, gently push back the edges of the petals. Once you’re comfortable making a rose from one spiral shape, try making one with three or four stacked spiral cutouts for a thicker flower.

Bonus tip, leaves: Make leaves for your flowers by cutting out a diamond shape from leftover pieces of newspaper. Curl back the edges of the diamond cutouts and squeeze one end together to give it a more natural shape. Glue to the stem or just underneath your new newspaper rose.

Newspaper rose technique No. 2, The Circles:

Start with about eight newspaper squares that are 4 by 4 inches stacked on top of each other. Trim the edges to make a circle shape, or fold in half and cut out a u-shape. Once the circles are ready, stack them neatly and staple the center. You can also glue these together at the center but the flower may fall apart as you’re shaping it.

Squeeze and crinkle the newspaper to add texture, folding it in half several times. Open up the flower petals and curl back the edges. If you want to add color, this is a good time to do so. Glue or tape the flower to your stem, covering the staple, and adding newspaper leaves as desired.

Newspaper rose technique No. 3, The Strip:

Open and spread out a newspaper section that’s about two to four pages thick. Starting on the far left, vertically fold the newspaper towards the right for a four-inch fold. Continue folding over every four inches until you end up with a thick strip of newspaper.

Now you need to tightly roll the strip of paper from the bottom of the newspaper to the top. You’ll end up with a four-inch wide roll. Insert the stem into the center of the roll and adjust the shape and look of the rose. Once you find a shape you like, add glue to the bottom and in between several of the layers of paper. This flower is usually thick and will require more glue to stay on the stem. Add leaves and color to finish up.

These three techniques are simple and don’t require a lot of time to master. It may take you one or two tries before you make a rose that you’re pleased with. But no matter what technique you use to make your roses, I’m sure your loved ones will appreciate a hand-made gift that will last longer than a real rose.





Liz Swafford is the recycling and education program coordinator for the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority. Contact her at (706) 278-5001 or at lswafford@dwswa.org.

This article was published in The Daily Citizen on Wednesday, February 13, 2013 and is also available here:  http://daltondailycitizen.com/opinion/x2056613398/Liz-Swafford-Show-your-love-with-a-newspaper-rose

Composting: Nature’s Way of Recycling

Green material is added to a compost bin to help produce compost.  Greens include vegetable and fruit scraps.  Photo: Flickr/Gudlyf

Celebrating International Compost Awareness Week

(Dalton, GA, May 9, 2012) –  According to the EPA’s 2010 Municipal Solid Waste study, 27% of household waste in the United States is made up of food remnants and yard trimmings.  These organic residuals can be very useful to the environment if they’re recycled into compost instead of being thrown away.  Composting can easily be started in your backyard by combining landscape trimmings and food scraps in a compost bin.  Nature takes care of the rest, producing a nutrient rich soil amendment through the decomposition process after several months.

Compost producing bins are filled with a combination of “brown” materials, “green” materials, and water for moisture.  Brown materials include paper, cardboard, dry yard waste like dry leaves, small branches and twigs, and straw.  Greens include wet yard waste like fresh grass clippings, green leaves, as well as food scraps like vegetable and fruit peels, coffee grounds, and bread.   Each category provides the nitrogen and carbon needed for nature’s recycling process to begin.   When the material at the bottom of the bin is dark and rich in color, and has no remnants of food or yard waste, the compost is ready to use.

To celebrate International Compost Awareness Week, Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful is hosting a Compost Bin Sale at the Downtown Dalton Saturday Market.  On Saturday, May 12th at the Dalton Green from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm volunteers will be distributing composting information and selling a limited number of “Garden Gourmet” Backyard Composters for only $40.00 each, 50% off the retail price of $79.99.

International Compost Awareness Week, organized by the US Composting Council, is from May 6 to 12 this year.  To learn more about composting visit www.compostingcouncil.org.  For event information call Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful at 706-226-6211 or visit www.keepdaltonwhitfieldbeautiful.org.

Compost Bin Sale - Saturday, May 5 and May 12

Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful is celebrating International Compost Awareness Week by hosting a Compost Bin Sale on May 5 and May 12 at the Downtown Dalton Saturday Market.  A limited number of Garden Gourmet Backyard Composters are available.

Celebrating International Compost Awareness Week

(Dalton, GA, May 3, 2012) – In partnership with International Compost Awareness Week, Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful is hosting two Compost Bin Sales at the Downtown Dalton Saturday Market.  On both Saturday, May 5th and Saturday, May 12th at the Dalton Green from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm volunteers will be selling a limited number of the “Garden Gourmet” Backyard Composter for only $40.00 each, 50% off the retail price of $79.99.  A portion of each sale benefits environmental education for K-12 students in Whitfield County, and several Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful events like Christmas Tree Recycling Day.

The “Garden Gourmet” backyard composter is an attractive bin that fits neatly into almost any backyard space thanks to its compact size of 24”x24”x36”.   The easy to assemble bin is made from 51% recycled plastic and includes convenient features like a sliding bottom door to remove compost.  It’s an ideal choice for beginners since it includes a basic composting guide.

Gardeners refer to composting as “turning your garbage into gold” because it keeps food scraps and organic waste out of the landfill while allowing nature to recycle them into a nutritious soil amendment.   Items that can be added to your compost pile include coffee grounds, tea bags, fruit and vegetable scraps, leaves, hair, and grass clippings.

International Compost Awareness Week, organized by the US Composting Council, is from May 6 to 12 this year.  For more information, and to learn more about composting visit the US Composting Council at www.compostingcouncil.org.

For more information call Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful at 706-226-6211 or visit www.keepdaltonwhitfieldbeautiful.org.