News 12 This Morning, April 30, 2009

AUGUSTA, Ga.-- Eric Blocker has a front row seat to the landfill.

"I was surprised by the amount of garbage that comes out of just this area. It can be anything from household, animals," Eric Blocker said.

Eric has been working at the Augusta Richmond County Solid Waste Facility for about two years, he dumps trailers full of trash and hauls recycled materials.

Two of the most important machines at the landfill are the bulldozer and the trash compactor. They work together, smashing the trash into the ground.

Steve Rosier drives the bulldozer and the 103,000 pound trash compacter every day, so you can imagine what he sees up there.

"Household items. Anything that can be possibly thrown away is going to come out here. So you see a little bit of everything," Steve Rosier said.

The landfill takes in 1,200 tons of trash a day from local residents.

"There's a lot more trash that comes in than I figured come out of Augusta," Rosier said.

His best advice for people, recycle because it keeps a lot of items from going into the ground.

"Prolongs the life of the landfill. And the smaller you're going to keep the landfill, the better the environment is and the longer we can keep dumping in one spot," Rosier said.

Working at the landfill has been an eye-opening experience for these men. Eric admits, he did not recycle until he started working at the landfill.

"I see how important it is now. I didn't really think about it in that way, until I actually started working out here. But I see that it's very important and it does help," Blocker said.

He says if people just took the time to recycle, the amount of trash dumping would decrease.

Recycling is free in Richmond County. You can go to the drop-off site at the landfill, or if you don't have a recycle bin, call 706-592-3200 and ask for customer service. You will give them your address and a recycle bin should be delivered within 48 hours. If you live in an apartment complex, you have to go through the dumpster company and ask them for a recycling dumpster.