My father is part of an ecology group looking to expand its recycling in a village not far from here.
So on a lot of Saturdays, he volunteers to collect TVs from people upgrading before the digital switch. (Thank you to those people! Older TVs contain a lot of lead, so recycling is a great option.)
He called me to find out if I knew where they could recycle computers and electronics. I told him Will County has a ton of drop-off sites, but that's not a lot of help since he's not in Will.
Instead, he called Will County's Land Use Department to find out who they contract with to recycle their electronics. And he ended up talking with someone really passionate about keeping all of that stuff out of the landfills and got a lot of leads to try to expand the recycling programs in his town.
I have to say, I was pretty proud. Not just because my dad is trying to get this done, but because my county is pretty much on the cutting edge of recycling. The rest of the collar counties think we're out in the country, but they should probably be taking notes. If you own it, the land use department probably has a drop-off for recycling it.
if you're like me, you aren't organized enough to have stuff ready for special recycling events. Instead, I have a box in the garage where the weird stuff goes, like motor oil, batteries and dead computers. When we have a reasonable pile, we'll go distribute it to the right Will County sites, like shopping in reverse.
Visit the Will County Land Use Department's Web site for info on business recycling, special recycling events, drop-off sites and a recycling guide.
Julie Todd is the night editor at The Herald News in Joliet. She and her
husband are looking to cut the chemicals and get back to basics -- minus the
granola and hemp clothing. They live in a home they bought last year in
Plainfield, where they're making changes to create their own little patch of
utopia.
It is great that Will County is a leader in this area. So now, let's really encourage Will County to become an even greater leader.
I have been frustrated recently by my desire to replace my vinyl tile with bamboo floors and to replace my laminate countertops with recycled glass.
In all cases the products I looked at were highly sustainable or
85%+ recycled materials. A remodeling dream. Except one thing.
They cost from 30% to 50% more for the same non sustainable items.
Who do I petition or how do I protest that sustainable items cost so much more that they seem to be out of reach for me and probably for the majority of folks? How is it that we aren't making sustainable products the standard leaving the rest to compete for our business?
For now, my green remodelling solution is to do nothing. What I have, while not as nice as I'd like it to be, is perfectly usable and not in disrepair. I can't undo the impact making these items has already had on the environment. I can, however, use them for as long as I can until they need replacing and then hope, by then, that I can get sustainable products for a more reasonable price.