Binghamton, NY – Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo joined Broome County Executive Debbie Preston Friday to announce details of America Recycles Day.
This year, America Recycles Day is Saturday, November 15th and the theme for this year is “I want to be recycled.”
The Broome County Landfill will be participating in the day, collecting electronics from 7:30 am until 11:30 am on Saturday.
“Broome County has one of the best recycling programs in the state, regularly adding new options to its program,” said Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, Member of the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee. “In Albany we are examining new product stewardship options that would divert additional items such from landfills across the state; including construction and demolition debris, paint, carpet, and mattresses, as well as many others. The DEC also has an additional resource available on-line that provides information on ‘Odd Materials and What To Do With Them.'”
“We want to do everything we can to reduce our footprint on the environment for future generations,” says Broome County Executive Debbie Preston. “We have a variety of ways to recycle items and we urge all of our residents to take advantage of those various opportunities.”
Benefits of recycling include conserving natural resources, reducing the need for landfills, preventing pollution, saving energy and job creation.
In recognition of America Recycles Day and this year’s theme: “I Want To Be Recycled”, the County would like to highlight the many recycling opportunities available to Broome County residents:
Curbside Recycling – Broome County has one of the most expansive recycling programs. accepting a variety of paper, metal and aluminum containers, glass containers and plastics from yogurt containers to flower pots.
- Recycling 1 ton of plastic can save 1-2 thousand gallons of gas.
- Recycling a pound of PET saves approximately 12,000 BTU’s.
- Each ton (2000 pounds) of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three and a half cubic yards of landfill space, 4100 kilowatts of energy, and 7000 gallons of water. This represents a 64% energy savings, a 58% water savings, and 60 pounds less of air pollution.
- Recycling one ton of aluminum is equivalent to not releasing 13 tons of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) into the air.
- Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours — or the equivalent of a half a gallon of gasoline.
- Glass containers save 9 gallons of fuel (oil) for every ton of glass recycled.
- Recycling 1 ton of corrugated cardboard saves 7000 gallons of water.
Bulky Rigid Plastics – Broome County offers bulky rigid plastic recycling through a drop-off located at the Broome County Landfill. Materials such as plastic furniture, plastic shelving, plastic coolers, plastic playhouses, plastic storage containers and plastic automobile bumpers can be recycled and diverted from the landfill.
- The recycling of rigid plastics has been increasing in the U.S. and these objects can be recycled into pipe, buckets, automotive products, drums, crates, lidded reusable food storage containers and kitchen tools, such as cutting boards, measuring cups and serving utensils.
Electronics Recycling – Broome County has a year round collection program for electronics on designated days. Electronics have lead, nickel, cadmium, and mercury which could pose risks to human health or the environment if mismanaged at their end-of-life
- Recycling one million laptops saves the energy equivalent to the electricity used by 3,657 US homes in a year.
- One metric ton of circuit boards can contain 40 to 800 times the amount of gold and 30 to 40 times the amount of copper mined from one metric ton of ore in the US.
Tires – Broome County accepts tires at the County Landfill at a nominal fee. All tires are sent out to be recycled. Tires can find a second life as playground mats, artificial turf, landscaping mulch, speed bumps, and sign posts.
- It takes half a barrel of crude oil to produce the rubber for just one truck tire.
Batteries – All types of batteries are accepted for recycling at the Broome County Landfill. An additional offsite location accepts rechargeable and single use batteries for free from Broome County residents.
- Recovered metals and plastics are used to make new products.
Textiles – Throughout Broome County there are a variety of businesses and organizations that collect textiles. While there may be some variations in what each program accepts residents can routinely find an outlet for reusable clothing and outlets for stained or torn textiles.
- On average, Americans place 70-pounds of used clothing and other textile products into the trash. It is estimated 95% could have been reused or recycled (SMART).
- Damaged textiles are made into car seat stuffing & auto insulation. T-shirts, sheets, towels & clothing become wiping cloths. Denim becomes home insulation. Shoe soles become paving material. Sweaters and coats become sportball fillings. Fabric Scraps become paper money.