Auburn Recycles Day, which was on Nov. 15, celebrated and promoted recycling in the community. It is in conjunction with America Recycles Day, also on Nov. 15, which is the only nationally recognized date dedicated to recycling.
Catrina Cook, environmental services director for the City of Auburn, explained that this holiday originated in 2006 when Auburn became a member of the Keep America Beautiful initiative.
Teaming up with Keep America Beautiful has provided several benefits, primarily sparking several initiatives promoting recycling and reducing waste within the community. In 2017, Auburn merged into single-stream recycling, moving away from binned recycling.
“This transition alone increased our recycling from 33% to 84%,” Cook said.
The Auburn Recycles Day theme this year was to recycle more and recycle right.
In the weeks leading up to Nov. 15, Auburn asked its community members to look at what they are recycling and see what more they can do, or how they can buy differently. Auburn also asked its residents to put the correct items in their curbside recycling bins.
The Auburn recycling drop-off center accepts used cooking oil, batteries and glass — items that aren’t fit to be placed at curbside pickup.
The drop-off center allows for local college students dwelling in apartments to recycle regardless of what their apartment complex offers.
Electronics are also taken at the drop-off center from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., allowing for students to get rid of old laptops.
On Oct. 24, the recycling center hosted its annual Hazardous Waste Collection day, a twice-annual tradition for more than 17 years. Once in the spring, and again in the fall, the public has the opportunity to get rid of things that typically cannot be left in garbage bins, such as paint, chemicals, fertilizers, pool chemicals and paint thinners.
There also was a document-shredding truck onsite, providing the public with the opportunity to watch their important documents, of a sensitive nature, get shredded.
To keep the public aware of the importance of recycling, Auburn’s recycling facility typically works with the K-12 school system, holding a free T-shirt giveaway at the drop-off center for students, while explaining the ways they can get involved and lead a more environmentally conscious life.
COVID-19 has moved involvement with the community to virtual means. Upcoming information is spread through social media.
The City posts about what items are accepted for drop-off and provide how much recycling is being accomplished.
While Auburn Recycles Day concentrates on increasing recycling awareness, community members have the ability to choose and continue pursuing conservation efforts throughout the year.
“There are a lot of things that we can do in our daily lives to ensure we’re conserving natural resources,” Cook said.
Conservation efforts can be as simple as foregoing plastic bags and taking reusable shopping bags to the grocery store instead. The benefits of recycling and the job opportunities it creates are vast, Cook said.
By recycling, people reduce waste, thus saving landfill space and preserving the lifespan of the landfill. Through conserving natural resources, pollution is decreased.
Recyclables have monetary value, and when they are properly handled, they make their way to businesses that can use them as materials to create new products. More recycling yields more recycling jobs. As a result, more money is put back into the local economy, Cook said.
According to the United States Economic Development Administration, “for every 10,000 tons of resources recycled, nearly 16 jobs are supported ... $76,000 in wages.”
Used electronics and recyclable materials are being accepted daily at the Auburn recycling drop-off center located at 353 N. Donahue Drive.
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