Keep Carroll Beautiful wins $17,000 grant to pilot aluminum-collection trailers

At the Oct. 2 Carroll County Board of Commissioners work session, Keep Carroll Beautiful announced it will receive a $17,000 grant from the Georgia Beverage Association and the Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation to purchase trailers for moving aluminum and plastic bottles between convenience centers and a recycling facility.

The grant was presented as part of the Made to Be Remade initiative. "We're proud to help fund the purpose of purchase of aluminum and plastic bottle recycling collection train containers that will strengthen recycling efforts throughout Carroll County," Kevin Perry, president and CEO of the Georgia Beverage Association, said as he presented the check.

Martina Griffin of Keep Carroll Beautiful described operational goals for the funding, saying the trailers will be used initially between the convenience centers on Newnan Road, Temple and Dye Road. Griffin said the county currently uses 40-yard roll-off containers that are "extremely expensive to operate," and the trailers would be piloted to move smaller, lighter recyclables more efficiently and reduce waste-management costs.

Natalie Johnston Russell of the Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation praised the local affiliate’s long-running work in the county and said the statewide program aims to "recycle more and waste less" by supporting community-level projects.

The presentation was celebratory and included a photo opportunity; no formal county vote or contract action was recorded during the work session. Keep Carroll Beautiful representatives said the trailers are intended as a pilot and further operational details — such as long-term logistics, exact deployment schedule, and estimated savings for the county — were not specified at the meeting.

Keep Carroll Beautiful also reminded residents of upcoming recycling events and noted its ongoing electronics-collection partnership with Southwire.