Nationwide Cleanup Effort Brings Junk Removal to a Small Georgia Town

Taking pride in your town manifests itself in many ways: participating in community events, helping others, getting to know your neighbors and making sure the surroundings are clean.

In this Bartow, GA neighborhood, people have taken part in the Adopt-a-Road Program, which picked up a whopping 18 bags of trash in one day. They plan to keep this up at least once a quarter, all in the spirit of maintaining their surroundings.

This was part of the Great American Cleanup, which is a county program and runs March through May, which is part of a bigger effort itself, called Keep America Beautiful. There are many other cleanup efforts that happen county to county within this program. 

One county over they collected junk, and rightfully named it the  “Allatoona Junk Dump”. This effort focused on big items that were no longer being used, as well as scrap metal. The one day this happens, people can bring out their unwanted items and metal to an onsite compactor, instead of having to haul it across the lake. The most remarkable items are old couches and even boats. Metal, of course factors in, too. Certain items of course would have to be turned over to a total product destruction service, but this would also avoid having them end up in a landfill.

76,480 pounds of trash were collected through this second effort. There was also a profit made, since for every $1 invested, they made $1500. So, at the end of the day, they’re getting services that they usually don’t get--like junk removal and on site collection-- for free.

It also educated people on recycling and reusing old items, which contributes to keeping the neighborhood cleaner for a longer amount of time.