Recycling #5 plastic

I received a question about recycling #5 plastic this morning and I thought I should share the recycling options. #5 plastic is most commonly used for yogurt cups, butter containers, and some take out containers. Here are a couple options for recycling #5 plastic…

1) Here is a link to the City of Coon Rapids recycling center. They accept #1, #2, #4, #5, and #6 plastic that is labeled with the plastic number. http://www.ci.coon-rapids.mn.us/recycling/recyclecenter.htm

2) You can also recycle #5 plastic containers at the Whole Foods grocery store in Minneapolis or St. Paul or you can mail #5 to the “gimme five” program. Here is a link on this http://www.preserveproducts.com/recycling/gimme5.html

We are always trying to add more plastic items to our curbside recycling program, but no contractor offered this service when we went out for bid last year. Happy Recycling!

Reuse Ideas

There are so many ways to reuse old stuff and a fellow blogger asked me to share some of their ideas. Here is a link...http://www.environmentalsciencedegrees.net/blog/2010/15-crafts-using-recycled-materials/

2 for 1

After not blogging for quite some time, I'm giving you a 2 for 1 (2 posts in 1 day). The social media workshop I went to today was great and I have many new ideas to connect better with people out there. I'm going to look more into Facebook (thanks Brian), twitter, and Youtube, since everyone uses them. I'm going to set up some google analytics on our website, look into tweetdeck and I may even create a listening dashboard.

To more timely news, don't forget to visit with your neighbors tonight for National Night Out. And if they don't have a recycling container out for the celebration, bring one over and tell them "Dan made me do it".

Social Media

I'm going to learn about social media today. Maybe it will help me write a more regular (and interesting) blog. Or, if you have any tips, please let me know. Wish me luck!

Free Wood Mulch

We get a bunch of calls about our free wood mulch, so moving forward I thought I would try to update whether we have some or not on the blog. WE HAVE FREE MULCH! It is at Central Park in the parking lot across the street from 8300 Noble Ave N. I'll let you know if when we run out and when we get more. Stay tuned!

Saving Water

I got a press release from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week talking about saving water and it got me thinking. It's easy to forget about our most precious resource in the world, water. We take it for granted. Turn a knob and there it is. Worldwide approximately 1.2 billion people (15% of population) do not have access to clean water. Here in the U.S. we are blessed with water, but every year there are cases of drought and water shortages in every region of the country. This year has been a wet one in Minnesota, but we are still dealing with a drought that has ground water levels 5-15 feet lower than normal. Here are a few tips from the EPA on saving water:

· Check toilets for silent leaks by putting a few drops of food coloring in the tank; if the color shows up in the bowl indicating a leak, fixing it may be as simple as replacing the toilet’s flapper.
· Twist on a WaterSense labeled bathroom faucet aerator to use 30 percent less water without a noticeable difference in flow.
· Replace a showerhead with a WaterSense labeled model that uses less water and energy, but still has all the power of a water-hogging model.

For more water saving tips visit http://www.epa.gov/watersense/

Rain Garden Workshop Tonight

This is a bit late notice, but Brooklyn Park is hosting a rain garden workshop tonight, Thursday, June 24th from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at city hall, 5200 85th Ave N. The cost is $10 and each paying attendee can bring a guest for free. Come learn the what, why, and how on rain gardens!