Happy Holidays from Keep Walton Beautiful!
We hope that you've had a beautiful holiday season and we want to wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year in 2013.
Are you making New Year's Resolutions? If so, here's one for ya: Recycle MORE in 2013! You can even take a pledge to recycle more at this site. You can sign up as an individual or as a business and vow to be better about recycling. Although we've already had our America Recycles Day event for the year (it was 17 November 2012), we encourage you to take a look at this site because it is helpful year round. They offer tons of great tools to help you with your recycling habits. Also, you can sign up with Catalog Choice to stop receiving all that junk mail that we throw away anyway.
Looking for something to do with your LIVE Christmas trees? You can recycle them here, at our main center, or at any of our convenience sites. We are accepting them NOW through Saturday, January 5th. The trees will be chipped into mulch and used by the city and county in our parks and other public areas. In the past, seedlings were available to all those who participated. However, this year, we will not be giving away seedlings. If you wish to order your own, you can do so through your local Georgia Forestry Commission office or by visiting this website.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Christmas Crafts
Beth Pawlicki, with Pathway to Empowerment Youth Groups, shared this link (see below) with us. One of her students, Natalie, found this awesome resource for Recycled Craft ideas. We thought it would be a great site for ideas on homemade Christmas gifts! They also have ideas for ways to recycle/reuse old Christmas cards! Check it out and let us know what you think!
Recycled Craft Ideas
Recycled Craft Ideas
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Updates
The Leadership Class of Walton County came by yesterday. Elaine and Kenny led a program with explanations about Keep Walton Beautiful and the importance of recycling, activities stressing the importance of leadership and the importance of recycling, and ended with a tour of the recycling center, once more enforcing the importance of recycling.
Don't forget: Our next monthly volunteer meeting with be on Wednesday, November 7th here, at the Recycling Center, from 12pm to 1pm. Bring your lunch and a friend and join us!
Also, on November 17th, we will be offering half price tire recycling to all Walton County residents. The event is in conjunction with America Recycles Day. Find out more about ARD here. You can bring your old tires here from 7:30am to 1:30pm on the 17th. Prices are as follows: car tires/light truck tires $1.00 (regular $2.00); tandem truck tires $3.00 (regular $6.00); and tractor/heavy equipment tires $7.50 (regular $15.00). Citizens are limited to a maximum of five (5) tires and the tires MUST be off the wheel. We will also be introducing and promoting the newest addition to our center... COOKING OIL RECYCLING!!! There will be some give-aways and useful and interesting information available, so please drop by!
Holiday Hours: We will be closed for Thanksgiving on Wednesday, November 21st (starting at 11:30am) through Saturday, November 24th. We will resume normal business hours on Monday, November 26th.
Don't forget: Our next monthly volunteer meeting with be on Wednesday, November 7th here, at the Recycling Center, from 12pm to 1pm. Bring your lunch and a friend and join us!
Also, on November 17th, we will be offering half price tire recycling to all Walton County residents. The event is in conjunction with America Recycles Day. Find out more about ARD here. You can bring your old tires here from 7:30am to 1:30pm on the 17th. Prices are as follows: car tires/light truck tires $1.00 (regular $2.00); tandem truck tires $3.00 (regular $6.00); and tractor/heavy equipment tires $7.50 (regular $15.00). Citizens are limited to a maximum of five (5) tires and the tires MUST be off the wheel. We will also be introducing and promoting the newest addition to our center... COOKING OIL RECYCLING!!! There will be some give-aways and useful and interesting information available, so please drop by!
Holiday Hours: We will be closed for Thanksgiving on Wednesday, November 21st (starting at 11:30am) through Saturday, November 24th. We will resume normal business hours on Monday, November 26th.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Today's Topic: E-waste
Here are some facts that few people know about e-waste. (All information comes from www.pacebutler.com/blog/ewaste-recycling-facts/.)
A previous blog stressed the importance of social media and technology in today's society. This may be good for us humans, but what is this new technology (specifically, cell phones) doing to the environment?
There are about 7 billion people in the world and over 4 billion cell phones (that's about 61% of the world's population) in use. And every year, about 140 million cell phones are dumped into landfills, adding tons of toxins such as lead, plastic, mercury, chromium, and arsenic (about 80,000 pounds) into our ecosystem, the effects of which cannot be easily reversed. This is a HUGE threat to our Mother Earth.
But, don't worry, recycling can save the planet! Most parts from electronic devices (cell phones, computers, etc.) can be recycled and effectively used in other products and for secondary purposes. So, when you upgrade to the iPhone 5, bring your old phones to the recycling center!
Not only is recycling good for the environment, it's also economical! Electronic devices contain some precious metals (like gold and silver) that can be recycled and used for other things. (About 55 tons of gold and silver combined is worth around 60 million dollars.)
After reading the previous paragraphs, you might think, "Well, that's a given... everyone should be recycling their old electronics!" Sadly, less than 20% of all the e-waste in the world (which, if you remember, is about 140 million cell phones, not including computers) is recycled each year. And only 2% of old computers are used to build new ones.
But get this (it's my favorite part...)-- if the whole world committed to not charging their cell phones for one day (just one day!), 35 million (MILLION) pounds of greenhouse gases would be saved from being released into the atmosphere. Shocking, right?!?! And, only 515 recycled phones would be enough energy to power an average household for One. Entire. Year.
So, this year, let's commit to recycle our electronics and prevent e-waste. America Recycles Day is coming up (Nov. 15th). Go to their website (www.ard.org) to take the pledge today! And, be sure to stop by the Recycling Center on Nov. 17th for our ARD event!
A previous blog stressed the importance of social media and technology in today's society. This may be good for us humans, but what is this new technology (specifically, cell phones) doing to the environment?
There are about 7 billion people in the world and over 4 billion cell phones (that's about 61% of the world's population) in use. And every year, about 140 million cell phones are dumped into landfills, adding tons of toxins such as lead, plastic, mercury, chromium, and arsenic (about 80,000 pounds) into our ecosystem, the effects of which cannot be easily reversed. This is a HUGE threat to our Mother Earth.
But, don't worry, recycling can save the planet! Most parts from electronic devices (cell phones, computers, etc.) can be recycled and effectively used in other products and for secondary purposes. So, when you upgrade to the iPhone 5, bring your old phones to the recycling center!
Not only is recycling good for the environment, it's also economical! Electronic devices contain some precious metals (like gold and silver) that can be recycled and used for other things. (About 55 tons of gold and silver combined is worth around 60 million dollars.)
After reading the previous paragraphs, you might think, "Well, that's a given... everyone should be recycling their old electronics!" Sadly, less than 20% of all the e-waste in the world (which, if you remember, is about 140 million cell phones, not including computers) is recycled each year. And only 2% of old computers are used to build new ones.
But get this (it's my favorite part...)-- if the whole world committed to not charging their cell phones for one day (just one day!), 35 million (MILLION) pounds of greenhouse gases would be saved from being released into the atmosphere. Shocking, right?!?! And, only 515 recycled phones would be enough energy to power an average household for One. Entire. Year.
So, this year, let's commit to recycle our electronics and prevent e-waste. America Recycles Day is coming up (Nov. 15th). Go to their website (www.ard.org) to take the pledge today! And, be sure to stop by the Recycling Center on Nov. 17th for our ARD event!
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Rivers Alive 2012
Our biggest event of the year, Rivers Alive, is coming up in just a few short weeks. We've been preparing for this and working with volunteers since July, and all our hard work and efforts are about to be unleashed on the rivers, lakes, and streams around Walton County.
A big SHOUT OUT and THANK YOU to all our scouts and volunteers who work so hard to help make this event possible! We couldn't do it without y'all and we are so excited that you continue to participate year after year. We're thrilled and humbled by how much support we have gained over the years and how much we've grown.
This year, we'll have roughly 350 volunteers cleaning the areas around the Briscoe Reservoir, Moore's Ford Bridge, the Alcovy and Appalachee rivers, and Matthew's Park. These volunteers do an amazing job of keeping our rivers clean!
A little background on Rivers Alive...
Rivers Alive is sponsored by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division's Georgia Adopt-A-Stream Program and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs' Keep Georgia Beautiful Program, in cooperation with Help the Hooch, and is held annually each fall. The mission is "to create awareness of and involvement in the preservation of Georgia's water resources" (riversalive.org).
The program was conceived by Curtis Farrar in the early 90's. The first cleanup was organized by the DNR Wildlife Division in 1992. In 1993, the cleanup was spread across the various divisions of the DNR: Wildlife Resources, Environmental Protection, Coastal, and Water Resources and in the mid 90's, Georgia Adopt-A-Stream became the lead program. Throughout the 90's, other agencies (government and non-government) organized and participated in their own local cleanups, but there was no collaboration between the various groups. In 1999, these groups joined together in an effort to unify their cleanups forming, for the first time, Rivers Alive. For the past 10 years, Rivers Alive has seen tremendous growth.
For more information about cleanups in your area or to read the Annual Reports, visit www.riversalive.org.
A big SHOUT OUT and THANK YOU to all our scouts and volunteers who work so hard to help make this event possible! We couldn't do it without y'all and we are so excited that you continue to participate year after year. We're thrilled and humbled by how much support we have gained over the years and how much we've grown.
This year, we'll have roughly 350 volunteers cleaning the areas around the Briscoe Reservoir, Moore's Ford Bridge, the Alcovy and Appalachee rivers, and Matthew's Park. These volunteers do an amazing job of keeping our rivers clean!
A little background on Rivers Alive...
Rivers Alive is sponsored by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division's Georgia Adopt-A-Stream Program and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs' Keep Georgia Beautiful Program, in cooperation with Help the Hooch, and is held annually each fall. The mission is "to create awareness of and involvement in the preservation of Georgia's water resources" (riversalive.org).
The program was conceived by Curtis Farrar in the early 90's. The first cleanup was organized by the DNR Wildlife Division in 1992. In 1993, the cleanup was spread across the various divisions of the DNR: Wildlife Resources, Environmental Protection, Coastal, and Water Resources and in the mid 90's, Georgia Adopt-A-Stream became the lead program. Throughout the 90's, other agencies (government and non-government) organized and participated in their own local cleanups, but there was no collaboration between the various groups. In 1999, these groups joined together in an effort to unify their cleanups forming, for the first time, Rivers Alive. For the past 10 years, Rivers Alive has seen tremendous growth.
For more information about cleanups in your area or to read the Annual Reports, visit www.riversalive.org.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Getting Started
Greetings, Walton County Citizens!
Lately, we've heard the importance of promotion through social media and other online resources. Our society is so technologically motivated and social media is a great way to express ideas, facts, and insights to those around us. Thus, we've decided to jump on the band wagon and take advantage of this very powerful tool. We hope that you'll use these tools to stay tuned with the happenings of Keep Walton Beautiful, learn interesting and important facts, and share with your friends and family.
To get started, I'd like to take a minute to introduce you to Keep Walton Beautiful, Inc. (KWB). KWB was organized in 1972 under the auspices of Keep America Beautiful, Inc. (KAB) and in conjunction with Keep Georgia Beautiful, Inc. (KGB). Governed by a local Board of Directors, KWB operates through grants, private and charitable contributions, in addition to funding and support from the Walton County Board of Commissioners. KWB depends of a variety of volunteers, organizations, schools and businesses throughout Walton County for assistance with several programs contributing to environmental education year round. Our program focuses on changing citizen's attitudes and behaviors toward littering and waste management and depends on community involvement of programs for recycling, conservation, beautification, and environmental education to ensure our planet's healthy future.
Mission Statement: Keep Walton Beautiful, Inc. is a non-profit organization that seeks to make Walton County, Georgia a cleaner and more sustainable community through education, public/private partnerships and volunteer support.
Lately, we've heard the importance of promotion through social media and other online resources. Our society is so technologically motivated and social media is a great way to express ideas, facts, and insights to those around us. Thus, we've decided to jump on the band wagon and take advantage of this very powerful tool. We hope that you'll use these tools to stay tuned with the happenings of Keep Walton Beautiful, learn interesting and important facts, and share with your friends and family.
To get started, I'd like to take a minute to introduce you to Keep Walton Beautiful, Inc. (KWB). KWB was organized in 1972 under the auspices of Keep America Beautiful, Inc. (KAB) and in conjunction with Keep Georgia Beautiful, Inc. (KGB). Governed by a local Board of Directors, KWB operates through grants, private and charitable contributions, in addition to funding and support from the Walton County Board of Commissioners. KWB depends of a variety of volunteers, organizations, schools and businesses throughout Walton County for assistance with several programs contributing to environmental education year round. Our program focuses on changing citizen's attitudes and behaviors toward littering and waste management and depends on community involvement of programs for recycling, conservation, beautification, and environmental education to ensure our planet's healthy future.
Mission Statement: Keep Walton Beautiful, Inc. is a non-profit organization that seeks to make Walton County, Georgia a cleaner and more sustainable community through education, public/private partnerships and volunteer support.
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