Education Outreach Program

We offer Recycling Education services to the community through our website, written materials, and a Recycling Coordinator. Our Recycling Coordinator guides landfill tours, leads Recycling Camp, gives presentations to schools, businesses, and community group functions. Our Recycling Coordinator also serves as a resource for recycling information. For more information contact: Dee Dee Green at (850) 937-2160 or e-mail ddgreen@co.escambia.fl.us

Reduce Reuse Recycle

Why should I REDUCE, REUSE or RECYCLE?
Reducing waste, reusing materials and products, and recycling are some of the most powerful ways individuals, households and businesses can protect the environment.

* Saving natural resources: Reusing discarded products and using recycled materials to make new products reduces the use of virgin materials, which often involves harvesting trees and mining the earth. Even better, “source reducing” waste — or avoiding the generation of discards in the first place — saves the most resources of all.

* Preventing environmental problems that come from landfills: Few people want a landfill in their neighborhood. Unfortunately, we will need landfills as long as we choose to dispose of waste. Although landfills today are much safer than 20 years ago, they are still a poor use of land and a potential source of groundwater contamination and releases of methane and other gases.

* Saving energy: Enormous amounts of energy are required to make products and materials worldwide. Energy is saved by not using products and materials when at all possible, or by reusing products in their current form. Tremendous energy savings come from using recycled instead of virgin materials in manufacturing.

* Preventing pollution: Almost all manufacturing processes use water and release wastewater and air emissions into the environment. Reducing and reusing products cuts down on manufacturing pollution, just as the use of recycled instead of virgin materials prevents pollution in industrial processes.

* Saving money: Households can save money by reusing materials and products and by practicing smart shopping habits that reduce waste.

Table Comparing Energy Cost of Manufacturing Products from Raw Materials vs. Recycled Materials.

* SOURCE: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: 2005 Facts and Figures”

Reduce

Reducing the amount of waste you generate is a great step to take towards helping the environment. There are several things that you can do.

* Use tote bags or bins when shopping, say no to the plastic shopping bag.
* Select packaging that does not have a lot of excess waste.
* Use dinnerware that can be washed instead of paper plates and plastic ware.
* Only buy things that you will use in the immediate future.

Reuse

Many commonly discarded items — from single-sided paper to clothing to televisions — are readily reusable in their current form. Instead of tossing an item in the trash can or recycling bin, consider ways it might still be usable to you or someone else, or whether it can be repaired if needed.

Give your discards a chance at a second life by holding a yard sale or donating items to Goodwill, the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, or other charitable outlets. Contact schools and nursery schools to find out different types of items they reuse for art projects.

The Division of Solid Waste Management is always trying to find ways to improve recycling services to Escambia County residents. We are attempting to put together information for reusing products.

As we get information we will add it to the site. If you have information that might be useful please contact us at 850-937-2160 or e-mail us at ddgreen@co.escambia.fl.us.

Books: West Florida Public Library Donate to schools or community centers

Boats: boatangel.org

Donate to local charity

Cars: carangel.com

Scrap metal business, donate to local charity

Recycle

The energy used to manufacture a product is a direct energy cost. But there are indirect energy costs, too. The energy used to obtain raw materials- for transportation, distribution and even disposal of an item- contributes to indirect energy costs.

Direct and indirect energy costs are referred to as embedded energy- the total amount of energy a product used in its “life.” Both direct and indirect energy cost can be reduced through recycling.

Table Comparing Energy Cost of Manufacturing Products from Raw materials vs. Recycled materials. * SOURCE: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “Municipal solid Waste in the United States: 2005 Facts and Figures”

WHAT CAN I RECYCLE? For more recycling questions and answers go to the Recycling Guidelines page. Many materials can be recycled.