Bottle

When stopping to gas up, you can also recycle your plastic bottles


Captions: Bottom - Left to right; Lena Schaumburg - MSOCS, Kirk Grandell - Coca Cola, Ellen Telander - executive director RAM, and Olaf Urban Coca Cola and Mike McGrath. Upper - Garrett Secola of the West End says he tries to recycle at home because he believes it is the right thing to do. He says his garbage at home would overflow if they didn't recycle. Here he is using the "Message in a Bottle." (Photos by Naomi Yaeger-Bischoff)

Lots of people clean out their cars when they refill their tanks at the gas station, but many stations do not provide recycling options. Now when people go to a Little Store convenience store and gas station in Duluth, they will see a four-foot tall plastic bottle beside the trash cans. These bottles are actually containers to place plastic recyclable beverage bottles.

This afternoon I attended a kick-off event at the Little Store on 1831 W. Superior St. The purpose of the event was to introduce the concept of recycling away from home and to catch people in the act of recycling. Prizes of soda pop, bumper stickers, t-shirts and products made from recyclable materials were given away. I met several people including Ellen Telander of Recycling Association of Minnesota (RAM), a non-profit organization which encourages people to recycle. RAM is working in partnership with Minnesota Waste Wise and Western Lake Superior Sanitary District with two programs - "Message in a Bottle" and "Its' in the Bag"

An organization which employs developmentally disabled people, AirPark Products & Services (APS), will collect the containers of plastic recyclables so that they can use them to make recyclable products. APS is a division of the Minnesota State Operated Community Services (MSOCS) programs. APS employees will sort and package the recyclables for transport. The program is projected to create more than 20 full-time jobs at APS.

Recycle your Christmas Tree

Duluth, MN—Area residents are encouraged to recycle their fresh cut holiday trees on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 as part of the annual Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (WLSSD) free “Treecycling” day. WLSSD will hold its annual Treecycling event on Saturday, January 3rd, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Trees collected at the event will be beneficially re-used as fuel, to line paths or other purposes, while recovering valuable resources and saving landfill space.
Residents and businesses can bring trees free of charge to any of the following Twin Port Area locations: Miller Hill Kmart, Mount Royal Fine Foods, London Road Rental, Duluth West Toolhouse (on Commonwealth Ave) or the Superior Target store. These sites will be staffed only during the one-day event and residents are asked to please not drop trees at these sites on any other day. Abandoned trees can cause traffic and safety hazards at these public locations.
Those that can’t make it to the one day event can drop off trees at the WLSSD Yard Waste Compost Site until January 31, open daily from 7:00 am - 4:30 pm. In addition, Veit/Demolition Landfill Services (Gary), SAPPI Fine Paper (Cloquet) and the Moose Lake Compost Site are accepting trees through January 10. Waste Management Recycle America (Superior) and Demo-licious (West Duluth) will be accepting trees through January 31. Trees can also be brought to the WLSSD Materials Recovery Center (at the location of the old Rice Lake Landfill). The Materials Recovery Center is open Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm and Sunday from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm.
Those bringing trees are reminded to remove all ornaments and tree stands before bringing trees to a Treecycling location. Wreaths, garland and other decorations made from evergreen branches are not recyclable and should be thrown in the trash.
Volunteers at the event will also be accepting donations of non-perishable food items on January 5th to help the local food shelves and to keep the spirit of the season alive by helping others in need.
The Christmas “Treecycling” sponsors and volunteers include Amberjack Tree Service, Carlton County Recycling and Solid Waste, City of Duluth, City of Moose Lake, City of Superior, Covington Transport Inc., Demo-licious, Harv’s Tree Service, Keystone Club of the Boys & Girls Club, Miller Hill Kmart, London Road Rental, Marshall School Student Volunteers, Minnesota Power, Mount Royal Fine Foods, North Country Waste/Cloquet Sanitary Service, Rick’s Tree & Stump Removal, SAPPI Fine Paper, Target - Superior, Superior Boy Scout Troop 213, VEIT/Demolition Landfill Services, Waste Management, Waste Management Recycle America and the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District.
Western Lake Superior Sanitary District provides award-winning wastewater and solid waste services to residents, businesses and industries within its 500 square mile legislative boundaries in Southern St. Louis and northern Carlton counties, and is a nationally recognized leader in pollution prevention.