Wednesday, June 27, 2001

I appreciate Dave Hamrick's support of Keep Fayette Beautiful in his column, "Fayette, do you want to be beautiful?"

When I first joined this group in 1989, the main emphasis was to preserve the pleasant environment in the county in spite of the rapid growth that we were experiencing. In those days many of the leaders of this community worked side by side on weekends to plant flowers in medians and around the municipal buildings and to pick up litter.

Over time Keep Fayette Beautiful broadened its vision to include other efforts concerning our environment. Besides beautification projects, the group has coordinated recycling programs and Earth Day projects through the schools, assisted with building a compost demonstration site, and in obtaining grants for the Sam's Lake Nature Preserve.

We have also been involved with phone book recycling, demonstration and information booths and litter cleanup at the Fayette County Fair, Waste in the Workplace workshops, and litter cleanup projects throughout the county.

The group gives many presentations and demonstrations for students, and environmental training for teachers, civic and community groups. Keep Fayette Beautiful organizes and manages the Christmas tree recycling project each year which saves the need for using landfill space.

This list goes on into many other programs and projects designed to support the environmental education and efforts for the residents of this county. Unfortunately the organization generally works quietly behind the scenes and does not receive a lot of recognition for many of its projects.

The main objective of Keep Fayette Beautiful for the past several years has been to promote recycling, composting, conservation and solid waste management. The organization applied for and received a grant in conjunction with Peachtree City and Fayette County to build a new recycling center that would be convenient for all county residents. Unfortunately, no land was made available and the funds were subsequently lost.

Keep Fayette Beautiful has advocated the implementation of a comprehensive recycling and solid waste management program in Fayette County, but has not found the interest or support needed from county and municipalities to assume such a major undertaking.

Fayette County is viewed as one of the most progressive and forward-thinking areas of the nation, yet we cannot seem to get a recycling program off the ground. Residents who move from other areas of the country where household recycling has become the norm are surprised when they find that recycling is made so difficult for citizens in Fayette County.

Other parts of the country have found that it is necessary to recycle. Unfortunately Fayette County will probably follow this example and wait until it is necessary instead of taking a proactive approach to avoid the problems caused by uncontrolled waste.

Environmental and beautification concerns of this county are worthwhile endeavors, but as the area has grown, the resources needed to sustain worthwhile programs have also multiplied. The county has supplied this organization with nominal funding, various municipalities have contributed by offering resources for various projects, and we have also been able to garner support from some of the businesses.

The goals of environmental and beautification have moved beyond planting flowers and picking up trash on weekends, and a handful of volunteers cannot achieve these goals without active interest and participation on the part of all levels of government, as well as the active support of all businesses and citizens.

Thanks again for the positive input from your newspaper.

Ralph Ferguson

Treasurer, Keep Fayette Beautiful

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