On November 5th, the United States will commemorate America Recycles Day – the only nationally-recognized day dedicated to promoting and celebrating recycling in our nation. It’s a day designed to educate and encourage individuals on how to be more mindful of what they consume, where and how to properly recycle, pledge to recycle more and recycle right in their everyday lives. This year, Keep America Beautiful and its affiliates – like Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful – are focused on taking action to collectively address the challenges facing our nation’s recycling system. Although the numbers have risen over the last 30 years, the recycling rate is only 34%… we can do better! Here in Gwinnett, we’re making our own strides to improve recycling in our community while encouraging more people to recycle at home, work, school and on the go. Because continuous improvement is the key to keeping recyclable materials out of landfills and reduce contamination of the recycling stream, we are proud to share the following five ways Gwinnett ROCKS recycling…

• GC&B and Gwinnett County Solid Waste Management to Host America Recycles Day Event at Coolray Field 11/5: Hosted from 9am to noon, this event will give locals a “one-stop-shop” opportunity to drop off items that are typically more difficult to recycle, such as electronics, tires, clothing, sneakers, and latex and oil-based paint. Paper shredding will also be available. Learn More about Gwinnett County’s answer to America Recycles Day!
• Gwinnett Recently Expanded its Curbside Recycling Program to Unincorporated Gwinnett: This summer, through a $100,000 grant from The Recycling Partnership with financial support provided by America Beverage’s Every Bottle Back initiative and matching funds from the County, Gwinnett announced the expansion of its curbside recycling program to unincorporated households across the County. Since June, 15,493 new recycling carts have been delivered, unlocking access to millions of pounds of new quality recyclables that can then be transformed into new products and packaging. For the full list of items collected curbside in incorporated and unincorporated Gwinnett, click HERE! This initiative also involves an educational component encouraging residents to Know What to Throw by recycling the right things, the right way with a recyclable mailer to nearly 200,000 households in unincorporated Gwinnett County, along with billboards, social media, and other outreach initiatives.
• Hefty® EnergyBag® Program Goes LIVE in Gwinnett: Giving residents an opportunity to dispose of hard-to-recycle plastics in a sustainable way, the Hefty® EnergyBag® program complements the current unincorporated Gwinnett County curbside recycling program. This program helps residents recycle plastics not part of the list of acceptable items such as #4 through #7 plastics, plastic bags and wraps, foam, plastic dinnerware, and many other plastic items. Gwinnett residents can drop off their full Hefty® EnergyBag® orange bags at West Rock located at 384 Maltbie Street in Lawrenceville Monday through Saturday from 7:00am to 2:00pm. Plastics #1 and #2, which include items like water and soda bottles, milk jugs, juice containers, shampoo bottles, and detergent holders, will continue to be accepted curbside.
• Gwinnett County Launches a Drop-Off Glass Recycling Program: Gwinnett now has TWO drop-off locations for glass recycling. Our friends and community partners at the City of Lawrenceville will accept glass for recycling at Lawrenceville Public Works, located at 435 W. Pike Street. Drop off is available every day between 7am-7pm in clearly-marked bins for clear and colored glass. Those wishing to utilize this opportunity do NOT have to be City of Lawrenceville residents. Also, Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful and Gwinnett County Government have teamed up with Waste Pro USA to pilot a drop-off glass recycling program at OneStop Norcross. Residents can bring their clean, empty glass containers to 5030 Georgia Belle Court in Norcross. The clearly marked drop-off container is located in the center’s parking lot and is accessible 24/7. Acceptable glass items are all colors of food and beverage bottles, as well as jars. To keep the recycling stream contaminant-free, please do not leave the bags or boxes in which you delivered them. To learn more, visit https://www.gwinnettcb.org/glass-recycling/.
• Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful Offers a Database of Places to Take Hard-to-Recycle Items: Wondering what to do with that old car battery or VCR that no longer works? GC&B offers a menu of hard-to-recycle items along with a list of places you can take them on our website’s Recycling Page. While you’re there, be sure to check out other helpful recycling-related information, like how to prepare recyclable materials and tips for the 3R’s – recycling, reducing and reusing.

Whether you are already a proficient recycler or you plan to start, we encourage you to take the #BeRecycled pledge to Learn, Act and Share. We look forward to seeing YOU at our America Recycles Day event on November 6!