Augusta Solid Waste

Augusta Solid Waste is committed to a cleaner community. Vacant lot, litter collection, community clean-ups, street sweeping, and school educational recycling programs are just a few ways that we’re doing our part for a cleaner Augusta.

RESIDENTIAL COLLECTIONS

At Augusta Solid Waste, we put a lot of thought and care into providing prompt, dependable, affordable residential curbside collection. As a result, you don’t have to think much about your trash, recycling, yard waste or bulk waste pickups. You don’t have to wonder when we’re coming for the different collections. You can count on our service-minded crews to provide you with curbside pickup for all collections the same day each week.The variations in service represent the smarter, flexible service options that we will be rolling out for all of our residential customers, offering one day per week pickups, with all garbage, recycling, yard waste and bulk waste collected on the same day. You’ll be able to choose from different sizes and quantities of garbage carts to fit your trash collection needs.

Recycling is easier than ever with our single cart system.

All you have to do is place all recyclable items in a single cart, there’s no sorting or separating on your end, and we take care of the rest! With one day per week garbage collection, increased recycling efforts can help reduce the amount of waste each home produces and eliminate the need for additional garbage cans.

BENEFITS OF RECYCLING

With our single cart system, recycling has never been easier and more convenient for customers – no more sorting or separating, just put all recyclable items in the same cart! Recycling is one of the easiest ways you can help slow climate change, global warming and landfill preservation, as well as help keep Augusta beautiful!

• Recycling helps to reduce the amount of waste sent to the landfill
• It helps to conserve natural resources like timber, water and minerals
• Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change
• Saves energy
• Creates jobs and reduces disposal costs
• Helps sustain the environment for future generations
• Helps the United States economy by creating well-paying jobs (recycling, processing and manufacturing)
• Reduces the reliance on foreign oil

According to the EPA Municipal Solid Waste study, in 2010, Americans generated about 250 million tons of trash, recycled and composted over 85 million tons. This equals a recycling rate of 34%. Every ton of mixed paper recycled can save the energy equivalent of 165 gallons of gasoline.  Below are a few key facts from the EPA on recycling.

• Recycling one ton of aluminum saves approximately 10 cubic yards of landfill space.
• Recycling all of its office paper waste for one year, an office building of 7,000 workers could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 546 Metric Tons of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent.
• This is the equivalent to taking nearly 400 cars off the road that year.
• If an average family of four were to recycle all of its mixed plastic waste, nearly 340 pounds of carbon equivalent emissions could be reduced each year.
• Recycling one ton of newsprint saves an estimated 7,000 gallons of water.

About Recycling Perks

Augusta Solid Waste is proud to offer Augusta-Richmond County residents a recycling program that encourages participation by offering incentives! Signing up for the program is free and you earn points every time your recycling cart is dumped! Your points will accumulate and you can use them to earn discounts at local restaurants, shops, entertainment and more!

Get Rewarded for Recycling

When you recycling and use Recycling Perks, you can save $25 per month in discounts from local businesses! Rewarding residents for recycling is major win for the city of Augusta – more waste is diverted from landfills, participants get rewards for recycling, local businesses receive customers from the discounted incentives they offer to the program and it’s environmentally responsible.

STREET SWEEPING

Besides picking up trash and recyclables, Augusta Solid Waste is making a clean sweep throughout the city of Augusta and Richmond County with our new enhanced street sweeping services.Augusta Solid Waste operates its street sweeping service on a quarterly basis for all of Augusta. We cover regularly scheduled routes throughout Augusta with our street sweepers, which are also powered by compressed natural gas, to remove debris and litter from streets and gutters.

The most visible advantage of street sweeping is how it improves the appearance of our streets and neighborhoods. It removes litter, leaves and other debris that collect in the gutters, and it reduces the amount of dust and dirt that can blow into your home or vehicle. But it provides more important benefits as well. It prevents accumulating litter and debris from clogging storm sewer drains and contributing to flooding during heavy rains. And by removing pollutants from the streets, street sweeping improves the quality of stormwater runoff.Cleaner stormwater runoff means fewer pollutants enter and pollute our waterways, where they can threaten fish and other wildlife. Street sweepers can even remove the tiniest bits of metal and other virtually invisible hazardous waste left behind by vehicles – which can be particularly injurious to wildlife.Removing pollution from street surfaces through street sweeping is much more cost effective than removing it from the stormwater system or streams and rivers.