This September, officials in Montgomery decided to permanently remove public drop-off recycling containers posted around the region. And while homeowners are being encouraged to utilize their green roll-out recycling containers for curb-side pickup, businesses and apartment residents don’t have that option.
Susan Carmichael of the Montgomery Clean City Commission says the drop-off bins became magnets for illegal dumping. And in their effort to encourage recycling and clean up the city, they inadvertently had the opposite effect. Anyone who needs to drop off recyclables in Montgomery can bring them to either McInnis Recycling Center or Mount Scrap Materials.
Among household waste, plastic containers make up 39.9% of all recovered material; however, many people aren’t sure what else they can and can’t recycle. Perhaps that’s why so much waste ends up in Alabama’s coastal waterways.
For the last 28 years, the state of Alabama has participated in the Ocean Conservancy’s annual Coastal Cleanup event to help clean up trash and marine debris from local waterways. And this year, more than 5,000 volunteers helped pick up an incredible 25,000 pounds of trash.
The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, State Lands Division, Coastal Section, and Alabama People Against A Littered State helped organize local volunteers for the 28th Coastal Cleanup this year. So on a sunny Saturday, thousands woke up early to “get the trash out of the splash,” walking, boating, and even scuba diving through 31 coastal and inland waterways. Volunteers scoured water in Mobile and Baldwin counties to remove every kind of trash imaginable.
Over the past 28 years, 82,000 Alabama volunteers have helped remove an estimated 1.5 million pounds of debris from the state’s water. In addition to small items like cigarette butts and plastic, volunteers have found unusual items like furniture sets, televisions, computers, and even a Nissan Pathfinder with Texas plates still attached.
