Georgia County Government - March 2008 - (Page 26)

SOLID WASTE continued from page 25 percent was not achieved. The goal has been worthwhile, however. Without it, we would likely be disposing of more waste t han we current ly dispose. Other than during World War II when recycling was viewed as part of the war effort, the Comprehensive Act for the first time set the standard for recycling to become a meaningful part of local waste management efforts. Most Georgians, even in rural areas, have some recycling options available to them. For recycling to work, it is critical to have markets for the recovered materials. As previously mentioned, in 1990, t he market situation for recyclables was not well understood in the state. The Georgia Recycling Market Development Council was created by the comprehensive law and focused its attention on: • analysis of market conditions; • identif ication and eva luation of options available to the state to expand markets; • adoption of state policies supportive of recycling and recycling market development; and • institution of technical assistance and educational efforts designed to assist local governments with their recycling programs.5 During its three-year tenure, the council produced, in cooperation with the University of Georgia’s Vinson Institute of Government, the Georgia Recycling Fact Book, which presents information on the industries in the state that use materials recovered from the solid waste stream and provides guidance to help local governments establish and expand their recycling programs. 6 The council also advocated that to increase markets, the state should purchase products made from recovered material, a measure that was enacted during the 1993 legislative session. The council concluded that Georgia had strong markets for recovered materials, perhaps only second among states to California. The challenge is to collect recyclable materials and transport them to the industries that can use them as feedstock for their manufacturing process. One-third of a l l t he PET plast ic, i nclud i ng beverage containers, recovered in North America, is used by the carpet industry in Georgia. Shaw Industries, headquartered in Dalton, has a nylon 6, carpet-to-carpet recycling plant in Augusta. Georgia is the second la rgest pu lp-a nd-paper-producing state in the nation. Of the 15 paper m i l l s i n G e org ia u si ng re c yc le d content fiber, nine rely exclusively on recycled content for their operations. SP Newsprint, Pratt Industries and Caraustar alone can use every pound of the 2.6 million tons of paper Georgians t h row away on a n a n nu a l ba sis . Novelis, located in Greensboro, can use all of the 48,000 tons of aluminum cans Georgians annually throw away. These industries would benefit greatly by using Georgia recyclables, rather than shipping recovered materia ls across North America, incurring added transportation costs and resulting in additional energy use and air quality emissions. machinery compacts and buries the waste, the flexibility of tires results in them moving. Consequently, landfills were increasingly rejecting whole tires for disposal, resulting in increased illegal dumping of tires. As tires fill with rainwater, they provide breading sites for mosquitoes and other disease vectors. Additionally, if a tire pile catches on fire, it results in significant air and water pollution. Besides air contamination associated with smoke, pyrolytic oil formed by the melting of the tires can pollute water. A 1992 tire fire of an estimated 3 million tires in Palmetto contaminated ground water, which is still polluted today.7 The problem with illegally dumped scrap tires was recognized when the comprehensive Act was passed, but consensus had not been reached on how to deal with them. In 1992, legislation was enacted which set a $1 fee (the scrap tire management fee) per new replacement tire purchased in the state with the funds to be deposited into the Solid Waste Trust Fund and used to address the scrap tire and other solid waste-related problems. The amendments also created a manifest system for tracking tires to ensure that they were properly handled. The 1992 legislation authorizes EPD to use the Solid Waste Trust Fund for: • taking emergency, preventative and corrective actions at abandoned, closed or currently operating disposal facilities that threaten human health and the environment; • providing grants to local governments and state agencies for waste reduction, rec ycling a nd rec ycling ma rket development; solid waste enforcement programs to address illegal dumping of solid waste; cleanup of scrap tires; and market development and innovative technology grants; and • establishing a scrap tire management program in the state that eliminates scrap tire piles and prevents new piles from forming. During the 2005 Legislative Session, SB 122, extended the collection of the tire fee to June 2008, eliminated the reference to a 25 percent per capita waste disposal reduction goal, and expanded the use of the Solid Waste Scrap Tires and the Solid Waste Trust Fund Although the Comprehensive Act was truly comprehensive in nature, t here was one component of t he waste stream that was not addressed in 1990. From a waste management perspective, scrap tires are problematic. If whole tires are landfilled, they will “f loat” to the top of the landfill. As 26 GEORGIA 307926_golder.indd 1 COUNTY GOVERNMENT 12/28/06 1:41:37 PM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Georgia County Government - March 2008

Georgia County Government - March 2008 Contents President's Message County Matters Guest Editorial: Our Future Depends On Statesmanship Bryan County in Step With State Coastal Plan Solid Waste Management in Georgia Hazardous Waste Management in Georgia Extension News: Georgians Growing Older, Fatter County Parade Index of Advertisers

Georgia County Government - March 2008

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