YOUR LOCAL RECYCLING RESOURCE

Supporting Kingwood and the greater Lake Houston Area
January 2015

Holiday Recycling

Let us count the ways you can be kind to Mother Earth this Holiday Season

Flatten cardboard and empty the trash bags!

It is so much easier to just throw that cardboard box in the recycling bin than to crush it or break it down. That is okay if you are putting it in your curbside recycling as the truck will crush it for you. But, did you know that if you put a box in the bins at schools or the Metro lot without taking the air out of it, it may cost more to recycle it than it is worth. A huge bin of non-flattened boxes is mostly air. It takes a big truck and a driver to take that bin to the recycling plant some 20 miles away. Recycle the air at home and put only cardboard in the bin.

On a similar note, if you collect your plastic, cans, or other recyclables in a plastic trash bag, please pour the contents into the large recycling bin and take the trash bag back home for another use. (If you buy heavy duty bags, you can use them many times) You save room in the large bin and allow the machinery at the recycling center to operate more efficiently.

Plus, the film plastic tends to get caught in the rollers and other equipment that separates the items causing shutdowns and broken equipment. All film plastic can be recycled at local grocery stores including WalMart and Target. Lowes and Home Depot also have bins in the front of the stores for these types of plastic.

Christmas tree recycling

If you put your tree at the curb, it will go to the landfill. Why not give the tree another life and recycle it? The City of Houston and Living Earth Technology will be collecting trees in Kingwood at the corner of Ben’s Branch and Ben’s Lane in front of the new library. The site will be open from December 26th until January 7th. Please remove the stand. No flocked trees will be accepted. The trees will be mulched and/or composted. So, a much better use than burying it in the landfill!

Don't forget those troublesome lights

When those Christmas lights you bought last year or maybe last month no longer work, the first impulse is to throw them in the trash. “Stupid things! Just worthless!” No they're not!

This year, though you can take them to the e-waste recycling on January 3rd and they will be recycled. There is copper wire inside them that should not be wasted. While you are at it, collect all your old extension cords that are no longer safe or useful and bring those along too. Thank you, City of Houston and Compucycle for collecting and recycling these items!

January monthly e-Waste

January 3rd 9 AM to 3 PM

During 2014, Kingwood area residents recycled 220,908 pounds of electronics at the Kingwood Metro Park and Ride lot at twelve pick up events. What a great job that was of keeping hazardous and valuable components out of the landfill! If you got new electronics this holiday season, put the replaced items on the trucks this week for responsible recycling.

Look for the Compucycle crew and truck in the middle of the lot this coming Saturday. The service is free and it just takes a few minutes. Don’t forget to recycle that old cell or smart phone. No matter how old it is or what condition it is in, Keep Kingwood Green will recycle it as our fund raiser to keep up our mission of bringing more and better recycling options to the Lake Houston area.

Save the aluminum can!

According to the Elgin Recycling web site, over 80,000,000,000 aluminum soda cans are sold each year. Add to that beer cans and you have lots of cans. About 60% are recycled. Imagine the amount of aluminum buried in the landfills! Aluminum can be recycled endlessly. A recycled can often is on the store shelf again as a new can in 60 days. The energy saved by recycling an aluminum can is equivalent to the amount of gasoline that could be put inside the can or is enough to run a TV set for three hours. If you recycle nothing else, resolve in the new-year to save every aluminum can that you use!

If you do not have curbside recycling, save them in a bag or bucket in the garage and bring them to the Metro Park and Ride any weekend.

How Can You Give Feedback or Ask Questions?

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Email: info@keepkingwoodgreen.org

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