It's the time of year when Lee County is looking to go green.
"We've formed a partnership between the city of Opelika, the city of Auburn, Lee County and Auburn University," said Opelika Major Gary Fuller. "It's called the East Alabama Recycling Partnership."
The four entities are currently working on a grant proposal to the Alabama Department of Environment Management that will be tailored to their specific needs.
They have put together other ADEM grant proposals in the past few years, and each time the proposal was approved.
"The grant from the ADEM Alabama Recycling Fund will allow us to continue working together to establish a comprehensive and coordinated regional recycling program," Fuller said.
Fuller said Opelika hopes to use the funds in multiple ways to benefit the environment.
"Our goal is to divert materials from the landfill and protect our environment," he said. "Funds will be used for public education and outreach as well as to purchase recycling equipment such as cardboard bales and cardboard trailers."
Tim Woody, environmental services director of Auburn, said the entities involved in the proposal have slightly different needs.
"On our end, we're going to be asking for more promotional and educational materials," he said. "Right now we have a billboard that's up on South College that just talks about recycling here in Auburn. We plan on continuing that.
"We also plan on continuing our recycling tidbits. We did that last year as well in the OA News and the Villager. Once a week, there's a little article in there with something about recycling, about our program or offering national statistics, things of that nature."
Woody said promotional work is a large part of their efforts.
"We have a lot of giveaways that we're ordering because we do a lot with the city schools," he said. "We usually have a booth set up at the City Fest, so we use that opportunity to promote recycling as well."
Woody said they hope to use the grant to advance projects they were able to start with last year's grant.
"Last year we purchased a few trailers with the last grant that we're going to be putting in some apartment complexes around town to allow residents that live in multiplexes to recycle," he said. "We're still in the process of finalizing that right now."
The city of Auburn is asking for just under $35,000, Woody said.
Woody said he thinks other entities will order more equipment.
The grant proposal is due by March 1.
"We're still in the process right now," he said. "We have a grant writer that's helping us, pulling everyone's numbers together and all of that."
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