Don’t stock up on trash stickers! Our garbage carts have an RFID chip which can be used by the trash hauler for our pay as you go system of trash pick up. They will begin using the chip instead of stickers on August 1, and stickers are not returnable. Stickers will still be needed for compost/organics if you are not on the seasonal subscription, and if you put out an extra can of trash for a special occasion.
Month: April 2016
May is Bike Month
According to the League of American Bicyclists, the average annual operating expense of a bicycle is just $308, versus more than $8,000 for a car.
Electronics Recycling to remain open
Highland Park’s electronic recycling center will remain open through the end of the year. Drop off electronics, fluorescent bulbs and styrofoam (pieces and containers, not packing peanuts) from 7 am – 1 pm on Tuesdays and the first Saturday of the month at 1180 Half Day Road. You can put textiles in the donation box that is available 24/7. If you live in Highland Park, you can also put one large electronic item, or 3 smaller items, out next to your trash cart on your first pick up of the month.
Spring Clean Up
Our new trash contract includes the ability to put out one large item for pick up with your trash each week, and one electronic item with your first trash pick up of the month without a sticker. We will still have the spring trash collection in Highland Park beginning on April 30, but you don’t need to wait another year to dispose of larger items.
Please remember that everything left out for spring clean up will go to the landfill, and electronic waste will not be picked up. If you have a box of paper or other recyclable materials, please put it out on your regular trash pick up day, so that it can be recycled.
Just Eat It Film Showing
Food waste is the one of the hot environmental issues of 2016. We throw away over 40% of our food in the US. In addition to the waste of food and the energy used to produce it, organic matter that ends up in landfills gives off methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
You can learn more on April 18 at 7 pm at the Highland Park Public Library screening of Just Eat It. An entertaining film that explores the issue of waste from farm, through retail, to home. After catching a glimpse of the billions of dollars of good food that is tossed each year in North America, the filmmakers pledge to survive only on foods that would otherwise be thrown away. In a nation where one in 10 people is food insecure, the images they capture of squandered groceries are both shocking and strangely compelling.
The film is free and open to the public. I hope to see you there!