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.
