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Cheers to recycling in Bryan County
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A few private citizens in Bryan County recently took up the challenge of Republic Waste to help Republic initiate a recycling system for Bryan County. I believe Mrs. Gayla Jones spearheaded that effort in Buckhead.
The trial run worked and now we see the blue recycle cans everywhere.
I always have marveled at the volume of trash just my wife and I can generate in a week. We frequently would fill both of those big green containers in a week’s time and we have a compactor.
What a deal. I now pay something like $3 a month and do not have to separate anything. I put all of the recyclable materials in the same container and somebody else does the separation. I now am amazed at the amount of recyclable material my wife and I generate. We now need two of the blue recycle cans and only one of the green ones. 
I used to feel a little guilty on trash day prior to the advent of the recycling program. I would see a couple of my neighbors who voluntarily have been involved in recycling for some time. They were doing their own separation of items like glass, cardboard and plastic. They already were going to the extra effort of placing several tray-like containers at curbside for a special pickup that they were paying extra for.
I don’t have any numbers, but it has to be a staggering amount of trash/garbage being collected every week just in Bryan County. Actually, it would be interesting for the folks at Republic to give us an update on how the process is working at their end. Just how much pressure are we now eliminating from the dumpsites?
We keep a small container in our kitchen, a larger one in our garage and the big blue one in the yard. That eliminates me having to go out into the yard every time I have a recyclable item. It also helps me to recycle more stuff that I might just get lazy with and throw in the compactor because it’s more convenient.
We recycle glass, paper and plastic, etc., at curbside. Plastic bags go back to the grocery stores. Styrofoam containers go back to Publix. We send our aluminum tabs from drink cans to the Ronald McDonald house and our aluminum cans to our volunteer fire department.
The individual effort to accomplish this is next to nil considering the very positive impact recycling has proven to have.
We owe a vote of thanks to the businesses that have stepped up to the challenge to get Bryan County into recycling.
I do have a question. Christmas is coming. Is Republic going to be able to handle the masses of cardboard and wrapping paper that will be produced? Will Publix or Republic be interested in recycling the masses of Styrofoam fillers that will flood the curbside pickups? I know Publix just handles the food trays, but wouldn’t it be nice if someone would include those massive chunks of Styrofoam packing material that will take up space in a landfill for generations to come?
I hope everyone in the county gets involved in this process. I am sure everyone understands the importance of recycling. It gives you a good feeling to be able to say, “Oh yeah, in Bryan County where I live, we recycle everything we can.”

Hubbard is a charter boat captain and environmental activist living in Richmond Hill. He can be reached at 2skipperhub5@comcast.net.

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