Community Pride Day on April 21

Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful invites residents to drop off bulky waste for disposal and electronics for recycling on Saturday, April 21 at Community Pride Day during the Great American Cleanup.  Please remember to secure your load for cleaner roads.

Annual Bulky Waste and Electronics Collection Day for Whitfield County

(Dalton, GA, April 6, 2012) - Community Pride Day during the Great American Cleanup will be on Saturday, April 21 from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm.  Community Pride Day facilitates Spring Cleaning by inviting Whitfield county residents to dispose of bulky items and electronics without paying disposal fees at select drop-off locations.  The Old Dixie Hwy. Landfill and 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, printers, scanners, and laptops.  There is a limit of one television accepted per vehicle.  Please remember to secure your load for cleaner roads.  Tie down and put a tarp on items placed in the back of a pick-up truck or trailer.

The Old Dixie Landfill and Convenience Center is the only location accepting Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) that includes household pesticides, pool chemicals, varnish and latex paints.  For a complete list of HHW please visit www.DWSWA.org or call 706-277-2545.

Community Pride Day is open to residents of Whitfield County only.  Only residential or household waste will be accepted.  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 fee.  Household hazardous waste and tires will not be accepted at the school locations.

If you are unable to attend the event this year, please keep in mind that Household Hazardous Waste is accepted at the Old Dixie Landfill and Convenience Center on the third Saturday of every month from 7 am to 2 pm.  Electronics are accepted year round at the same location, Monday thru Friday 7 am to 6 pm, and Saturday 7 am to 3 pm.

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

ADDITIONAL LINKS:

• Event Listing on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/343841238995751/
• Event Listing on Dalton Events and Daily Citizen websites: http://www.eviesays.com/event/id/2546264.html
• Event Listing on Yahoo Upcoming and Earth911 websites: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/8793090/GA/Dalton/Community-Pride-Day-During-the-Great-American-Cleanup-2012/Old-Dixie-Hwy-Landfill-and-Convenience-Center/

Local Schools Place in Nationwide Recycling Competition

New Hope Middle School Takes 5th at the State Level

(Dalton, GA, March 9, 2012) –  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.  45 schools in Georgia participated at the state level recycling as much as possible during the weeks of October 17, 2011 to November 12, 2011.   Several local schools placed in the Top 10 in Georgia, including New Hope Middle School, which placed 5th in the state.

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 inaugural competition.  Each school received a kit to help promote recycling in their school.  At the end of the competition period the weights of the recyclables collected at each school were reported to Recycle-Bowl staff.

Georgia’s Top 10 Recycle-Bowl Competitors:

1. Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School, Rabun Gap, GA

2. Brighten Academy, Douglasville, GA

3. Hollis Hand Elementary, Lagrange, GA

4. Crabapple Crossing Elementary School, Milton, GA

5. New Hope Middle School, Dalton, GA

6. Pleasant Grove Elementary School, Dalton, GA

7. Dug Gap Elementary School, Dalton, GA

8. Learning Tree School, Dalton, GA

9. Whitfield Career Academy / Phoenix High School, Dalton, GA

10. Dawnville Elementary School, Dalton, GA

A full list of statewide winners can be found at www.Recycle-Bowl.org.

The total amount of school only recyclables recovered nationwide during the 2011 competition added up to 2,088,000 pounds, which in turn prevented the release of nearly 990 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2E). In real-world terms, this reduction in greenhouse gases is equivalent to the annual emissions from 154 passenger cars; 191,998 gallons of gas; or nearly 7.4 million gallons of water.

“Keep America Beautiful is thrilled with the success of Recycle-Bowl’s inaugural year and our congratulations go to all participating schools for their work in showing how small changes can make a huge impact,” said Matt McKenna, president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful.

Recycle-Bowl By The Numbers:

• 1,223 schools registered – 1% of all U.S. public and private schools.
• More than 500,000 students participated in the competition.
• On average, 5.32 pounds of material was collected per person in the school versus school division during the four weeks of the competition.
• 67% of schools saw “significant” or “some” increase in the amount of material recycled.
• If all students in America recycled at the rate of this year’s Recycle-Bowl competitors, approximately 1.8 million tons of material would be diverted annually from landfills. That would be the weight of 156,000 school buses!

About Keep America Beautiful

Keep America Beautiful, Inc., established in 1953, is the nation's largest volunteer-based community action and education organization. This national nonprofit forms public-private partnerships and programs that engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community environments.  For additional information, visit www.kab.org.

Live Christmas Tree Recycling on January 7, 2012

DALTON, GA -  On Saturday, January 7, 2012 Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful volunteers will be collecting live, natural, undecorated Christmas trees from residents for “treecycling”.  The free event will be held from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Home Depot parking lot located at 875 Shugart Road in Dalton.

(Click here or on the logo to download the event flier!)

Christmas trees must be free of ornaments, nails, hooks, wires, tinsel, lights, and other decorations.  Only natural, live, real trees will be accepted - no artificial trees please.  Trees will be recycled on site into mulch that will be used for beautification projects throughout Whitfield County.  In exchange for dropping off their live Christmas tree for recycling residents will receive a free seedling or packet of seeds to plant at home.

Statewide over 5.7 million trees have been recycled into mulch or habitats for wildlife since the beginning of the program in 1991.  During the 2011 event 309 collection sites throughout the state of Georgia recycled 161,319 Christmas trees with the help of 6,395 volunteers.

If local residents cannot participate the day of the event, there are two additional options available.

1.) The City of Dalton Public Works Department will collect Christmas trees from the curb.  City residents should call 706-278-7077 to request pick-up.  Yard debris is regularly picked up throughout the year every other week.

2.) The four Convenience Centers managed by the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority have drop-off areas for yard debris that is recycled year round.  These include the McGaughey Chapel, M.L.King Blvd., Westside, and the Old Dixie Hwy. Landfill & Convenience Center.  For hours of operation and directions visit www.DWSWA.org or call 706-277-2545.

For more details about the event visit www.KeepDaltonWhitfieldBeautiful.org or call 706-278-5001.

Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful would like to thank state and local sponsors for making this event possible.  State sponsors include the Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation, Earth911.com, The Home Depot, The Davey Tree Expert Company, Ferry-Morse Seed Co., and 11 Alive – Atlanta’s NBC Affiliate.  Local sponsors include Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority, Whitfield County - Georgia Forestry Commission, Whitfield County Public Works Department, and The Home Depot in Dalton.

Celebrate America Recycles Day 2011

Celebrate America Recycles Day this year in Whitfield County at one of our events organized in conjunction with Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful.   America Recycles Day is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to the promotion of recycling in the United States. One day to educate and motivate. One day to get our neighbors, friends and community leaders excited about what can be accomplished when we all work together. One day to make recycling bigger and better 365 days a year. Get involved!

AMERICA RECYCLES DAY AT WALMART FEATURING RECYCLING BEN

Location: Walmart Super Center, 815 Shugart Road, Dalton, GA 30720

Date: Nov. 12, 2011

Time: 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Event Description: Visit the America Recycles Day booth at the front of the store to learn about the recycling services available in Whitfield County. Take a photo with our mascot, Recycling Ben. Take the pledge to recycle this year with volunteers who are passionate about recycling. Take a look at all the different products you can recycle and see how easy it is to make a positive impact in the community.   For more information call the recycling center at 706-278-5001.

CITY OF VARNELL RECYCLING AREA KICK-OFF DAY

Location: City of Varnell Recycling Area, Corner of Kinnamon and Main St., Varnell, GA 30756

Date: Nov. 15, 2011

Time: 3 p.m. - 6 p.m.

Event Description: Kick off event for residents in the City of Varnell, Georgia. Join Recycling Ben at the Recycling Area on the Corner of Kinnamon and Main Street to learn about the new recycling area. 
Bring one recyclable item to recycle in the new containers and receive a free item made from recycled materials or featuring the "I recycle" logo. 
Items that are recyclable at this location are: plastic bottles or jugs (any color), aluminum beverage cans, or paper (cardboard, newspaper, etc.).

Find other events in our area at http://americarecyclesday.org/join-event?zip=30720

17th Annual Conasauga Watershed Clean-Up

DALTON, GA - Be part of the tradition on Saturday, October 22nd, when you join local volunteers in cleaning up the Conasauga Watershed’s river and streams.  One of the six most biologically diverse freshwater river systems in the United States, the Conasauga River supports 24 endangered species and a dozen other imperiled species, including the Southern Pigtoe mussel and the Conasauga log perch, a fish found nowhere else in the world.

Registration opens at 9 am at six clean up sites in Whitfield County and Murray County.  Choose a site and enjoy some muddy merriment as you help care for our area’s beautiful streams and river!  This year includes more accessibility for canoeists who will be able to clean the river while on a four-hour float.

This year’s clean-up will take place these six locations:

1. Conasauga River at Carlton Petty Road Bridge

2. Conasauga River at Highway 2 bridge*

3. Conasauga River at Lower King’s Bridge/Norton Bridge*

4. Holly Creek, Murray County, on the Chattahoochee National Forest

5. Mill Creek tributary in the City of Dalton

6. Coahulla Creek at Prater’s Mill

* Canoeists can put in at the Highway 2 bridge & take out at Lower King’s/Norton bridge, about a 4 hour float.

Sturdy shoes or boots, gloves, long pants, and long sleeved shirts are recommended.  Hip or chest waders are useful, but are not required.  Trash bags will be provided and at least the first 200 volunteers will receive a free shirt or other gift.  The event is held in conjunction with Northwest Georgia United Way’s Make A Difference Day and Georgia’s Annual Waterway Clean-Up, Rivers Alive.

To download the event flyer with directions, visitwww.KeepDaltonWhitfieldBeautiful.org.  Pre-registration is not required.  For additional information, please contact John Lugthart at jlugthart@daltonstate.edu.  For more information about efforts in other areas or the statewide campaign, go to www.RiversAlive.org.

SPONSORS:    Shaw Industries, Dalton Utilities, Mohawk Industries, Dalton-Whitfield Regional Solid Waste Management Authority (DWSWA), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and the Conasauga River Alliance (CRA)

COORDINATORS:  Carpet & Rug Institute, CRA, Dalton State College, Dalton Utilities, DWRSWMA, Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful, TNC and Murray County Extension.