Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful (GC&B) has been awarded a $10,000 grant by the Bank of America Charitable Foundation. These funds will be used to manufacture Green Communities reusable bags printed with recycling tips in a variety of languages. The goal is to encourage proper recycling and reduce cross-contamination in the recycling chain.

The bags will be produced from recyclable materials and distributed at a number of Gwinnett events in hopes that residents will collect recyclables in the home and transfer them to curbside bins and carts.

“We’ve found that a lot of households like to collect their recyclables in plastic grocery bags,” said Schelly Marlatt, Executive Director for GC&B. “Unfortunately, those bags are not recyclable curbside and often lead to contamination of the recycling supply chain. Most people have the very best of intentions but may not know that they are hindering the recycling process when they’re just trying to help.”

Tips and information about recycling can be found at www.GwinnettCB.org. For items that cannot be recycled curbside, the website also lists destinations that will accept those items. While not recyclable curbside, plastic grocery bags are accepted for recycling at a number of retail locations such as Publix, Walmart, Lowes, and Target, to name a few.