With Earth Day (April 22) past and Green Up Day approaching (May 4), you are encouraged to rummage through your home and look for items that might need special recycling—at no cost to you! Items like household batteries, paint, or electronics (e-waste), and more can be dropped off at certain locations for free. Anyone have an old computer hanging around?
These items cannot be recycled in our regular recycling bins and should NOT be thrown into the trash! Vermont has something called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) that covers the cost of managing these products at the end of their useful life. Please visit https://dec.vermont.gov/waste-management/solid to learn more what is included in EPR and to find out what can be recycled and where!
Any pick up of litter near your location or other problem areas (roadsides and parks, especially near rivers) is of great help. Keep Vermont beautiful by participating in Green Up Day and reducing your trash initially!
Green bags provided for this purpose can be dropped off for free on Saturday, May 4 at the Rutland Subaru dealer at 128 US-7, Rutland, VT 05701 or any transfer station. Anyone can pick up bags in front of the Rutland City Offices between 8 – 11 AM on May 4. The Rutland Regional Transfer station is at 14 Gleason Road, Rutland, VT 05701 and is open from 7 AM – 3 PM Monday through Saturday.
We’ve all heard that in order to save our planet, we have to reduce our impact on the Earth, but that’s not enough. Making a positive impact that sequesters greenhouse gases, promotes biodiversity and restores equilibrium to our ecosystems will provide sustenance and beauty for the next generations of the world’s inhabitants.
“Worms consume food and, through the system of their bodies, produce richer nutrients. You, through the system of your intelligence, can create richer nutrients too.”
–William McDonough, The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability–Designing for Abundance
A pile of pallets at the Gleason Road transfer station.
Take pallets for example:
In order to reduce our impact, we prevent them from going to the landfill by grinding them up to be used in the McNeil biomass facility near Burlington to provide electricity, thus reducing the need for fossil fuels! This is a great step, but the processing and transportation of the pallets uses fossil fuels, and gasifying them in the biomass plant produces some greenhouse gases still. When the goal of a project is to reduce the impact on the environment, that doesn’t mean the impact will be eliminated!
Imagine a different path- pallets are reused/repurposed into household furniture, community compost systems, etc… They might not end up offsetting the use of fossil fuels directly, but there is less need for new furniture, and this puts another use and meaning to the life of a pallet. Then, they could be turned into fuel once the furniture is no longer needed. Meanwhile, there are friends, family, neighbors and strangers that are exposed to this radical idea of creativity with discarded resources! They can take that inspiration to benefit themselves and their communities, furthering the positive impact you’ve made.
A pallet composting system! Another way to recycle shredded paper, food scraps and bicycles…
Challenging Consumption
We all need to consume items that fulfill our needs, but challenging what is wanted in excess can be liberating of your stress, wallet and our environment. Check out this flow chart of how to make the most of resources so they can benefit you, your community and the Earth. Where do you have an opportunity to intervene with wasting of resources? Credit: Post-Landfill Action Network
There is no “away.” Everything that get’s thrown away will end up influencing our air, water, land and food; it’s up to you to decide whether that’s a negative influence or a positive one (or whether to throw something away at all). Sharing ideas and questions with each other will always inspire and encourage us to try something new to make use of what we acquire.
If you’re ever in a tizzy over how to use/dispose of something, give us a call! We have experts ready to give advice on how to make the most of your stuff- (802) 775-7209.
The Environmental Assistance Office is launching three new Sustainability Cohorts in the dairy products, brewing, and specialty foods sectors. We would welcome your help in identifying and recruiting businesses for which this program would be a good fit. Ideal businesses are those that are small- or medium-sized, or that are undergoing a period of transition/expansion. Below is a brief description that you could pass on to potential businesses.
Jump-start your business’ green journey, or take it to the next level, by participating in a Sustainability Cohort. Cohorts provide in-depth technical assistance, training, good PR, and some funding assistance to a group of 5-10 businesses in the Dairy Products, Brewing, and Specialty Foods sectors who commit to specific, measurable goals in energy, water, waste, and wastewater. Over the course of a year-long tracking period, participating businesses meet regularly for workshops, information-sharing, and networking. You’ll get free on-site technical assistance on sustainability from Env. Assistance Office and energy from Efficiency Vermont as you work towards meeting your environmental improvement goals in the context of a supportive and collaborative community of peers. Workshop topics will include environmental data management and reporting, wastewater, asset management, and an energy kaizen event, and/or other topics of interest to participants.
Happy Spring! Let’s make our roads, barns and basements look good with these upcoming events:
Hazardous Waste Collection event
HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE COLLECTIONS
Our Household Hazardous Waste collection schedule is available on our HHW Page.
Find out when we are coming to your transfer station and bring your batteries, bulbs, paint and more! When we drop these items off at the right place, we save money for our families and towns. Events begin as soon as April 13!
April collection schedule: April 13-Castleton (8 – 11:30 AM) and Poultney (12 – 3 PM) Transfer Stations April 20-Killington Transfer Station (8 AM – 12 PM) April 27-Brandon (8 – 11 AM) and Pittsford (12 – 3 PM) Transfer Stations
Green Up Vermont is the non-profit that coordinates Green Up Day
GREEN UP DAY- First Saturday in May
On Saturday, May 4, we’ll gather as a community to pick up roadside trash in Rutland County. Last year, over 22,000 volunteers collected more than 55,000 bright green bags of trash statewide. This year, we hope to have more volunteers than ever! Green Up Vermont is on the charitable section of the Vermont State income tax form IN-111 in section 6. Please consider supporting Green Up Vermont through a donation on your state tax form. Because Green Up Vermont is a non-profit organization, programs like Green Up Day are only possible with public contributions. To learn more, visit www.greenupvermont.org and contact your town coordinator.
Be sure to get in touch with the Rutland County Solid Waste District if you have any questions about proper disposal: (802) 775-7209; www.rcswd.com.
