New recycling center likely to open by July
Collections are down significantly in 2017 at the North Rome center.
Collections are down significantly in 2017 at the North Rome center.
Floyd County Public Works Director Michael Skeen told Keep Rome Floyd Beautiful leaders Tuesday that the new recycling operation on Lavender Drive should be ready to open by July 1. Skeen said the recycling center on Watters Street in North Rome recycled 2,846 tons of material in 2017, down about 29 percent from the previous year.
Skeen said the decline in recycling was, in large part, by design as part of the new agreement with Paper Recovery, which is now handling all cardboard, or fiber, recycling.
“What we processed was less than 10 percent of what they do,” Skeen said. Skeen said the government center is now focused primarily on plastics, aluminum and other light metals.
Equipment for the new recycling center on Lavender Drive is expected to start arriving in February, and Skeen said it would double the community’s ability to handle commingled recyclables.
“One out of three participate in curbside recycling,” Skeen said. “We need that number to go way up.”
Rome arborist Terry Paige told the KRFB board the local celebration of Arbor Day has been scheduled for Feb. 16, and 200 trees would be planted, primarily along the trail behind State Mutual Stadium. He said the city and county would have plenty of partners on the project, including both the Rome and Seven Hills Rotary Clubs.
“It’s going to be a really big event,” Paige said.
Keep Rome-Floyd Beautiful Director Mary Hardin Thornton said the project grew out of Rotary International President Ian Risley’s desire to see a tree planted by every Rotarian around the world in 2018.