Monroe’s getting greener!

I was seriously excited when I heard the news that effective June 1, 2011, residents of Monroe county can start recycling plastic containers with numbers one through seven.  Up until this point the county was only accepting containers with numbers one and two. (Easy-green-living.org has a nice summary of what each number means.)  I was always disappointed to look at the bottom of a container and find it wasn’t recyclable.  With this change just about every yogurt and sour cream container and Styrofoam cup can now go into the blue bin instead of the trash.  It’s my goal to fill up my blue bin every week and minimize what’s in my garbage can.  This will make it a lot easier to fill the blue box up.  Heck, I may even need to ask for another blue bin because I won’t be able to fit everything in one box.

Monroe County is also expanding the list of non-plastic recyclables. For more info on what you can recycle see the county’s Environmental Services web site.

Maggie Brooks, Monroe County Executive, also announced this month that a new ECOPark will be built in the town of Chili.  The ECOPark will accept non-traditional items for disposal, including hazardous waste, pharmaceutical waste, and cell phones.  This means you will no longer have to wait until a special drive is held around town so you go to that location to get rid of your old electronics or cans of paint.  This facility, planned to open towards the end of this year, will be open year round.  It will be one of the first facilities of its kind in New York state.

It doesn’t happen very often that I get excited about government announcements, but I am about these.  I definitely plan to take advantage of both changes.

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