Renew America Success Stories

Orange Grove Recycling Center

Description

The Orange Grove Recycling Center, operated by the Orange Grove Center, is a recently expanded $2 million materials recovery facility that employs 100 adults with developmental disabilities to process more than 55 tons of recyclables per day for the City of Chattanooga.

The expansion of the recycling facility, which resulted in increased job opportunities for developmentally disabled Chattanooga residents, was coordinated with the City's efforts to expand its recycling program.

A few years ago, the City of Chattanooga was looking at a whopping price tag of $150,000 an acre for municipal solid waste disposal. With such disposal projected to cost the city $23 million over five years, the notion of saving landfill space by expanding a pilot curbside recycling program into a permanent, citywide program became more attractive. "One-fourth of everything going into the landfill could be cut out by recycling," said Councilman Davey Crockett. "All of us old dogs are going to have to learn some new tricks."

The Orange Grove Center, a community agency that offers educational, vocational and residential services to more than 700 persons with developmental disabilities, began expansion of its facility to accommodate the additional flow of recyclable goods while providing opportunities for its clients to contribute to the process. Rather than fully automating the facility, then, it was designed to optimize local labor.

On August 5, 1994, the new facility shipped its first truckload of baled newsprint to Bowater Incorporated Southern Division, the nation's largest manufacturer of newsprint with recycled content.

The construction of this recycling facility in Chattanooga has proven beneficial to all: the city has diverted large amounts of usable materials from the local landfill reducing air, soil and groundwater pollution; local residents have become involved in an essential environmental activity; quality processed materials are being provided for reuse; and -- consistent with the Orange Grove Center's operating philosophy -- a special population of residents have been given the opportunity to reach for and achieve their greatest potential.

Program Highlights

• An extensive period of planning and assessment preceded expansion of the facility.
• The city launched an educational program on the benefits of recycling prior to implementing the city-wide program. In areas where volunteers visited residents to discuss the benefits of recycling, a 50% increase in materials left at the curbside for recycling was realized.
• Orange Grove staff estimate the citywide recycling program is diverting more than 4,000 tons of recyclables per month from the landfill.
• The Orange Grove Recycling Center processes more than 50 tons of recyclables per day.
• An education area within the Recycling Center is being developed and will be the site of tours, meetings, fields trips, etc.

Vital Statistics

Program Management/Partnerships: The Orange Grove Recycling Center is managed by the Orange Grove Center, a community agency which began serving mentally-challenged persons of the Chattanooga area in 1953. The Center has entered into a partnership with Bowater Incorporated Southern Division to receive bundled newsprint, and works with numerous other companies, agencies and individuals.

Budget: Approximately $1 million annually.

Community Served: All residents, particularly the developmentally-disabled population of Chattanooga.

Measures of Success:

Two million pounds of recyclables were processed recently at the Recycling Center during a six-month period.

Over a period of several months, 98,000 pounds (more than 49 tons) of newspaper alone were processed at the Recycling Center, preserving 833 trees.

During the same period, 148,000 pounds of mixed paper were processed.

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