R ECYC L E C l e a rwat e r , C E L E B R AT E , C H RO N I C L E & I N S P I R E A Q UA RT E R LY P U B L I CAT I O N P RO D U C E D b y R e c y c l i n g Pe r k s . c o m
F lo r i da ISSUE 1 P u b l i s h e d M a y 2 n d 20 1 6
F
Illustration: Alex McCain, Volunteer Artist
RE
E
Mayday! Mayday for the Planet!
Recycle Clearwater, Florida is produced by Recycling Perks. It is our goal to build awareness of recycling, encourage people to participate in recycling every day and every week by rewarding for recycling with discounts and freebies. YOUR CLEARWATER, FLORIDA TEAM Anthony Meeks | clearwater@recyclingperks.com Bill Dempsey | bdempsey@recyclingperks.com
3 WELCOME!
4 THE LANDFILL TRUTH / HOW LONG UNTIL IT’S GONE?
5 LOCAL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
6 CITY INFORMATION: WHAT CAN BE RECYCLED
7 WHY YOU SHOULD NOT PUT YOUR PLASTIC BAGS IN YOUR BLUE BIN 8 RECYCLING PERKS REWARDS PARTNERS
Are you looking for a list of all the other businesses on board? We’ve got it all right here.
10 RECYCLE FOR AMERICA RECYCLED CRAFTS TO DECORATE FOR THE HOLIDAYS 11 RECYCLING PERKS INFORMATION 12 LOCAL EVENTS 13 VOLUNTEER FOR THE PLANET 14 ADD THE ONES YOU LOVE TO YOUR ACCOUNT 15 MAYDAY: 4 TIPS TO ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO RECYCLE 16 RECYCLING COMICS
If you want grown-ups to recycle, just tell their kids the importance of recycling, and they’ll be all over it. -Bill Nye
Welcome!
WORDS: Monique Webb, Recycling Perks
Recycling Perks is glad to be in Clearwater. We’ve partnered with dozens of local businesses so we can reward city residents for their recyling efforts! Residents signed up for a free Recycling Perks account automatically receive points for recycling on collection day in their online Recycling Perks account. Points can, in turn, be traded in for discounts and freebies from local businesses around town. Residents who recycle and use their Perks can save up to $25/month in discounts from local businesses, and that’s only the beginning. Are you a business interested in becoming a Recycling Perks Reward Partner? Well, local businesses are encouraged to participate in Recycling Perks by offering a discount (or reward, as we call it) that local residents can redeem by exchanging points earned for curbside recycling efforts. Over 95% of the businesses on Recycling Perks are locally owned and operated. Businesses participate for free and receive free exposure on RecyclingPerks.com.
Incentives for recycling are a win for residents and small businesses, and they encourage recycling efforts. Post Recycling Perks implementation; expect increases in curbside tonnage and participation saving the City money by diverting landfill bound waste to be recycled. Or, for information on your recycling incentive program, Recycling Perks, contact your Local Representative. Anthony Meeks, Clearwater Market Representative at clearwater@recyclingperks.com or call Recycling Perks at (855) 813-2154.
3
The landfill truth WORDS: Monique Webb, Recycling Perks
People often wonder why recycling is such a big deal to gung-ho recyclers. Well, let me be the first to tell you the landfill truth about your so-called ‘trash.’ Garbage, as most people like to call it, takes time to break down and some of course, longer than others. This means that the big pile of trash that we generate, or the Landfill as most people know it, will continue to grow until some of the garbage in the bottom of the pile disintegrates making space for more trash to be piled on top. This means that we are wasting valuable land resources to house the one thing we put out to the curb on a regular basis, our trash. That pile continues to grow on a daily basis when it could be greatly reduced in size if more people simply reduced, reused and recycled. Take a closer look at your (recyclable and reusable) garbage. You might be surprised to know just how long those items you called trash will last in its Landfill home. There are many ways to reduce your consumption of packaged materials, recycle almost all of your household items and reuse items in creative ways in order to reduce the amount of waste you generate. Why don’t you donate your shoes and clothing to someone in need, use your scrap plywood to make a birdhouse, or the old fishing line to make a recycled win chime? Maybe because you never thought of ways to reuse trash, but there are loads of resources online that can help you turn that around. Check out sites like www.Instructables.com or even www.Pinterest.com for ideas and inspiration on reducing, reusing and recycling everything in your home.
4
7
WORDS:
Anthony Meeks, Recycling Perks
20 shekels Nutritious and Delicious Bread 20 shekels Bread located on Drew Street here in sunny Clearwater Florida near the Delphi Academy of Florida is the bay area’s best place to get the most delicious, highest quality, nutritious, and organic bread. What began as challenge has grown into one Clearwater’s premier locations for fresh organic bread. Owner Marni Atherton started 20 Shekels Bread back in 2010 while looking for a bread that had more protein and nutrition than most commercial breads, but she didn’t enjoy the taste of the “healthy” loaves she could find in stores. Not to be stopped
from enjoying one of her favorite foods, she started down the path of making her own Ezekiel bread. Now what started as a hobby has now become passion.
tritious and digestible food. In addition to the Ezekiel, the bakery’s lineup includes Chocolate Blackberry, Muesli, Walnut Pear, and Peasant breads. Each one features unique flavors that complement one another perfectly. Baked fresh daily 20 Shekels Bread is open Wednesday through Sunday 6 a.m. to 12 p.m. They bake amazing pastries, and offer baking classes at their bakery as well.
What makes 20 Shekels Bread unique is their use of sprouted grains. Unsprouted whole grains used in traditional flours are dried seeds and like other vegetable seeds the nutrients lay dormant until they are sprouted or germinated into plants called vegetables. Sprouting a grain actually changes its composition from As a Recycling Perks member a starch to a vegetable. When you’ll get 25 % off of your whole grains are sprouted, they purchase with 50 points! are converted into a more nu-
5
CITY INFORMATION
For more information, call Solid Waste at 562-4920.
Blue recycling container: Residents are able to recycle many new items to further reduce the waste going into the landfill. Please make sure all items are empty.
Glass
Metal
Glass bottles and jars
Aluminum, steel cans and empty aerosol cans
Paper Products Plastic
Cardboard, milk & juice cartons, juice boxes, newspaper and mixed paper (if you can rip it, you can recycle it; this includes office paper, magazines and catalogs, junk mail, shredded paper, phonebooks, paperback books, cereal and food boxes, envelopes, shoe boxes, wrapping paper, and folders)
All plastics (no Styrofoam, plastic bags or wrap), plastic bottles, wide mouth plastic and rigid plastic containers
“Black Barrel” Garbage Container Place garbage other than yard waste in container; close lid; be sure nothing hangs down sides of barrel. Yard waste is recycled. Bag or box uncontaminated leaves and grass clippings; cut tree limbs and brush into four foot lengths and bundle. Place at curb, not in your black barrel or blue barrel. Place container at curb no earlier than 7:00 p.m. on the night prior to collection day, and no later than 7:00 a.m. that morning. Remove container from curb no later than 7:00 a.m. on the day following collection. Place container within two feet of the curb with handle facing away from curb. Do not place container within three feet of your recycling bin or other obstructions, i.e., mailboxes, parked cars, trees and guidewires. It is your responsibility to keep your container clean. Wash it periodically with a hose and mild soap. Drain and wrap wet garbage prior to placing in your container. Bag lightweight material (Styrofoam “peanuts,” shredded paper, etc. Do not place the following items in your container: hot ashes, yard waste, concrete, electronics, dirt, sod, sand, plaster, carpeting, lumber, plasterboard, tile, bricks, roofing shingles or any other construction, remodeling or demolition debris. It is illegal to dispose of the following materials in your container: tires, auto batteries, pool chemicals, toxic or flammable items or liquid paint. Paint cans will get crushed and leak onto your streets. Leave lids off latex paint cans to allow the paint to dry out, or saturate with newspaper, then place in container. Oil-based paint, other chemicals, and electronics must be disposed of at the County’s Household Electronics & Chemical Collection Center, or at scheduled mobile chemical collection events. Call (727) 464-7500 for information. 6
* The solid waste truck is on a scheduled route, and cannot return if container is not put out as described above.
Why you should not put your plastic bags in your blue bin WORDS:
T. Hungate, Volunteer Author
You may have heard that plastic bags are not supposed to go in your curbside recycling bin, but do you know why? There are a few reasons actually, and they may surprise you. Reason 1 – Most recycling centers’ first stage of sorting is done by hand, by hard working individuals at your local recycling station. They sort through tons of material an hour, and lose precious time if they have to untie or open a plastic bag. The workers cannot tell what is inside of a closed bag. It could be full of 100% recyclable material or it could be full of things like dirty diapers or food scraps and other contaminants. This also makes it unsafe for recycling center workers to open the bags, and in most cases they end up being thrown in the trash! Reason 2 – Plastic bags that do make it past the first sorting stage can interfere with the automatic sorting machines which use conveyor belts, rotating tunnels, spinning wheels, and magnets to sort items. Plastic bags can easily get caught in the belts and wheels causing them to jam. Your little plastic bag could bring an entire recycling sorting station to a dead stop. It could take workers hours to find the plastic culprit and remove it, thereby greatly reducing the efficiency of the recycling station. What should you do with your plastic bags if you can’t put them in the bin? There is good news for plastic bags when it comes to recycling. Over 18,000 retail store locations have added plastic bag recycling to their list of services offered. You may have even noticed these bins at the entrance to some of your favorite grocery stores or home improvement stores. The bins are typically labeled, easy to see and easy to use. Use this tool to find exact locations to dispose of your plastic bags, by zip code: http://www.plasticfilmrecycling.org.
7
8
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA
RECYCLING PERKS REWARD PARTNERS
representaave.
Representaave
Anthony Meeks Monique Webb deerďŹ eld@recyclingperks.com clearwater@recyclingperks.com 754-333-1606
BEAUTY & SPA
HEALTH & FITNESS
Get Faded Barbershop Hippie Holistics Island Trendz Salon & Spa Marlo Stone; Master Barber Massage and Tan Me Beach Planet Tan R2 Barbershop
Curves in Clearwater Hot Yoga 365
EVENTS & ACTIVITIES Clearwater Ferry Downtown Vaporium FOOD & BEVEREAGE 20 Shekels Bread Farmer Boy Restaurant Kara Lynn’s Kitchen Nature’s Food Patch Post Corner Pizza Westshore Pizza Whole Foods Market
HOME & GARDEN Ability Air & Heat Affordable Inspections, Inc. Al’s Window Tinting & Custom Window Treatments Dog Days Pools Ironshield Security JB Factory Flooring Sunbeam Air Conditioning SERVICES 3 Shades of Blue Web Design Century Printing & Design Computer Repair Clearwater DNA Vaping Lounge EcoDri HR Universe
Hunter’s Landscaping & Lawn Maintenance, Inc. If Trees Could Talk Irion’s TV Shop Lawns By Norman Pete’s Pristine Pool Service Presidential Pressure Washing Pro Wash Plus Reliable Movers and Storage, Inc. Treeology Velocity Air Conditioning Zip Mailing Florida uBreakiFix SHOPPING All Brides 2 Be Chainwheel Drive Flower Market Florist HiFi Homebrew and BBQ Supply Pam Co Supply The Path Bicycle & Ride Shop Valone’s Vacuums
More Reward Partners are joining weekly, find them on our Facebook page! Go to: https://www.facebook.com/recyclingperksclearwater 9
Recycle For America! http://thebasicsmagazine.com
WORDS: Monique Webb, Recycling Perks
Recycled craft article for holidays on May 25th (Memorial Day), June 14th (Flag Day) and July 4th (Independence Day).
Bottle Cap Wreath MATERIALS: - Bottle caps (in white, red and blue) - Circular wooden frame - White paint - Red paint - Blue paint - Industrial strength glue - White ribbon DIRECTIONS: 1. Paint your wooden frame with white. 2. Separate your bottle caps by color (if you do not have red, white and blue bottle caps, you can simply paint your bottle caps). 3. Glue a layer of white bottle caps to the frame. 4. Glue on the second layer of bottle caps. Be sure to center the bottle cap between the two 10
5. 6.
caps beneath it. Alternate your bottle caps between blue and red bottle caps. Add a few additional white caps on top of red and blue layer to your liking. Wrap ribbon around wreath and tie on top in a bow or use the ribbon to hang your wreath.
Tin Can Luminaries MATERIALS: - Empty steel cans, cleaned and labels removed - Water - Sand - Nail - Hammer
- Scrap paper - Tape - Red, white, and blue paint DIRECTIONS: 1. Place a handful of sand in y our cans, then, fill the can to the top with water. Place the cans in the freezer until the water is frozen solid. 2. Create stencils of your designs for your cans on scrap paper. 3. Once your cans of sand and water are frozen, remove them from the freezer and tape your stencil design onto the can. 4. Using a nail and hammer, gently punch out the design from your stencil. 5. Allow the ice in the can to melt so that you can dispose of water (keep your sand to reuse it later). Then dry the cans completely. 6. Paint your cans on the outside, and on the inside, with any red, white and blue pattern. 7. Once your paint is dry, you can simply add sand to weigh down the can and add a tea light candle to illuminate your design. See more on our Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/recyclingperks/
THANK YOU FOR RECYCLING!
R E T S I G E
R
r of you t r a p st eady s is alr gram, but ju k r e P ro ling an Recyc e recycling p doesn’t me r d fo d curbsi it’s include points g n i n r e g a s becau matically e start earnin o o t T u a e at ts. you’re ycling effor count onlin ss ac ec kes le your r tivate your a t t I . ac OM today, INGPERKS.C tes. L minu RECYC than 2
E M L E C E Y D C E E R R le on cyc i t c e l l in y co tically e ever a m m o o h t the ts au le at Recyc ll earn poin count. From u’ be ac and yo cling Perks cling, you’ll n the ecy ecy your R t you start r hat you can t m n mome ints, points iscounts fro , e o d p g some Recycle mor e w earnin a r n. in fo nd tow . trade u o r a s ore pot earn m local s
r hone o ling p t r a m t, s cyc y table ess your Re on n a m acc Fro nts ou can p the discou oints y , r e t compu ccount, sho ur earned p n a mo in yo Perks Redee r at trade . e d k n i l a e ’d he the sit reward you d vouc te r a w e r y activa for an e or print a u o y t men h hon your p rom the mo have enoug on F ll s home. ccount you’ the reward g a in your shopp KS.COM. t r a t s to ER points ECYCLINGP R
11
Local Events May
5/21 OPERATION SHRED
COMMUNITY SHREDDING EVENT
8 am - 4 pm, Countryside Mall
5/1 AMERILIFE FUN‘N COUNTRY
5/6 CLEARWATER BEACH TASTE FEST CONCERT PRESENTED BY 99.5 QYK 6:30 pm, On Beach Walk and So. Gulfview Blvd 12:30 pm, Coachman Park on Clearwater Beach - FREE (Ticketed event) 5/7 2016 CLEARWATER BOATYARD BASH 5/1 THEFLORIDAORCHESTRA: 6 pm, Coachman Park - $25
BEETHOVEN’SEROICASYMPHONY
5/9-22 CLEARWATER BEACH
7:30 pm, Ruth Eckerd Hall (Ticketed event) 5/2 EVANESCENCE CONCERT 8 pm, Ruth Eckerd Hall (Ticketed event) 5/4 DOWNTOWN CLEARWATER
FARMER’S MARKET
RESTAURANT WEEK
At participating restaurants 5/17 CLASSIC ALBUMS: THE BEATLES 7:30 pm, The Capitol Theatre (Ticketed event) 5/21 SWIM ACROSS AMERICA TAMPA 6:45 am, Clearwater Beach - FREE
9 am, 500-600 blocks of Cleveland 5/26 JAZZ IN PARADISE Every Wednesday in May - FREE 6 pm, Coachman Park- aboard the StarLite Majesty Dining Yacht - $80 5/5 LIVE LIFE TOGETHER TOUR 8 pm, Ruth Eckerd Hall 5/27 BLAST FRIDAY: HERE COME THE MUMMIES (Ticketed event) WITH SPECIAL GUEST NOAH GUTHRIE 5:30 pm, The Capitol Theatre ($25-$45)
June July
6/1 DOWNTOWN CLEARWATER
FARMER’S MARKET
CLEARWATER CELEBRATES AMERICA IN CLEARWATER 7/4
9 am, 500-600 blocks of Cleveland 4 pm, Coachman Park - FREE Every Wednesday in June - FREE 12 4
Volunteer for the planet! Recycling Perks needs your help to promote recycling in Clearwater.
14
CONTACT US
INFORM
PROMOTE US
Anyone who has a few hours to give, can contact us at info@recyclingperks.com
We’ll tell you what needs we have at the moment in your city.
Help us get the word out about the program!
13
Add the ones you love to your account Invite your spouse, child, roommate, co-worker, or anyone who helps you earning points.
14
SAME ADDRESS
SEND INVITE
ENJOY
Anyone who recycles at the same address as yours, can be added to your account.
In your account, click on “Invite someone to your account”. Type in the name and email of the person you would like to share your points with. The new user will receive an invitation to create their account.
Everyone will be able to use the common earned points, in their own way. You might want to redeem a free yoga class, while they might want to go out for dinner...
www.recyclingperks.com
11
4 tips to encourage
others to recycle
WORDS: Sandra Hungate, Recycling Perks
Mayday, mayday!! Our beautiful planet needs our attention. The world population is growing, and its waste along with it. There is only so much space to deposit our waste, and it takes many human lifetimes for some of the materials to decompose. Some of these materials will soon disappear due to intensive exploitation by mankind. Aluminum, at the current rate of use, is set to disappear by 2139. Even earlier, in 2021, silver will be completely exploited – so recycling will be the only way to maintain silver on our Earth! We need to encourage others to recycle! Try these 4 main tips: 1. Educate people about the importance of recycling. Many simply don’t know what it is about, or what it does; they consider the recycling bin as a second trash can. 2. Open people’s eyes and minds. Get the word out through your social groups, both online and off. Share the facts, numbers, and videos like the plastic bags in the oceans, etc. You can find lots of information on www.facebook.com/recyclingperks. 3. Consider having a recycling presentation at your neighborhood’s association meeting. Recycling Perks provides this as a free service. Or, you can present the facts yourself. 4. Rather than just telling people, you can also show them by sharing a video about recycling, such as “How Recycling Works” from SciShow to find at https://youtu.be/b7GMpjx2jDQ
15
Comic strip: Hank Samuels, Volunteer Artist