A Dublin newspaper recycling mill has agreed to do a better job keeping plastics from being discharged into the Oconee River.

SP Newsprint, which recycles up to 2,500 tons of newspapers a day, will install a machine to stop materials, such as plastic, from entering the water, company officials said Friday.

Those who recycle newspapers often dump papers still wrapped in plastic sleeves, or plastic grocery sacks into recycling bins, which are eventually recycled with the newspapers.

SP Newsprint also agreed to submit its progress quarterly, showing the effects of the new changes, and to do water quality sampling.

The agreement comes after almost a year of negotiations between SP Newsprint and Altamaha Riverkeeper, an advocacy group protecting the Ocmulgee, Oconee and Ohoopee rivers. The group argued the release of plastic is not legal, harms fish and other aquatic organisms, and is unsightly.

"We're definitely happy with the agreement," said Deborah Sheppard, executive director of the Altamaha Riverkeeper. "It will certainly improve the water quality in the Oconee."

"It's a better outcome for the river than a protracted legal battle," she said.

Georgia Center for Law in the Public Interest's Justine Sheppard, who represented the Altamaha Riverkeeper, said SP Newsprint reached an agreement just before a lawsuit was filed against them.

Under the Clean Water Act, citizens are allowed to file lawsuits and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division is charged with enforcement, Sheppard said.

"(The EPD) didn't take what we thought were appropriate actions," Sheppard said. So the advocacy group issued a 60-day notice asking the Dublin recycling mill for tighter regulations of plastic discharge, she said.

"On the eve of filing the lawsuit ... SP indicated they wanted to enter into negotiations," she said. "We never filed a lawsuit. This was a negotiation to stop that from happening."

SP Newsprint Senior Vice President of Operations Mark Rawlings said Friday the company has been working with the advocacy group since the beginning. He said both have disagreed on the legality of discharge of solids, including plastics.

"We are in agreement with Altamaha Riverkeeper on one aspect," Rawlings said. "We want the good of the river to improve. We want to do the right thing."

By December, mill officials will install a pulper that instead of shredding newspapers and plastic, will use a new drum "that water rolls over with no sheer force," Rawlings said.

Plastic materials would be caught in whole or larger chunks and easier for screens to catch, Rawlings said of the new equipment.

The company also agreed to do more public education to get residents to stop dumping plastics into newspaper recycling bins, and company officials will monitor their water discharge, Rawlings said.

It was last fall that Altamaha Riverkeeper initially began negotiations with SP Newsprint.

A fisherman had noticed plastic in the Oconee in April when he was fishing with his wife. Others from the Laurens County Sportsman Club had also complained of seeing plastic in the water. The advocacy group said it investigated the site and found six pounds of plastic in the water.

EPD officials said in a previous interview that permits have no limits on plastic release, and the state does not require companies to report the amount of plastic they release.

"(SP Newsprint) was already showing a good-faith effort. We felt it was better to encourage that effort..," Sheppard said. "This case has created awareness that what (recyclers) have done has contributed to the release of plastic in the river."

"It's a very innocent mistake. The last thing recyclers want to do is put plastic in a river."

SP Newsprint is partly owned by Knight Ridder, which owns The Telegraph.