Community Pride Day on April 17

DALTON, GA -  Community Pride Day during the Great American Cleanup will be on Saturday, April 17 from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm.  Community Pride Day facilitates Spring Cleaning by allowing Whitfield county residents to dispose of bulky items and electronics without paying disposal fees at select drop-off locations.  The Old Dixie Landfill Convenience Center is the Main Location for this event.  Community Locations include three middle schools, Westside Middle School, Eastbrook Middle School, and North Whitfield Middle School.

All four locations will be accepting bulky items for disposal and electronics for recycling.  Bulky items include furniture, household equipment, and appliances.  Electronics include computers, digital cameras, cell phones, video game systems, and televisions.  Only one television per vehicle will be accepted.

The Old Dixie Landfill Convenience Center is the only location accepting Household Hazardous Waste (HHW).  Items include household pesticides, pool chemicals, varnish and latex paints.  For a complete list of HHW please visit www.DWSWA.org or call 706-277-2545.  Household Hazardous Waste is typically accepted at the Old Dixie Landfill Convenience Center on the third Saturday of the month from 7 am to 2 pm.

Community Pride Day is open to residents of Whitfield County only.  No business, commercial, construction or demolition waste is accepted.  Tires are not included in this event and should be disposed of at a Convenience Center for a minimal $2 fee.  No tires or HHW will be accepted at the schools.

Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful, the Dalton-Whitfield Regional Solid Waste Authority, and Whitfield County Public Works organized this annual event.  For more information or to volunteer, call Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful at 706-226-6211, visit our website www.keepdaltonwhitfieldbeautiful.org, or e-maillswafford@dwswa.org.

Submitted by the Dalton-Whitfield Regional Solid Waste Authority.

Orphan Dalton roads need adoptive caretakers

Story in the Chattanooga Times Free Press: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/mar/18/orphan-dalton-roads-need-adoptive-caretakers/ 

Written By: Kelly Jackson

DALTON, Ga. -- Starting in the 1990s, Adopt-a-Mile volunteers kept as many as 50 miles in Whitfield County clean. But now, far fewer roads have doting volunteers.

In 2009, volunteers cared for about 10 miles. So far in 2010, only four miles have been officially adopted. But Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful is pushing for more.

"(The program's) just been neglected, and we're just really trying to revitalize (it)," said Liz Swafford, executive director of Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful.

Ms. Swafford said the program improves the environment and people are less likely to dump trash on clean roadways.

"Litter cleanups are preventative, and it's just a huge benefit to everybody," she said.

Volunteers are asked to clean litter from their mile at least four times a year. Participants get an Adopt-A-Mile sign on their stretch of roadway. Participation is free.

Danny Welch, corporate environmental health and safety manager for Textile Rubber and Chemical Co., said employees clean the road in front of the business on Connector 3 from its intersection with Highway 41 to Interstate 75.

Employees usually collect six to eight large trash bags on a cleanup day, he said. It gives them a "sense of accomplishment and community pride," he said.

HOW TO ADOPT

Visit the following link or call 706-226-6211

Denise Wood, a board member with Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful, said members hope not only to gain new participants but to re-energize some who were active in the past.

"We just want to get people back on board," she said. "Litter is a big problem."

"Bring One For The Chipper" Event Held at Home Depot In Dalton

By: Kristen Johnson, News Channel 12

One North Georgia organization wants to make sure Christmas Trees don't end up in the landfill.

For the last 19 years, "Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful" hosted its annual recycling event.

"Bring one for the chipper" was held at the Home Depot in Dalton.

By Saturday afternoon more than 80 trees were brought by the location.

Organizers say the free service allows residents to send their trees back to nature as mulch or animal habitats.

"I'm very happy to see that the community is interested in recycling and environmentalism in general and it's just great to see how people still feel positive about helping the earth and doing something right for the environment," Liz Swafford, Executive Director of Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautfield said.

In return for their tree, participants received the choice between a seedling or packet of seeds.

And don't worry if you didn't get a chance to drop off your tree, the city of Dalton collects trees on the curb.

Whitfield County residents can visit one of four convenience centers.

Public works employees and Dalton State College students also helped with Saturday's event.

Click here for video.

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.

'Treecycling' a year-round service in Whitfield County

By Erin Fuchs
Chattanooga Times Dalton Bureau

DALTON, Ga. -- Still hanging on to that old Christmas tree?

Whitfield County will recycle those pines and firs for free -- even if you hold off until spring, according to recycling educator Bridget Sanford.

"This gives residents the opportunity to do the environmentally conscious thing with their trees," said Ms. Sanford, who works with the Dalton-Whitfield Regional Solid Waste Management Authority.

On Saturday, Keep Dalton/Whitfield Beautiful hosted its Bring One for the Chipper event.

Residents brought their Christmas trees -- stripped of lights, ornaments and tinsel. The evergreens were then fed into a giant chipper, which ground the trees into soil-enriching mulch. That mulch, in turn, is free to residents who want to use it.

But Saturday wasn't the only day for treecycling. Georgia banned yard waste from public landfills in 1996. To encourage residents not to break the law, Whitfield County has four year-round drop-off points for brush and lawn trimmings.

"If they have a tree that falls in their yard, it can be brought throughout the year," Ms. Sanford said.

Some residents didn't realize they could bring in their trees before the Chipper event.

"We had three dead, brown trees show up, and it was where people had held on to them for the year," Ms. Sanford said.

Free mulch has been in high demand. For information on picking up mulch, call the Waste Management Authority at (706) 277-2545.

More than 6,000 tons of mulch was given to county residents in 2007, Ms. Sanford said.

"This year, we actually ran out of mulch a couple times," she said.

The historic drought, and an outdoor watering ban in much of North Georgia, has underscored the importance of mulching, according to many gardening experts. Mulching helps retain moisture.

But Howard Burnett, a retired forester and Dalton resident, cautions against over-mulching.

"When people think of mulch, they think more is better. Two to four inches of mulch is plenty," Mr. Burnett said. "You want to keep moisture in, but you don't want to keep oxygen out."