Chickens In The Backyard: 2011-03-13

Since Erin is a big compost supporter (and so am I now), and she has a great pile going in the backyard, I thought it would be appropriate to share this information from Georgia Organics. This article is about a bill that would allow tons of food and yard waste into landfills in Georgia where that type of waste has previously been banned (thus sending it to composting and recycling facilities). The article underlines the importance of recycling and composting not only for energy, water, and cleanliness reasons, but also for economic reason, namely - jobs.

On the heels of another successful Georgia Organics event where we saved more than 1,100 pounds of food waste from area landfills,

we are battling the ability of having that option at all.

HB 274 would lift the ban on landfilling yard trimmings for the largest landfills in the state, those that recover some of the methane for energy. The landfills that would take yard trimmings under HB 274 include Waste Management's Pine Bluff in Cherokee County that took in 1,093,601 tons in 2010, Veolia's Taylor County landfill that took in 483,141 tons in 2010, DeKalb's Seminole Road that took in 378,449 tons in 2010 and Waste Management's Superior Road in Chatham County that took in 439,503 tons in 2010.

TOP 10 REASONS TO OPPOSE HB 274:

1. Georgia has a strong and growing infrastructure for recycling and composting. HB 274 would result in lost jobs for the composting industry in Georgia as high quality material would go to landfills instead of composters.

2. Increased organics recycling is an important step to building soil in Georgia and conserving water. HB 274 would deplete our soil and water.

3. Methane to energy is inefficient. With more much of the methane leaking rather than being used for energy production, HB 274 would actually make air pollution worse in Georgia.

4. Georgia has long been a dumping ground for garbage from other states. As far back as FY 2004, Georgia landfilled 1,696,164 tons from other states. Lifting the ban on yard trimmings means waste from other states can more easily be dumped in Georgia. As the governor of Alabama has issued an Executive Order to stop megafills in Alabama until new rules are implemented, HB 274 will help Georgia become the dumping ground of the world.

5. HB 274 contradicts waste reduction, recycling, and composting efforts, which is one of the reasons the U.S. EPA opposed a similar bill in 2010.

6. HB 274 diminishes the millions of dollars of investment by state and local governments and private businesses toward reducing disposalables and increasing recycling.

7. Yard trimmings are estimated to be 25% by weight and 40% by volume of the waste stream in Georgia. Lifting the ban on yard trimmings could add 1.5 to 2 million tons a year of recyclable yard trimmings to Georgia landfills, which would fill our landfills faster meaning more landfills would need to be sited.

8. HB 274 reverses goals established 21 years ago by the 1990 Solid Waste Management Act to decrease waste in area landfills. This would be a HUGE step backward in terms of reducing the amount of waste that is deposited in landfills.

9. HB 274 will make resources critical to compost industry growth less attainable and at higher costs. There are many more jobs created by composting compared to landfilling so HB 274 is a job killer.

10. HB 274 reverses positive and aggressive policy that has been attracting much business development and creating jobs in Georgia, such as the growing large-scale composting industry.

Read the full bill here - HB 274

Click here to find out who your state representative is.

Call or email today to keep Georgia moving FORWARD
with composting and waste repurposing.