You Can Recycle That?

Bettie Weaver Elementary held another Recycling Roundup this past fall and we were very happy with the number of items that were brought in to be recycled and saved from being placed in landfills, so thank you to all that participated in this earth-friendly cause. BWE collects cell phones, digital cameras, printer cartridges, plastic grocery bags, yogurt cups, glue sticks, bottle caps, tape dispensers and tape cores. All of these are either taken to stores that recycle them, sent to recycling programs or used by the school's art teacher for projects. With the success of the Recycling Roundup, we wanted to make you aware of more more items that can be recycled: #5 plastics - which includes yogurt cups, cream cheese, margarine, and sour cream containers can all be recycled. Whole Foods Grocery in Short Pump collects the #5 plastics, which we cannot place in our curbside recycling. Whole Foods uses them to make toothbrushes and razors. So please remember to clean them and save them to bring to Whole Foods the next time you shop there. And if you don’t shop at Whole Foods, you can send in to the next Recycling Roundup at BWE. We also wanted to make you aware that Lowe's Home Improvement has added new recycling containers inside their store located at the West Koger Center. You can now bring your rechargeable batteries and energy efficient light bulbs to Lowe's for recycling. Batteries and energy efficient light bulbs contain mercury and should not be placed in the regular trash. As more of our light bulbs get replaced with these energy efficient bulbs it is nice to know you can bring your old ones to Lowe's anytime, instead of waiting once a year for Chesterfield County's special recycling days. Lastly, one other item which can be recycled, if you are not aware, is pet's fur. Don’t laugh, donated pet fur was recycled and used as clean up material for Gulf Coast Oil Spill. Ask your dog groomer next time if they recycle the fur! Or if you groom your pets yourself and need ideas on how to fur-recycle check out this website.www.ecosalon.com/how-to-make-pet-hair-work-for-you-not-against-you/