ZWP Newsletter: October 2011

Upcoming Collection Events

Household Chemicals:

October 22 - Beaver County

Please be sure to participate in the last household chemical collection event of 2011.

All southwestern PA residents are welcome, and you can help us make it to a total of 250,000 lbs of household chemicals collected for the year!

Pharmaceuticals:

National Prescription Drug Take Back Day - October 29 (various locations in Western PA)


Updated information on all of our upcoming events and programs is always available on the Zero Waste Pittsburgh website and the ZWP Facebook page!

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News

2011 Hard to Recycle Season Recap

The 2011 Hard to Recycle Collection Events were some of the most successful since the program's inception in 2003. This year, more than 1,500 participants helped to recycle:

At these events, PRC partnered with some amazing local reuse-focused organizations, including Construction Junction, Global Links, Off the Floor, Planet Aid and the Pittsburgh Tote Bag Project. They collected 2,100lbs of usable building materials, more than 100 different medical supplies, 220 pounds of clothing, and over 40 tote bags at our four 2011 HTR events. Thanks to their efforts, these materials were kept out of landfills and given a second life!

We would also like to thank the following for their contributions: our sponsors the Allegheny County Health Department and the Colcom Foundation; location partners The Mall at Robinson, Pittsburgh Public Schools, Steel City Harley Davidson and the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills; partner organizations eLoop, Liberty Tire, and Duquesne Light; the reuse partners listed above; and, of course, all of the wonderful volunteers who donated their time.

In addition to the PRC-sponsored HTR events, we also worked with the municipalities of Glassport and Green Tree to hold five e-waste events in 2011. These resulted in the collection of an additional 13.7 tons of e-waste for a 2011 grand total of 91.7 tons of HTR materials for the year!

A slideshow of the 2011 HTR events is also available.

Let's Tackle Recycling Program

The extremely successful Let's Tackle Recycling Program was "kicked off" in December 2010 at the Steelers' last three home games. The "play" is very simple; attendants at six designated Heinz Field parking lots on General Robinson Street "handoff" a blue recycling bag (provided by Greenstar Recycling) to each car as it enters the lot. Tailgaters "lateral" their recyclables into the the bags and leave them next to their vehicles when they go in to the stadium. PRC staff and contractors "tackle" the bags and they are taken to our partner Greenstar Recycling for processing. The result is a "win" for the environment at every game!

Check out the impressive recycling numbers Steeler fans put up in a short 2010 season:

The Let's Tackle Recycling program is sponsored by PRC and the Alcoa Foundation in partnership with Alcoa Parking, City of Pittsburgh Environmental Services, Greenstar Recycling, Heinz Field, the Sports & Exhibition Authority and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Check out an "instant replay" slide show to learn more about how PRC and our partners are working as a team to tackle recycling!

Pharmaceuticals

The U.S. DEA has scheduled a second National Prescription Drug Take Back Day for 2011, which will take place on Saturday, October 29, from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm.

Both over-the-counter and prescription medications will be accepted free-of-charge, no questions asked. This is a great opportunity for those who missed the previous events - or who have subsequently accumulated unwanted, unused prescription drugs - to safely dispose of them.

PRC in conjunction with DEA, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, and PA American Water will be sponsoring and hosting four of the events at the following locations:

Event details will be posted in the near future on the Zero Waste Pittsburgh Pharmaceutical Collection Event page.

Get Involved

Volunteers are an essential part of each and every collection event, and volunteering is a great way to make a positive impact on the environment of Southwestern PA. We need you to help us complete our last few events of the year!

In addition, volunteering at collection events is a way for you to help others do a little "spring cleaning" to ensure that household chemicals and pharmaceuticals don't end up in our water supplies - not to mention that it will keep these potentially dangerous substances away from children and pets.

For more information on how to volunteer, please visit our Get Involved page or contact Michael Stepaniak at PRC for more information. We hope to see you there!

Program Update

For those of you who have been with us for a while, you may have noticed our identity change from the Southwestern Pennsylvania Household Hazardous Waste Task Force (SW PA HHW TF) to the PRC Household Chemical and Pharmaceutical Collection Program.

PRC, the administrators of the program, felt that the public could better served by grouping their household chemical and pharmaceutical collection programs, hard-to-recycle collection program, and educational programs under one umbrella - Zero Waste Pittsburgh (ZWP). Quite simply, ZWP is now your one-stop shop for waste reduction and recycling services in Western Pennsylvania! We assure you, it's the same team of dedicated people working behind the scenes to help you properly and safely dispose of household chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

Please visit www.zerowastepgh.org to learn more about ZWP and PRC.