Nitty Gritty Recycling Stillwater
• Your Home Recycling System• Solid Waste Management Hierarchy• Recycling & Composting Resources
Ilda T. HersheyOSU Coop. Ext. Service, Solid Waste Management Programs;Sustainable Stillwater; Oklahoma Recycling Association;Solid Waste Association of North America, Oklahoma Chapter
Your Home Recycling System
Under the Kitchen Sink•One “comingled” bag for plastic, glass & metal containers •Rinse, drain and toss
Pantry Closet Floor•One bag for chipboard (paperboard)•Break down and stuff
Your Home Recycling System
Desk-side Paper Recycling Black=garbage; Blue=recycling
Your Home Recycling System
Your Home Recycling System
Larger containers for bulky items like plastic
Transfer full bags from garage to drop-off site
Your Home Recycling System
Counter-top composting Backyard compost bin
Questions About Your Home Recycling System?
Is recycling the BEST thing we can do with our waste?...
Image: Fairfax County Solid W
aste Managem
ent
The Solid Waste Management Hierarchy•Recycling is not first on the hierarchy!•Set of plans to manage municipal solid waste •Adopted by many city, county, state governments•A means of achieving sustainability
Source Reduction or “Reduce”•Preferred method: Prevents generation of waste in the first place•Manufacturer: Decrease materials and energy used during manufacturing and distribution•Consumer: Purchase items in bulk, concentrated form, minimal packaging, use refill systems•Includes backyard composting of yard trimmings and food scraps
Reuse•Finding a second (or third, etc.) use for a product to prolong its life•Appliances, books, clothing, household items, jars, bottles, etc.•Repairing items, selling them or donating them to charity•Using durable rather than disposable (i.e. reusable shopping bags)•Preferable to recycling because item does not need to be collected or reprocessed thus saving energy and preventing pollution
Recycling•The process of taking a product at the end of its useful life and using all or part of it to make another product •Requires collection, processing, remanufacturing and purchase•Includes municipal composting•Saves landfill space, energy and natural resources, reduces pollution, creates useful products and jobs•EPA estimates that 75% of our waste is recyclable
Waste Disposal – Last in the Hierarchy•Regulatory restrictions: High environmental and economic costs •Resource Recovery (AKA Waste-to-Energy): Waste is burned to produce energy; only ash is left to landfill•Incineration: Also reduces waste to ash but produces no energy•Landfilling: Capacity restrictions; NIMBY syndrome•Littering and illegal dumping
Recycling & Composting Resources
•Stillwater Recycling Guide•Oklahoma Recycling Association (OKRA)•Solid Waste Management Resource Trunk•Composting & Don’t Bag It Brochures•Recycling Seminar, Tuesday, December 8 Sponsored by ODEQ, OKRA & OCES
Contact Ilda Hershey
Oklahoma Cooperative Extension ServiceSolid Waste Management ProgramsOSU, 536 Ag Hall, Stillwater (405) [email protected]://agecon.okstate.edu/wastenew/
Sustainable Stillwatersustainablestillwater@hotmail.comwww.sustainablestillwater.org