This blog was writ­ten by the Howard County Recy­cling Divi­sion – Thank you!

Amer­ica Recy­cles Day is being cel­e­brated this year on Mon­day, Novem­ber 15th.  Since 1997, com­mu­ni­ties across the coun­try have come together to cel­e­brate Amer­ica Recy­cles Day. More than a cel­e­bra­tion, Amer­ica Recy­cles Day is the only nation­ally rec­og­nized day ded­i­cated to the pro­mo­tion of recy­cling pro­grams in the United States. One day to inform and edu­cate. One day to get our neigh­bors, friends and com­mu­nity lead­ers excited about what can be accom­plished when we all work together.  While we are all look­ing for­ward to Amer­ica Recy­cles Day, in many ways, res­i­dents of Howard County cel­e­brate Amer­ica Recy­cles Day every day. Not only do thou­sands of Howard County res­i­dents recy­cle at the curb, but many res­i­dents also recy­cle addi­tional items at the Alpha Ridge Land­fill Res­i­dents’ Con­ve­nience Area and through retail take-back programs.

Want to know more about recy­cling? Howard County has a detailed and very infor­ma­tive web­site, www.howardcountyrecycles.org which pro­vides infor­ma­tion about recy­cling items that you might not have known were recy­clable. The Spe­cialty Recy­cling page high­lights reuse and recy­cling pro­grams includ­ing what to do with baby items, can­dles, CDs, elec­tron­ics, med­ical equip­ment, yoga mats and much more. There are links to web­sites for recy­cling items such as bat­ter­ies, elec­tron­ics and CFLs. Res­i­dents can also stay up to date with recy­cling News and Upcom­ing Events and the Hol­i­day Slide Schedule.

Want to do even more? How about com­post­ing your leaves, grass clip­pings and food scraps at home? The County pro­vides free com­post­ing bins to res­i­dents; visit the Bureau of Envi­ron­men­tal Ser­vices at 6751 Colum­bia Gate­way Drive, Suite 514 or the Alpha Ridge Land­fill in Mar­riottsville to pick one up.

Do you want to sched­ule a recy­cling pre­sen­ta­tion? Recy­cling Coor­di­na­tors are avail­able to attend com­mu­nity meetings, religious groups, busi­nesses, schools, etc. to spread the word about Howard County recy­cling. Maybe you want some help start­ing a recy­cling pro­gram or improv­ing an exist­ing pro­gram? The Recy­cling Divi­sion is here to help. Don’t hes­i­tate to call (410−313−6444), send an email at help@howardcountyrecycles.org or visit our web­site if you come across an item you aren’t sure about, think of a ques­tion, or have some­thing you want to share.

If you would like to know more about Amer­ica Recy­cles Day (ARD), please visit www.americarecyclesday.org. Take the pledge to recy­cle and learn about local ARD events.

We’re proud of Howard County res­i­dents’ com­mit­ment to the envi­ron­ment, but know that we all can do even bet­ter! We have a deci­sion to make on every item we pur­chase, use and discard.