|
Greening
Our Schools
Shawsheen
Elementary has been Going Green all year, as they incorporate their
Green school-wide theme into their curriculum and school activities.
Earlier in the year the main office committed to going paperless,
sending all notices from the office via the school's list serve.
The
school lunch waste has been reduced from four barrels to two through
composting, recycling and reusing Tupperware and water bottles.
In
the November Santa Parade, over 50 Shawsheen parents and children
proudly pulled Shawsheen's three green floats promoting Recycling -
a large blue bin, Reusing- our compost "pig", and
Reducing- a large tree saved by our paperless efforts.
The
children are also collecting deposit slips from redeemable cans and
bottles to put towards the purchase of a tree at the end of the
year.
Many of
the other schools have been showing their green efforts as well with
a Walk to School day each month and selling canvas bags for the
supermarket.
The Communities
- More than 20,000 communities, 63 percent of the
nation's total, are estimated to have access to a community
recycling program (curbside or drop-off) that collects plastics.
- Almost all major urban areas in the U.S. have
recycling collection programs resulting in approximately 80 percent
of the U.S. population (over 148 million people) having convenient
access to a plastics recycling collection program.
- PET bottles (soda, water) and HDPE bottles (milk,
laundry detergent) are by far the most commonly collected plastic
materials in community recycling programs.
- 10% of all households have the ability to recycle
all plastic bottles (resin identification codes #1 through #7) in
their community.
Source: APC's 1998 Community Survey, R.W. Beck, Inc.,
November, 1998.
|
The next Household
Hazardous Waste collection day will be Saturday, May 30, 2009; Electronics and CRT
collection days in Andover on Saturdays, September 20, 2008 and June 6,
2009. Proof of Andover residency required.
Curbside leaf collection starts
October 20, 2008. Click for details.
One to six condominium
units are served by the town during regular and biweekly collections, so
long as the collections are left by the residents on public property.
Recycling One Ton of paper
saves Seventeen trees and Seven Thousand gallons of
water. See also MassRecyclesPaper.org
for more.
Do your part to "close the loop"
when you buy items or packaging made from recycled materials.
101 Massachusetts communities now have a "Pay
As You Throw" recycling program. The average cost to the
resident is $1.00 per bag. See related information on "Pay
as You Throw"
Andover has installed signs to remind
drivers and passengers about recycling on:
Dascomb near Rte 93;
Elm St near Merrimack College;
Rte 28 (south) near Ground Round restaurant;
Rte 28 (north) near Rte 495
|
Andover
has had to collect less trash as solid waste and has collected more
through recycling during the last four years, ended June 30, 2007. The Town has thereby possibly avoided
$185,000 in
costs. Click the Why option for complete
details and report. (8/07)
Zero
Waste Day is A Booming Success in 2008:
More than 450 motor vehicles delivered household goods that were
carried away by grateful public service groups in ten vans on that
first Saturday in May.
This
event will be repeated in 2009 with more capacity for more
recycling. Click here for details about
2008.
Check the quality
of the air over Andover, and our neighboring communities,
should you ever think that recycling is unimportant.
Markets for Recycled Plastics
- 56% of recycled PET finds a market in the
manufacture of fiber (carpet and clothing).
- Other large markets for recycled PET are for
strapping (13%) and new containers (14% -food and non-food).
- 29% of recycled HDPE bottles go into making new
bottles.
- The plastic pipe industry consumes 18% of the
recycled HDPE.
- Other strong markets for HDPE are for lawn and
garden products (such as edging), plastic lumber (decks, benches,
picnic tables), film and sheet, and a variety of injection molding
products (buckets, crates and automobile parts).
Source: APC's 1999 National Post-Consumer Plastics
Recycling Study, R.W. Beck, Inc. September 2000.
|
can one recycle biweekly?
will recyclables be collected, including dates and streets?
does one dispose of special materials?
is it important for Andover to recycle?
