Collection corner

Clear choice

While it is clear which team won Super Bowl XLIX Sunday, Feb. 1, attendees of the Verizon Super Bowl Central event in downtown Phoenix also were clear on where to toss their recyclables.

After the Department of Homeland Security mandated the use of clear containers during Super Bowl Central—a 12-block outdoor fan experience with live music, vendors and a giant rock climbing wall that ran for five days leading up to the big game—the city of Phoenix and Pepsi partnered to purchase 450 ClearStream bins, manufactured by ClearStream Recycling, based in Palos Heights, Illinois.

The clear bins were set up in stations of three to collect recyclables, compostables and waste. Officials say the clear bins showed fans “what goes where” so they produced less waste and reduced contamination.

Did you know?
The U.S. EPA offers an online Green Sports Resource Directory that can help teams, venues and leagues save money and reduce carbon emissions through increased energy efficiency, as well as to help teams reduce waste and gain recognition for their programs that reduce the environmental impact of their event. Visit www.epa.gov/green-sports to view the directory.

Promoting paper

“Paper recycling is an American success story” is the opening line of the American Forest & Paper Association’s (AF&PA’s) new video that highlights ways to improve the recycling of paper. The video, “Improving Paper Recycling,” reviews various ways to help increase paper recycling. Among the measures to take to enhance paper recycling, as explained in the video, are:

• Make sure paper products are clean and dry before being placed in the recycling bin.
• Items that are wet or have food residue on them cannot be recycled.
• Empty liquids or foods from recyclables.

“By improving paper recycling, you’re helping to make new products--products we rely on to make our lives better,” the video says.

To view the video, visit AF&PA’s paper recycling site at www.paperrecycles.org.

Collecting cans

People with pets unwittingly have been supporting their local animal shelters as well as the U.S. aluminum industry every time they feed their animals. Cans for Pets has not only helped to boost aluminum pet food can recycling, but it also has raised money to benefit animal shelters. The Pennsylvania Resources Council (PRC) partnered with The Alcoa Foundation, Pittsburgh, which pays partnered animal shelters 5 cents for each aluminum pet food can that is collected for recycling.

The Alcoa Foundation says the pilot program’s goal is to increase the recycling rate for aluminum pet food cans, which, according to an industry survey, is significantly less than that of aluminum beverage cans: a 20 percent rate for pet food cans versus a 65 percent rate for used beverage cans (UBCs).

In its third year, the Can for Pets program has collected 250,000 cans for recycling, according to the PRC.

For more information, visit the PRC online at www.prc.org/petcan.

Do you have a unique recycling-focused story? Please send a press release to Megan Workman at mworkman@gie.net.