By JESSA PEASE / Staff Writer

PELHAM— What makes a business “Green” and what are the best recycling practices to follow in Shelby County? To answer those questions, recycling director with the Alabama Environmental Council, Alan Gurganus, addressed members of the Greater Shelby Chamber of Commerce at a March 30 meeting.

Gurganus gave a presentation on recycling in Alabama, explaining that the recycling industry is valued at about $6.6 billion in the state.

“We all know (recycling) saves energy, it saves resources and less goes into a landfill,” he said. “Those are all pretty obvious. What we tend to miss are all the economic benefits.”

The recycling industry is larger than the automotive industry, according to Gurganus. It employs about 138,000 workers, and as a whole the industry is valued at more than $80 billion nationally.

While people are nationally recycling at an average rate of 31 to 34 percent, Gurganus explained that Alabama’s recycling rate is somewhere between 2.6 and 8.3 percent.

“We are really good at consuming,” he said. “We are OK going here to get clothes, here to get food. We are okay doing all that, but when it comes to when we are done with that item it’s, ‘I don’t want to take this to the recycling center.’ We are not so good on the end side, the back end of our consumerism.”

Alabamians generate 9.9 pounds of solid waste per person everyday, according to Gurganus, which is 46 percent more than the national average. Of that 9.9 pounds, only 3.9 pounds are created by industry in the state. Gurganus said about six pounds of solid waste is produced by individuals and households.

To combat those numbers, Gurganus said the state has invested $12.9 million to enhance recycling since 2008.

According to a 2010 study, if Alabama recycled 10 percent more materials each year, the potential economic impact would equate to more than 1,400 new jobs, more than $66 million annual personal income and $3 million in annual state tax revenue.

Shelby County is one of the few counties in the state that provides curbside recycling pickup to its residents, Gurganus added. He urged residents to recycle their paper products, No. 1 and No. 2 plastic products, aluminum cans and steel/tin cans.

For more information, visit Aeconline.org.