Tree recycling is the green choice

By: Kelly Jackson, Chattanooga Times Free Press

DALTON, Ga. -- Recycling is the environmentally friendly way to bid farewell to the family Christmas tree, officials say.

"Bring One for the Chipper" is a statewide program sponsored by Keep Georgia Beautiful. Locations are designated throughout the state for people to recycle their Christmas trees, turning them into mulch.

Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful and the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority head up the program here.

"We are providing the service so that people can close the loop," said Liz Swafford, recycling and education program coordinator for the solid waste authority. 

The big event is Jan. 9 at Home Depot, where a chipper will be turning Christmas trees into mulch, she said. Residents dropping off Christmas trees will receive a free redbud, dogwood, or crape myrtle tree seedling or vegetable, herb or wildflower seeds, she said.

"There's a lot of free gifts for the public, plus they'll have the option of getting mulch if they want," she said.

Live Christmas trees are better for the environment than artificial ones because "Christmas trees are part of the sustainable farming industry," Ms. Swafford said.

Recycling the tree completes the Christmas tree's life cycle, she said.

Denise Wood, member of Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful, said the goal of the recycling program is to find "a beneficial use for the trees."

Recycled trees are mulched or may be used for other purposes. Some are kept whole so they can be placed in local lakes and ponds to improve fish habitat, said Ms. Wood.

Others may be used for erosion control, said Ms. Swafford.

Ms. Wood said its important to recycle Christmas trees because it "saves valuable landfill space."

Ms. Swafford said "just dumping it somewhere creates an imbalance in that little part of the ecosystem."

State regulations also prohibit the disposal of yard trimmings in municipal landfills, according to a news release.

Ms. Swafford said the annual "Bring One for the Chipper" event is more than 10 years old. Each year, an average of 700 trees are recycled in the area, she said.

Since the statewide program started in 1991, more than 4.8 million Christmas trees have been recycled, according to the Keep Georgia Beautiful Web site.

Local residents have the option of dropping off their trees at one of the county convenience centers, where yard debris is recycled into mulch throughout the year. City residents also can call for pick-up.

Tom Sawyer's Christmas Tree Farm in Glenville, N.C., sold trees this year in Chattanooga and Dalton. Mr. Sawyer said any leftover trees they have are turned into mulch because "it goes right back into Mother Nature."

IF YOU GO

* What: Bring One for the Chipper

* When: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Jan. 9

* Where: Home Depot on Shugart Road

* What: Bring your live, undecorated Christmas tree to be recycled

* Cost: Free

OTHER WAYS TO RECYCLE

* The Dalton Public Works Department will collect trees from at the curbside. Residents should call 706-278-7077 for pick-up.

* All Whitfield County Convenience Centers (MLK, McGaughey Chapel and Westside) and the Old Dixie Highway Landfill have drop-off locations that accept and recycle yard debris throughout the year.

Source: Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority

ON THE WEB

* Visit www.keepgeorgiabeautiful.org to find a tree recycling location near you.

Whitfield restoring creeks, wetlands

By Kelly Jackson
Chattanooga Times Dalton Bureau

DALTON, Ga. -- On property off Tilton Road in southern Whitfield County, an intermittent stream meanders through a field bordering the Conasauga River.

"You can imagine (that) literally this was just a big muddy pond; the cows would walk in and out of it to drink," said Norman Barashick, executive director of the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Management Authority.

That was before the authority's restoration efforts as part of its mitigation bank program. The drainage area that once was a cow pond is now a flowing stream. Around the stream are native plants and trees that will one day keep secret its very existence.

"The overall goal of this project is natural growth," said Dirk Verhoeff, environmental manager with the authority. "We're supposed to help it along, but in time it's going to take care of itself."

The authority owns and operates the Conasauga River Mitigation Bank, established in June 2005. Through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers mitigation bank program, independent agencies can preserve and restore streams and wetlands in exchange for credits. Those credits can be sold to developers whose projects will impact streams and/or wetlands.

Mr. Verhoeff said that to qualify for the mitigation bank, a project must include at least 50 percent restoration.

Alan Miller, a section permits chief with the Corps of Engineers' Savannah District, said developers whose projects affect wetlands can mitigate the impacts on or off-site, buy credits from a land bank to offset the impacts or pay an in-lieu fee to the Georgia Land Trust to buy aquatic resources.

Mr. Miller said the mitigation bank program, which was created about 15 years ago, is "very robust" in Georgia. There are about 60 active banks across the state.

Mr. Barashick said the Corps of Engineers determines how many credits a mitigation bank has and how many credits a developer will need to offset an impact.

The officials said the total number of credits for any given bank is a proprietary secret and the value can't be assessed because it fluctuates.

County Commission Chairman Mike Babb, who is also an authority board member, said local governments benefit from having credits available. He said the city and county have purchased credits for development.

Commissioner Mike Cowan said the local mitigation bank is "win-win."

"You have to make the improvements to the environment to be qualified to receive the credit, so just the fact that you're improving the environment is a positive," he said.

FISH SPECIES FOUND IN STREAM RESTORATIONS:

• Green sunfish
• Bluegill
• Warmouth
• Red shiner
• Golden shiner
• Bullhead minnow
• Creek chub
• Eastern mosquitofish

RIVER MITIGATION BANK:

• 3 tracts of property, about 120 acres
• 200-foot riparian corridor preserved or restored along about 2 miles of the Conasauga River
• 150-foot riparian corridor preserved or restored along both sides of about 2 miles of existing and constructed waterways
• 3,700 linear feet of stream restoration
• To date the authority has sold about 20 percent of potential credits for about $1 million.
• The bank's primary service area consists of four watersheds within the Coosa River Basin. This includes portions of Bartow, Chattooga, Cherokee, Dade, Fannin, Floyd, Gilmer, Gordon, Murray, Pickens, Polk, Walker and Whitfield counties.

Sources: Dirk Verhoeff, Norman Barashick

ON THE WEB:

Learn more about the mitigation bank program at www.sas.usace.army.mil.

Paper recycling in place at every school

 Staff Photo by Tim Barber:

Michael Foxx, right, Recycling Center operations manager at the Dalton-Whitfield Regional Solid Waste Management Authority, punctures a plastic bottle as Matthew Ryerson, 3, and North Whitfield Middle School teacher Jill Ryerson listen for air to be released at recent open house.

By Kelly Jackson
Chattanooga Times Dalton Bureau

DALTON, Ga. -- Recyclin' Ben is becoming more popular in Whitfield County, Dalton and area private schools.

Last November, the improved mascot showed up on the side of a new recycling truck bought by Dalton-Whitfield Regional Solid Waste Management Authority. This year, the authority started picking up mixed-paper recycling at every school in the county, so Ben's getting out and about more than ever.

"We were able to set it up to be a rolling billboard," said Norman Barashick, executive director of the authority.

On Thursday, the authority held an open house to introduce parents, teachers and students to its "Target Recycling" program and other educational programs available for students, including tours at the facility.

Residents who attended the open house had the opportunity to tour the authority's Materials Recovery Facility, nicknamed the "Murf." Mr. Baraschick said the 40,000-square-foot recycling operation opened in 2001.

"Our programs have continued to expand," he said.

Cassie Gallman, a fifth-grade student at New Hope Elementary School, attended the open house and said she's happy to have recycling in her school "because it helps the ecosystem."

Shayla Byrd, a third grader at New Hope, said she was impressed to see all the different materials made from recyclables at the center. She was especially impressed by the bathroom tile made out of recycled toilet seats.

Harvey Levitt, operations manager for the authority, said the agnecy already was picking up recycling at about 25 percent of schools, but county-wide school recycling is "a new program."

"We are in 30 some-odd schools and the 30 schools accommodate 20,000 students," he said.

The authority has implemented a competition and will award schools that have the most recycling per student. A top recycling school will be recognized three times throughout the year, he said, while the top three recycling schools will be recognized on an annual basis.

The authority has worked to have recycling in schools throughout the county for a number of years, he said, but only recently had the $400,000 needed to purchase the new truck and more than 200 containers for all the schools.

To pay for the truck, the authority used a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers program in which developers buy credits to offset any negative environmental impact from their developments.

Money from those credits paid for the recycling truck, Mr. Barashick said.

Household hazardous waste facility marks 10 years

Originally Published in the Dalton Daily Citizen

June 20 marked the 10th anniversary of the household hazardous waste facility operated by the Dalton-Whitfield Regional Solid Waste Management Authority.

The authority developed the first permanent household hazardous waste collection facility in the state. More than 250,000 pounds of household hazardous waste has been managed through the facility.

Prior to 1999, the authority held an annual collection event for household hazardous waste. The Solid Waste Citizens Advisory Task Force identified a need for a permanent facility and more frequent collections. With a $50,000 grant from the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority, the local authority opened the first publicly owned and operated permanent household hazardous waste facility in the state.

The facility is open to residents of Whitfield County the third Saturday of each month and accepts leftover household products such as pesticides, old gasoline, batteries, paints and pool chemicals, to name a few. The facility has been used as the model for many communities around the state, but still remains the only facility like it in the state.

For more information regarding the proper management of household hazardous waste, call (706) 277-2545 or (706) 278-5001. 

The authority has announced its Independence Day holiday operating schedule for landfills and convenience centers:

• Friday — All locations open normal hours (7 a.m. to 6 p.m.)

• Saturday — All locations closed

• Monday — All locations open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

• Tuesday — All locations open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Westside location normally closed)

• Wednesday — All locations open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. (McGaughey Chapel location normally closed)

• Thursday — Normal operating days and hours resume

Car seat crush

Originally Published in the Dalton Daily Citizen

A worker at the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Management Authority pushes old car seats into a crusher Friday. After they were compacted into two blocks, the car seats weighted 1,481 pounds. The “car seat crush” was sponsored by Safe Kids Dalton, which promotes car seats for children and urges parents to discard used seats because they are a “one-child, one-use item.” At the last seat crush — in 2007 — Safe Kids crushed approximately 1,000 pounds of car seats.