On Saturday, July 8, Macon-Bibb County will install 21 new recycling cans Downtown along Cherry Street, Poplar Street, First Street, Second Street, Third Street, and Cotton Avenue. These recycling cans were purchased with a Downtown Challenge Grant received by the Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful Commission. Also included in the grant are 19 new garbage cans, and those will be installed at a later date.
 
“We wanted to support Macon-Bibb County in its efforts to expand its successful recycling program, and we are putting these cans in places where a lot of people will be able to access them,” say KMBBC President and CEO Director Pam Carswell. “Our departments and crews do a great deal in our neighborhoods to keep them clean, and this is just one way we can help keep trash off of our streets.”
 
“Recycling has been a much greater success than we’d anticipated, and that speaks very highly for our community’s desire to be more green,” says Solid Waste Director Kevin Barkley. “Expanding this program has taken the support of our Commissioners, fellow departments, and many community partners, and with their help, more and more people are being given the chance to clean up our planet.”
 
These 21 recycling cans are in addition to the nine installed in June that were bought by the Urban Development Authority and installed by the Solid Waste and Parks & Beautification Departments. Since installation of the first nine, the Solid Waste Department is having to empty them twice a week.
 
Recycling cans Downtown are the next step in the Solid Waste Department’s efforts to significantly increase the amount of material diverted from landfills. In January 2016, the Department expanded residential recycling to the entire county and has made 65-gallon rolling recycling containers available to homes. If a person would like to request a rolling recycling can for their home, call 478-803-0499 or use SeeClickFix on the Macon-Bibb County website or free mobile phone application.
 
Since the program expanded, more than 9,000 cans have been delivered, and monthly recycling collection has more than doubled from 301,480 pounds in January 2016 to 776,200 pounds in April 2017. Since January 2016, almost 11 million pounds of material have been recycled instead of being put in a landfill.
 
In addition to the recycling cans, the Parks & Beautification Department installed 31 dog waste stations (thanks to a grant received by KMBBC) to help people clean up after their animals.
 
“As Downtown continues to grow, we’re presented with new challenges, and people living and walking their dogs in our parks brought up an issue we didn’t have years ago,” says Parks & Beautification Director Sam Kitchens.