Did you know that the city of St. Louis has a recycling manager? Well, we do and she really knows what she is talking about. She was the most recent guest speaker at the Urban Affairs Committee, a group I belong to through the St. Louis Association of Realtors.
According to Jill Hamilton, each year the city produces 200,000 tons of waste which ends up in landfills and this waste constitutes $6 million in landfill fees.
Don’t despair. There are many programs in place to help us reduce the waste we produce, reuse much of what might be thrown away, and recycle the products that must be tossed.
For a full rundown of what the city has in place click.
REDUCE
In the hierarchy of waste reduction this is the priority, by reducing the waste in the first place, we eliminate the need for energy and natural resources required to produce, consume and dispose of products.
*Opt out of unsolicited credit card offers.
*Buy a water filter rather than bottled water
*Avoid disposable paper products
*Cook from scratch
*Buy in Bulk
*Replace recreational shopping
*Buy a canvas shopping bag
REUSE
There are several opportunities in the City to REUSE building materials, cell phones and computers.
Cell Phones
ALIVE’s Phone Drive info at alive@hotmail.com
American Cellular Donation Organization
CellForCash.com
Cell Phones for Soldiers
Good Stuff
Freecylce
Gigoit
Swap Thing
Construction and Demolition Waste
ReSource St. Louis
Habitat for Humanity St. Louis’ ReStore
Leftovers, etc
St. Louis Teachers’ Recycle Center, Inc.
RECYCLE
If you live in 63110,63108,63112,63113,63116,63139 or 63147 you can participate in curb side pick up. It is a grant funded program and the resident must pay a portion of the fee to initiate service. Call 353-7176 for more info.
For the rest of us there are over 27 drop off locations all over city.
And don’t forget to close the loop. Recycling only works if there is a market for the recycled goods.
BUY RECYCLED
Fehlig Brothers Box and Lumber Company, 314.241.6900
Plastic Lumber Company of America, 314.382.7766
Bee Cabinet Corporation, 314.533.1000
Greenfield Customer Interior Flooring, 314.481.6996
Hampton Carpet Shop, Inc. 314.351.6108
Clean Carton Company, 314.428.4777
Xpedx Paper & Graphics Store, 314.773.2832
Pedro’s Planet, Inc., 314.423.3898
The city’s site on recycling is really extensive and worth the visit.
