Two Eco-Events Made Big Impacts in Gwinnett County this Spring

Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful and its County Government Partners Share Stats from April’s Earth Day Recycling Event and May’s Great Gwinnett Wetlands

Lawrenceville, Ga. – May 19, 2022 – On the heels of its “Connecting People and Places: A Community Conversation About Litter” livestream event in March that featured a facilitated forum of subject matter experts and local citizens, Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful (GC&B) demonstrated that it’s not just here to “talk the talk.” With a pair of eco-focused events – its Earth Day Recycling Event and Great Gwinnett Wetlands – the Keep America Beautiful affiliate clearly illustrated that it’s here to “walk the walk.” Both events – hosted in April and May – enjoyed impressive results while engaging Gwinnett County residents to do their part on behalf of the community and the environment.

“Even though Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful has been a force for good in the county since 1980, we remain focused on continuous improvement and breaking records,” said Schelly Marlatt, Executive Director for the nonprofit with a mission of Connecting People and Resources for a Sustainable Gwinnett. “Not only am I proud of our team and the excellent partnerships we’ve forged with Gwinnett County’s Department of Water Resources and Solid Waste Management, but I’m proud of the way our neighbors get up, stand up and show up for every event we host. Whether collecting and dropping off items for recycling or volunteering their time during a Saturday to trek through the woods and wetlands in search of litter and invasive plants, our two Spring events were so successful thanks in large part to the dedication of our amazing community members. I am always pleasantly surprised by just how great Gwinnett truly is.”
Schelly Marlett, Executive Director of GCB

Hosted on April 23 at Coolray Field, GC&B teamed up with Gwinnett Solid Waste to collect hard-to-recycle items that aren’t collected curbside during its annual Earth Day Recycling Event. By the end of the three-hour event, 47 volunteers had collected items from 1,549 cars. All told, 44,000 lbs. of electronics, 6,682 gallons of paint, 14 tons of tires, 2,720 lbs. of clothing and sneakers were collected for recycling and 34,000 lbs. of paper were collected for shredding. By taking part in the Earth Day Recycling Event, the combined 175,540 lbs. of recyclables collected were diverted from local landfills to be given a new life through recycling and reuse.

This month, on May 7 at Bethesda Park in Lawrenceville, GC&B and its partners at Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources hosted the 8^th Annual Great Gwinnett Wetlands. The event engaged 115 volunteers to remove invasive privet from a 1/2-acre area, conduct habitat assessments on two streams, outfit eight local neighborhoods with storm drain markers and door hangers and educate 821 local homeowners about storm drains. Three teams of “litter pickers” collected 132 bags of trash, 17 tires, 100 yards of plastic pipe, a mattress, a bicycle, a water heater, a toy playhouse and more. A grand total of 4,760 pounds of trash was removed from this vital area wetland.

Gwinnett County residents who wish to take part in other upcoming events from Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful are encouraged to bookmark the nonprofit’s event page at www.GwinnettCB.org and follow GC&B’s social media pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The next major event on the GC&B calendar is the Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day at Gwinnett County Fairgrounds on Saturday, July 16 from 8-11 a.m. Hosted in conjunction with Gwinnett Water Resources, the event presents local residents with an opportunity to rid their homes of hard-to-recycle items that run the gamut from aerosol pesticides and auto batteries to propane cylinders and weed killers.