Recycling Fair & Equipment Expo Set for July 14 at ETHS
The City of Evanston will be hosting a Recycling Fair and Public Works Equipment Expo from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, July 14, 2012 at Evanston Township High School located at 1600 Dodge Ave. The fair provides residents with an opportunity to recycle a variety of items, securely shred documents, obtain recycling education materials, learn about construction projects, sign up for a free compost cart and get a close look at some of the Streets and Sanitation heavy equipment.
Quick Tips for Visiting the Fair
If you are going to bring items to recycle or shred, please follow the sign and remain in your car; we will unload the items for you. Electronic recycling and document destruction are open to residents of all Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) communities. Cars will line up in the southbound lane of Dodge Ave. and go west on to Lake Street to enter the event. Please make sure you line up from the proper direction.
Electronic Recycling
The following electronic materials will be accepted at the event: televisions, computer monitors, cell phones, computers (PCs & laptops), VHS players, DVD players, printers, scanners, fax machines, MP3 players, PDAs, mice, keyboards and video game consoles.
Document Shredding and Recycling
Residents can bring up to five bankers storage boxes of paper documents to be shredded on site. Documents should be placed in a box or brown paper bag and large metal clips and binders should be removed ahead of time.
Plastic Shopping Bag Collection to Benefit Homeless
New this year to the Evanston Recycling Fair and Equipment Expo is the collection of plastic shopping bags. Volunteers from Westminster Place, a Presbyterian Homes retirement community in Evanston, will be collecting plastic shopping bags and turning them into sleeping mats for the homeless.
Plastic “t-shirt” type bags from all types of stores will be collected. Volunteers will cut the plastic bags into loops, which are then slip-knotted into a plastic yarn, or “plarn." The plarn is then woven to make the sleeping mats. Each finished mat measures 3-feet wide by 6-feet long.
Westminster Place volunteers have partnered with Cornerstone Community Outreach , a Chicago Shelter which distributes the sleeping mats during their work with area homeless. It takes approximately 400 bags to create one sleeping mat and over 60 hours of volunteer time.
To date, Westminster Place volunteers have removed more than 300,000 plastic shopping bags from the waste stream while providing a moisture resistant and heat generating sleeping surface for area homeless.
Other Items to be Recycled
In addition to document shredding and recycling, the following items will be accepted for recycling:
- Hangers
- CFL light bulbs
- Batteries
- Plastic bags
- Books (novels only, no textbooks, please)
- Ink & toner cartridges
Composting Program
The Public Works Department is expanding the Pilot Compost Program and will again be offering free compost carts to Evanston residents. Containers provided for the program are made from repurposed, 95-gallon refuse carts that have been washed and retrofitted to serve as a stationary composting container. Residents can sign up to have one delivered to their home.
Free Reusable Bags
In an effort to reduce the number of plastic bags used by residents, the Evanston Public Works Department will give free insulated reusable grocery bags to the first 750 Evanston residents who play the Department’s “In or Out” recycling game.
Vendors, Organizations & City Departments
The fair will also host various vendors, organizations and city departments, such as Citizens’ Greener Evanston, Evanston Environmental Association, the Evanston Ecology Center, Evanston Rebuilding Warehouse, Keep Evanston Beautiful, Presbyterian Homes, Office Depot, EcoDirect, Sam’s Club, the Evanston Fire Department and Evanston Police Department. Each vendor, organization or city department will have different activities and information on recycling and safety.
Equipment Expo
The Public Works Department will also be hosting an equipment expo including games, as well as a chance to get up-close to view the trucks that keep Evanston clean and functioning smoothly.
Bike Registration
The Evanston Police Department will be on hand to conduct bike registrations.
Refreshments
Free snow cones and cotton candy will be available on a first-come, first-served basis courtesy of SWANCC and Groot. In addition, packaged refreshments will also be available for sale.