It’s the holidays! They are filled with battery operated remote toys, cameras, dolls and baby walkers. So where do YOU recycle your old batteries? Hopefully, you march behind the Energizer bunny to the town offices, to your local drugstore, or to an e-waste recycling day. P-l-e-a-s-e do not deposit batteries anywhere else!
I grew up in the capital of Illinois, in a small neighborhood that had gravel alleys running between the backs of houses. We took out paper and box waste and burned it in a wire cylinder, and dumped the rest in the traditional metal garbage can—banged up, of course. Now even our kids are learning better practices in preschool.
There are so many new ways to save our environment today that we all wonder about the threats that have not yet been discovered. So when I ask about your new ideas for practices that ensure better solid waste collection, our health may depend on it.
BRAND NEW: Danville has a new box in the police department—to collect those unwanted pills that damage life in our rivers and streams. EBMUD does not draw drinking water that has been through wastewater treatment plans, but other cities do so. And they risk contamination in their drinking water, from these unwanted pills—Mercury? Addictive drugs? Estrogen? The new collection box is much like a postal box. Just remove (or blacken) labels, drop them into a plastic bag, and drop them off in the police office at the back of the Danville offices at 510 LaGonda Way. The council just passed the resolution to collect these drugs, after assuring the Department of Justice that our box is secure from unlawful pilfering. (No needles, aerosol cans, infectious wastes).
As a member of the JPA (Joint Powers Authority), Danville, and the other five cities /county, are governed by laws that supersede those in individual cities to regulate waste collection, disposal, green waste, recycling, composting, disposal, and all of those products that fill our landfills.
As a new commissioner for the Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority, I want to share some best practices. So for fun….
POP QUIZ: Which plastics are recyclable? *See end of article.
A. Peanut Butter Jar
B. Plastic Pipes
C. Styrofam
D. Water Bottles
E. Plastic Bags
Landfills are not limitless. We can shrink it dramatically by reducing waste, reusing containers, and recycling usable items. In fact, legislation mandates that landfill diversion be reduced. The first mandate required a 50% reduction by 2000, and our cities are measured. Hazardous materials are implemented separately.
So use the website, or call me if you have questions about broken waste bins (yes, ours broke the day before Thanksgiving!), whom to call for each type of trash cart, needle drop-off locations, composting “how-tos,” or collection schedules.
And I’d like to hear your ideas for some new practices, beyond the authority’s current ordinances. Specifically, what marketing ideas reach you and which ones do you ignore?
*Oh, about the Pop Quiz? I could give you the answers, but then what would you do when you needed to decide if “drinking straws are recyclable?” You can find ALL of the answers with the speed of a mouse at www.wastediversion.org.