Recycling in Montgomery County and Through the Holidays

Did you know that Nov. 15 was “America Recycles Day”? It is a new-to-me event, being introduced when researching circular economy topics. The non-profit organization, Keeping America Beautiful, founded it and organizes events and volunteers to do recycling work on Nov. 15 each year.

I am not affiliated with the organization, but I did want to learn more about this event and maybe how our community could participate in the future, and how I could tie it together with circular economy principles. I was able to ask some of my own personal and community-based questions to representatives at W Enterprises in Crawfordsville to get some of our local recycling questions answered.

With the holidays coming up, there is no better time to talk about the two “R’s” that are not mentioned in a typical recycling initiative. We all know the original three, “Recycle, Reuse and Reduce”, but I encourage you to add “REFUSE” and “REPAIR” to that list of R’s to practice this holiday season. I have put together a very short and not extensive list of ways you can practice each “R” of Recycling in Montgomery County this holiday season.

Recycle: Recycle your wrapping paper, and all the shipping and packaging that gifts arrived in.

The paper and cardboard can be recycled at any of W Enterprises’ Free Community Recycling Bins. (Crawfordsville, Southmont High School and North Montgomery High School locations)

The plastic packaging can be taken to any store drop-off and plastic bag collection site, usually at the front of chain stores like Kroger, Wal-Mart, Target, etc. OR reuse the plastic bags for household trash bins or to collect recyclables in. (W Enterprises prefers loose recycling, but if bagging it makes it easier for you as the recycler, keep doing that! W Enterprises wants your recyclables!)

Reuse: Take your own take-away containers to family gatherings! I know every family is different, but my aunt would always buy cute festive containers for the family to take home leftovers. I always felt bad about that. She already hosted everyone, now she’s paying for our take-away containers too?

Reuse your holiday decorations! You can get creative and find new ways or new places to use those twinkle lights, or garland. No need to go buy new each year.

Reduce: Shop Local! I know that gets said every year, but it’s true! Local stores create less waste for you as the consumer to deal with, when you can shop and carry away your purchase without it being shipped to you.

Give experiences to one another. There are plenty of things to purchase, but experiences are typically much more memorable. When you gift your time to someone, you really are showing them how they are important to you. Going with a friend to a class at the library so they don’t have to go alone, gifting sports or concert tickets are great gifts! College Spring sports are very inexpensive but your granddaughter or grandson who loves softball or baseball doesn’t know or care about that. They are going to love getting to see skilled, competitive sports with their loved ones.

Refuse: Refuse the little knick-knacks and dollar items near the entrance and exit of stores. They are there to “get” you with being on trend with what you see on the internet. Refuse the plastic bag at the gas station when you are filling up on road trip snacks. You got two arms, use them as God intended by golly!

Repair: You can fix things! Scrounge around in that junk drawer for the superglue and some paperclips, and get creative when you’re unboxing ornaments and see some that didn’t handle storage too well.

Repair something for a loved one! My mom is excellent at sewing. She fixed two of my couch cushions and my dog’s stuffed squeaky toy, and we are so grateful! Think of a frame or a family antique furniture with a sticky drawer or a bad hinge. Fixing things for loved ones and ourselves has value and shows you pay attention.

Recycling is about so much more than taking your cardboard to the local bin. That’s why I love adding  “Refuse and Repair” to the list of R’s of Recycling. It’s about reducing how much we waste as a society, and we are so fortunate to have resource like W Enterprises in our community that can handle so much of our consumer waste so that it returns back into the consumer cycle. If you want to know more about what they recycle, please check out their website, www.waldentransportandrecycle.com.

Tricia Herr is the Extension Educator | Agriculture & Natural Resources

Email: triciaherr@purdue.edu