Gwinnett County to Host Rain or Shine Earth Day Recycling Event

Atlanta GA

07 April, 2022

12:22 PM

Description

Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful and Gwinnett County Solid Waste Team Up to Collect Tires, Paint, Electronics, Clothing and Sneakers at Coolray Field April 23  Lawrenceville, Ga. – April 7, 2022 – As part of the “partnership for the planet” that’s been celebrated by more than a billion people the world over since 1970, Gwinnett County will play host to its annual Earth Day recycling event on Saturday, April 23 at Coolray Field. Designed to change human behavior and create opportunities for civic engagement and volunteerism, between 9 a.m. and noon, a line of cars will funnel through the parking lots that surround the “home of the Gwinnett Stripers” as Gwinnett citizens drop off no longer needed items like tires, oil-based and latex paint, electronics, clothing and sneakers. Representing a joint effort by Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful and Gwinnett County Solid Waste, the Earth Day Recycling Event will also collect paper for secure shredding. The overall aim is to keep hard-to-recycle items out of area landfills. In the weeks leading up to the event, the environmentally focused nonprofit and its partners at Solid Waste are encouraging citizens to collect items to drop off on the big day. They are also issuing a call for volunteers to help collect items from hundreds of vehicles. “We had more than a thousand cars come through our Earth Day recycling event last year,” said Schelly Marlatt, Executive Director of Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful. “And based on the outstanding success of our Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day event in February, we’re going to need some dedicated volunteers to help us keep the line running smoothly from start to finish of this event. It’s an excellent opportunity for high school athletes and club members to earn community service hours, and for older scouts to earn badges. Not restricted to teenagers alone, this Global Day of Action is a chance for our neighbors to give back to the community and spend time with other people who share their concern for the environment. We’ve had entire families sign up to volunteer as their way of celebrating Earth Day.” Marlatt shared that Earth Day family traditions aren’t limited to volunteering alone. “A lot of work goes into preparing to attend the event – from the collection of items to loading up the car to waiting in line to drop off materials for recycling. We deeply appreciate the time and effort that our neighbors put into protecting the planet and making our little corner of the world an even better place to live.” During the 2021 Earth Day event, over the course of just three hours, Gwinnett County employees and 28 volunteers processed 1,115 vehicles, collecting 4,850 gallons of latex paint, 86 gallons of oil-based paint, and 147 gallons of aerosol paint. They also shredded 14.72 tons of paper and collected six tons of tires and 18.963 tons of electronics – roughly the weight equivalent of forty 1979 Volkswagen Beetles. For those who plan to participate in Earth Day 2022, Marlatt suggests they start prepping by gathering their items now. Throughout the event, the following items will be collected: Paper for secure shredding (Please limit to five copier paper boxes per vehicle)Electronics (Recycling is free except for TVs, monitors and printers – $15 cash fee per monitor or TV; $5 cash fee per printer; projection/console TVs are $35 cash fee)Oil-based and latex paint (Please limit to 10 gallons per vehicle - cans must contain 25% wet paint)Tires (Please limit to eight tires per vehicle; no dealer tires)Clothing and sneakers Coolray Field is located at 2500 Buford Drive in Lawrenceville. To register as a volunteer for Gwinnett County’s Earth Day recycling event, visit the Volunteer Gwinnett page under the Employment tab at www.GwinnettCounty.com. To learn more about this and other upcoming Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful events, please visit www.gwinnettcb.org. Questions may be directed to [email protected] or 770-822-5187.