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The new paper recycling carts have been delivered
to many homes throughout town. A quick visit to the Burlington County website answered a question many of us might have regarding
shredded paper. Shredded paper may be place in a brown paper bag with the top folded over a few times so the paper doesn't
fall out. A staple or 2 would also be fine. For other recycling questions, you may contact 877-2200, ext. 5 or visit the county
website at www.co.burlington.nj.us. The average home in Burlington County
receives as much as 100 pounds of junk mail a year! Countywide, it adds up to more than 10 MILLION pounds! If everyone recycled
their junk mail, towns could save more than $ 500,000 per year! How
to reduce or stop unwanted junkmail: Send a letter to Mail Preference Service, Direct Marketing Association,
PO Box 643, Carmel, NY 15012-0643. Include your complete name, address, zip and a request to "activate the mail preference
service." For up to 5 years, this will stop mail from all member organizations that you have not specifically
ordered products from. The major credit agencies sell credit
information to virtually any company that requests a list. To stop this, you just need your current
address and any former addresses within 2 years and your social security number. One call does it all for the major credit
agencies-Equifax, Trans Union, Experian, and Innovis. Call 1-888-567-8688. You can call 24 hours a day. For additional tips
on stopping junk mail, visit www.obviously.com/junkmail.
St. Jude's Ranch for Children (www.stjudesranch.org) is a home for abused, neglected and abandoned children. They have a recycling program where old holiday
cards and other all occasion cards are made into new ones by the children to support their programs. They are currently accepting
cards through February 28, 2010. Cards may be donated by sending them to St. Jude's Ranch for
Children, Card Recycling Program, 100 St. Jude's Street, Boulder City, NV. 89005 St. Jude's
also accepts Campbell's Labels for Education UPC & Caps, and General Mills Boxtops for education.
Many schools use these programs to purchase needed items for their schools. For information on either program, go to Campbell's
www.labelsforeducation.com or General Mills www.boxtopsforeducation.com.
Are those plastic bags piling up in your house? Most grocery stores
have a recycle bin where you can bring the bags to be recycled. Go one step further and pick up some sturdy & re-usable
grocery totes, or use ones you may already have. They hold more and are much sturdier than plastic bags. Plastic bags are
also a petroleum based product. A small step to "be green!"
The National
Fire Protection Association recommends replacing smoke alarms, including hard wired alarms, when
they are 10 years old or sooner if they are not responding properly. Most manufacturers will take back any smoke detector
they manufacture. Two sources to recycle/dispose of smoke detectors are: FIREX
(accepts all units) C/O Disposal, 28 C Leigh Fisher Blvd., El Paso, Tx. 79906 First Alert (Call first for instructions-accepts ONLY units
they manufacture) 1-800-392-1395
Lions Clubs International have a program to recycle prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses. The glasses are cleaned, sorted by prescription
and sent to other countries for those that cannot afford glasses. The glasses may be taken to any Lenscrafters, Pearle Vision
or For Eyes locations. There is also an eyeglass drop box located in the parking lot at the Allstate building on Levitt Parkway.
It is a yellow mailbox marked "eyeglasses
only."
Aveda has started
a unique recycling program to recycle plastic bottle caps from various types of products. They are recycled into plastic for
Aveda products. They are trying to build a recycling program with stores and schools. The caps that are collected are "rigid polypropylene plastic" sometimes noted with a "5"
in the recycling symbol. This includes caps that twist on with a threaded neck such as caps on shampoo, water, soda, milk
& other beverage bottles, flip top caps on tubes & food product bottles (such as ketchup & mayonnaise), laundry
detergents and some jar lids such as peanut butter. Caps not included are Pharmaceutical
lids, non-rigid lids such as yogurt, tub lids (margarine, cottage cheese) and screw on lids that are not rigid. If you can
bend or break the lid with your bare hands, it does not meet the rigid plastic definition. Please do not include metal lids,
plastic pumps or sprayers. The caps should be cleaned and taken to any
Aveda store, or they may be mailed to: ACA Waste Services, 40 Eads St., West Babylon, NY 11704. For more information on the
Aveda caps recycling program, visit www.aveda.com.
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