Spring Cleaning- The Recycling Station at the WCSGGF
What is on your Spring Calendar? Spring brings the rebirth of nature and new beginnings. We should think about Spring Resolutions as well as New Year Resolutions. Do you plan some Spring Cleaning? Do you plan to start some seeds for your summer garden? Whatever your spring plans are, make sure that you have plans to celebrate Earth Day and are making some resolutions on how you can better treat our environment and Mother Earth.
The perfect opportunity for you is to spring clean, removing your disposable materials in your household and plan to either reuse or recycle. You will have the opportunity to do just that at the Wooster Campus of Ohio State University’s Scarlet, Gray and Green Fair at OARDC on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 from 11:30 am until 7:00pm. Come to our Recycling Station Tent to learn how you can find out more about reducing and recycling and also bring in a few items to recycle. There are many ways to make good use of recyclables. We will be offering you some ways to also help your community as you recycle by partnering with several organizations and businesses to make good use of your recyclables. Volunteers and members of the First Presbyterian Church Environmental Justice Team will help you through the process.
Goodwill Industries will be taking denim blue jeans for resale in their store or to send to a textile recycler. Goodwill uses their profits for job training programs and helping families grow stronger. Fibers from broken down textiles can be up- cycled into rags, yarn and other products. At the Station, fair attendees will learn how to make sure that when they purchase blue jeans, that they can choose more environmentally friendly blue jeans. Goodwill will have information about what you can bring to their drop-off location for recycling.
Habitat for Humanity provides a way for low-income families to have affordable housing thus eliminating poverty housing. Habitat will be taking aluminum drink cans to help with some funding for their building programs. Keep America Beautiful states that if you recycle one ton of aluminum cans, energy saved is equal to the amount of electricity the average home uses over 10 years. If you have had a home project and have useable non-toxic paint left over, you may bring it to the Recycling Station for Habitat to use in their homes or for their ReStore, where they recycle household building products.
The College of Wooster Student Athlete Advisory Committee promotes students reaching out and serving the community. They will be collecting your worn out sneakers for Nike’s Reuse a Shoe Program. Every part of the shoe is up-cycled into athletic surfaces. The sneaker is divided into three parts and then ground into material to be used in to process of making the athletic surface: The fabric is used for basketball courts; the inner foam is used for tennis courts; and the rubber is used for running tracks.
Do you have untaken meds in your medicine cabinets and drawers? This could cause a dangerous situation if taken by mistake or if they get into the wrong hands. It is an environmental hazard if you put it in your trash or if you flush it down the toilet. You may bring prescription drugs for you or for your pet and Medway Drug Enforcement will take it for destruction, following the guidelines of the EPA. Just bring it in the container with the personal information blacked out. Some over- the – counter meds will be accepted as well. Please do not bring syringes, needles, thermometers, aerosol cans, personal care products, hydrogen peroxide, or any bio-hazardous material.
The Wayne County Sustainable Energy Network is a charitable organization, promoting sustainable energy practices and policies in Wayne County, Ohio with education and resources. WCSEN is a sponsor of the Scarlet, Gray, and Green Fair. In addition to their booth at the fair, they will be represented at the Recycling Station. You may bring in your CFL light bulbs and also florescent light tubes for disposal. Also the Recycling Station will be taking plastic grocery bags. Plastic grocery bags can be recycled at stores and reused around the house but many times they go out into our environment- in the trash, floating around in the air and in our waterways. The best alternative is to take a reusable bag to the store when you shop. We will offer canvas grocery bags for a donation to WCSEN.
The Wilderness Center in Wilmot, Ohio is a nonprofit institution dedicated to nature education, wildlife conservation, natural history research, and community service. At the Recycling Station, they will be collecting cell phones. These phones will be recycled or reused. If they can be reused they will be given to individuals who are in need of a phone for safety reasons. Also, The Wilderness Center will be collecting ink cartridges to be refilled and reused.
Do you ever think about all the expandable polystyrene (Styrofoam like material) that goes into the landfill? Statistics show that over 25% of our landfills is taken up with polystyrene. We have found a company in Canton, Ohio, O’Brien Packaging that will recycle expandable polystyrene that is used as the cushioning blocks in packages and used as medical coolers. O’Brien Packaging will be at our Recycling Station collecting. They grind it and process it into blocks that are used to make picture frames. Please do not bring eating utensils, craft supplies or peanuts.
Do you have that old computer stored in your basement or closet? ITRAN Corporation will collect and recycle desktop and portable computers (hard drives will be shredded at the warehouse). Also being collected are computer accessories such as printers, copiers, fax machines, monitors, keyboards, mice, hard drives, floppy drives, CD- ROMs, and circuit boards. No televisions, kitchen appliances, or stereo equipment.
Do you have piles of documents stored in your home that have personal information on them but haven’t properly destroyed them? Sanmandy Enterprises will shred up to 2 file boxes of sensitive documents. The EPA tells us that recycling 1 ton of paper saves 17 mature trees, 7,000 gallons of water, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 2 barrels of oil, and 4,100 Kilowatt-hours of electricity. Sanmandy will take newsprint, magazines, and phone books. They process the paper into facial tissue, note pads, and cellulose insulation. Please no cardboard or metal.
We hope you use rechargeable batteries in your household. If you do and you have some that will not hold a charge, they can be recycled at the Recycling Station. They must meet the criteria requested: Nickel cadmium, nickel metal hydride, lithium ion, nickel zinc, and small sealed lead, rechargeable batteries only. They must weigh less than 2 lbs/1kg each. No alkaline, lithium primary or wet cell batteries.
So pack up your family and these recyclables and plan to spend the day learning and doing something good for our Mother Earth.