Despite the need to suddenly shift the date of one of its biggest events to one week later due to a less than ideal forecast of thunderstorms and heavy rain, Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful’s annual Bring One for the Chipper tree-cycling event was a great success. On Saturday, January 28, 123 volunteers gathered for three hours at Bethesda Park in Lawrenceville to transform live Christmas trees into mulch.
A true community effort, residents were able to drop off their live Christmas trees for tree-cycling at 29 local Gwinnett County fire stations in the weeks leading up to Bring One for the Chipper 2017. On the day of the event, student groups countywide came out to help crews from Georgia Power, Jackson EMC and Walton EMC prepare the trees for chipping.
Schelly Marlatt, Executive Director for GCB said, “I want to extend a special thank you to Gwinnett County’s Departments of Transportation, Parks and Recreation, as well as Fire and Emergency Services for their continued partnership. This event would not be possible without their support. The same holds true for all of our wonderful volunteers and other community partners.”
In collaboration with Home Depot and Davey Tree Expert Company, altogether an astounding 8,000 trees were chipped this year. Instead of taking up space in our landfills, those Christmas trees will be given a second life in landscape projects at parks throughout Gwinnett County.
The next event on Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful’s calendar is Earth Day 2017. Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful is partnering with Gwinnett County’s Solid Waste Division to host a FREE paper shredding event at Coolray Field, Home of the Gwinnett Braves on Saturday, April 22 from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers will be needed to greet neighbors dropping off their sensitive documents for shredding. To volunteer, interested parties must register online at http://volunteergwinnett.net.
About Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful: Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful Services, Inc. (GCB) is a Keep America Beautiful affiliate and award-winning 501(c)(3) charitable organization. It boasts an expansive community-based network dedicated to finding long-term solutions to environmental and quality of life issues through individual action. The organization is guided by a Citizens Advisory Board that represents all sectors of the Gwinnett County community. A nationally recognized leader in creating cleaner, greener and more livable communities throughout Gwinnett, GCB involves more than 100,000 volunteers annually to clean and restore public places, recycle more, protect watersheds and develop the next generation of environmental stewards. To learn more about Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful, please visit www.GwinnettCB.org.
