Cobb County is one of two communities in the nation to be awarded a $50,000 grant by Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics to establish the Hefty EnergyBag program in Cobb.
The program offers a creative approach to diverting plastics that are not currently recycled – such as chip bags and juice pouches – from landfills and converting the materials into valuable energy resources.
“Keep Cobb Beautiful is excited about this innovative program and is looking forward to bringing plastic recovery options and technology to Cobb County residents,” said KCB Executive Director Kimberly White.
Building on a 10-year partnership through the Great American Cleanup, the largest community improvement program in the U.S., Dow and Keep America Beautiful collaborated to announce the Hefty EnergyBag grant program in July and sought applications from communities across the U.S.
The two winning communities, Cobb County and Boise, Idaho, rated highest on key selection criteria which included host city or municipality, materials recovery facility, hauler participation, number of targeted households, availability of existing recycling carts for curbside collection and accessibility of a suitable end-market outlet that will turn the plastics collected into an alternative energy resource.
Both communities will provide collected materials to facilities using advanced non-combustion conversion technologies which can generate a liquid fuel such as diesel.
These technologies also have the longer-term potential to produce new plastics.
Information: KeepCobbBeautiful.org.
About the Author
