April 22, 2013

Recycling!


Most people think of April as a very environmentally conscious month. And it is. It’s National Clean Energy Month, Earth Day is April 22, TV Turn Off Week, National Parks Week, etc. There are many events and dates that are all focused at us making a better planet to live on. We’ve talked about gardening and composting this month, and to build off composting that reduces the amount of garbage we throw out, we’ll talk about what to recycle to reduce it even more.


                First of all, if you live in the city of Buffalo, here are the local laws for refuse and recycling collection. This details the various classes of fines you can get for everything from not removing your bins from the curb within 12 hours of collection to illegal dumping. Important to note is that the city does not take tires as part of its weekly pick-up, but they do have regularly scheduled tire drop-off dates. Construction materials are also not accepted during regular trash pick-up. They may be brought to a variety of transfer stations in and around the City of Buffalo, including the East Side Transfer Station for a fee. Buffalo also allows free electronic recycling, Monday through Friday, 8 am to 3 pm.
                Acceptable materials (and again, this is city of Buffalo’s list) include:
                                Paper
-          Paperboard (no wax coated paperboard)
-          Office paper and junk mail
-          Newspaper (all bags, strings and rubber bands must be removed)
-          Phonebooks
-          Magazines and catalogs
-          Milk and Juice cartons (must be empty)
-          Cardboard, pizza boxes, and paper bags (flatten cardboard, remove wax paper and food residue from pizza boxes)
Plastic
-          All category 1-7 household plastics (empty containers only)
-          Plastic jugs/bottles
Metal
-          Aluminum cans (empty cans only)
-          Kitchen cookware (metal pots, pans, tins and utencils)
-          Steel and tin cans (empty cans only)
-          Glass (clear and colored)
Unacceptable items include:
-          No Styrofoam containers or packing
-          No garbage
-          No propane tanks
-          No paint cans
-          No medical waste/syringes
-          No flammable liquids
-          No household cleaners
-          No chemicals (dry or liquid)
-          No wood items
-          No concrete
-          No garden hose
-          No electrical cords
-          No “wet strength” paperboard, to include: fridge and freezer, and pop/beer case packaging
So why should we recycle? Not only does it reduce the amount of things in the landfill, it also helps us conserve natural resources like timber, water and minerals. Pollution is prevented by reducing the need to collect new raw materials. It saves energy and reduces the greenhouse gas emissions contributing to the climate change. Overall, it helps us sustain the environment for future generations. And if that isn’t enough to convince you to recycle, green jobs are one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy.
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