Conyers, Ga., Launches Curbside Recycling Program

The city of Conyers, Ga., and paper and packaging company Pratt Industries, which is headquartered in the city, have launched a new residential curbside recycling program. 

The weekly collection uses 65 gallon carts and replaces one of the trash collection days. The new single-stream program, handled by Pratt Industries, began July 17 and is available to all residents within Conyers’ city limits.

The city and Pratt Industries are also partnering with the Curbside Value Partnership (CVP) to promote the new program within the community. CVP is a national invitation-only program designed to help communities grow their curbside programs through education.

Steve Thompson, CVP director, says “CVP is also engaged with the entire state of Georgia on their statewide recycling education campaign. We look forward to seeing success in Conyers and believe that Conyers can help lead the state in improving the amount of recyclables collected.”

Brad Sutton, Conyers director of Public Works and Transportation, says the city hasn’t had access to curbside recycling for more than a decade. “The recycling program will be as easy as possible for residents, allowing them to put all of their recyclables together in one large cart. And we’ve replaced one of our twice weekly garbage collections with recycling to drive home the message to residents that much of your trash can be and should be recycled.” 

The partnership with CVP involves citywide communications to residents about the new single-stream recycling program and how easy it is to recycle. Pratt Industries donated the new 65-gallon recycling carts, the lids of which contain information about what can recycled through the program. Drivers have been trained on the new recycling program to enable them to better respond to resident questions. Informational brochures were also delivered to residents along with their new carts. CVP will continue to work closely with the city and Pratt Industries to measure participation and collection.

Anthony Pratt, CEO of Pratt Industries, says, “It is always challenging to introduce a new and unfamiliar program into a community, that’s why we have chosen to partner with the Curbside Value Partnership to develop a strategy for communicating with residents. It is only natural that we concentrate our efforts in the state of Georgia, which has the second largest market for recyclables in the United States.”