Centerville celebrates grand opening of new recycling center on Elberta Road

CENTERVILLE — The new and improved Centerville Recycling Center is now open. The community gathered to celebrate the achievement with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday. 

Mayor J. Micheal Evans, former Mayor John Harley, and council members were present to celebrate the big day. 

During the ceremony, Evans shared his excitement about the center and said it represents a $350,000 investment in the community. 

The center has more recycling bins and space for the recycling process to go more smoothly. Evans said the city’s commitment to recycling is not new, dating back to its first grant applications to the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority in 2000. 

At first, Centerville received a $25,000 grant. Then, in 2021, the city received a $40,000 grant to help with its construction. 

“Those early investments laid the foundation for what we’re doing here today,” he said. 

Evans also thanked the efforts of Harley, the late former Mayor Mary Ann Weigand, former City Clerk Virginia Abbott and longtime resident Larry Coy. 

The center is currently not accepting glass or plastic, but Evans shared that the city is working to find a vendor who can take those materials. The center stopped accepting plastic because it was going to the landfill, and Evans felt that was unfair to citizens. 

Councilmember Edward Armijo expressed his excitement about the center’s opening and said it is something the city is proud of. 

He shared that many people from nearby cities visited the old recycling center and hopes it will continue to bring the community together. 

“There are some serious recyclers out here. They enjoy coming out, visiting with each other and putting their recycles away instead of just throwing everything to the dump. That’s commendable,” he said. 

Evans said the center isn’t just a new facility, but a reflection of the city’s ongoing commitment to its environmental responsibility, community partnership and smart growth in middle Georgia. 

“It helps reduce trash going to the landfill and conserve our natural resources. We want to keep Centerville clean, we want to keep it beautiful and we want to help our residents and people around us to do the same…together we build a cleaner community,” he said. 

The Centerville Recycling Center is open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It accepts various materials, such as magazines, paper, cardboard, cans, and scrap metal. The new location is at 2513 Elberta Road. To learn more about the center, click here.