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Georgia senators are voting today on whether to weaken a ban on dumping yard trimmings in landfills and we need your help to fight back.

Here are the top reasons to oppose House Bill 274:

-Georgia has a strong and growing infrastructure for recycling and composting. HB 274 would halt that growth and could result in lost jobs for the composting industry in Georgia.

- Yard trimmings are estimated to be 25% by weight and 40% by volume of the waste stream in Georgia. Lifting the ban on yard trimmings could add 1.5 to 2 million tons a year of recyclable yard trimmings to Georgia landfills, which would fill our landfills faster meaning more landfills would need to be sited.

-Georgia has long been a dumping ground for garbage from other states. As far back as FY 2004, Georgia took in 1,696,164 tons of waste from other states. Lifting the ban on yard trimmings means commingled waste from other states can easily be dumped in Georgia. Since the Governor of Alabama issued an executive order placing a moratorium on new mega-landfills in Alabama, HB 274 could turn Georgia into the dumping ground for other states' waste.

-The bill claims to promote renewable energy by capturing methane from landfills. Yet woody trimmings, like tree limbs, take decades to decay and if prevented from being landfilled, could immediately be used in more productive ways.

-The bill diminishes the millions of dollars of investment by state & local government and private industry toward reducing disposal & increasing recycling.

You can help today by urging the Senate to AMEND HB 274 to keep yard trimmings out of our landfills.

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