MVR NEWSLETTER: Spring 2006

WE NOW TAKE SOLID COLOR PLASTIC!!
PLEASE SEPARATE YOUR RECYCLABLES
With the high price of oil, recyclable plastic (PET) is fetching a higher commodity price. We can now take your solid color plastics. Andy is requesting that our residential customers do a better job at separating their NEWSPAPER from other types or paper. Please try to use separate bags or boxes for each item: magazines / newspapers / junk mail & paper / cardboard / tin cans / aluminum cans / bottle plastic / milk jug plastic / solid color plastic.

GLASS. Please call us if you would like a free reusable MVR "growler" for your beer consumption. Once again, in Missoula, reusing glass seems to be the best (and only) solution to "the glass problem". Numerous therapy groups are springing up (all over town) to deal with the trauma of throwing glass in the trash, where its landfill bound. Look at the bright side. We don't ship garbage down the coast like New York! The glass program failed because the costs of collecting, stockpiling, grinding, and sorting far outweighed the value (and demand for) the final product. It may seem counterintuitive, but by not recycling glass we are saving energy resources. That's not true with paper, plastic, and metals - unless perhaps you drive to recycle it. The good news is that glass is made from sand, not a finite resource- as are the other recyclable commodities. The folks at the landfill say it actually helps drainage (decomposition); it is non-toxic, and fills 5-6% of the landfill. Now, think about forest products, which make up 60%. If we concentrate on recycling paper we are saving trees.

RECYCLING IN THE SCHOOL PROGRAM: We are happy to thank our very generous donors to help fund 6 schools so far!!! This is proof that people in our community care enough to step up with financial contributions to make our community and our schools a better place.

WEBPAGE UPDATES:
*We have made a list of the businesses that recycle with MVR. If a company you work for or do business with is not on the list…. It means they either recycle in-house, or do not recycle at all. One business owner recently stated "My customers don't care if I recycle or not". Yet some of his employees wanted to recycle at the workplace. How do you feel? Do you wonder if the local businesses you work with recycle?

*Check our progress reports regarding The School Recycling Project.

*We will also be posting dates for the city's electronic recycling and hazardous waste Days.