Document Destruction Day Hours Changed

Due to scheduling conflicts, the hours for the Document Destruction Day on June 8 have been changed to 10:00 am.m until 12:00 p.m.
Up to two bankers box size files of paper will be shredded fere of charge. There will be a $5.00 per box charge for more than two.

We hope to see you there!

Document Destruction Event

We're gearing up for our annual Document Destruction Day event scheduled for June 8. We will be partnering with Lindsay Document Destruction to offer free document shredding for the public (no businesses, please!) Bring old bank info, credit card info, bills, tax records, legal papers and even old medical records and have them safely disposed of right before your eyes! You can feel secure in the knowledge that your disposed-of data will not be compromised or misused. From 10:00 am to 1:00 pm we will be located in the parking lot in front of Carmichael Drugs in Monroe, so stop by! More info as we get closer to the date!

Good Friday Hours

The Recycling Center will be closed on Friday March 29, 2013 and Saturday March 30, 2013 in observance of Good Friday. Regular business hours will resume on Monday, April 1.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays from Keep Walton Beautiful!

We hope that you've had a beautiful holiday season and we want to wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year in 2013.

Are you making New Year's Resolutions?  If so, here's one for ya: Recycle MORE in 2013!  You can even take a pledge to recycle more at this site.  You can sign up as an individual or as a business and vow to be better about recycling.  Although we've already had our America Recycles Day event for the year (it was 17 November 2012), we encourage you to take a look at this site because it is helpful year round.  They offer tons of great tools to help you with your recycling habits.  Also, you can sign up with Catalog Choice to stop receiving all that junk mail that we throw away anyway.

Looking for something to do with your LIVE Christmas trees?  You can recycle them here, at our main center, or at any of our convenience sites.  We are accepting them NOW through Saturday, January 5th.  The trees will be chipped into mulch and used by the city and county in our parks and other public areas.  In the past, seedlings were available to all those who participated.  However, this year, we will not be giving away seedlings.  If you wish to order your own, you can do so through your local Georgia Forestry Commission office or by visiting this website.

Christmas Crafts

Beth Pawlicki, with Pathway to Empowerment Youth Groups, shared this link (see below) with us.  One of her students, Natalie, found this awesome resource for Recycled Craft ideas.  We thought it would be a great site for ideas on homemade Christmas gifts!  They also have ideas for ways to recycle/reuse old Christmas cards!  Check it out and let us know what you think!

Recycled Craft Ideas

Updates

The Leadership Class of Walton County came by yesterday.  Elaine and Kenny led a program with explanations about Keep Walton Beautiful and the importance of recycling, activities stressing the importance of leadership and the importance of recycling, and ended with a tour of the recycling center, once more enforcing the importance of recycling.

Don't forget: Our next monthly volunteer meeting with be on Wednesday, November 7th here, at the Recycling Center, from 12pm to 1pm.  Bring your lunch and a friend and join us!

Also, on November 17th, we will be offering half price tire recycling to all Walton County residents.  The event is in conjunction with America Recycles Day.  Find out more about ARD here. You can bring your old tires here from 7:30am to 1:30pm on the 17th.  Prices are as follows: car tires/light truck tires $1.00 (regular $2.00); tandem truck tires $3.00 (regular $6.00); and tractor/heavy equipment tires $7.50 (regular $15.00).  Citizens are limited to a maximum of five (5) tires and the tires MUST be off the wheel.  We will also be introducing and promoting the newest addition to our center... COOKING OIL RECYCLING!!!  There will be some give-aways and useful and interesting information available, so please drop by!

Holiday Hours:  We will be closed for Thanksgiving on Wednesday, November 21st (starting at 11:30am) through Saturday, November 24th.  We will resume normal business hours on Monday, November 26th.

Today's Topic: E-waste

Here are some facts that few people know about e-waste.  (All information comes from www.pacebutler.com/blog/ewaste-recycling-facts/.)

A previous blog stressed the importance of social media and technology in today's society.  This may be good for us humans, but what is this new technology (specifically, cell phones) doing to the environment?

There are about 7 billion people in the world and over 4 billion cell phones (that's about 61% of the world's population) in use.  And every year, about 140 million cell phones are dumped into landfills, adding tons of toxins such as lead, plastic, mercury, chromium, and arsenic (about 80,000 pounds) into our ecosystem, the effects of which cannot be easily reversed.  This is a HUGE threat to our Mother Earth.

But, don't worry, recycling can save the planet!  Most parts from electronic devices (cell phones, computers, etc.) can be recycled and effectively used in other products and for secondary purposes.  So, when you upgrade to the iPhone 5, bring your old phones to the recycling center!

Not only is recycling good for the environment, it's also economical!  Electronic devices contain some precious metals (like gold and silver) that can be recycled and used for other things.  (About 55 tons of gold and silver combined is worth around 60 million dollars.)

After reading the previous paragraphs, you might think, "Well, that's a given... everyone should be recycling their old electronics!"  Sadly, less than 20% of all the e-waste in the world (which, if you remember, is about 140 million cell phones, not including computers) is recycled each year.  And only 2% of old computers are used to build new ones.

But get this (it's my favorite part...)-- if the whole world committed to not charging their cell phones for one day (just one day!), 35 million (MILLION) pounds of greenhouse gases would be saved from being released into the atmosphere. Shocking, right?!?!  And, only 515 recycled phones would be enough energy to power an average household for One. Entire. Year.

So, this year, let's commit to recycle our electronics and prevent e-waste.  America Recycles Day is coming up (Nov. 15th).  Go to their website (www.ard.org) to take the pledge today!  And, be sure to stop by the Recycling Center on Nov. 17th for our ARD event!