Why Recycle? (Especially in Lakengren) 
The benefits of recycling include: saving energy, sa
ving land space, saving money, creating new jobs, reducing air and water pollution and preserving habitat for wildlife.
Saves Energy- It takes less energy to process recycled materials than it does to use virgin materials. For example, it takes less energy to recycle paper from waste material than it does to create paper from new woodland, because there is no longer a need to cut down a tree, process the wood from the tree and make it into paper. What is so important about saving energy through recycling? Energy from non-renewable resources is protected and saved for future generations, money is saved when less energy is used (often resulting in lower prices on consumer goods) and usually pollution and emissions are reduced when less energy is used. For example, production of recycled paper uses 80% less water, 65% less energy, and produces 95% less pollution than virgin paper production.
Saves Money and Land Space- Recycling reduces trash in landfill sites, which cuts down on the cost of waste disposal and the clearing of more land for new landfills when the current landfills become too full to store any more waste. Lakengren currently has and pays for it’s own trash pickup as a community. The Preble County landfill where the trucks from Lakengren take their trash has raised it’s trash-disposal tipping fee over the last year. Therefore, the more Lakengren residents recycle, the less trash weight they will produce, which will result in lower disposal fees. Also, recycling is an easy and less expensive alternative to clearing more land for new landfills. For example, composting which recycles kitchen and yard wastes to make natural garden fertilizer, provides a means of free and nutritious soil for gardening while keeping naturally biodegradable items from taking up landfill space. In addition, most waste which is not recyclable is also not biodegradable meaning that it stays in the landfill for years to come, just sitting there and piling up with the rest of the trash. Recycling would allow us to use these non-biodegradable items over and over again.
It is important for Lakengren residents to know that recyclables do not end up going to landfills. All of the materials collected for recycling in Preble County go to Dayton’s Rumpke recycling plant and do in fact get processed into raw materials for use in factories to make new materials and consumer products. Lakengren residents have not been recycling as much now as they have in the past. Recycling totals for 2010 were 272.96 tons but for 2011 they were down to 186.28 tons. Let’s get back to making recycling a habit.
Cuts Down on Air and Water Pollution- Decomposing waste often releases noxious and potentially harmful gases and chemicals as it decomposes at landfill sites. These gases and chemicals create air pollution. Also when chemicals leach into the groundwater they can create water pollution making the water unfit for human or animal consumption. Recycling makes a difference in air and water pollution. For example, in 2000, recycling of solid waste prevented the release of 32.9 million metric tons of carbon equivalent (MMTCE, the unit of measure for greenhouse gasses) into the air. Imagine how much pollution we could prevent if instead of landfills we had more recycling centers. We could breathe cleaner air and drink cleaner water.
Creates Jobs- Recycling in the U.S. is a $236 billion per year industry. More than 56,000 recycling and reuse industries employ 1.1 million workers nationwide. Recycling makes/saves jobs and saves our Earth.
Additional Benefits- Recycling also preserves our wildlife. When fewer trees are cut down to make virgin material or space for new landfills, habitat for the wildlife remains. More habitat for animals means less animal extinction.
Everyone can recycle. It is easy, important, and it makes a real difference. Start with paper or plastic and use your curbside bin or take them to a drop-off location like the large bin in Farmer’s Market parking lot. You don’t even have to separate your recyclables because the Rumpke plant in Dayton does that for you. Just getting in the habit of recycling will go a long way towards bettering our environment. For a complete list of what to put in recycling bins, see below. For more information about recycling and composting visit the Preble County Solid Waste District’s website www.preblecountyrecycles.org.
Items that can be put into recycling bins in Preble County-
Plastics- Soda, milk, detergent, shampoo and small mouth bottles with a #1 or #2 on the bottom.
- · Labels do not need to be removed.
- · Please rinse and flatten if possible.
- Glass- Clear brown, and green glass bottles and jars.
- · Labels do not need to be removed.
- · Please rinse if possible.
- Mixed Paper- Newspaper with glossy inserts, magazines, telephone books and catalogs. Paperboard boxes (cereal, snacks, etc.), Junk mail (direct mail, window envelopes, flyers, etc.).
Cans- Aluminum and bi-metal beverage cans, steel food/tin cans.
- · Labels do not need to be removed.
- · Please rinse and flatten if possible.
- Cardboard- Corrugated cardboard of any size.
- · Please break down or flatten.
- Examples- Cereal boxes, pop tart boxes, appliance boxes, empty paper towel rolls.
- · No pizza boxes please!
- Household Hazardous Waste Trailer- Items such as the following may be taken for free to the HHW trailer at the Preble County Landfill: resins, adhesives, fertilizers, pool chemicals, acids, bases, household cleaners, used computers/components, used motor oil and anti-freeze, pesticides, herbicides, poisons, insect killers, household batteries, car batteries, oil-based paint (latex is not accepted as you can dry it up with sand or kitty litter and put it out with the regular garbage). Residents using the HHW trailer must sign in at the landfill office before disposing of any HHW waste.
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