Countywide Trash Attack and Waterway Cleanup, Household Hazardous Waste Collection, New Website and MORE!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." Ghandi

Don't wait for someone else to solve the problem.

NEWSLETTER

FEBRUARY 2021

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Our Hearts Belong To Our Volunteers!

KALB would not be able to do everything that we

do without our wonderful volunteers! Thank you

to all of you who have taken time out of your busy schedules to work for the betterment of our community. We are humbled by and grateful

for your support.

Looking to get involved? KALB offers many

different ways to get involved, including volunteer opportunities, membership, our Adopt-A-Spot program, and other ways to support the important work that we do. Please join us as we continue our work to make Athens and Limestone County a cleaner, greener, and more beautiful place!

Trash Attack and Waterway Cleanup

Saturday, March 6th

KALB is hosting our 3rd annual Trash Attack and Waterway Cleanup!

DATE: Saturday, March 6, 2021

EVENT TIME: 8 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

LOCATIONS: There will be at least THREE starting locations this year (possibly more to come):

Athens – Big Spring Memorial Park(the duck pond)

Ardmore – Corner of Main Street and Ardmore Ave. (partnering with United Turf and Pest Control)

West Limestone – Hatchery Road Boat Launch off Hwy. 99 in West Limestone

SPONSORS: Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Keep Alabama Beautiful in partnership with the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT)

BREAKFAST: TVA and KALB will provide donuts and coffee to volunteers at 8:00 am in each location.

REGISTRATION: Please email KALB at KALBCares@gmail.com or call 256-233-8000 to let us know you will be participating. This information is helpful to ensure we have enough supplies and provisions for breakfast. Registration is not required to participate; however, is helpful to organizers.

HOLD HARMLESS – ADULTS: All adult participants must sign a Hold Harmless Agreement which will be available on the day of the event.

HOLD HARMLESS – MINORS: All participants under the age of 18 must have a Consent Form and Hold Harmless Agreement for Minors signed by a parent or legal guardian. All minors must be accompanied by a responsible adult.

SUPPLIES: Trash bags, gloves, vests, and litter grabbers will be provided by TVA, KALB, and KAB. Gloves will be available, but participants are encouraged to bring their own. Participants may bring rakes, shovels, chains, waders and other equipment, if desired, to help remove difficult debris.

PROPER DRESS: Participants should wear long pants and footwear appropriate for the work to be done. No sandals. Wear clothes that you can get dirty and that are weather appropriate! Bring gloves. If you don’t have work gloves, some will be available. Please wear sun screen and/or insect repellent as needed for protection dependent upon weather and location.

WATERCRAFT: Boats, canoes, and kayaks are welcomed to help remove litter from the Elk River and other waterways as appropriate. All required safety equipment must be on board.

GENERAL GUIDELINES: All trash and debris from your cleanup area should be placed in one general area if possible, and you will be notified of the location of that area at volunteer check in.

Household Hazardous Waste Collection

April 10, 2021

Mark your calendar! KALB is pleased to announce that we will be hosting another Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Collection Event in 2021. If you missed our last event, now is your chance! Springtime is a great time to clean out and gather up all of your household cleaners, household chemicals, old paint, lawn and garden chemicals, or other items that you may have been storing for years. Our collection offers you an opportunity to rid your home of potentially dangerous items and to properly dispose of them once and for all!

DATE: Saturday, April 10, 2021

TIME: 8:00 am to 12:00 pm (noon)

LOCATION: Athens Middle School – 100 US Hwy 31 North – north parking lot between the football stadium and the school

The gates will close at noon sharp, so be sure to arrive in plenty of time. Volunteers will be on site to provide traffic direction in the parking lot and to help unload vehicles. This event will be a drive through drop off event, and residents are encouraged to stay inside your vehicle to allow the volunteers to unload your HHW items. Please note, this event is for LIMESTONE COUNTY RESIDENTS ONLY.

For more information on items accepted, please visit the following page:

https://keepathenslimestonebeautiful.com/2021/01/29/household-hazardous-waste-collection-event/

Two Successful Cleanups Are in the Books!

KALB held two very successful cleanups over the last few weeks. We owe the success of both of these events to our volunteers and partners that participated with us!

Swan Creek Wildlife Management Area Cleanup

We held our annual Swan Creek Wildlife Management Area Cleanup on Monday, January 18th in conjunction with MLK Day of Service, and partnered with Tennessee Riverkeeper.

36 volunteers gathered that day to clean this beautiful area.

3780 pounds of trash and debris were removed from the area that day. Pictured above are Rick Pressnell and Pat Underwood, and just a portion of the trash that was removed!

Buzzard Roost Road Cleanup

Pictured are some of the volunteers from the Buzzard Roost Cleanup. Thank you to everyone who came out and helped that day!

Trash and debris that was removed from Buzzard

Roost Road.

What an amazing day! On Saturday, February 6th around 120 people came out and volunteered in many different capacities. 59,800 lbs (29.9 tons) of garbage and debris were removed from this area that day! There is no way that this event could have taken place on such a large scale without the partnerships and community involvement that were present.

KALB would like to thank LaDon Townsend and his District 4 crew for their help in planning and implementing this cleanup. They brought large equipment and dump trailers to remove the trash and debris from the area, and did so much more! Thank you to the Limestone County Commission as a whole for your support. Thank you to the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office for the use of your ATV. It was very useful in getting back and forth from the tent to the volunteers! Thank you to Keep Alabama Beautiful for the cleanup supplies. Thank you to the West Limestone Volunteer Fire Department, Glenn Tarpley, and Cody Gibson for on-site first aid or emergency needs. Thank you to Christo’s Dari-Delite for donating burgers for all of our volunteers. It was a huge job to cook 120 burgers, especially on a busy Saturday! Thank you to the Athens-Limestone Recycling Center for letting us use their truck and dump trailer. Thank you to the volunteers from the community who brought their own large equipment to this event and worked so hard! Thank you to the KALB Commissioners who volunteered at our tent and to those who cleaned. Thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers who took time out of their Saturday to help with this event. This cleanup was one for the books!

KALB Website

We are so pleased to announced that KALB has a newly redesigned website! It is still a work in progress and there are a few kinks to be worked out, but our hope is that you will find it much easier to navigate and more user friendly!

We express our deepest gratitude to Professor Katia Maxwell and her CS452 senior level class at Athens State University for redesigning our website as their class project. These students went above and beyond to make sure that we had a final product that both fits our needs and that offers a pleasant experience for those that visit our site.

We invite you to click the link below, take a look, and let us know what you think!

KALBcares.com

Recycling Center Updates

The Recycling Center Manager and Ass

BUSINESS HOURS

Monday through Friday

6:30 am to 2:30 pm.

The Recycling Center Manager and Assistant Manager are working in the plant full time handling and baling materials. They will not be in the office to answer calls, but will return messages. If you do not leave a message, they cannot return your call. Please be patient as they are doing double duty to accommodate the needs of the community as best they can with less than half of their staff.

NO PLASTIC will be accepted at this time. Watch for updates on the Athens-Limestone Recycling Center and Keep Athens-Limestone Beautiful Facebook pages.

The Recycling Center will accept the

following materials at the

LUCAS FERRY RD. FACILITY ONLY

Please SORT BEFORE ARRIVING. If bringing items in a plastic bag, empty your items out of the bag into the correct bins. Do not leave the plastic bags.

Electronics (if you have heavy items, please bring help to unload. We currently do not have staff at the plant to help you. There is a $10 fee for TVs of any size. All other electronics are accepted free of charge.)
Cardboard (including paperboard: cereal boxes, drink cartons, etc.) (Cardboard MUST be broken down. Unbroken boxes take up too much space!)
Newspaper (must be separate from other paper)
Junk Mail, Office Paper, Magazines
Steel/Tin Cans and Other Steel Items
Aluminum Cans and Other Aluminum Items
Glass Bottles and Jars - All Colors (Glass must be sorted by colors: brown, clear, and blue and green. NO other types of glass accepted!)

NO COUNTY TRAILERS will be in place. Materials must be brought to the Lucas Ferry Rd. facility. We do not know when the trailers will be put back in place. We will update on the Keep Athens-Limestone Beautiful and Athens-Limestone Recycling Center Facebook pages.

DIRECT RECYCLING QUESTIONS TO:

Athens-Limestone Recycling Center

256-233-8746

AthensRecycling@pclnet.net

City of Athens Sanitation Department

(Athens City Curbside Recycling)

256-233-8747