There are a bunch of household items that are calling to you from your storage room and from your hall closet as well as that junk drawer in your office. Can you hear them? They want to be recycled!  

Please take the time this week to free these items from captivity and a life of uselessness. Recycling gives these items a chance to live again. Many items are like a cat with nine lives. They can be recycled again and again.

Many household items that you do not use anymore can be donated so that someone else can use them. Those pants that are a little -ahem- too snug and those shoes with the big gold bows on them may be just the fashion accessories that someone else really needs.

This week is a perfect time to dig into these closets and set these items free at our quarterly Recycle It! Fairs and our Midway Shred It! Day next Saturday.

This quarter’s Recycle It! Fairs are scheduled for Saturday from 9 a.m. until 1 pm.

Our three fair locations in the county make it easier to drop off a variety of items that can be recycled successfully or disposed of properly. Our fair sites, which are all open between 9 a.m.-1 p.m. are:
• Liberty County Health Department, 1113 East Oglethorpe Highway;
• Liberty County Community Complex in Midway,  9397 East Oglethorpe (Highway 84) in Midway
• Walthourville City Hall, 22 Busbee Drive

We will also be hosting on the same day a Shred It! Day in conjunction with the Recycle It! Fair in Midway at the Liberty County Community Complex Parking Lot.

All shredded paper will be recycled. We can accept financial and legal documents, receipts, tax records, medical records and any other paper records that you may want destroyed.

Please just remove documents from any notebooks or binders.

If you will have a large amount to bring in, please call us prior to Saturday at 912-880-4888 to make arrangements. Please plan to be in line to drop off items for shredding by 12:45 p.m. at the latest.

Remember these are the items we can accept for recycling at the fairs:

• e-waste- electronics: including computers, printers, monitors, and any computer accessories; stereo equipment and televisions; cell phones and accessories. All hard drives will be wiped clean for your security by our local Goodwill Industries.
• household paint as long as the cans are sealed well, are not rusted and are, at least half full.  If your cans are not in good condition, add cat litter or sand to the paint, let it completely dry up, and then dispose of the cans in your regular garbage. We can only collect paint that is in acceptable condition for reuse at the Habitat ReStore so please follow the above information.
• CFL’s and fluorescent light bulbs and LED bulbs
• used motor oil and antifreeze as well as car batteries. At the Midway and Walthourville sites, we can accept car batteries but we can only accept the oil and antifreeze in clean, disposable containers. Remember to always recycle motor oil and antifreeze as soon as possible.  Never pour these items down the drain or into a storm drain or just dump them. They cause severe water pollution problems.
• any household batteries
• printer ink and toner cartridges
• telephone books and large sale catalogs
• hardback books, paperbacks, and textbooks
• household goods and clothes (in clean, decent condition, please)
• and shoes (please, gently used only)
• Prescription Take Back at all three locations for any old prescription medications and over the counter medications that you need to dispose of. Never flush these items down the toilet!  These types of items have a detrimental effect on our waterways and, consequently, on aquatic life and humans—like us. Note that we cannot accept hypodermic needles.

Please take the time this week to gather all of your old records together for shredding and your household goods for recycling.  To find out more about recycling in these three locations as well as our Shred it! event in Midway, please contact Keep Liberty Beautiful at 912-80-4888 or klcb@coastalnow.net  or check out our website www.keeplibertybeautiful.org .

Wait! I can even hear voices coming from your medicine cabinet! So, do not forget your out of date prescription and OTC medications!

Swida is director of Keep Liberty Beautiful.