AMERICA RECYCLES DAY

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AMERICA RECYCLES DAY - NOVEMBER 15 AND 2004 WRAP AWARDS
by JANE BOGNER
SUNDAY, November 14, 2004

VALCORE Recycling is teaming up with the city of Vallejo to celebrate America Recycles Day on Monday, November 15, with an event at our recycling center located at 38 Sheridan Street. The event runs from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm (closed for lunch from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm).

On Monday, VALCORE volunteers will hand out information about the advantages of recycling and buying recycled products. You will learn about your recycling options in Vallejo including places to take used motor oil, household hazardous wastes, televisions, computer monitors, and old tires. You can take a look at our active backyard composting bins or dig around in our earthworm bins. This is also a chance for you to visit our ReUse Barn for free office supplies and craft materials that are available to teachers and the public.

When you bring your recycling to VALCORE on November 15th, you can fill out an America Recycles Day pledge card and receive a free recycled T-shirt, recycled shopping bag, or other gifts made from recycled materials.

VALCORE buys back CRV (CA Redemption Value) aluminum, glass, and plastic beverage containers and accepts donations of newspaper, magazines, cardboard, office paper aluminum scrap, glass bottles, and jars. We are the only place in Vallejo that accepts used household batteries. For a complete list of how to prepare materials for recycling go to our web site: www.VALCORErecycling.org.

If you sign an America Recycles Day pledge card to increase your recycling efforts over the next year, you will be eligible to win a Ford Escape Hybrid SUV or one of five Trek Model 4300 24-speed bicycles. The random drawing will take place mid-December 2004. You can learn more about America Recycles 2004 or register for the contest online at www.americarecyclesday.org.

TheAmerica Recycles 2004 theme is "It All Comes Back To You." The theme has three messages. One message is that a recycled product can return to consumers as another new product. A second message is that recycling comes back to consumers as an improved environment by the preservation of resources resulting in the economic well-being of the country. The most important third message is that it is up to everyone to recycle.

Here are some suggestions for becoming a good recycler:

• Take a few moments to review the guidelines for what should and should not be recycled in your curbside bins.
• Remember that cleanliness counts. If you rinse your cans and bottles and keep boxes and paper out of the weather, it makes them easier to process. Dirty and wet materials have to be pulled out at the sorting station and generally end up in the landfill.
• Take it upon yourself to be an accurate recycler. A cereal box (without the plastic liner) is great, but a greasy pizza box is not. Glass and plastic bottles are good, but not the caps.

For more details, check the curbside recycling flyer from Vallejo Recycles (644-2413)or go to www.recycle-guide.com and click on Vallejo.

WRAP winners

We would like to congratulate the Vallejo winners of the 2004 state WRAP Award (Waste Reduction Awards Program). They took the extra step toward Zero-Waste. They include North Bay Cabinets, VALCORE Recycling, Vallejo Garbage Service, as well as Safeway, Target, and Mervyn's. There were a total of twenty-two business locations in Solano County including Food Maxx, Anheuser-Busch, Cagwin & Dorward Landscape Contractors, and Genentech, Inc.

VALCORE Recycling Vice President Jane Bogner's "A Sorted Affair" is published every other week in the Times-Herald, Community Outlook Section. For recycling information call Genie Kaggerud, VALCORE Recycling manager at 645-8258 or visit www.VALCORErecycling.org.