Winter news from Recycling Jackson

Two things we want to pass along.

One, On November 1, 2009, Recycling Jackson began collecting $1 per pound to offset our cost to recycle your alkaline batteries. One pound of batteries is approximately a quart bag full of batteries. To our knowledge, we are the only company in town that actually recycles the batteries. If you are going elsewhere please ask if they are actually recycling the alkaline batteries that you drop off.

For environmental and economic reasons we strongly encourage you to consider using rechargeable or lithium batteries as an alternative to the alkaline batteries that you use.

We continue to recycle rechargeable batteries (NiCd, NiMh) and Lithium batteries at no cost.

Second, Starting in January of 2010 we will only be open on the first Saturday of each month through June of 2010. This is not by choice but due to financial reasons.

About 18 months ago Recycling Jackson was told that we would no longer receive payment for the paper, plastic, glass, metal and cardboard that we collected at our Monroe St. drop-off site. With that decision, the primary source of income needed to run our recycling operation dried up. We had hoped that the funding would come back over time, but the economic situation in our state and community has made that scenario seem unlikely.

While Recycling Jackson will limit our drop-off site operations, we will be expanding our advocacy and education efforts in the community. Those efforts are grant- and local-donor-funded and they continue to receive strong support. Next year, our community education efforts will be a team effort through the Dahlem Conservancy. That partnership will help us expand our education efforts to include the Green Schools program.

Again, I do apologize to our many loyal members for having to make these changes, but Recycling Jackson cannot operate without income. Please watch for more information on an adopt-a-recycling site program that we hope to start in 2010. That program is aimed at keeping the recycling drop-off sites around town clean, and to provide assistance to those that need it for unloading materials.

Watch here, or our web site for details.

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El Presidente, profiled!

If you read Thursday's edition of the Jackson Citizen Patriot, you may have seen a familiar face on page A4: our own president, Steve Noble.

Steve was profiled by the newspaper. The story includes how Steve got involved in Recycling Jackson, and a nice picture of him outside our Monroe St. drop-off site.

Steve is the second local recycler to be profiled by the CitPat. A few months ago, Mitzi had her picture in the paper, too.

Check it out - and if you see Steve, be sure to congratulate him.

Recycling makes more sense than burning.

I wish I had the clear conscience of those who say burning our trash is the best method of disposal. But when I read facts like recycling a ton of paper saves two barrels of oil, or that recycling creates six times as many jobs as landfilling, I can't help but wonder if trash burners are thinking of America's best economic interests.

Burning trash in a barrel, as in days of old, may make our hearts and hands warm and fuzzy. The reality is, it's harmful to everything from our forests to our national fossil fuel consumption levels. In these days of $100-a-barrel oil, recycling seems the patriotic thing to do.

Maybe trash burners learned nothing from their Depressio-era relatives, or those who lived through World War II; they knew better than to let a scrap of metal or rubber go to waste. They thought long-term instead of short-term.

We're not making trash haulers rich by recycling. We're creating jobs, reducing government inolvement in how we handle our garbage, and improving the air we breathe. Who can argue against that?

The trash burning mindset is an old-fashioned one, one that is cherry-picked by those who support the county incinerator despite the evidence and benefits of recycling, and ignore the wisdom of our elders. They taught us to never let a thing go to waste. My grandma still recycles all her plastic bags and Cool Whip containers to reuse. She's taught me a lot. Maybe she needs to teach others.

In this age of disposable everything, there's a lot we could learn.


-by Dave Lawrence, Recycling Jackson VP

What a good neighbor

"About four years ago Mitzi Cranmore decided to start recycling to make her household green.

'After finding out how easy it was, I realized that one house does not make a difference,' Cranmore said.

She realized she could further the cause by educating students about recycling."

One of our very passionate helpers was in the paper - check out Mitzi's profile at the CitPat!