recycling

This Saturday: Arlington E-CARE Recycling Event

By ARLnow.com

Arlington County is holding its bi-annual Environmental Collection and Recycling Event (E-CARE) this coming weekend.

E-CARE gives Arlington residents an opportunity to safely get rid of hazardous materials like paint, solvents, garden chemicals and items containing mercury. It is also is an opportunity to recycle items that usually aren’t accepted during the weekly residential recycling collection, like electronics, bikes, small metal items, shoes, eyeglasses, and durable medical equipment.

Anybody who drops off household devices that contain mercury, like thermometers and barometers, is eligible to receive a $5 gift card courtesy of trash-to-electricity company Covanta Energy. Fluorescent lights are excluded from the gift card offer.

The event is being held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 7 at Thomas Jefferson Middle School (125 S. Old Glebe Road). E-CARE is open to Arlington residents only — not to businesses or to residents of other jurisdictions.

More than 1,000 residents disposed of 36.8 tons of hazardous material and recycled some 16 tons of electronics at the Fall 2011 E-CARE event, according to the Arlington County Department of Environmental Services.

Photo via Arlington County DES

Website Allows Residents to Opt Out of Receiving Directories

By Katie Pyzyk

The internet has made many things easier, including looking up businesses and phone numbers. If you don’t feel the need to receive those big phone books on your doorstep anymore, there’s a way you can opt out.

Two trade groups have teamed up to create a phone book opt-out website. It was set up to reduce the amount of waste and costs associated with delivering unwanted directories.

The site determines which phone books you are eligible for based on your ZIP code, and allows you to choose which you do or do not want to receive.

Arlington’s Department of Environmental Services didn’t have specific stats on how many phone books are recycled in Arlington each year, but officials remind anyone who still wants to receive the directories that they can be recycled in the standard county recycling bins.

Video: Christmas Tree Collection in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

Arlington’s Christmas annual tree collection and recycling program has begun, and the county has created a short video (above) to help residents understand how the program works.

According to the video, Arlington County collects more than 9,000 Christmas trees every year. The trees are brought to the county’s Solid Waste Bureau and ground into mulch, which is then redistributed to residents who want to use the mulch in their yards and gardens.

This year’s Christmas tree collection runs from Jan. 3 to 17 on normal trash collection days. All stands, lights and decorations should be removed from the tree before it’s placed curbside. As the video explains, residents who don’t have curbside recycling service — such as those living in apartments — can call 703-228-6570 to schedule an appointment to drop off their trees at the Solid Waste Bureau.

Fall E-CARE Disposal and Recycling Event Scheduled

By ARLnow.com

If it can’t be thrown out with the trash or picked up for normal recycling, chances are you’ll be able to get rid of it next month at Arlington’s “E-CARE” Environmental Collection and Recycling Event.

The biannual event is being held at Thomas Jefferson Middle School (125 S. Old Glebe Road) from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15.

Residents will be able to drop off various types of large or hazardous items, including small metal items, computers, televisions, cell phones, other electronics, fluorescent bulbs and tubes, paint products, fuels and petroleum products, lawn and garden chemicals, poisons, pesticides, automotive fluids, car care products, propane gas cylinders, photographic chemicals, swimming pool chemicals, household cleaners, mercury, flammable solvents, fire extinguishers and corrosive materials.

There will also be a collection of gently used clothes, shoes, microwaves, mattresses, bed frames, eyeglasses and old bicycles. Most items will be donated to poor residents of Honduras, while the bikes and eyeglasses will be sent to unspecified overseas destinations.

The only items that are specifically banned are explosives, ammunition, freon, radioactive materials, prescription drugs, medical waste and asbestos. Also, smoking is prohibited while on-site.

See more information on the Arlington County E-CARE web site.

Free Paper Shredding Event on Saturday

By ARLnow.com

Arlington County is now offering free paper shredding to residents on the first Saturday of every month.

Since holiday weekends are excluded, July’s paper shredding event will take place this Saturday. Residents — not businesses — can take their sensitive documents to the county’s Solid Waste Bureau (4300 29th Street S.) to be shredded, for free, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

“A County employee will process the materials while you observe,” according to the Arlington County web site. “100% of shredded material is recycled.”

Residents are limited to two boxes or paper bags of documents each month. Stapled and paper-clipped documents are okay, as are checkbooks, but magazines, catalogs, binders, phone books and credit cards are prohibited.

Business Owners Face New Recycling Requirements

By Uriah Kiser

Those who own and operate apartment complexes and multi-family residences must now provide their residents more opportunities to recycle materials.

The Arlington County Board in December voted to change its recycling regulations and now requires businesses and multi-family homes to accommodate the recycling of additional materials like mixed paper – cardboard, office paper, junk mail, food boxes – along with metal cans and other metal objects, glass, aluminum, and plastic.

County officials say business owners have 90 days, beginning Feb. 1, to get a recycling program in place or they will be in violation of the new ordinance.

“By stepping up education and recycling requirements in the County, we plan to capture more recyclables while reducing trash – which ultimately will provide cost savings for County businesses and residents while helping to preserve our resources,” said Arlington Department of Environmental Services Director William O’Connor in a press release.

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Arlington Christmas Tree Collection Schedule

By ARLnow.com

Arlington County has released its Christmas tree collection schedule.

Trees will be picked up for recycling between Monday, Jan. 3 and Friday, Jan. 14. The county is asking residents to remove all ornaments, lights and stands, and to place the tree outside by 6:00 a.m. on their regular trash collection day. Do not place the tree in a plastic bag, say county officials.

Apartment, condo and townhouse dwellers who don’t have curbside garbage pickup can drop off the trees for recycling at the county’s Solid Waste Bureau (4300 South 29th Street) provided they show proof of Arlington residency.

Trees collected by the county will be ground down into wood mulch. Find out more information about tree collection here.