Sustainability is meeting the needs of today while keeping in mind the needs of future generations. In Milton, this means being able to live and thrive in this special place while making sure our rural character and natural areas remain for future generations to enjoy.

Leading the Way to Sustainability

The Atlanta Regional Commission’s Green Communities Program is a voluntary certification program that helps local government implement measures that will reduce their environmental impact. The program aims to create a greener, healthier, and more livable region. 

The City of Milton was first certified as an ARC Green Community in 2012. In 2016, the City reaffirmed its commitment to being green by recertifying at the Bronze level, a level reached each year from 2016-2020. In 2021, the City achieved the Silver level.

For more on the City's environmental initiatives and related matters, contact the City's Environmental Program Manager, Emily Groth, by phone at 678-242-2543 or by email at emily.groth@miltonga.gov.

And to receive emails pertaining to recycling, solid waste, environmental events, and other sustainability efforts, please go HERE (www.miltonga.gov/Emails), enter your information, and click on the box next to "Sustainability." 

What Can I Do?

Recycle

Want info on recycling in Milton? Click HERE for City requirements, resources, programs, as well as drop-off recycling alternatives outside Milton. 

Milton residents can recycle at the following locations within driving distance:

• Keep North Fulton Beautiful
  • Located at 470 Morgan Falls Road, Sandy Springs
    
    
• The Center for Hard to Recycle Materials (CHaRM)
  • Located at 1110 Hill St. SE, Atlanta
    
    
• Pickens County Recycling Center
  2 locations:
  • 390 Appalachian Court, Jasper GA
  •  9720 Cove Rd., Marble Hill, GA
    
    
• Smyrna Recycling Education Center
  • 3475 Lake Drive, Smyrna
    
    

• Cherokee County Recycling Center

  • 470 Blalock Road, Canton 
  • 6688 Bells Ferry (Hobgood Park), Woodstock
    Out-of-county residents can now utilize the services of the Cherokee County Recycling Center for a $10 fee. The service to county residents remains free. As the services is opened to non-Cherokee County residents, photo ID proving residency will now be required.

   

Glass Recycling at Bell Memorial Park 

Through a partnership with Strategic Materials, residents can recycle glass in a large container at Bell Memorial Park.

Water harvesting at home

Rain barrels provide free irrigation for your garden and reduce harmful runoff into streams, rivers and lakes. The Chattahoochee Riverkeeper tells you how - and why - HERE.

Rain gardens are a great way to reduce water pollution. A rain garden will absorb the water and release it slowly. This reduces water runoff which can easily pick up fertilizers, pesticides and other contaminants that can be carried into our waterways. You can plant perennials and shrubs to help keep our local waterways clean. 

Start a pollinator garden
Pollinator gardens support and maintain pollinators by supplying food in the form of pollen and nectar that will ensure that these important animals stay in the area to keep pollinating crops for continued fruit and vegetable production. Grow a garden designed to attract bees, butterflies, moths, flies, beetles, bats and even hummingbirds. Learn more HERE.

Certify your yard as a wildlife habitat 
Wildlife need our help. Human activity has changed and eliminated habitat, locally, and on the global scale, and birds, butterflies, and other wildlife are pushed into ever-shrinking wilderness areas. You can make a difference! You can invite wildlife back to your own yard and neighborhood by planting a simple garden that provides habitat. Imagine your garden teeming with singing songbirds, colorful butterflies, flitting hummingbirds, and other small wildlife. Find out how HERE.

Designate your land  
Conservation Use Value Assessment, or CUVA, is a land designation that allows certain properties, including agricultural lands, forestlands and environmentally sensitive areas, to be considered for reduced property tax rates. 

Fulton County manages the State of Georgia's Conservation Use Value Assessment (CUVA), which may reduce the tax responsibility for qualifying properties.