Talking Trash

Thanksgiving Day 2009 - modified trash and recycling collection schedule

20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Thursday, November 26, 2009 - Thanksgiving Day - is a recycling and trash collection holiday. After the holiday, all County-provided recycling and trash collections will slide, and be one day later than normal.

If your normal collection day is:	Your collection day for the week of November 26, 2009, is:
Monday	Monday
Tuesday	Tuesday
Wednesday	Wednesday
Thursday	Friday
Friday	Saturday

If you have any questions or concerns about your County-provided collection, please contact our Customer Service staff online or call 240-777-6410.

Note: if you (or your community) have a private contract for your trash collection, or if you live in a municipality, these schedule announcements may not apply to your trash service -- check with your hauler or community manager.

Shady Grove Solid Waste Transfer Station

Transfer Station location, hours and other details

Wednesday, November 25, 2009: Site and administrative offices close at 5:00 p.m.

Thursday, November 26, 2009: Site and administrative offices closed.

Friday, November 27, 2009: Site and administrative offices reopen with normal hours.

Poolesville Beauty Spot

Beauty Spot location, hours and other details

No change to hours of operation

--posted by Susanne

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Put leaves in nothing fancier than brown bags or reusable cans

16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

What ferocious "pumpkins"! With leering smiles, they munch on leaves!

Look again, and you'll see that they are sporting a bit of extra orange... That's one of our rejection tags, indicating that these carefully bagged leaves were unacceptable for recycling collection.

As you prepared your autumn leaves for weekly curbside yard trim recycling collection, please set them out only in paper yard trim bags, or in labeled, reusable cans.

We shred and compost the yard trim we receive. During this process, plastic bags which come in are broken into a gazillion tiny pieces that create tremendous problems at our facilities. To help prevent this, we are unable to accept yard trim packaged in plastic.

If you'd like to try your hand at composting your own leaves - it's easy, and the resulting product is wonderful for your lawn and garden - pick up one of our bins at no charge.

--posted by Susanne

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Lots of shredding (and donating) going on!

14 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Our celebration of America Recycles Day is in full swing this weekend! We had two paper shredding and household donation events today. If you missed them, we've got two more for you tomorrow in Bethesda and Silver Spring.

Here are a few images from today's event in Germantown. The weather was overcast -- and thankfully, precipation was limited to the occasional light drizzle. Our staff and volunteers were in great spirits as they greeted event participants, with a friendly competition between sites to see which one had the most number of cars, paper shredded, and donations received!

A steady stream of cars came through (thank you all for coming out!). With many hands on deck for unloading, there was essentially no wait time. Participants were in and out in minutes.

Volunteers welcomed participants, handed out information, and answered questions about recycling.

Donations rolled in a trunkload at a time, with the collective results filling up the truck.

If you miss this weekend's events, remember that we accept paper you shred at home yourself in our weekly mixed paper recycling collection. (Please bundle the shreds -- that prevents them from blowing out of your container as they await collection, and as crews empty your container.) Your donations are welcomed year-round by local charities and organizations; consult our Use It Again Guide at Use It Again Guide for suggestions, if you don't already have a favorite donation spot.

--posted by Susanne

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The Fall 2009 Leaf Vaccuming begins today!

09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Today is the first day of the 2009 leaf vacuuming program! The Montgomery County Department of Transportation's Division of Highway Services, one of our sister agencies, provides this service in the Leaf Collection District. This District's general boundaries are: south of Bel Pre Road, east of I-270/I-495 and west of New Hampshire Avenue, to the District line.

Please help crews by

Noting the information on the posted signs
Raking leaves to the road edge (not into the street itself) or placing leaves in paper yard waste bags.
Not placing leaves out for collection in plastic bags.
Keeping parked vehicles away from leaf piles

Read full details on leaf vacuuming, including a service area map and progress updates.

Don't have leaf vacuuming service in your neighborhood? We provide our weekly curbside yard trim collections -- including leaves in paper yard trim bags or reusable cans -- year-round! You may order yard trim decals for your cans online. Also, consider composting leaves. We offer compost bins at no additional charge to you.

Keep all of our yard trim links handy through one convenient web page: http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/yardtrim

--posted by Susanne

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Community Service Day Recap

06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

On October 24, residents at Manchester Manor Apartments, Tanglewood Apartments, and Sligo Hills Apartments in Silver Spring were treated to on-site paper shredding/recycling and the opportunity to donate clothing and household goods to families in need.

Montgomery County collaborated with Office Paper Systems, A Wider Circle, and the Housing Opportunities Commission to provide these services in the parking areas of these properties.

Montgomery County volunteers and staff also went door-to-door, placing apartment-sized recycling bins and recycling information at the door of every apartment, and replaced the labels and posters at the collection areas to raise resident recycling awareness.

This event was part of the countywide Community Service Day, a day of volunteering to encourage the spirit of giving among county residents.

From the November 2009 issue of our TRRAC Newsletter for multi-family properties.

--posted by Susanne

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Veterans Day Holiday, November 11, 2009 - normal collection schedule

05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - Veterans Day - is a regular recycling and trash collection day. There will be no holiday slide; all County-provided recycling and trash collections will be made on their normal schedule. Our Solid Waste Transfer Station will have its regular hours of operation.

If you have any questions or concerns about your County-provided collection, please contact our Customer Service staff online or call 240-777-6410.

If you (or your community) have a private contract for your trash collection, or if you live in a municipality, these schedule announcements may not apply to your trash service -- check with your hauler or community manager.

Do you subscribe to our reminders for holiday and weather-related collection service changes? We offer email and text message options!

-- posted by Susanne

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Can you recycle glass air freshener bottles?

26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

Montgomery County accepts food grade glass bottles
and jars for recycling. Glass air freshener bottles
are not recycled in the curbside recycling program.

Do not recycle glass items such as: drinking glasses,
ceramic plates, glass cooking ware, and wine glasses.
These items can be sold at yard sales or donated.

Wondering what do with broken glass? Place any
broken glass in a paper bag and dispose of it in the
trash.

From the Fall 2009 issue of the Recycletter, our newsletter for our Recycling Volunteers.

-- posted by Susanne

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Four paper shredding and clothing/household donation events on November 14 + 15, 2009

22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

We are celebrating America Recycles Day four times: in four locations over two days!

Join us in Germantown and Silver Spring on November 14, 2009, and in Bethesda and Silver Spring on November 15, 2009. Each site will feature a community paper shred and clothing/household goods donation drop-off.

Paper shredding and recycling is available at no charge to Montgomery County residents only, with a 5 bag/small box limit. Your materials will be shredded on-site.

The usable clothing/household item donation drop-off will benefit four local charities. Accepted items will include clean clothing, miscellaneous household goods, small electronics, books, furniture, and much more. Receipts available upon request.

-- posted by Susanne

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What happens to bikes you recycle?

22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

What happens to the bicycles you set out for curbside scrap metal recycling, or add to the scrap metal pile at the Shady Grove Transfer Station?

Our staff sorts through the bikes, setting aside those which are in good condition. We partner with Bikes for the World, a sponsored project of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, to put as many bikes as possible back into use. Bikes in damaged or rusty condition are recycled as scrap metal.

And what is the next step for bikes collected by Bikes for the World? Through selected non-profit agencies near and far, they become transportation for people who use them to get to work or school.

In honor of the International Day of Climate Action, Bikes for the World has set a goal of collecting and shipping 350 bikes at its collection events this weekend. Two of its events will be in Montgomery County:

Saturday, October 24, 2009, 9 am – 12 noon
St. Paul’s Catholic Community,
at the Community Gazebo, corner Rt. 108 and Rt. 124,
Damascus MD 20872
Sunday, October 25, 2009, 10 am – 2 pm
Congregation Beth El,
8215 Old Georgetown Road,
Bethesda MD 20814

In addition to bicycles, Bikes for the World also accepts bike-related items, sewing machines, and cell phones.

-- posted by Susanne

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Have you received our expanded recycling program mailer or seen our ad?

28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST

To help you learn about our expanded recycling program, we sent out mailers -- has this handy reference arrived in your mailbox already? We have put the mailer online (PDF, 1.63 MB):

We're running this newspaper ad (PDF, 839 kb) as well:

We encourage you to share these links and documents with others!

-- posted by Susanne

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