Friday, May 4, 2001
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Friday, May 4, 2001 |
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Burning ban is back By JOHN
THOMPSON Beginning May 1, the open burning ban is being expanded to cover 45 counties. The ban covers the original 13 counties that comprise the Atlanta Ozone Nonattainment Area and 32 additional counties that surround the Ozone Nonattainment Area. The counties subject to the ban include: Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Chattooga, Cherokee, Clarke, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Floyd, Forsyth, Fulton, Gordon, Gwinnett, Hall, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jackson, Jasper, Jones, Lamar, Lumpkin, Madison, Meriwether, Monroe, Morgan,Newton, Oconee, Paulding, Pickens, Pike, Polk, Putnam, Rockdale, Spalding, Troup, Upson and Walton. The burn ban is in effect in the 45 counties from May 1 through September 30 each year. What Types of Open Burning Are Banned? Some types of open burning have always been prohibited by the Georgia Rules for Air Quality Control. This ban prohibits several additional types of burning during the ozone season as follows. These Additional Types Of Open burning Are Prohibited: Burning of leaves, tree limbs, or other yard wastes; Burning of vegetative waste from land clearing (includes a ban on the use of air curtain destructors). Burning over of forest land by the owners of the land, with exceptions prescribed burning of forest land is allowed in the following 26 counties: Banks, Barrow, Butts, Chattooga, Clarke, Dawson, Floyd, Gordon, Haralson,Heard, Jackson, Jasper, Jones, Lamar, Lumpkin, Madison, Meriwether, Monroe, Morgan, Oconee, Pickens, Pike, Polk, Putnam, Troup, and Upson. A few types of open fires are still allowed provided there are no local ordinances that prohibit them. These include: Fires for carrying out recognized agricultural practices. Fires for recreational purposes or for cooking food. Fires for training fire-fighting personnel. What are the alternatives? The open burning ban will result in more solid waste. Alternatives, which result in the reuse or recycling of this waste, should be pursued, where feasible. Some alternatives are: Yard trimmings (leaves, brush, grass clippings, shrub and tree prunings, vegetative residuals, etc.). These have been banned from certain landfills effective September 1, 1996. Composting, mulching, chipping, natural decomposition, etc. are recommended alternatives. The Department of Community Affairs (DCA) has a brochure entitled "Composting at Home in Georgia" that tells you more about composting yard trimmings. Available on the web at http://www.dca.state.ga.us/solidwaste/index.html . Many municipal landfills and convenience centers accept yard trimmings from residents and process them into compost and mulch. Contact your local solid waste department to learn about local yard trimming recycling options. You can also call 1-800-Cleanup or log on at http://www.1800cleanup.org to find local information for yard trimming management and other recycling options. For more information on yard trimmings management, contact the Department of Community Affairs, Office of Environmental Management at 404-679-4940.
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