Congratulations to the recycling residents of Paulding County! Because of your hard work and commitment to saving the Planet, “one box at a time”, we successfully increased our volume by 10%. We diverted approximately 110 Tons of material out of landfill for year ending 2023. That was up from 100 Tons in 2022. In addition to which, we only had a couple of dumping incidents that were quickly remediated with the assistance of our hard-working guys from the County Engineer’s Office.
As we move forward into 2024, I’m looking forward to a “Recycling Extravaganza” that I’m putting together for sometime in July. We’re going to offer Paint, Fluorescent Bulbs, Electronics and TIRE recycling. I’ll have additional information on that event as details get locked down.
I want to give a huge “shout out” to Ameriona Stiltner and her team of fellow students from Ms. Remaklus’s, Personal Growth and Mindset Class at PHS. They got out on Saturday morning, March 9th, to offer an opportunity for recycling to the residents of Paulding and you responded in a big way! We loaded everything up in “Big Red” and weighed in at 420 pounds of material diverted from landfill. Congratulations to the whole team of students that put this event together and braved the cold and wind to make it happen. Joshua Funez, Alyssia Wilson, Kaitlyn Goings, Hayden Gill, Ronnie Goodwin, Brayden Kingen and Anna Stiltner being, “Paulding County Strong”.
In other news, Big Red is being retired! After 13 years of hard service in the WMEA Program, it’s time to introduce my new ride, which I’m dubbing “White Lightening”. It took a year to take possession (supply chain issues) and I was praying that Red would last that long. I’ll now be out and about the County in my white, 15 passenger van. Ron Wirts, with our County Engineer department, removed seats and fitted it with a guard to keep cardboard from sliding into my head as I make pickups. The guys have helped me with a number of projects over the years and I’m very grateful for their assistance. Ron keeps me operational and Jim Foltz assisted with cleaning out my trailers and moving some really heavy stuff around. You guys are the best! I suspect there could be homemade cookies coming!
As we start enjoying some warmer weather and begin our spring cleaning, be sure and contact me with any questions regarding disposal of items that you think can be recycled. I can be reached on my cell at 832-444-4814 (quickest is texting me) at my office, 419-399-3630, or by emailing me at shannon@pauldingcountywmea.com
—Shannon Rushel
