We want to verify the answers to your questions. Harold Feightner lives in Houston County and sent us an email asking what Houston County does with the recyclables that it picks up?
He says he's heard rumors it just gets lumped in with trash and dumped at the landfill.
Jacob Reynolds set out to verify if the rumors are true or false.
It's a question you might ask yourself every time you bring a bin like this to the curb in Houston County.
What happens after pick up? Does your recycling actually get recycled?
Crystal Allen and her family take their recyclables to the curb twice a month. Allen says she isn't sure where it ends up once it leaves her driveway.
“I don't really know. No,” Allen said in her front yard.
She says they recycle cans, plastic bottles, and milk jugs.
“I hope that it goes to a bigger city and they chop it up and sell it to get remade into other milk jugs and plastic bottles,” Allen said.
We set out to verify that the recyclables get recycled and aren't just dumped at the landfill. County Director of Operations Robbie Dunbar says that rumor isn't true.
“No, Houston County does have a recycling program where we collect the recyclables at the curbside,” Dunbar said.
The County is in a 5-year contract with Advance Disposal that handles pick up.
“So they collect the recyclables at the curbside and transport them to a recycling processing facility and sell them on the open market as a commodity,” Dunbar explained.
So to verify, we followed Advance Disposal as they collected recyclables in unincorporated Houston County. We followed them from Houston County to Macon and verified they get dropped off at a transfer facility there, and not at the landfill.
Advance Disposal says then it goes to a recycling facility in Milledgeville where it is sorted, sold, and shipped to vendors who turn it into new products.
In 2016, County customers recycled roughly 876 tons of material. The recycling program is voluntary for unincorporated County residents. Dunbar says if you want to participate you can call the County's public works department.
The recycling fee is already included in the $11-a-month County trash fee.
And we want to answer any other questions you might have send them to us on Facebook or email us!
VERIFY SOURCES:
Robbie Dunbar, Director of Operations for Houston County
Jeanne Moyer, Operations Manager at Advanced Disposal