Impact
WARD: Citywide
COMMITTEE:
$ IMPACT: $0.00
Title
Approval of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of Smyrna and Keep Cobb Beautiful for the Hefty Energy Bag (HEB) Program and authorize the Mayor to execute any related documents.
Body
ISSUE: The City was lacking the ability to offer curbside recycling for hard-to-recycle plastics.
BACKGROUND: It is a groundbreaking initiative, led by Dow and Reynolds Consumer Products, that collects previously hard-to-recycle plastics at curbside and converts them into valuable energy resources. It is a significant step towards achieving positive long-term environmental and economic advantages, including fewer plastics ending up in landfills. Participating households place their hard-to-recycle plastics in Hefty® EnergyBag® orange bags. Once full, residents tie the bags and place them in their curbside recycling carts or bins during their regularly-scheduled recycling pick-up. Participants' current haulers pick up the tied Hefty® bags along with their regular recycling materials and send them to a local materials recovery facility (WestRock) for sorting. The MRF then bales the bags and sends them to a local energy recovery facility, which converts plastics into valuable resources.
RECOMMENDATION/REQUESTED ACTION: Staff recommends approval.