Recycling drive expands
Published 9:15 pm Monday, December 12, 2011
This weekend, city residents will have the opportunity to recycle a multitude items that can’t be put in the blue curbside bins.
Suffolk will host the last of its quarterly recycling drives this year from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Bennett’s Creek Park.
Michael Griffith, the city’s litter control coordinator, said there will be several vendors at the event to pick up the items.
“We will have a variety of trucks out there,” he said. “We’ll have directional signs as to exactly where (people) need to drive.”
People will be able to bring everyday recyclables, like plastic bottles and aluminum, but they also can bring other things, such as tires and batteries. One company will even collect polystyrene foam, like Styrofoam. This is the first time the city has had a foam recycler at the drive, Griffith said, and he isn’t sure exactly how the company uses the product.
“They’ll collect it and compact it into little squares,” he said.
Additionally, people can bring their electronics to the recycling drive.
Griffith said it is important to keep electronics out of landfills, because the metals used to make them can be hazardous.
“Even when they burn our trash, there’s a problem with the ash afterward,” he said. “Some electronics contain valuable metals, as well.”
The only items that will not be accepted Saturday are paint cans, Christmas lights and medical waste.
In light of the addition of a citywide recycling program, he said, the recycling drives have become less critical for things like plastics, but they are still very important to ensure that things like tires are thrown away properly.
“When someone drops a tire in the woods, it becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes,” he said. “It makes it horrible for all of us.”
For more information about the drive, call the litter control office at 514-7604.