The Baldwin County Commission is designing a new facility that could jumpstart recycling initiatives in South Alabama. The facility will allow local cities to transfer citizens’ disposables on site, including paper, aluminum and cardboard. It will be located at the county’s dump site off County Road 64.
One of the cities feeling the impact of this project is Daphne. For the last four years, the city has had to transfer its citizens’ recyclables outside of the county. Mayor Robin LeJeune said because of this new facility, Daphne can keep its recycling local, which will greatly benefit the city’s budget.
“It’s great. It’s needed,” LeJeune said. “For the longest time, we have had to take our recycling elsewhere to Pensacola, Mobile and different places. We’ve had to pay a very high fee for people to take our recycling. Knowing that Baldwin County is building this new recycling facility saves us from having to pay Pensacola and other places to take our recyclables.”
The city of Daphne used to have its own transfer station, which allowed residents to throw their disposables away at home through recycling bins. However, in late 2019, the station engulfed in flames. Now, residents have to drive to the city’s Public Works facility to dispose their recyclables for transfer. The new recycling center in Baldwin County will allow Daphne residents to return to curbside recycling for the first time in years. LeJeune said the convenience of curbside recycling saves citizens money and helps promote conservation in the area.
“It's a service that we had for many years,” he said. “Our citizens are definitely conscious and want to recycle. It was a very positive program. My wife is on me all the time about when we're going to start curbside recycling again because I was trained very well to separate the items for trash and recycling during that time. It’s a very good service that our citizens want. The benefit down the road, though, is it does save us additional funds. Having a location here locally that does this, it helps.”
After the city’s transfer station burnt down, Mayor LeJeune came into office in 2020. LeJeune and other city officials initially wanted to rebuild their own transfer station. However, it came with a $3 million price tag. When the Baldwin County Commission initially expressed interest in building the recycling facility, LeJeune said it took some convincing to get the city on board.
“They have been talking about it for years,” he said. “For it to really move forward, [Daphne officials] had a meeting with the county. The county came to us because we did recycling and curbside and said, ‘Hey, if we built the center here, would you take your recyclables and bring them to us, instead of taking them to Pensacola or wherever else?’ It’s now fully funded. That was the big key for us because we were waiting to see how serious the county was on building a facility. Once they got it funded, and they started the design process, that's when we said, ‘OK, we're going to not build a transfer station.’ They had to show us that they were serious about what they were doing.”
LeJeune said after Baldwin County funded the facility for designs and construction, he and other city officials brought the news to citizens. He said public opinion has been generally positive.
“We explained to our citizens, ‘We apologize about this, but we’re asking for patience. This will help save city money to do other projects and it’ll be a local recycling center,’” LeJeune said. “They just want to be able to get back to recycling. They were very positive, [saying that] they understand the reason we were doing it as far as trying to save city funds. The concern [for residents] is waiting. They're just ready to get back to curbside recycling and that service we had offered. They’ve been very patient about it, and we really appreciate their patience. We’re getting closer and closer. That’s what we're excited about.”
However, LeJeune said it is not just the city of Daphne benefiting from this new recycling center; it is all of Baldwin County.
“Our city residents will have curbside recycling, but I think all throughout Baldwin County [residents] will have the opportunity to have some sort of recycling program, whether they start out with spots to just drop off recycling or begin curbside recycling in certain cities,” he said. “The benefit [of] having this centrally located place done by the county [is that it] really gives an opportunity for small towns to start recycling and start a recycling program without having to [make] a huge investment, which is good for everybody across the county, not only for Daphne, but for the county itself.”
In addition to kickstarting recycling programs across the county, the new facility will also house classrooms for schoolchildren to learn more about the process and importance of recycling. LeJeune said educating children on recycling will help promote conservation efforts for generations to come.
“From some of the drawings and schematics I’ve seen from the county, there's going to be interactive, schoolchildren-aged things,” he said. “Classes can go see how it works and watch some of the recycling separation in this machine. Kids can learn what happens to a piece of material once it goes to that facility and then when it leaves that facility and becomes recycled materials. Not only [does the facility] benefit the county and its citizens as far as wanting to recycle, but it also adds [to] what their vision is, [which is] having a place where kids to go to really understand what exactly is recycled and what that means. It helps to teach kids to be conscious of their surroundings.”
The Baldwin County Commission is currently in the design phase of its new recycling center. LeJeune said engineers are nearly complete with this process and will go to bid and begin construction soon after. Baldwin County officials estimate the center to be completed by next summer. An exact completion date is currently unknown.
