Green Corner / Aug. 2005
By Lee Anderson, KTB's Vice PresidentThe purpose of this article is to increase awareness regarding REDUCE, RECYCLE and REUSE. KTB hopes to offer advice quarterly regarding ways we can all reduce waste in various areas of our daily existence. If you have information to share regarding what your company , club organization is doing to reduce waste, please feel free to share it with me for future publication at 352-7329.
U.S. households now contain over 65 million unused cellular phones. Please take yours to Temple College in Taylor at 516 N. Main to the cell phone drop box, just in front of the information window. KTB will see that they are recycled.
Regarding recycling of newspapers and magazines, there are two dumpsters located on 5th Street for your use. However, please do NOT put plastic bags in them. This will certainly contaminate the entire load of paper. So, don’t forget to remove the plastic bags. H.E.B. has a container for recycling plastic grocery bags.
Our schools continue to recycle paper, cartridges and other materials and their participation in the Trash-offs in the spring and fall is greatly appreciated. Online “swap meets” can be handy to encourage “reuse” as well as use by other departments in schools. We can encourage and even challenge others to not be wasteful and have a real impact in our own households and with families and friends during outings and community events.
The Austin Freecycle Network , strives to reduce landfill use with the simple philosophy that “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. They reduce waste by connecting people throwing away unwanted items with others seeking the same items (and have a little fun in the process). No item is too big or too small; but since this is a FREEcycle list, ALL items must be 100% free -- no money, no trading or barter, no strings attached.
Dorothy Fischer, KTB’s recycling coordinator, has made arrangements with Axcess Technologies of Austin to provide a trailer for obsolete electronics and computers at out next Trash-Off, October 15th. Please bring your old computers, FAX machines, etc.
As a reminder, Williamson County Precinct #4 takes cardboard, used oil, oil filters, and scrap metal Tuesday thru Friday from 8:00AM to 11:00AM. Texas Metals on Main Street takes scrap metal, aluminum, copper, iron and car batteries. IESI will pick up refrigerators (remove coolant), stoves and other appliances if you call them at 352-2066. They will also pick up brush piles (5ft. bundles) at your regular trash pick-up. If you have over 5 yards of brush, you may have to pay a small fee, but IESI will contact you.
We must all be good stewards in and to our environment by making it safe and “here” for generations now and into the future. We have activities where we can always use volunteers, whether it is our Adopt-A-Highway pick-ups 4 times/year, our Spring and Fall Trash-Offs, or one of our other projects. Wouldn’t it be nice NOT to need these pick-ups? By the way, we aren’t ex-cons or out there doing community service for something we did wrong, we’re picking up litter. PLEASE DON’T BE A LITTERBUG!
Let’s all adopt a “Leave no trash behind attitude” and stay dedicated to extending environmental stewardship to every aspect of our daily lives.
posted by Miles Baska 
