Celebrating Earth Day EVERY DAY!Where we continue to offer you information on celebrating Earth Day every day; after all, this is the only home we have. Let's take care of it!
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- Recycling:
- Who knew it was so easy?
Following the popularity of the “reduce-reuse-recycle” slogan in the early 90’s and our growing awareness about the Earth’s limited resources, many of us made a pledge to do just that: we reduced the amount of waste that we generate and we reuse things to do everything from repackaging food to creating beautiful found-item art projects. We invested in tons of those blue “recycling” bags and sorted our trash, carefully separating glass, plastic, paper, and aluminum from our other solid waste. All of this pays off for the Earth, but not everyone jumped on-board – some people said that it was just too hard and too time-consuming. Did you know, though, what Summit County, the City of Solon and Cuyahoga County have been doing to make this process easier for you and better for the Earth? The Summit/Akron Solid Waste Management Authority www.SASWMA.org), in tandem with the City of Akron, has refined their program to include the things we never thought we could recycle. From old paint and motor oil to computer monitors to yard waste, they’ve made a real effort to reduce the amount of trash in our landfills. Here’s how it works: if you live in Akron, you may already have one of the city’s 64-gallon blue recycling bins. In that bin, each week, all you have to do is toss them in for curbside pickup. The city asks that you separate the recyclables in the following way: tie paper, including newspaper, office paper, and cardboard, together with string or place the items in a larger paper bag. Bundle things like glass, aluminum and tin cans, and certain plastics together in a blue Mustard Seed bag. Put everything in your bin and drag it to the curb every week, and the City does the rest! If you don’t have a bin, just call 311 and request one. The City will drop one off within two weeks, and you can start recycling! Summit County has several recycling stations for those who live outside of the Akron city limits. Paper can be dumped into any of the many bright yellow and green bins, found at many schools, parks, and non-profit organizations. You can take other recyclables to one of several locations, too, and recycle them for free. Things like computers, old television sets, paint, aerosol cans, and motor oil can (and should) be recycled, too – these things often leach lead and mercury into our soil, contaminating our drinking water. You can take these things to one of Summit County’s recycling stations and recycle them for no charge. Check out www.SASWMA.org or call 330-374-0383 for more information regarding “The Household Hazardous Waste Recycling Center.” Solon’s program is similar, but includes a monthly curbside pickup of hazardous waste and e-waste. The first full week of every month, you can put things like computers, car batteries, steel, propane cylinders, and motor oil on your curb (in a clear plastic bag) and they will haul it away for you. Additionally, they will collect grass clippings and yard waste for compost – just place these things in a paper bag, and Solon will take it to the compost pile. Please contact the City of Solon Service Department at 440-248-5834 or www.solonohio.org/PublicWorks/serviceInfo.html#recycle if you have any questions. Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District offers many recycling programs. One example is the District’s 16th annual Phone Book Recycling Campaign which will run from June 1 through September 30, 2008 to coincide with the delivery of the new phone books by AT&T. They also offer a free mercury disposal program for household mercury items. See www.cuyahogaswd.org/residents/events.html or call 216-443-3749 for details and additional programs. Mustard Seed Market & Café is proud to be able to offer recycling of plastic bags. Our customers can now bring bags to our stores and place them in the marked blue bins to be recycled! “Recycling rates for plastic bags are extremely low. Only 1 to 3% of plastic bags end up getting recycled.” www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=5 “Stray plastic bags, which have been estimated at one to three percent of the hundreds of billions that are produced each year, are now found almost everywhere on the planet.” www.enviroliteracy.org/article.php/1268.html We can work together to avoid sending thousands of bags into the disposal stage of the bag’s life cycle. In addition to our recycling program, we’ll take 5¢ off your purchase for EACH bag you bring for us to use for your groceries. The following reusable shopping bags are offered at our stores: Canvas Bags. Environmentally sound and strong for heavy packing. Chico Bags. Reusable nylon shopping bags. String Bags. Made from natural fibers, these bags stretch to an incredible capacity! Polyfabric™ bags. Safe to have around small children, non-allergenic, and are designed to be indefinitely re-usable!