We are celebrating recycling this week at Keep Liberty Beautiful. America Recycles Day is Tuesday. It is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to encouraging Americans to recycle and to buy recycled products.
Another reason to go shopping. Seriously, since its inception in 1997, America Recycles Day has grown to include millions of Americans pledging to improve their recycling habits. The current recycling rate is 34 percent, so if you are not recycling yet, isn’t it time to join us?
Here are some easy ideas from the America Recycles Day website, www.americarecyclesday.org:
• You may not be able to recycle your whole pizza box, but in most communities you can tear off the top (as long as it’s grease-free) and put it in your recycling bin.
• Along with plastic grocery bags, recycle bags from your dry-cleaning, bread, and newspaper. Remember to take clean, dry bags to recycling centers or retailers with plastic bag recycling bins.
• Paper cups aren’t always recyclable because of the wax lining, but don’t forget to recycle the cardboard sleeve when you buy your coffee!
•According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, paper and cardboard are America’s most recycled materials by weight. In addition to newspaper, most communities, like ours, accept corrugated cardboard as well as cereal and tissue boxes. We also accept mail, catalogues and phone books.
• Buy recycled products. Look for products and packaging with recycled content (and efficient packaging) to do your part as a recycling-conscious consumer.
• Keep two bags in your car, one for your trash, and one for recyclables. Pre-sorting makes it easier to transfer your recyclables into a recycling bin.
• Don’t trash your detergent and shampoo bottles just because you don’t have a bin in your bathroom or laundry room. Keep a plastic bag for collecting recyclables under the sink or take a few extra steps to put your empty bottles in the recycling bin. Check out the recycle symbol numbers on your containers. Midway Middle school also recycles many containers through a neat company called Terracycle.
• Putting materials in your recycling bin that aren’t collected in your community contaminates the recycling process and creates extra work for recycle employees. Please do not make their job any harder. We could not recycle here without them.
• To recycle items that our program does not collect, check AmericaRecyclesDay.org to find where they may be recycled or contact the Keep Liberty Beautiful office.
• Metals are among the most valuable materials in the recycling stream. Aluminum and steel cans are always welcomed by recyclers, and most metals can be recycled again and again and again.
• More than 100 million cell phones retire each year to sit in our drawers or closets, according to the U.S. EPA. Lots of out of date electronics are also sitting around in closets, too. Do you have out-of-use phones and electronics in your home? Consider donating them on Saturday at our quarterly Recycle It! Fairs.
The Fairs will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The quarterly Fairs are collection points for items that are used around the house and around the workplace that are not accepted at county convenience centers.
We are hosting a Shred it! Day at the Health Department in conjunction with the Fairs. It is a chance for you to safely dispose of financial records and other personal papers at no cost. All of the shredded paper is recycled.
Our partners, Goodwill Industries, Coastal Auto and Recycling, Liberty County Solid Waste, and local law enforcement as well as the cities of Walthourville and Midway make it possible to offer these recycling events each quarter.
The sites are:
• Liberty County Health Department (this is as also the location for the Shred Events)
1113 East Oglethorpe Highway
• Liberty County Community Complex in Midway
9397 East Oglethorpe Highway in Midway
• Walthourville City Hall
222 Busbee Drive
Items accepted range from electronics, batteries and used medications to old motor oil and paint.
For questions about shredding documents or recycling at the Recycle It! Fairs, contact Keep Liberty Beautiful at 880 4888 or mailto:klcb@coastalnow.net. To take the pledge to recycle, check out www.americarecyclesday.org.