While there may not be free drop off locations for general home recyclables available at this time, there are still various specialty recycling opportunities available to you. I welcome you to read on and join us for the following events. All Metals Market and Cross Electronics Recycling Event. Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event. Nye Health Services Paper Shredding and Recycling Event.
All Metals Market and Cross Electronics Recycling Event will take place on Wednesday, August 29 from 5:30-7:00pm at the Ilgenfritz Parking Lot in downtown Fremont (4th & Park Avenue). All Metals Market generously donates the proceeds from this metal recycling event to Keep Fremont Beautiful. In reviewing past columns, I learned that the partnership with All Metals Market and KFB started in 1986…which is the year I was born! (Gives me the feeling of a strong astrological connection, but that’s beside the point) All Metals Market continues to support Keep Fremont Beautiful and our community through this convenient drop off location for area residents and I can’t express my gratitude enough! I have a few metal discards that when combined with your metal discards, will add up to a substantial donation for KFB – kind of like saving pennies – we all know they too add up.
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Having Cross Electronics join the All Metals Market drop site event creates an opportunity for people to discard televisions and unwanted, unused or broken down electronics to a good cause. Cross Electronics is an Omaha company that responsibly disposes of electronic waste, helping to protect the environment from toxic hazardous chemicals that are contained in many electronic devices. There is a cost associated to properly dispose of a few items, which will be published with flyers once details for the event are solidified. Cross Electronics has a training center that works to provide solutions to poverty through work. Their training programs provide character development, vocational skills and job experience for disadvantaged and under educated youth and adults. We all know how quickly electronics can break or become outdated these days, so please make sure to remove them from your home responsibly by donating them to Cross Electronics in support of their training programs.
You may have read about the grant KFB was recently awarded through the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality’s Waste Reduction and Recycling Fund. This grant allows us to move forward with hosting the annual Household Hazardous Waste Event! This is a huge event, serving anywhere from 400 to 500 households each year. That’s a whole lot of hazardous waste. Mark your calendars for Saturday, October 13th and look for additional details coming soon if you have household products that contain corrosive, toxic, flammable or reactive ingredients that need to be disposed of. Later in October, Nye Health Services will provide a community paper shredding event, which I know some of you are ready for!
Finally, I would like to quickly address general household recycling. It is a huge transition to have access to a free recycling drop site for years, then one day it’s no longer available. I feel your frustration and I also have a recommendation on how to channel that energy toward making positive changes while we await development of future recycling opportunities for the Fremont community. Here’s my story:
Not one month before the free drop bins were removed, I had cancelled curbside recycling and vowed to take my recyclables to the bin at Waste Connections. How’s that for timing? I’ve come to realize the timing could not have been better. I thought I was eco-friendly! I thought I was a conscious consumer! Boy was I wrong.
Watching the recyclable material stack up at my home and then my garage, after ending curbside recycling service and the closing of public recycling bin access was mortifying. There’s no way planet earth has the capacity to sustain our outlandish generation of waste – recyclable or not. This leads me to the positive energy channeling action of reducing your consumption or waste generation, depending how you look at it. I personally have decided to end my use of plastics. There are a few lingering items I have yet to transition out of my home, but my toothbrush is good for another solid month! Then I’ll be on the hunt for a packaging and plastic free alternative, such a bamboo.