Savannah celebrates one year of curbside recycling

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By Michelle Paynter - bio | email

SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) - One year ago, the City of Savannah took a big step in going green. Ever since, curbside recycling has been growing leaps and bounds.

Fran Owens has been recycling since day one. "I love it," she said. "I love doing it, it's making a difference."

Every other week, she put out her yellow and black recycling cart. She recycles everything from paper to plastics. And over time, she says she has seen most of her neighbors join in.

So far, curbside recycling has far exceeded the city's expectations. Curtis Sanders is in charge of Savannah's curbside recycling.

"We thought we would get maybe 20, 30, 35 percent participation at most, but to be hovering around 50 percent is really shocking," Sanders said.

It's shocking to see just how much stuff one of the trucks can hold. At the end of each route, they dump all the recyclables off at a warehouse on Savannah's west side. To date, they've collected more than 7,000 tons of recyclables.

Just a few weeks ago, the recycling center started sorting all the recyclables too. Workers load it all onto a conveyer belt, then they pull out all the paper, plastics and aluminum cans and toss them into giant piles.

Sanders applauds the community for making this such a success, but would like to see more cardboard being recycled.

"We still see a lot of cardboard boxes in the trash cans and we really need that to increase our tonnage," said Sanders.

Especially since the city makes more money off cardboard than anything else.

Sanders is hoping by the end of 2010, more people go green and the city makes more green.

This year, the city hopes to get more businesses to recycle and they are looking into offering curbside recycling to apartment complexes.

As for folks who live in unincorporated Chatham County, right now recycling is on hold. County manager Russ Abolt says he expects it will come up again this spring, when they start working on next year's budget.