SUMMER TIME IS RECYCLING TIME

Summer is here – school is out – vacations start – baseball, softball, swimming, picnics, camping, tennis, summer camps and all the other activities of the season are in full swing. Summer is also the season of increased consumption of beverages in plastic bottles and aluminum cans. As a result of the latter, summer in the recycling industry yields the highest levels of recycling for plastic bottles and aluminum cans across the Nation.

Unfortunately, these high levels do not truly reflect the amount of recyclables that are actually being consumed since so much of it is thrown away in the garbage instead of being recycled. Studies indicate that during these next three months, more beverages are consumed “away from home” than any other time of the year and, unless recycling opportunities (bins) are readily available at the point of consumption, more recyclables are thrown away during this same period. The really dedicated recyclers take the time and energy to bring their bottles and cans back home with them for recycling, however, many people just put their bottles and cans in whatever containers are placed out at the location along with the other trash they are throwing away. Research indicates that when there is a recycling container placed next to the trash container, the majority of people will recycle without even giving it much thought.

So here is the challenge – offer the public the opportunity to recycle and the majority of them will do it. Of course, offering the public this opportunity does require some effort and an investment in bins or some creative thinking. The effort is needed to get bins in place, pull out full bags of recyclables, put new bags into the bins and then get those full bags to the Recycling Center. The creative thinking is required to acquire the bins to use for recycling and determine who is going to pull and deliver those bags. There are numerous kinds of containers that can be used as recycling bins and their prices range from nothing to over $100 each. The Recycling Center can assist in the “nothing” category three different ways: by providing 30 gallon fiber and/or plastic drums that come in to the Center; by providing recycling stickers to use on containers of your choice; by checking out some of our “X-Stream” event recycling bins to groups for specific events. Inexpensive recycling bins can be created by purchasing regular trash cans and adding recycling stickers to them. Old empty 55 gallon drums are another type of free recycling container.

Please let us know if we can be of any assistance in helping you offer recycling options during your various summertime activities. Call us at 706/291-5266 or e mail at rfrecycl@roman.net .