1. Nitty Gritty Recycling Stillwater Your Home Recycling System Solid Waste Management Hierarchy Recycling & Composting Resources Ilda T. Hershey OSU Coop. Ext. Service, Solid Waste Management Programs; Sustainable Stillwater; Oklahoma Recycling Association; Solid Waste Association of North America, Oklahoma Chapter

2. Your Home Recycling System Under the Kitchen Sink One “comingled” bag for plastic, glass & metal containers Rinse, drain and toss Pantry Closet Floor One bag for chipboard (paperboard) Break down and stuff

3. Your Home Recycling System Desk-side Paper Recycling Black=garbage; Blue=recycling

4. Your Home Recycling System

5. Larger containers for bulky items like plastic Transfer full bags from garage to drop-off site

6. Your Home Recycling System Counter-top compostingBackyard compost bin

7. Questions About Your Home Recycling System?

8. Is recycling the BEST thing we can do with our waste?...

9. Image: Fairfax County Solid Waste Management The Solid Waste Management Hierarchy Recycling is not first on the hierarchy! Set of plans to manage municipal solid waste Adopted by many city, county, state governments A means of achieving sustainability

10. Source Reduction or “Reduce” Preferred method: Prevents generation of waste in the first place Manufacturer: Decrease materials and energy used during manufacturing and distribution Consumer: Purchase items in bulk, concentrated form, minimal packaging, use refill systems Includes backyard composting of yard trimmings and food scraps

11. Reuse Finding a second (or third, etc.) use for a product to prolong its life Appliances, books, clothing, household items, jars, bottles, etc. Repairing items, selling them or donating them to charity Using durable rather than disposable (i.e. reusable shopping bags) Preferable to recycling because item does not need to be collected or reprocessed thus saving energy and preventing pollution

12. Recycling The process of taking a product at the end of its useful life and using all or part of it to make another product Requires collection, processing, remanufacturing and purchase Includes municipal composting Saves landfill space, energy and natural resources, reduces pollution, creates useful products and jobs EPA estimates that 75% of our waste is recyclable

13. Waste Disposal – Last in the Hierarchy Regulatory restrictions: High environmental and economic costs Resource Recovery (AKA Waste-to-Energy): Waste is burned to produce energy; only ash is left to landfill Incineration: Also reduces waste to ash but produces no energy Landfilling: Capacity restrictions; NIMBY syndrome Littering and illegal dumping

14. Recycling & Composting Resources Stillwater Recycling Guide Oklahoma Recycling Association (OKRA) Solid Waste Management Resource Trunk Composting & Don’t Bag It Brochures Recycling Seminar, Tuesday, December 8 Sponsored by ODEQ, OKRA & OCES

15. Contact Ilda Hershey Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service Solid Waste Management Programs OSU, 536 Ag Hall, Stillwater (405) 744-9806 ilda.hershey@okstate.edu http://agecon.okstate.edu/wastenew/ Sustainable Stillwater sustainablestillwater@hotmail.com www.sustainablestillwater.org