Recycling in Columbia could not only help save the planet and reuse valuable resources, but it could save the city and ultimately residents on garbage bills.
Mayor Justin McKenzie has been encouraging businesses to separate cardboard, paper and plastics and take them to the recycling center on Old Foxworth Road. He said future plans may include having the city pick the items up. McKenzie is also encouraging residents to recycle.
“One of the main goals is to reduce the amount of waste that we’re sending to the landfill,” McKenzie said. “It is definitely a top priority. It also gives us the opportunity to save money from sending it to the transfer station via garbage truck and then being sent to the landfill down in McNeill. We can actually recycle a lot of household products, bottles, plastics … anything from a five gallon jug to milk container or water bottle. We can also take shredded paper, books, magazines, newspapers and cardboard. Cardboard is definitely one of our main items down here. It is a heavy item to haul.”
McKenzie said the recycling could help the city’s pocketbook be eliminating many items from the landfill.
“One of the challenges that we’re facing in town now is the recent increase in our solid waste bills each month,” he said. “It is due to the volume of trash that they have to haul from the transfer station to the landfill. They charge us by the ton to haul it and the less that we can put on that truck, the better.”
McKenzie said local companies are involved with the process.
“Not only are we using a local company at the transfer station, Williamson and Sons from Goss, who haul from the transfer station, but we’re using FV Recycling, a division of the Jones Companies,” he said. “Their recycling center is located in Sumrall. In speaking with our local representative, Jacob Harrison, the business development director, who lives right here in Columbia, he wants to see us recycle. We want to save the environment and for the city, it is a way to make money. The city can bale the cardboard while we’re recycling and we can sell it.”
McKenzie said a recent change in hours may help Columbians recycle. The center is now open from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Fridays and from 8 a.m. until noon on Saturdays.
“The current Board of Aldermen and I felt it was important to change the hours,” he said. “Since then, we’ve seen a huge influx of traffic. We were averaging about 10-12 cars a day, and now, when Friday rolls around, we’re seeing 30-plus vehicles. The Saturday hours make it convenient, too. We tried to find a way to make it a little more accommodating. We see a constant flow of vehicles on Saturday.”
McKenzie said he has spoken with several businesses in town that deal with large amounts of cardboard.
“They are going to try and alter their norm and remove the cardboard from the trash,” he said. “They are going to shift to recycling. We’re exploring options as to what we could do for containers and possibly have one in each alley off of Main Street so the businesses could place their cardboard there. If we can pull that from the trash, it will lower the tonnage we’re sending to the landfill and help the city save money, which essentially will help the citizens save money. We don’t want to have to charge any more than it takes to operate. Unfortunately, over the past few years, we had been losing money on the garbage.”
Pictured Above: Kevin Scarborough helps Mayor Justin McKenzie unload cardboard at the recycling center. | Photo by Mark Rogers
