TDC to get into recycling business

PANAMA CITY BEACH, FL — The Bay County Tourist Development Council has decided to get into the recycling business.
   
In an effort to first test public response, the TDC will begin deploying 50 green recycling barrels at selected access points along the sand in Panama City Beach.
   
The new barrels are part of two pilot programs being initiated this summer by the TDC to help with beach beautification, including another to provide trash bags to beachgoers.
   
If successful, the programs will be expanded to include areas along both city and county beaches, TDC executive director Dan Rowe said.
   
“The goal is to roll this out to all the beach access points,” Rowe told the TDC board Wednesday.
   
Rowe said that by Sunday of the long Fourth of July holiday, 98,000 pounds of trash had been collected along the beach by the TDC’s contractor, Coastal Parasail. Much of that trash, such as aluminum cans, could be recycled, he said.
   
Although recycling and re-selling the aluminum will recoup part of the cost, the amount will not cover the entire program, Rowe said.
   
“Visitors want to be able to recycle,” he said. “It’s the right thing to do.”
   
Together, the two pilot programs initially will cost about $10,000. If the public is receptive and the programs are expanded, the cost will reach about $100,000 per year, Rowe said.
   
“If nobody cares, we will just move on to think about some other way,” he said.
   
Along with the 50 barrels, about 100,000 trash bags will initially be dispensed from 15 locations.
   
Although Wednesday’s meeting was devoted specifically to marketing Spring Break, trash was part of the discussion. Some audience members maintained that beach grooming was the best way to sustain a positive image as a tourist destination.
   
Trash has been on the TDC’s mind this year since the board voted to deploy 400 emergency trash barrels in March because of mass litter from early Spring Break visitors, bringing the number of barrels along the beach to almost 1,000.
   
The TDC also voted in March to increase the amount spent on beach cleanup each year from $450,000 to $700,000.