Tri-County EMC celebrated Earth Day Wednesday with a slew of opportunities to educate members on the importance of energy efficiency and recycling.

In Baldwin County, Tri-County EMC set up a trailer in the parking lot of the Hardwick Fire Station on Allen Memorial Drive, and the container is almost filled to the brim with electronic items that the community has dropped off for recycling.

Tri-County EMC Communications Specialist Margaret Morris said the electronics recycling trailer is just one way the company is trying to inform their members and their communities about the importance of energy conservation and recycling.

“Baldwin is one of the counties that we serve, and it’s part of the Earth Day activities that we’re holding today,” said Morris. “We encourage recycling. There’s just so many people that may have electronics that are just not being used, sitting in an attic somewhere and this is a great time to clear out their electronics.”

“It’s better than disposing of them in a non-environmentally friendly way,” she added. “This is just one way of actually taking care of these items in an environmentally-friendly way.”

In addition, Tri-County EMC offers CFL recycling at two neighboring county offices located at 310 W. Clinton St. in Gray or 112 Recreation Road in Eatonton.

Tri-County EMC also offers additional ways for customers to increase their energy efficiency, said Morris.

“As part of Earth Day, we offer programs to help our members with energy efficiency and recycling efforts. We also offer green power,” she said. “Green power EMC was developed back in 2002, and we started generating earth-friendly energy through landfills in Georgia. Rather than have methane seep into air, we’re able to burn it and harvest the energy from it.”

For just $4 a month, EMC customers can add green power to their bills, she said.

“We’re trying to get the word out about green power,” she said. “It’s a self-supporting program, and it’s $4 extra on their bill. It’s a newer concept, but for people that want to do something for the environment, they can do so easily for $4.”

In fact, buying one block of green power for a year equates to planting 2.43 acres of forest or 21.6 months of not driving your vehicle, said Morris.

In addition to green power, Tri-County EMC also offers other energy-efficient options for customers, said Morris.

“We also offer the No Sweat Air Conditioning program, and it helps shave our peak demand during the summer,” said Morris. “Customers are helping with the demand, and they’re helping us with keeping the demand lowered so it’s not peak power. People don’t notice the difference in comfort and they receive a $25 gift certificate.”

In addition, the company offers energy audits to their customers and improvements on property often earns customers’ rebates.

In general, the company is trying to take a more earth-friendly stance, said Morris.