Rumours, Rumours Everywhere
...AND NOW A DROP OF TRUTH
At a visit to Radial Café, owner Phil Palmer interviewed Mary Harrington to get the straight story about recycling from the City's of Atlanta Recycling Program Manager (and the most recent addition to GreenPlate's Board). 
Phil: What about the RUMORS that all of the city recycling just gets dumped into the trash?
Mary: It just doesn't happen. The City is committed to its recycling program and even in this economic climate, there is still a market, although diminished, for all of the products that are recycled.
Phil: How does the program work?
Mary: The City contracts with SP Recycling Co. to process all of the products collected. The actual collection is now handled by City workers and is picked up every other week. GreenPlate is touring the facility soon and will be sharing more details about how the recyclables are processed.
Phil: And how is it funded?
EVERY single -family household pays a mere $30 annually for the recycling service whether they recycle or not - so why not recycle?
Phil: There's a good reason to recycle. I'm paying for it.
Phil: Which plastics does the City recycle?
Mary: I know this may surprise people but we take all plastics #1-7 except expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam). While the expanded polystryene which could be described as foamy, does have a #6 on the bottom we don't' take it. We do take the harder #6's.
Phil: Why not expanded polystyrene? For more information about when, where and what to recycle in the ATL, visit AtlantaRecycles.com.
Mary: Expanded polystyrene breaks down too easily and messes up the machinery. It also takes a lot to make it viable to recycle.
Phil: What about plastic tops? Can those be recycled?
Mary: The tops are recyclable, but they need to be either left on the bottle or collected separately and taken to an area AVEDA natural care store (this makes a great school project!).
Otherwise, throw them away until further notice! "When it Doubt, Throw it Out"!
Phil: What's the most important advice you would give Atlantans about recycling?
Mary: REDUCE! If people can reduce the purchase of products overall, we will have less waste in general and less need to recycle. That would be the best way to go.
Sweet NECTAR Husband and wife team Gaurav Malhotra and Naruna Rangel just opened >Nectar, a juice bar in the Oakhurst community. 
GP: What is your 'green' mission?
GUARAV: From day one, we have been committed to providing great quality food while looking for ways to reduce our environmental impact.
GP: What steps have you taken?
GUARAV: We buy as much organically and locally grown produce as we can find. It helps us provide the quality we believe.
We use a tankless hot water heater now and plan to switch to solar. We partner with the Oakhurst Community Garden, to turn smoothie waste into compost.
GP: What about plastics?
GUARAV: Actually, we are using PET for our smoothies now. We started with corn-based PLA cups but have decided not to use those until the kinks of composting/recycling get worked out. We use mostly paper for our take out.
GP: What's your dirty lil plastic secret?
GUARAV: We use plastic straws.
THANKS, JENNIFER!
We so appreciate our lovely, lovable, fun and dedicated Sales/marketing volunteer extraordinaire!
Volunteer Your Skillz
- Help write/edit articles
- Suggest heros/features
- Work Festivals ($$)
- Improve our website
- Pass out flyers
We Need You!
Contact us via email at support(at)greenplate.org and we
will love you forever, probably.