Landfill, Convenience Centers Holiday Hours for Christmas 2014, New Year’s 2015

Facilities to be closed in observance of Christmas Day, New Year’s Day

The Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority has announced the holiday hours of operation for it’s four facilities in Whitfield County. Locations include:

1. Old Dixie Landfill & Convenience Center
2. McGaughey Chapel Convenience Center in Cohutta
3. Westside Convenience Center in Rocky Face
4. M.L. King Convenience Center in Dalton

All locations will be open on Christmas Eve from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm on Wednesday, December 24 including the McGaughey Chapel location that is normally closed on Wednesdays.  All four sites will be closed on Thursday, December 25 in observance of Christmas Day.  All locations will reopen on Friday, December 26 from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm and resume normal hours.

The following week on Thursday, January 1 all facilities will be closed in observance of New Year’s Day and reopen Friday, January 2 from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm. 

For more information call the main office at 706-277-2545.

Christmas and New Year’s Holiday Operating Schedule:

• Wednesday, December 24, 2014 – Christmas Eve: Early Closing – All Locations OPEN - 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM (McGaughey Chapel Normally Closed)
• Thursday, December 25, 2014 – Christmas Day: All Locations CLOSED
• Friday, December 26, 2014 – All Locations OPEN – 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM (Resume Normal Schedule) 
• Wednesday, December 31, 2014 – New Year’s Eve: Regular Hours 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM (McGaughey Chapel Closed)
• Thursday, January 1, 2015 – New Year’s Day: All Locations CLOSED
• Friday, January 2, 2015 - All Locations OPEN – 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM  (Resume Normal Schedule)

Live Christmas Tree and Electronics Recycling Event Set for Saturday, January 3

Click the image above to download the event flyer (PDF).

Whitfield County Public Works staff prepare to mulch live Christmas trees during Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful’s annual treecycling event.  The next event will be on Saturday, January 3, 2015 from 9 am to 1 pm. 

Residents are invited to start their new year fresh by recycling their live Christmas tree and dropping off used electronic devices for recycling at the community’s annual “treecycling” event. On Saturday, January 3, 2015 Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful volunteers will be collecting live, natural, undecorated Christmas trees, and electronic devices for recycling.  The annual collection event will be held from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm at The Home Depot parking lot located at 875 Shugart Road in Dalton. 

Residents may drop-off their Christmas trees for free.  Trees must be free of ornaments, nails, hooks, wire, 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. 

Used electronic devices accepted for no charge include computers, digital cameras, video cameras, cell phones, gaming systems and components, mp3 players, scanners, and laptops.  However, old CRT television sets and computer monitors can be drop-off for a recycling fee of $5.00.  Large projection television sets, which usually have wheels on the bottom, will be charged a $10.00 recycling fee.  There is no charge for newer flat screen television sets or computer monitors. Electronics will be processed by Reworx Recycling, which is part of the Tommy Nobis’ Foundation program NobisWorks.

 Please remember to secure your load for cleaner and safer roads.  Tie down and put a tarp on items placed in the back of a pick-up truck, trailer, or on the roof of a vehicle.  Visitors to the event will receive a packet of herb or vegetable seeds to plant at home or another promotional item as a thank you for participating.

Those unable to participate the day of the event may use one of the following options to properly dispose of their holiday items.

1.) The City of Dalton Public Works Department will collect Christmas trees from the curb for city residents that have garbage collection service through the city. 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. 

3.) Electronics are collected for recycling year round at the Old Dixie Hwy. Landfill & Convenience Center.   For hours of operation and directions to any of the four Convenience Centers visit www.DWSWA.org or call 706-277-2545.

Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful would like to thank the following organizations for making this event possible: Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority, Reworx Recycling Kennesaw, Whitfield County Public Works Department, and The Home Depot in Dalton.  For more details about the event visit www.KeepDaltonWhitfieldBeautiful.org or call 706-278-5001.

2014 Billboard Design Contest Winner Announced

“I want to be recycled” is the overall winner for this year’s America Recycles Day Billboard contest.  The design was created by Eastbrook Middle School 7th grader Reina Paniagua.

Eastbrook Middle School 7th grader, Reina Paniagua, is the overall winner of the 2014 America Recycles Day Billboard Design Contest hosted by the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority’s program Target Recycling at School. 

The design chosen out of 162 entries includes the phrase “I want to be recycled” which was one of the themes of the contest.  The artwork is eye catching and very colorful with a group of recyclable materials shouting out their desire to be recycled in a blue speech bubble.  

The winning design will be displayed on two billboards in the Whitfield County area for at least one month.  This is the fifth year of the design contest open to Whitfield County middle school students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade attending either a public or private school that recycles with Target Recycling at School.

The billboard design contest had a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winner from each grade level.  The nine students, listed below, received a certificate of participation and a gift bag with items made from recycled materials. The first place overall was selected from the first place design from each grade level.

Eastbrook Middle School students who placed in the billboard contest are pictured with their artwork. Top Row, Left to Right: Graviela Zamora, Citlally Garcia, Angela Torres, and Reina Paniagua. Bottom Row, Left to Right: Luis DeLeon, and Moises Gaspar.

6th grade:

• 1st Place – Angela Torres, Eastbrook Middle School
• 2nd Place – Yanira Guzman, Dalton Middle School
• 3rd Place – Leonardo Fraire, Dalton Middle School 

7th grade:

• 1st Place and Overall Winner – Reina Paniagua, Eastbrook Middle School
• 2nd Place – Graviela Zamora, Eastbrook Middle School
• 3rd Place – Citlally Garcia, Eastbrook Middle School 

Dalton Middle School students that placed in the billboard contest are pictured with their artwork.  From Left to Right: Leonardo Fraire, Yanira Guzman, and Alondra Martinez.

8th grade:

• 1st Place – Luis DeLeon, Eastbrook Middle School
• 2nd Place – Moises Gaspar, Eastbrook Middle School
• 3rd Place – Alondra Martinez, Dalton Middle School

America Recycles Day is a community-driven event dedicated to promoting recycling awareness, commitment, and action in the U.S. thru its partnership with Keep America Beautiful.  For more information on recycling, and to take the pledge to recycle visit www.AmericaRecyclesDay.org.   

  Target Recycling at School provides recycling collection services and environmental education opportunities to schools in Whitfield County.  For more information call 706-278-5001 or visit www.dwswa.org. 

360 Volunteers Cleanup the Conasauga Watershed

Volunteers at the Mill Creek tributary located by the Underwood Apartments in Dalton removed 2,560 pounds of trash and debris during the annual cleanup event.

360 volunteers from Whitfield and Murray Counties participated in the 20th Annual Conasauga River Watershed Clean-up on Saturday, October 25.  The annual event took place during the United Way’s “Make a Difference Day”.  Volunteers spent the morning removing trash, debris, and invasive plants from seven sites in the two counties.  Overall, volunteers collected and removed 10,630 pounds of trash, which included 20 tires. 

Event organizers want to thank everyone who participated and contributed to the success of this year’s event.  The amount of clean-up time donated by volunteers, approximately 1,440 hours, is valued at $29,908.  Volunteers received a t-shirt and a 2015 calendar or coffee mug customized with images of the Conasauga watershed in appreciation for their participation. 

Volunteers removed 4,280 of trash from Coahulla Creek at Prater’s Mill during the annual Conasauga Watershed cleanup event on October 25.

Organizers want to especially thank this year’s funding sponsors: Shaw Industries, J&J Industries, Dalton Utilities, Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority, Georgia Rivers Alive, The Nature Conservancy, and the Conasauga River Alliance.  Also, they would like to recognize these additional organizations that helped coordinated the event: Carpet & Rug Institute, Conasauga River Alliance, Dalton State College, Dalton Utilities, Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority, Keep Chatsworth-Murray Beautiful, Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful, Limestone Valley RC & D, The Nature Conservancy, and Murray County Extension.

The Conasauga River, one of the six most biologically diverse freshwater river systems in the United States, supports 24 endangered species and a dozen other imperiled species, including the Southern Pigtoe mussel and the Conasauga logperch, a fish found nowhere else in the world.  The Conasauga Watershed Clean-up has long been a part of Rivers Alive, a statewide campaign to clean and preserve over 70,000 miles of Georgia’s rivers and streams.

Rivers Alive continues to be the state’s and one of the South’s largest volunteer efforts to beautify water resources.  So far this year, 8,900 volunteers have participated in 192 clean-up events through out the state and have removed 388,308 pounds of garbage from Georgia waterways. For more information about efforts in other areas or the statewide campaign visit www.RiversAlive.org.

Landfill, Convenience Centers To Be Closed Thursday, November 27, 2014

Facilities to be closed in observance of Thanksgiving Day

The Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority has announced the holiday hours of operation for it’s four facilities in Whitfield County. Locations include:

1. Old Dixie Landfill & Convenience Center
2. McGaughey Chapel Convenience Center in Cohutta
3. Westside Convenience Center in Rocky Face
4. M.L. King Convenience Center in Dalton

All locations will be open from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm on Wednesday, November 26 including the McGaughey Chapel location that is normally closed on Wednesdays.  All four sites will be closed on Thursday, November 27 in observance of Thanksgiving Day.  All locations will reopen on Friday, November 28 from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm and resume normal hours.

For more information call the main office at 706-277-2545.

Thanksgiving Day Holiday Schedule:

• Wednesday, November 26, 2014 – All Locations OPEN - EARLY CLOSING: 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM  (McGaughey Chapel Normally Closed)

• Thursday, November 27, 2014 – All Locations CLOSED – Thanksgiving Day

• Friday, November 28, 2014 – All Locations OPEN – 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM (Resume Normal Schedule)