Alabama Power utilizes recycled materials to craft bench for Bellingrath Gardens

Byline: Joey Blackwell

Visitors to Bellingrath Gardens in Theodore, Ala., now have a new bench to rest on and enjoy the beautiful sights courtesy of Alabama Power.

The bench is composed of recycled wood and aluminum left over from various projects and structures created in Alabama Power’s shops located at its General Services Complex in Calera.

“We were approached to see about building a bench out of any leftover materials — maybe some of our wooden pallets — and then we do a lot of welding, fabricating and building of structures with both steel and aluminum, so the thought was to use some recycled or leftover materials from both wood and aluminum,” said Roger Hall, who works as the general shops manager for Alabama Power. “So, we started with that concept, and we had one of our employees who is particularly skilled and creative in that area, and even though we hadn’t done it as a shop this employee took it on and did a fantastic job designing a bench that was donated to Mobile Division.”

That one employee who was skilled at woodworking is Josh Spicer, who works as a shop mechanic for Alabama Power. While Spicer primarily works in steel, woodworking is one of his personal hobbies that he does at home, which made him a perfect fit as the primary crafter of the bench.

“Woodworking is kind of second nature to me because I do it as a hobby at home, so I kind of just took it and ran with it,” Spicer said. “I started doing it five or six years ago and I enjoy doing it — it’s kind of like my little getaway at home. I was presented an idea, asked if it could be done and I ran with it and presented a bench that everyone can now enjoy.”

Each bench is composed of black-painted aluminum as its primary structure, with the treated wood being used as the seat on the bench. Alongside the Alabama Power logo engraved on the bench’s back support, a small plaque located on the left side contains an inscription noting that the bench was utilized with recycled materials used to power Mobile.

After it was created, Alabama Power Charitable Giving and Mobile Division selected Bellingrath Gardens as its recipient.

Vice President of Charitable Giving Staci Brown Brooks had the idea to see what the company could recycle as an example of environmental stewardship and community partnership. She reached out to Yvonne Essix, vice president of Transmission Construction & Protection and Control, to see if Power Delivery would be interested in the idea.

“I was so grateful for Yvonne’s immediate enthusiasm. After I shared an example, in a matter of days Yvonne sent back a beautiful prototype made of waste materials,” Brooks said. “Placing the benches with our civic and nonprofit partners is just one more example of our service to Alabama.”

While the bench at Bellingrath might be the first donated, the project will grow, and the company plans to provide benches made of recycled materials to all six of Alabama Power’s divisions across the state.

“I’m so pleased that our skilled team eagerly embraced this vision to turn waste materials into pieces that the community can enjoy,” Essix said. “I was delighted on my last trip to Mobile to stop by and see my team’s work out at Bellingrath Gardens.”

With so many parks and trails in their area, the Mobile Division team was glad to find a home for the company’s first community bench.

“Bellingrath Gardens is such a great partner, and the Gardens will get more than 140,000 visitors a year,” said Mike Jordan, vice president of Mobile Division. “I’m delighted that the Gardens staff and visitors will see this reminder of Alabama Power’s long-standing and deep partnership.”