RECYCLING & COMPOST
Why should we recycle? Well, recycling allows us to create something new and useful out of old products instead of simply throwing them into a landfill. Keeping recyclables out of landfills saves us money--we don't have to pay someone to haul it away-- and decreases the size of our landfills. Recycling also means less extraction of virgin resources and less pollution from processing these raw resources. Recycled plastics are used to make carpet, plastic lumber, clothing, flower pots, insulation for jackets and sleeping bags, sometimes even car bumper. Recycled aluminum is made into cans, pie pans, siding for houses, small appliance, and furniture.
Why throw out such useful products?! Learn about our local recycling options on our Local Partners page.
Why throw out such useful products?! Learn about our local recycling options on our Local Partners page.
Waste Management: Think Green
Learn all about recycling on Waste Managements website. Discover all that can be recycled, where it can be recycled and what your recyclables can be used for!
This website is full of interactive education tool. LEARN MORE
Click Calculate Savings on the ThinkGreen Widget to calculate the savings you create by recycling!
This website is full of interactive education tool. LEARN MORE
Click Calculate Savings on the ThinkGreen Widget to calculate the savings you create by recycling!
The Cycle by Recyclebank
These short clips demonstrate how single stream recycling works, from collection at your house to the Materials Recovery Factory (MRF) to the individual recycling processes. Short, informative and fun this site can help you more fully understand the newest recycling technology! LEARN MORE
What to do with electronics & appliances
Don't throw that old computer out! Or those old cassette tapes, VHS tapes, CDs, telephones or all those random cords. This is what is commonly called E-Waste. Throwing this stuff in landfills or burning it in incinerators is a really bad idea because this waste contains some not-so-friendly chemicals that we don't want leaching into our air or water. E-Waste can be recycled!
Best Buy will accept most Electronic Waste at their store, including tube TVs and monitors, flat panel TVs and monitors, peripherals, DVD players, home and car audio, cell phones, fans, vacuums MP3 players and cables. They will also accept desktop and laptop computers with the hard drive removed. Visit their website to LEARN MORE or use this document entitled Best Buy and Recycling prepared by Corporate Waste Consultants.
The Wayne County Recycling Center also holds annual E-Waste Collections. Please check their website and look for announcements in the local news.
Gazelle is a website that might pay you for your old electronics. Visit their website to LEARN MORE or browse this document entitled Site that Pays You to Recycle prepared by Corporate Waste Consultants.
Best Buy will accept most Electronic Waste at their store, including tube TVs and monitors, flat panel TVs and monitors, peripherals, DVD players, home and car audio, cell phones, fans, vacuums MP3 players and cables. They will also accept desktop and laptop computers with the hard drive removed. Visit their website to LEARN MORE or use this document entitled Best Buy and Recycling prepared by Corporate Waste Consultants.
The Wayne County Recycling Center also holds annual E-Waste Collections. Please check their website and look for announcements in the local news.
Gazelle is a website that might pay you for your old electronics. Visit their website to LEARN MORE or browse this document entitled Site that Pays You to Recycle prepared by Corporate Waste Consultants.
Can't find a place to recycle?
Try one of the following websites:
www.1800recycling.com [or call 1-800-RECYCLING]
My Green Electronics
ECycling Central
www.earth911.com
www.1800recycling.com [or call 1-800-RECYCLING]
My Green Electronics
ECycling Central
www.earth911.com
Compact Florescent Lighting Recycling
CFLs, while very energy efficient, do contain small amounts of mercury. Therefore it is important that we do not dispose of CFLs with our regular trash. By recycling CFLs we ensure that the mercury inside the bulbs does not escape into the environment.
The Home Depot will recycle CFLs for free. LEARN MORE
The Home Depot will recycle CFLs for free. LEARN MORE
Compost
Composting is a simple way to divert organic waste from landfills and incinerators and create a fantastic, organic soil additive. The EPA estimates that 26% of US municipal solid waste is organic materials that can easily be composted. Why do we care? When organic waste is buried in landfills it undergoes anaerobic decomposition (because of the lack of oxygen) and generates methane. When released into the atmosphere, methane is a green house gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. LEARN MORE Organic waste is also the number one cause of the stench associated with landfills. It makes environmental and economic sense to compost our organic waste!
Natural Resource Conservation Service: Compost
This website provides a brief overview of backyard compost systems, how to get started and how to maintain your compost system. LEARN MORE
How to Compost
This website provides an extensive list of resources, products and links related to composting. Want to start a small scale in-office system? or bring work scraps to a home pile? LEARN MORE
