Gwinnett Recycles Participates in Sustainability Town Hall

The need to go virtual this year hasn’t stopped some political candidates from creatively engaging their  constituents. In her run this year for chairwoman of the Board of Commissioners, Nicole Love Hendrickson has hosted virtual town hall meetings on a variety of pertinent topics, including transit, mental health and suicide prevention, and police reform. For the final town hall of her campaign, held yesterday, Love Hendrickson chose to feature sustainability and citizens working to make our community greener.

Speakers invited to present at the town hall were Tixie Fowler, District Program Assistant at the Gwinnett Soil & Water Conservation District and founder of Gardens for Growing Community, a nonprofit focused on empowering youth through nature; Beth Remmes, Co-Chair of the Board of Georgia Interfaith Power and Light and the creator of Earth Spirit Action, an ecology and environmental justice blog; and me, the founder of Gwinnett Recycles. We talked about our work and the priority initiatives we want county government leaders to consider in the years to come, and we answered questions from the community. 

Historically Gwinnettians haven’t always seen our local leaders dedicate enough focus to sustainability, even though it’s such a fundamental and essential issue. We can’t hope for many more generations to live, work, and play in our community if we aren’t working now to conserve its resources and greenspace and protect it for the long haul. I appreciate Nicole Love Hendrickson’s attention to this issue, and I’ve personally endorsed her for county commission chairwoman.

Check out the recording of the town hall:

About Gwinnett Recycles: Gwinnett Recycles is focused on helping Gwinnett County, the second-largest county in the state of Georgia, reduce, reuse, compost, and recycle more material and keep waste out of landfills and the environment. Gwinnett Recycles is run 100% independently by citizen volunteers. To connect with us and support our efforts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, subscribe to our newsletter, and consider volunteering with us!

About author Laura

Laura A. Hernandez is the founder of Gwinnett Recycles, a grassroots community organization focused on trash, and is a co-founder of Come Clean Gwinnett, a large Facebook-based community group that empowers citizens to reduce litter and blight. After serving for four years as a Mayor-appointed member of the Sustainable Norcross Commission, Laura went on to become the Chairwoman's appointee to the inaugural Gwinnett Sustainability Commission, which she led as chair. Laura hates to see anything go to waste and believes that Gwinnett County's more than one million residents can make a big impact by reducing, reusing, composting, and recycling right.