So what's the latest w Recycling in Walton

I heard that the blue bags get thrown into the landfil and then convicts sort the trash and pick everything out to recycle. So, this means, criminals are going through your garbage. I would watch what you throw away.

I'm a new Santa Rosa Beach property owner. I've been taking recycleables to blue trailer on 393. I put glass/plastic/newspapers all in one garbage bag & throw in trailer--should I sort beforehand?

Why does sign at trailer say "PLEASE NO CARDBOARD"? I want to recycle cereal boxes, beer cartons, etc. Where can I do this if not at trailer?

What are these blue bags you're talking about?

I'm a new Santa Rosa Beach property owner. I've been taking recycleables to blue trailer on 393. I put glass/plastic/newspapers all in one garbage bag & throw in trailer--should I sort beforehand?


Hopefully you're not taking a big bag of mixed glass, cans and paper and throwing it into the blue trailers. Which one would you put it in as the individual compartments are labeled specific as to what goes into them?

Cans/glass is one, newspaper is another and plastic is the last one.

I have a small set of bins at my home and every few days, I load up any plastic bags I have from grocery stores with the three acceptable compartments items and go drop them off at the blue trailer. I guess you'd call this sorting beforehand. I've seen some show up with a large cardboard box or garbage bag and toss items into individual bins.

I am guilty of throwing cans/glass into the bins inside a plastic grocery bag. Sorry. :cool:

Last year, the SWCC held a forum about plastic and Chris Mitchell, Walton County's Public Information Officer was available to answer questions about the recycling program.

Using the trailers is the best way to ensure that more recyclables are recovered. They found that too many people were using the free blue bags as regular garbage bags.

Walton County also took a survey asking people if they would be willing to pay an extra $5 a month for recycling. The result was a unanimous "no". Then they came up with the idea of using one garbage day to pick up recyclables. Unfortunately, that didn't bode well with rental property, which generate a tremendous amount of garbage throughout the week.

Cardboard IS recyclable at the trailers. The reason they say "No cardboard" is because they don't want people throwing in boxes that aren't broken down. That wastes space and therefore gas. Chris said it was perfectly acceptable to put in cardboard, just break it down first. Apparently, most people don't follow the rules.

Lastly, there are a few other reasons it's more complicated to recycle in Walton County. Our county waste facility is not equipped to wash contaminated recyclables. This would require more money for a waste water treatment facility and required permits for dumping treated waste water. All of Walton County only has about 50,000 full-time residents. Except for some developments in South Walton, residents are spread out over the land making it more costly and time consuming to collect the garbage. We're still considered very rural and this is also true when companies buy the recyclables. Our recyclables will sit for months on site while the county waits for a buyer. All the while, the recyclables are mounting every day and the waste facility has to store them.

So, when people wonder why Walton County is so backwards with the recycling, there's a reason for it. We're a perfect example of how some things that work for an urban environment, just don't work every where.

The best thing we can do is be more conscious about what we buy and how it's packaged.

I'm a new Santa Rosa Beach property owner. I've been taking recycleables to blue trailer on 393. I put glass/plastic/newspapers all in one garbage bag & throw in trailer--should I sort beforehand?


Hopefully you're not taking a big bag of mixed glass, cans and paper and throwing it into the blue trailers. Which one would you put it in as the individual compartments are labeled specific as to what goes into them?

Cans/glass is one, newspaper is another and plastic is the last one.

I have a small set of bins at my home and every few days, I load up any plastic bags I have from grocery stores with the three acceptable compartments items and go drop them off at the blue trailer. I guess you'd call this sorting beforehand. I've seen some show up with a large cardboard box or garbage bag and toss items into individual bins.

I am guilty of throwing cans/glass into the bins inside a plastic grocery bag. Sorry. :cool:

I almost forgot. Chris Mitchell also said it was acceptable to combine the recyclables in one bag (any kind of bag) and drop off at the trailers. They will be recycled. It's just easier when they are pre-sorted and broken glass is not mingling with paper and plastic.

As for the inconvenience mentioned by another poster, I just load up the recyclables when I plan to go to Publix or UPS (there is no smell because they have been washed - remember there is no way to clean the recyclables at the waste facility) and drop them off at the trailer. It takes all of 5 minutes extra to load the car and drop them off.

I really don't understand why it is so difficult to get recycling here. :idontno:

Most of our visitors come from places w/ recycling and a wide variety of communities have implemented programs so we don't have to reinvent the wheel.

That's OK for the full timer, but what about us tourists. We will be coming to Sowal for the month of Nov. Here at home, we are passionate about recycling everything we can, right down to composting in the back yard. How does a visitor to Sowal find where to recycle plastic, cans, cardboard & paper, & glass?? I'm afraid my husband will want to bag it all up and carry it back to Pennsylvania if we cannot recycle?? Help!