If you are like me, one of these days ~ sometime ~ you intend to take household hazardous waste to the Central Landfill. Many Rhode Islanders have been doing this, but many of us still have a lot of stuff hanging around the house in those garages and basements we, if truth be told, are going to leave for somebody else to clean up after we're gone.
It's hard to work this chore into our busy schedules, and that's why I'm building a union Calendar of all sorts of environment-related events for Rhode Islanders called What Grows On in Rhode Island. The Calendar is full of useful features ~ for instance, it can send you reminders, and you can add events to your own Outlook or other electronic calendar. Maybe this is the year all those poisons get to Eco-Depot!
On March 5, 2008, I transferred the What Grows On in Rhode Island Calendar to new, more powerful software, and you'll see you can now sort by event type such as Cleanups and Workdays. And just this afternoon I've added to the Calendar all the Eco-Depots, some of which are not at the Central Landfill, but are rather in outlying regions of the state. It's important to call ahead and make an appointment so you (and everyone else) doesn't have to wait forever in line.
Can you guess what Rhode Islanders have lugged to the Eco-Depots? According to Joe Rotella at RI Resource Recovery Corporation (RIRRC), we've brought more than 5 million pounds of household hazardous waste since 2001. Just last year, 2007, we carted 1,069,939 million pounds. Seventy percent of it is oil-based paint, which is actually recycled by Clean Harbors for use on bridges and such. Last year's (2007) paint haul converts to 748,960 pounds, or 78,838 gallons of paint.
When the Spring Cleaning bug bites soon, make a date with the Eco-Depot guys. Check the Eco-Depot website for what you can (and should!) bring. It's free!
You may have heard that the Central Landfill is filling up fast (you can see it in the distance from Prospect Park in Providence), and Rhode Islanders could do a much better job of recycling. Sarah Kite, Recycling Manager for the RIRRC, reports that we're not really increasing our recycling rate. The national average rate of household recycling is 35%. North Kingstown has the best rate in RI currently at 32%, and Portsmouth has the worst, at 5%. Our state average is 15%. This isn't a good thing, folks.
Some recycling bills are coming up in the General Assembly, and again, if you're like me, you find it difficult to track these things. The dates and times of hearings are on the General Assembly's website. You could check the environmental committees' agendas:
- House Committee: http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/CommitteeMeetings/Henvmet.htm
- Senate Committee: http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/CommitteeMeetings/senvmet.htm
But that's a lot of work, and most of us don't have the time. That's why these hearings are being integrated into What Grows On in Rhode Island Calendar. See the "Hearings ~ Legislative ~ Regulatory ~ Public Comment ~ Surveys" sub-calendar for announcements. Right now, there is one upcoming hearing about RIRRC on Wednesday, March 12. Look for it on the What Grows On in Rhode Island Calendar.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING TO TRACK HEARINGS and ENTER INFO INTO THE CALENDAR, LET ME KNOW! - Sue Korte ~ email
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