Trailers pick up tons of garbage at the transfer station located at the landfill and transfer it to the landfill in Valdosta, Ga., via trailer trucks.

MOULTRIE, Ga. — While it may seem that there isn’t much to maintaining the world of solid waste and recycling, a lot more goes into it than most people would think.

The transfer station at the landfill burned down in 2016. After rebuilding, it has been open to the public since October of 2016.

“We had to tear everything down and rebuild from the ground up,” said Stacy Griffin, department head of solid waste.

“The transfer station is where all the trash comes in from around the county, gets dumped here, a truck comes and picks it up and takes it to Valdosta,” said Chas Cannon, county administrator.

Some 160 tons of garbage are hauled out to the transfer facility at the landfill daily, with eight trucks working their routes every day.

 “If those eight trucks don’t go out each day, we would be in a world of mess if something were to go wrong,” said Griffin.

County residents can take other forms of solid waste  to the landfill.

The cost of the service is $40 per ton. A $3 discount is offered for those who bring in over 500 tons of waste a month.

A new recycling facility opened up in December of 2016. Customers must sign up and have a current recycling account to utilize this service.

Recycling was previously conducted at the State Farmers Market on First Avenue, but the city was having to pay for a contractor to haul the recyclables every time it got full due to no attendant or regulations, said Cannon.  

They quit after two years of the inconvenience.

Moultrie and Colquitt County residents now are able to drop off recyclables at the new  facility located at 23rd Street Northeast for a small fee.

“We recycle household items, cardboard, paper items and metal items,” Cannon said.

The facilities include bins for cardboard, plastic, metal and newspaper and there is an attendant onsite to help with recyclables.

The recycling facility is open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“It’s a pretty interesting business, there are a lot of moving parts, everything has to run smoothly for all of this to work,” Griffin said.

Cannon said that revenues have increased since the start of the recycling program and that the public has been supportive of the recycling initiative.

“The whole solid waste fund does not receive any tax support. It’s all funded through the garbage fees,” Cannon said. “Whatever we collect, whatever we make in revenue..that has to support the entire operation by itself.”

Cannon said that it incentivizes the solid waste department to innovate and come up with efficiency and maintain service the public likes.

“it’s what we’re trying to do,” said Cannon.