from staff
The move to go green isn’t a small feat. In fact, it’s measured in the tons.
During the first 10 months of 2007, Jacksonville-based Advanced Disposal Services reported collecting more than 17,500 tons of residential and commercial recycled material in North Florida.
Advanced Disposal, a regional full-service solid waste company serving areas of Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, collects waste for nearly all of Duval County west of the St. Johns River.
To coincide with the National Recycling Coalition’s America Recycles Day on Thursday, Advanced Disposal recommends some general tips to help consumers become better recyclers:
• Rinse cans and bottles before placing them in the bin to make processing easier.
• On rainy days, hold your paper products until the next dry collection day.
• Recycle only whole, unbroken glass jars and bottles to protect yourself and your recycling container.
• Recycle old electronics through local e-recycling programs.
• Encourage your place of business to implement an office recycling program.
• Get children involved in creating a compost pile – they will be able to get their hands dirty and may be intrigued by how the pile works.
• Use aluminum cans for creative recycling projects, such as for growing herb gardens, and large plastic soda bottles for other projects, such as creating bird feeders.
Finally, Advanced Disposal recommends consulting your city’s specific recycling guidelines and schedules. Some of Jacksonville’s recycling guidelines include:
• Items for curbside blue bin collection include: aluminum and metal cans, glass jars and bottles, brown paper bags, magazines, newspapers, phone books, corrugated cardboard, plastic bottles (except oil, pool chemical, pesticide and fertilizer bottles).
• Bottles of chemicals and other household hazardous wastes can be recycled at the city’s Household Hazardous Waste Facility at 2675 Commonwealth Ave. Tuesday to Saturday or by special pickup by calling 387-8847.
• Electronics can also be recycled at the Household Hazardous Waste Facility.
• Used appliances from water heaters to refrigerators as well as scrap tires (not semi-truck or monster truck) can be collected curbside by calling 630-CITY.
• Used oil can be disposed of at many local oil retailers (usually up to 5 gallons per trip), such as NAPA Auto Parts, Texaco Express Lube, Prolube, Jacksonville Beach Marine (boaters), Advanced Discount Auto Parts and Auto Zone.
For more information, visit the Public Works Department’s solid waste site at www.coj.net or call 630-CITY.