Creation Care -- Recycle at Your Grocery Store

Did you know you can recycle more than plastic shopping bags at your favorite grocery store? Local stores, including Ingle’s, Publix, Harris Teeter, Food Lion, Target, and Whole Foods, have easy-to-access recycling bins near the front door for plastic bags and wraps that cannot be recycled in curbside recycling bins.
 
Grocery Store Recycling Items

• plastic retail bags (clean, dry and free of receipts)

• bread wraps, produce bags

• newspaper sleeves and dry-cleaning bags

• wrap from paper plates, napkins, bathroom tissue, cases of water, and diapers

• bubble wrap and deflated air pillows (think Amazon)

• plastic shipping envelopes (remove labels)

• plastic cereal box liners (if it tears like paper, do not include)

• Zip-top food storage bags (clean and dry)

Remember, these items need to be clean, dry, free of labels and cannot be placed in the curbside recycle bins. Not only will you be helping to keep our streets and waterways litter free, but you will also be providing material for new products.

Visit plasticfilmrecycling.orgto find your nearest drop-off location.

Reminders:

• We are still collecting unopened, clean packages of utensils (with or without napkins and condiments) inside both the Fellowship Hall and Main Street entrances of the church. These will be donated to the ministries of the Haywood Street Respite shelter.

• WNC Repair Cafe returns to Living Web Farms on Tuesday, June 15, 5-7 pm. (See details in previous newsletter HERE.)

 “Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” —Henry David Thoreau

Creation Care -- Changes to Plastic Recyclables

Curbie, the recycling service for the Weaverville area, is no longer accepting certain plastic items. These include clamshells, plastic take-out containers, blister packs (packaging around items like light bulbs or headphones), and containers often used for produce and bakery items. Even though those items often show a recycling symbol and category number, they can no longer be accepted.

The easiest way to remember which plastic items you may place in your recycling container is to consider their shapes. Plastic bottles, jugs, jars, and tubs are still recyclable. (All items should be clean and dry.)

Plastic bags and wraps are collected for recycling at most grocery and home improvement stores, and should not be placed in your recycling container. 

The best way to keep plastics and other materials out of the landfill is to reduce our use of them. You can use your own containers for takeout foods and beverages sometimes (as restaurants receive more requests, a larger number will be open to it). When placing orders online (via Amazon, etc.), look for reduced-packaging options. If you purchase something in a container that is not recyclable, try to think of alternate uses for that container before trashing it. It takes some effort and mindfulness, but it pays off.

Janice 

“The care of the earth is our most ancient and most worthy and, after all, our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it, and to foster its renewal, is our only legitimate hope.” - Wendell Berry

Dispose of and Recycle Electronics (May 1–3, Sat.–Mon.)

Ike's Hauling will be located in the parking lot behind the Weaverville Town Hall to accept discarded monitors, computers, phones, cables, etc. (Please remove any personal information from electronics.) May 1–2, Sat.–Sun. from 8 am–8 pm, and Mon., May 3 from 4 pm–7 pm. For a list of what they take, go to their website here.

They will also be in Woodfin at the end of May, where they will receive televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, and more. Any other time you have large items, simply call Ike’s Hauling to make an appointment for them to pick it up: 775-7720.