Are you recycling and doing your part? (Oklahoma City, Edmond: new house, neighborhoods)

[Amazonchix]

Anyone interested in living a little more GREEN? Here are some small things you can do with most of the resources that are local! I am going to be brief...but we should have others tag onto this thread with their ideas! Especially folks who may not live in OKC that need viable options for recycling.

May I suggest www.poopbags.com for anyone's poop bag, kitty litter liner and indoor trash can needs. Their bag products are 100% biodegradable!

Also we use www.browntoearthbagco.com which only cost $1.00 per bag and the bags are reusable and washable. The website lists all the places you can buy these bags locally. Not to mention, that this company was started in Edmond, Oklahoma. We use these bags for all of our shopping needs.
If you do have plastic bags, you can collect them and then take them to Walmart. Walmart has plastic bag recycling bins.

And best of all...we just recycled all of our old chemicals, paints, batteries, CFL light bulbs...basically all of our household hazardous waste at the OKC collection facility (1621 South Portland) www..okc.gov/services/hh_waste/index.html The website will provide a comprehensive list of all items accepted. If in doubt on an item call and ask. All you have to do is show your OKC water bill and you never even have to get out to unload it. The workers do it all for you and it was a quick process! Those who don't use OKC water can still bring hazardous waste to them for a small fee. Call and check with them.

You can recycle your old good condition clothing and household items to local charities. Many of these charities come through neighborhoods once a month and will pick-up from your house. You just have to leave the donation on your curb. We get Children's Medical Research Foundation, Prevention for the Blind, Cerebral Palsy of Oklahoma, etc. through our area. Call and talk to them about picking up your donation.

If you have your trash collected by the city of OKC you can have several items picked up curbside!!! How easy can it get? No excuses here. Go to City of Oklahoma City | Recycling to see all items that you can recycle curbside!

[colleeng47]

Also there are bins all around Mustang -- and I'm sure in other towns/cities as well, where you can bring your old newspapes and various organizations get money for them. We dump ours in a bin that serves as a fundraiser for the school.

[cindycat]

[QUOTE [If you have your trash collected by the city of OKC you can have several items picked up curbside!!! How easy can it get? No excuses here. [/quote]
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It's been three years since we moved away but, at that time, there were areas of OKC that didn't have recycle pickup, even though they had the regular weekly trash service. We lived in far SE OKC where the houses were all on 2-5 acres, making them too sparse to make the recycle pickup cost-efficient. I looked at the website today and didn't find any kind of map for coverage area. We were very close to Midwest City so we took our things to their recycle center near 15th and Douglas.

We're in western Washington now and you talk about GREEN . Can you say over-kill?? In King County, where Seattle is, you can be fined for putting recyclables in the regular trash. We do our bit, with grocery sacks for mixed containers, mixed paper and newspapers. We also recycle cardboard and scrap metal. Every couple of weeks we load it up and take it to one of the centers.

We bought some shopping bags at Wal-Mart but for the local grocery stores, I still re-use the paper sacks - they give a nickle refund whenever you use one. Albertson's in OKC used to do that but since they're gone, I don't know if anyone else does.

[OKC_GENT]

Oddly enough today I was asked about recycling. I just bought a house out in Yukon and when I called to setup my utilities they asked if I needed trash can.. or carts I think they called them. I said yes and then she asked if I needed any recycling boxes. I haven't ever used them before so just because it was something I wasn't familiar with I said no.

My question is does anyone else in mustang/yukon use these boxes? It seems I have seen them before somewhere, though i'm not sure where. Do they only pickup the recycled items on specific dates or could I put them out on my regular trash pickup day?

I remember years and years ago when I lived in florida my family did a neighborhood paper recycling program. We would go door to door and pickup newspapers on a specific day of each month. They got good where they would just leave it out waiting for us. In the end it wasn't all that much cash but for kids we felt like we were rich and it was something good for the community.

[colleeng47]

Mustang has a voluntary recycling program. There is a recycling center that is open all the time to drop off newspapers and cardboard. On Saturday morning there are volunteers to keep the bottle/glass container bins open. Also, several places around town are bins to drop in newspapers. As far as I know Mustang does not pick up recycled material. I would suggest you call the Yukon town hall and ask about their recycling program.

Congrats on your new house.

[n8tiv_okie]

Originally Posted by colleeng47

Mustang has a voluntary recycling program. There is a recycling center that is open all the time to drop off newspapers and cardboard. On Saturday morning there are volunteers to keep the bottle/glass container bins open. Also, several places around town are bins to drop in newspapers. As far as I know Mustang does not pick up recycled material. I would suggest you call the Yukon town hall and ask about their recycling program.

Congrats on your new house.

Yukon is the same way. You have to do the volunteer thing and take it yourself. At least, that's how my parents do their recycling.
Colleeng, I can't believe we don't have curbside pickup for recycling in Mustang, esp when you look at how high our trash bills are each month.

[colleeng47]

Yea, curb side recycling would be a good idea. It would certainly encourage more people to recycle. It's not too bad just throwing everything in the truck and running it up to the recycling center, but we're used to recycling from NJ where it was required.

[Amazonchix]

I know it can be inconvenient...but doesn't anyone feel a sense of obligation to recycle? I'm not asking people to live life to the extreme...but can't we all make some adjustments to help the environment? Even if it requires a little extra effort on our part to separate items and take items to their appropriate facility? I don't understand why some do nothing at all. For example, as easy as it can get in the OKC area where it is picked up off the curb of your home...why don't folks take advantage of it???? How can people make excuses when it is that easy?

[flintysooner]

I would be really happy if people would quit dumping their assorted junk furniture, trash, beer and coke cans, and unwanted pets out here.

[Amazonchix]

Originally Posted by flintysooner

I would be really happy if people would quit dumping their assorted junk furniture, trash, beer and coke cans, and unwanted pets out here.

Those types of bx's are ridiculous! That used to happen to my grandparents. Where are folks conscience, sense of karma, answering to a higher power...whatever you want to call it?????