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As
a resident of Ft Thomas, I am
challenging the city (residents
and businesses) to become greener.
Ft Thomas has worked hard to
establish green spaces by planting
trees and shrubs, not only adding
to the beauty, but helping with
emissions. However, we as a city
need to think greener. We need to
think about garbage. Yes, garbage.
No one wants to talk about it, but
everybody has it.
I
was walking my dog on a garbage
pickup day and I couldn’t help
but notice the absence of blue
recycling containers. Anyone can
purchase a recycling bin for $6 at
the city building; yet a large
number of people aren’t taking
advantage of this. Why is this?
I
also noticed that of those that do
recycle, there are a small variety
of items being recycled. There are
numerous things that can be
recycled other than milk jugs and
soft drink cans. Don’t get me
wrong, this is a start, but we can
do better.
By
recycling everything we can, at my
household we have reduced our
garbage by ½. That sounds
amazing, but it’s true. Take out
your junk mail, cereal boxes,
cans, etc., and your inside
garbage can may not be full by
garbage day. And by using less
garbage bags you save money.
Everyone
gets junk mail and many subscribe
to the paper, but I see very few
residents recycling these items. I
hope residents are recycling paper
at drop off sites, but I am not
convinced of this. Also, any mail
that you shred can go in the
recycling bin – that is if you
aren’t using it in your compost
bin. You are composting, right?
Well, that’s a discussion for
another day.
Am
I the only family that buys cereal
or pop tarts in the city? What
about crackers, hot chocolate,
pasta, etc. All of these boxes can
be recycled, along with those
large cardboard boxes. I know it
takes a few minutes to fold a
large box to a 3’ X 3’ size,
but think about how much landfill
space this takes up unnecessarily
when you don’t recycle.
Where
are the vegetable cans and jars?
These can be rinsed and tossed in
the recycling bin. The rinsing
isn’t a recycling requirement,
but one that ensures the raccoons
stay away from your bin.
As
I see it there are two issues
here.
1.
We are being provided a service
that we are not using to the full
extent that we can. Since we have
it and we pay for it, let’s use
it.
2.
We are contributing unnecessarily
to landfill debris.
Let’s be more proactive
and eliminate as much unnecessary
waste as we can.
I
am challenging the City of
Ft Thomas
to become greener. So, keep
planting trees and shrubs, but
let’s go beyond that. Let’s
talk about garbage and recycle as
much as we can! This can be the
first step to a greener community.
Sharon
Tepe is the founder of Go Green.
If you would like more
information, contact
Sharon
at sharon.tepe@fuse.net
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