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This Saturday, June 26th
Drop-Off Your Household Hazardous Waste
Containers marked Toxic, Flammable, Corrosive or Reactive don’t belong in your house or in the regular trash. They’re dangerous! Let the City dispose of them for you during this Saturday’s scheduled drop-off for Household Hazardous Waste (HHW). Bring those old cans of oil-based paint, solvents, pesticides, antifreeze, petroleum products, car batteries–even old computers—to the Transfer Station at Domino Lane and Umbria Street in Northwest Philadelphia between 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM. We’ll take them off your hands at no charge. Spread the word to your friends and everyone on your Philly Spring Cleanup contact list as well.
For details on what is considered HHW and what isn’t, and for upcoming drop-off dates and locations, go to PhiladelphiaStreets.com/HHW.
This service of the Sanitation Division of the Philadelphia Streets Department is funded in part by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Here at TTF, we talk a lot about how recycling can help to protect our waterways. Our Ethical Electronics Recycling Events help keep dangerous chemicals from electronics from leaching into our creeks and rivers. But what about plastics? From all of our work doing stream cleanups, we’ve found that a huge percentage of the trash we pick up is plastic — usually in the form of food or beverage packaging materials and plastic bags. (The City of Philadelphia currently recycles plastics #1 and #2, but not #3-#7. Montgomery County has different regulations.)
This month’s Grid magazine has an article on where Philadelphia residents can recycle plastics #3-7:
Because No. 5 is the next most common plastic (after 1 and 2), Weaver’s Way Co-op (weaversway.coop) collects it—including Brita filters—as part of the “Gimme 5” campaign. Plastics must be clean, dry and clearly stamped with the number 5. Collections take place on the third Saturday of each month at the Co-op’s garage (524 Carpenter Lane), and all the plastics are then shipped to the Gimme 5 processing facility in New York State. The South Street Whole Foods (929 South Street) also collects No. 5 plastics.
The other numbers are trickier. The foam variety of No. 6–Polystyrene and the dreaded No. 7–Other categories are notoriously difficult to recycle. But Recycling Services, Inc. (365 Elm Street, Pottstown, 610-323-8545) takes all comers (numbers 1 through 7), and the facility is open for public collection on Tuesdays and Saturdays (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.). They charge an $8/car gate fee, so consider loading up with your neighbors’ No. 3 through 7s, too, before you head out there.
If you drink a lot of bottled beverages, you can recycle the caps at the Big Green Earth Store (934 South Street) and at Aveda stores throughout the Philadelphia region (the Shops at Liberty Place, Cherry Hill Mall, Willow Grove Park and Exton Square).
And, in addition to recycling plastic, we can just try to use it less — especially when it comes to unnecessary purchases like bottled water!
On Wednesday, I was pleased to attend the first annual progress report for Philadelphia’s Greenworks Plan, a six-year plan for making Philadelphia the greenest city in the country.
The event was inspiring. It was great to see so many environmental and community organizations working together to celebrate our city and help it become as sustainable as possible. Often times, in a big city with an old infrastructure like Philadelphia, it can seem like positive environmental change happens very, very slowly. We hear the complaints all the time: “Nothing is happening!” “Where are my tax dollars going?” “Why isn’t Philadelphia as ‘green’ as other cities?”
Well, change IS happening all around us. It will take some time, but Philadelphia has already made some really great strides in the realm of greening. Read the report here and check out all the amazing progress that’s been made citywide in just one year!
This article from the Philadelphia Daily News spells out some of the achievements:
Divert 70 percent of solid waste from landfills - In other words, increase the recycling rate. And it is ticking up. Over the past year, the diversion rate was 16 percent of waste, compared with 12 percent during the previous year. Officials expect it to go even higher now that the recycling-rewards program is set to go citywide.
Provide park and recreation space within 10 minutes of 75 percent of residents – The plan is to add 500 acres of public space. Gajewski said the city is working with neighborhoods to figure out what they want.
Plant 300,000 trees – This is one of the more ambitious goals. Since Greenworks started, 2,846 trees have been planted. In April, the Department of Parks and Recreation kicked off a tree-planting campaign called “Green Philly, Grow Philly.” It is seeking partnerships with private businesses, nonprofits and other organizations to increase the number of trees. But Nutter last week said he would cut $2.5 million the city budgeted to tree-planting, due to financial constraints, which will undoubtedly slow this effort.
Double the number of green jobs – Last year, the city said it wanted to increase the number of green jobs – loosely defined as jobs with an environmental benefit – from 14,379 to 28,800. So far, it has created at least 520 jobs, largely through stimulus funding for types of construction work.
Of course, here at TTF, we are most excited by all the great progress made in the arena of stormwater management, thanks in large part to the Philadelphia Water Department’s Green City, Clean Waters plan. We’re looking forward to the 2011 progress report. In the mean time, we’ll keep doing our part to help make Philadelphia the greenest city in the country!
Earth Day is coming up and there are a number of special events going on throughout Montgomery County! Please check out the schedule listed below and share them with your friends and neighbors.
For more information on recycling in Montgomery County, check out www.montgomerycountyrecycles.org
Saturday, April 17 – Tire Collection
(Sponsored by Montgomery County)
Pottstown Municipal Parking Lot
95 S. Hanover St.
Pottstown, PA 19464
9AM – 3PM
Maximum 4 Tires per vehicle. Residents ONLY. Rims allowed.
Saturday, April 17 – Mercury Thermostat Collection
(Sponsored by Covanta Energy and Montgomery County)
Abington Transfer Station
995 Fitzwatertown Rd.
Abington, PA 19001
9AM – 2PM
Collecting Mercury Thermostats ONLY. $5 gift card to first 50 people.
Saturday, April 17 – Medication Collection
(Sponsored by Montgomery County District Attorney and Montgomery County Health Department)
Unwanted and unused prescription and over the counter medication can be brought to any of the 4 locations:
Norristown Police Department – 235 E. Airy St. Norristown, PA 19401
Pottstown Police Department – 100 E. High St. Pottstown, PA 19464
Cheltenham Police Department – 8230 Old York Rd. Elkins Park, PA 19027
Souderton Police Department – 31 W. Summit St. Souderton, PA 18964
Saturday, April 24 – Household Hazardous Waste and Electronics Collection Event
(Sponsored by Montgomery County)
Indian Valley Middle School
130 Maple Ave.
Harleysville, PA 19438
Saturday, April 24 – Community Paper Shredder Event
(Sponsored by PA Rep. Mike Vereb)
West Norriton Township Building
1630 W. Marshall St.
Jeffersonville, PA 19403
610-409-2615
9AM – 12PM.
We just learned of some great news in the December newsletter from RecycleNOW Philadelphia!
The following information is a condensed version of the newsletter. You can read the whole thing on the RecycleNOW website.
- The City of Philadelphia has announced a full launch of the Philadelphia Recycling Rewards program in partnership with RecycleBank. Based on the total amount of recycling collected in their neighborhood, residents will earn points that can be redeemed to use at local and national retailers, or donated to non-profits. Residents can also earn points for trash reduction. The program will begin in February of 2010 in North Philadelphia, and will roll out in an additional section of the city each month, making the program citywide by July. Residents can sign up at http://www.phillyrecyclingpays.com/ and register to receive a sticker, to be placed on any bin.
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We also learned that with citywide single stream weekly curbside collection, the city has been able to increase the recycling rate from 7 to 15 percent, with some neighborhoods recycling at close to 30 percent. The increase in material diverted from landfills and incinerators saved the city $4.8 million in tipping fees and kept the program running during the fiscal crisis.
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In addition, the East Coast’s largest composting facility, the Wilmington Organic Recycling Center, just opened. The Wilmington Organic Recycling Center has the ability to divert up to 500 tons of organic material from landfills a day. The proximity of the facility to Philadelphia will make composting as simple as trash collection for many restaurants and businesses that produce a significant amount of food waste. (As for residential compost collection, both Pedal Coop and PhillyCompost provide smaller scale pick-up services for those who want to compost but don’t have the space.)
Thanks to RecycleNOW Philadelphia for all of their hard work — and for sharing the good news!
Thank you SO much to all of our amazing volunteers and to everyone who came out and ethically recycled their e-waste this past weekend!
During the drive the parking lot of Cedarbrook Elementary School, normally empty on a weekend, was crowded with people and piled high with “e-waste” –old computers, TVs, radios, stereo equipment, toasters, and other used electronics that had reached the end of their useful lives.
Over the course of the weekend, over 150 families brought old electronics by the carload and paid $1 per pound to have them recycled ethically.
By Sunday afternoon, over 11,000 pounds of used electronics were packed up for shipping to facilities that will redistribute the use-able items to people who can use them, harvest working parts from broken components, and forward unsalvageable items to carefully chosen U.S. operations that recycle e-waste in accordance with the highest international standards (more information at www.ban.org). Over the past two years, TTF has helped to ethically recycle over 50,000 pounds of e-waste!
The-waste drive is the brainchild of Christopher Swain (pictured above), the first person in history to swim the entire lengths of several dirty waterways including the Columbia River, the Charles River, the Hudson River, and Lake Champlain to raise awareness about clean water issues. Cheltenham a stop on the way for Swain, who is currently swimming 1000 miles down the Atlantic coast from Marblehead, Massachusetts to Washington, DC. The ocean swim is part of his TOXTOURTM project (www.toxtour.org), an ongoing campaign to collect and recycle, ethically, one billion pounds of e-waste, to prevent toxic chemicals and heavy metals from fouling the world’s waterways and ecosystems.
A special thanks to our hard working crew from Arcadia University!
You can view more photos from the event in our Facebook album.
We’ve made some really great progress cutting back invasive plants and planting native ones (with the help of 75 fourth graders) at Glenside Elementary School. Two weeks ago, over 30 volunteers removed invasive vines and bushes overrunning the area. Lat week, Glenside Elementary students, PTO members and local volunteers planted over 400 native trees and shrubs. At the end of the project, an educational sign and seating area will be installed for student use.
The planting project will improve the health of the creek while providing students with hands-on learning about watershed ecology and protection. Over 5000 square feet of lawn grass along the fence by the creek will be replaced with native trees, shrubs and grasses. These plantings will provide a much-needed buffer between the lawn and the creek. Native plants help absorb stormwater to slow flooding, prevent erosion of the creek’s banks, and keep fertilizers, salt, trash and other pollutants out of the creek’s waters. Native plants also provide important habitat for birds, fish, and other native wildlife crucial to the ecosystem.
Here’s a picture of some of the awesome volunteers from our invasives removal.
We wanted to give a great big THANK YOU to everyone who came out for our ethical electronics recycling event this weekend, especially our hardworking volunteers. We’ll be posting detailed coverage of the event shortly, but in the meantime, here are a few of your questions answered.
Many of the people who dropped off their electronics had questions and because we were so busy, we didn’t always get the chance to answer every question in as great detail as we might have wanted. Here is a brief recap that answers the most common questions we heard.
Our Ethical Electronics Recycling event was part of Christopher Swain’s TOXTOUR. On April 22, 2009, Christopher will begin a 1000-mile swim down the Atlantic coast to Washington, DC. Along the way, he will work with thousands of students and citizens to implement projects designed to improve the health of our ocean planet.
Several people mentioned they had seen a 60 Minutes expose that tracked e-waste that was shipped to China. We can assure you that not one scrap of e-waste you dropped off was shipped to a developing country or dumped in a landfill. Christopher works with several different recyclers in the United States that make sure nothing we collect is incinerated as solid waste, tipped into landfills or sent to developing countries where it can hurt people, animals and the environment. All of the recyclers used have signed the Basel Action Network’s Pledge of True Stewardship [.pdf]. Here is some more information on the Basel Action Network from the very same 60 Minutes piece:
In an ideal world, all municipalities would guarantee that electronic waste is recycled ethically. However, that is not the current reality. This means that we have to pay to get our e-waste recycled in an ethical manner. If that makes you angry, contact your representatives to push for ethical recycling in your area. And please don’t stop at the local level: As of now, unlike the 27 countries in the European Union, the United States has not passed legislation providing a national system to finance and responsibly deal with toxic e-waste.
To find a certified ethical recycler in your area, see the Basel Action Network’s “Find Your Local e-Stewards.”
And be sure to check back here for more information on our VERY SUCCESSFUL event!
TTF Watershed Partnership Hosts Ethical Electronics Recycling Event to Protect World’s Waterways
Ethical Electronics Recycling at Cedarbrook Middle School
on Saturday and Sunday, March 28 & 29, 11am-3pm
Next Spring, Massachusetts resident Christopher Swain will dive into the Atlantic Ocean in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and begin a 1000-mile swim to Washington, DC, in an effort to plead the case for protecting the world’s oceans.
But first, he’ll visit Philadelphia and Montgomery County Schools with the Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership (TTF).
The forty year-old father of two puts it this way: “We live on a water planet. If we want to live healthy lives, we need to go the distance to protect and restore the waters that we all depend on. I’ve decided to do just that: go the distance–all the way to Washington to plead the case of the oceans. Along the way, I want to help schoolchildren find ways to make our water planet a healthier place to live.”
The ocean swim is part of Christopher Swain’s TOXTOUR project, an ongoing campaign to collect and recycle, ethically, one billion pounds of used electronics. Discarded computers, TVs, telephones, etc., commonly known as “e-waste,” are full of toxic chemicals and heavy metals that are fouling the world’s waterways and ecosystems.
Swain, an environmental educator, was the first person in history to swim the entire lengths of several dirty waterways including the Columbia River, the Charles River, the Hudson River, and Lake Champlain—all in support of clean water.
Last December, the Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership (TTF) collaborated with Swain to collect over 10,500 pounds of e-waste at their ethical electronics recycling eventTM at Cheltenham Middle School.
In addition to collecting e-waste, TTF runs dozens of programs and workshops designed to connect residents to their local creeks, rivers and streams—from rain barrel workshops and stream clean-ups, to their model neighborhood project, combining neighborhood beautification with stormwater management and watershed education.
Since 2007, Swain has led carbon-neutral, ethical electronics recycling events and cross-curricular projects in schools throughout the Northeast. Upon his return to Montgomery County, he will work with students at schools in Abington, Cheltenham, Jenkintown and Philadelphia.
During his school visits, Swain will report on last year’s ethical electronics recycling event and discuss his upcoming ocean swim. And in small groups, Swain will work with students to problem-solve ways to make their everyday activities and purchases more ocean-friendly.
Says Karen Shaffran, a science teacher at Cedarbrook Middle School, “We teach our students that there are a variety of threats to the world’s oceans, but that two of the biggest are global warming and toxic pollution.”
On Saturday and Sunday, March 28 and 29, from 11am to 3pm, rain or shine, TTF will host an ethical electronics recycling event at Cedarbrook Middle School at 300 Longfellow Road in Wyncote, PA. Members of the public can recycle their used electronics for a fee of $1 per pound.
Items that will be accepted at the event include: Televisions, Computers, Monitors, Keyboards, Drives, Cables, Cords, Peripherals, Copiers, Printers, Cartridges, Fax Machines, Scanners, Laptops, Stereo Equipment, Speakers, CD & DVD Players, Telephones, Remote Controls, VCR’s, Projectors, Digital Cameras, PDAs, Speakers, Radios, Answering machines, Camcorders, Electric Typewriters, Video Game Systems, Pagers, Microwaves, Toasters, Ink Cartridges, USB Media, and Magnetic Media like Zip Disks, Audio Tapes, and Floppy Diskettes.
Nothing collected at the event will be tipped into landfills, incinerated as solid waste, or dumped in developing countries. That’s what the majority of the fee ensures.
Net proceeds will benefit the Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership’s environmental programs in local schools.
“Borders and labels aside,” Swain says, “We are one people sharing one watershed. We are islanders, surrounded by ocean. In the end, every choice we make affects our entire world.”
For more information please contact: Christopher Swain, TOXTOUR Team Leader at: www.toxtour.org or 617-233-4120, or Sarah RobbGrieco at sarah@ttfwatershed.org.
