Abilities Unlimited wants county funding to expand recycling operations
Among the items to be discussed this week during the Columbia County Quorum Court yearly budget workshops will be whether to provide Abilities Unlimited, Inc., funding to expand recycling operations.
Abilities Unlimited Executive Director Emilie Vest presented a proposal to the Quorum Court in September, outlining $2.6 million in recycling needs in September.
Columbia County Treasurer Selena Blair said if the county is able to help Abilities Unlimited recycling, then funding would come out of the county’s Solid Waste fund, which has more than $18 million in it.
“I am sure they will talk about this in the budgeting process this week and make sure it aligns with the solid waste district plan and make sure what we do is aligned with applicable state laws,” Blair said.
Vest said the last time Abilities Unlimited asked for money from the county was 10 years ago and that request was denied.
The county did buy a sorter with a conveyor belt used at Abilities Unlimited’s recycling center.
Vest said operating the recycling program puts Abilities Unlimited at a $80,000 deficit.
“Our Adult Development Day Treatment, our program that offers vocational training, life and career skills supports itself so if we were to do away with recycling, we would put ourselves back into the black,” Vest said. ‘It would be beneficial for us to close the recycling program but we don’t want that. We want to keep it open for our employees and businesses as we are the only one in the county.”
Vest told Quorum Court members that the recycling program now costs so much to operate, it puts the entire agency at risk.
She said that close to 50 businesses benefit from the recycling provided by Abilities Unlimited.
“There are several trailers at businesses and they pull the trailer several times and a lot of them we hit several times a week,” Vest said. “If not for us, it would be placed into landfills and the businesses would have to get dumpsters and they are expensive.”
Without Abilities Unlimited’s recycling program, businesses such as Southern Aluminum, Abermarle and Hydro, as well as smaller businesses, would be forced to handle their own recyclables, Vest said.
Vest said Abilities Unlimited are reimbursed a small amount from selling the old cardboard to mills who recycle it but those numbers at all-time lows.
“Even if we were to at one point break even, we are not able to do that,” she said.
In an executive summary Vest provided to Quorum Court members, she wrote that in 2024, Abilities Unlimited diverted over 140 tons away from the landfill. This work extends landfill life, and provides secure employment opportunities for adults with developmental disabilities, she continued.
Vest’s summary reads that AU’s goal is to divert 200 tons by 2026 and over 300 tons by 2028.
Quorum Court members have two budget workshops this week beginning at 5 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday at the courthouse. Blair said the funding for Abilities Unlimited will be discussed this week.