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Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Can-ada, has implemented a street-side recycling program that differs from the curbside residential programs in the Niagara region.

In March, Niagara-on-the-Lake began offering pedestrians the opportunity to recycle glass, aluminum and plastic containers, locating 25 permanent recycling containers along historic Queen Street in the Old Town.

Introduced as a pilot project in the fall of 2003, the street-side recycling program was created to address the need to manage recyclables generated from the town’s successful tourism sector.

Janice Thomson, executive director of Niagara-on-the-Lake Chamber of Commerce, says, "Working with the town and a regional partner like Chevy Lane Fabrications, we were able to develop a progressive solution to a growing problem. The custom-made recycling containers are a perfect fit both aesthetically and economically."

Donna Chamberlain, president of Chevy Lane Fabrications, says her company’s role grew beyond that of manufacturer.

"Working in tandem with the Chamber of Commerce and the town’s Parks and Recreation Department, we were able to develop several varied solutions to help ensure that the final product design and recycling program met the budgetary, aesthetic and operational requirements of the town’s existing collection operation," she says.

Office Depot, headquartered in Delray Beach, Fla., has announced a five-year, $2.2 million environmental strategy that includes a provision for the store’s paper products to contain an average of 30 percent post-consumer recycled content.

The company expects the project will help reduce its forest and paper product suppliers’ environmental footprint while contributing to global biodiversity conservation, according to an Office Depot press release.

NatureServe, Conservation International and The Nature Conservancy have joined Office Depot in forming the Forest & Biodiversity Conservation Alliance. The alliance will provide a framework to coordinate the complementary strengths and resources of each organization to address forest and biodiversity conservation within the supply chain, the release states.

Additionally, Office Depot has established an Environmental Paper Procurement Policy. Under the new policy, the company will phase-out paper products that come from rare and vulnerable forests, forests subject to unsustainable management, those that have been illegally logged and industrial forest operations that convert diverse forests to monoculture populations. The policy also states that the store’s paper products will contain an average of 30 percent post-consumer recycled content and that Office Depot will refrain from sourcing paper from areas that plant genetically modified trees.

Additional information on Office Depot’s Environmental Paper Procurement Policy is available online at www.community.officedepot.com/paperproc.asp.

The Aluminum Association has awarded Newell Recycling of Atlanta, in conjunction with South Fulton County (Georgia) Habitat for Humanity, a nationwide $25,000 grant as part of the Cans for Habitat program.

The Cans for Habitat program is a partnership between The Aluminum Association, Washington, D.C., and Habitat for Humanity International, Americus, Ga., that promotes the value of aluminum can recycling. Through Cans for Habitat, aluminum cans are recycled to raise money that Habitat for Humanity uses to build affordable housing with low-income families nationwide.

Newell Recycling, now in its fourth decade of operation, is a processor of ferrous and nonferrous scrap metals.