Come Party, Recycle and Win with Al the Can

Did you know that the beverage can is celebrating its 75th birthday? In honor of the recyclable aluminum beverage can, you are encouraged to challenge your schools to see how many beverage cans they can recycle per capita between America Recycles Day (November 15) and Earth Day (April 22), 2011. It’s an extraordinary opportunity for schools to show their true green spirit and environmental leadership by stepping up to the Great American Can RoundUp School Recycling Challenge.

The Can Manufacturers Institute, the national trade association of can manufacturers and their suppliers, is giving away a total of $56,000. Your school could win up to $6,000, plus the value of the cans and the chance to win $50 pizza cards. Have your area schools go to www.cancentral.com/RoundUp and register by November 30 to be eligible for the School Recycling Challenge. There you will find everything needed to build recycling enthusiasm and rally the community for the win.

At www.cancentral.com/RoundUp you will be able to compare your schools’ recycling progress by state, region and nationally. Environmental educators will also appreciate grade appropriate, free interdisciplinary curricula and worksheets for the classroom to continue the discussion of the positive impact on the environment through aluminum can recycling.

Please contact Jenny Day at 202/232-4677, or by email jday@cancentral.com with any questions or ways we can help.

Cincinnati is enhancing their recycling service by partnering with RecycleBank – a rewards program that motivates people to take greener actions, like household recycling, by rewarding them with points that are redeemable online for rewards from local and national retailers, restaurants, pharmacies, grocers and more. Similar to frequent flier programs, the more a community recycles, the more RecycleBank Points participating households earn. Single or multi-family residences with Cincinnati curbside trash service are eligible to participate in the program free of charge.

RecycleBank partners with over 1,500 local and national businesses, including the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. Visit RecycleBank’s website for a complete list of reward partners in your area. Register on their website, or call 1-888-727-2978, to create and account and redeem your rewards. Once you register with RecycleBank, points earned because of the amount of material your community recycles will automatically show up in your RecycleBank account. Points can then be redeemed for rewards at any RecycleBank rewards partner. Active participants have saved up to $200 a year by redeeming their points.

Households in Phases I & II of Cincinnati’s recycling program have received their new recycling carts. To find out which phase you are in and which week you will be picked up, check out the City’s enhanced recycling program overview at: www.cincinnatirecycles.org or call 513-591-6000.

In celebration of America Recycles Day, on November 15 from 9am-4pm 2TRG is offering a great opportunity to recycle all unwanted electronics, or e-waste. Normally charging $0.25/lb to recycle electronics, 2TRG is accepting all electronics (with exception of CRT monitors and televisions) for FREE in exchange for canned food donations. CRT monitors and televisions will be accepted for reduced fees. The event is open to all residents in the Cincinnati area, including residents of counties outside Hamilton County and in northern Kentucky.

 Remember, by recycling these electronics, you are reducing the release of greenhouse gases, saving energy because less energy is being used to manufacture new products, protecting trees, preventing the destruction of natural habitats, conserving natural resources such as wood, water and minerals and curbing landfill growth by keeping 70 tons of waste a year from being deposited.

 Accepted electronics include back up batteries, chips, cables, CD-ROM drives, cell phones, circuit boards, computer speakers, CPU’s, docking stations, DVD players, fax machines, hard drives, keyboards, laptops, LCD monitors, mainframes, mice, modems, PDAs, personal copiers, printers, scanners, servers, speakers, tape and disc drives, telephones, terminals and VCR players.  

 Items can be dropped off with a canned food donation at:

11093 Kenwood Rd, Building 7, Cincinnati, OH 45242

The entrance to their parking lot is marked by a sign for the Blue Ash Distribution Center which has the address of 11085 Kenwood Rd. Electronics can be dropped off at the event door (which will be marked) from 9am-4pm on Monday, November 15.

 2TRG is a local company that has a zero landfill policy. They are a Pledged e-Steward company, which means they are committed to keeping toxic materials out of landfills, incinerators and developing countries. 2TRG tries to reuse items that come in before disassembling and recycling them. The recycling fee they typically charge helps to properly dispose material that does not have any commodity value, and helps them employ over 200 people in the Cincinnati area.

 Many thanks to Dawn Grzadziel from 2TRG for sharing the details of this great event!