Recycling tips to make Brighton greener

This page lists ways to recycle common household items in Brighton.

Monroe County’s “Blue Box” program

Monroe County’s “Blue Box” program can accept many items for recycling — paper materials, plastics #1-7 (starting June 1st, 2011), and some metal items. They need to be placed in your recycling box for pick-up on your regular trash collection day.

• List and details on material included and not included

Find out more about what Monroe County recycles by taking a tour of the Monroe County Recycling Center, 384 Lee Road in Greece. You’ll be surprised at all the helpful information they provide. The Center provides tours to community, scouting and school groups. Call 753-7646 to schedule.

How to recycle non-Blue Box items

As you just read on the Monroe County’s web site, not everything can be recycled under the “Blue Box” program. Below are a few suggestions that you may consider.

ecopark

A partnership between Monroe County and Waste Management of NY, ecopark provides county residents with a “one-stop drop-off” to dispose of or recycle certain items.

• ecopark is located south of the airport on 10 Avion Drive.
• Learn more on the ecopark website

Many of the items below can be droped at ecopark. If not, alternative solutions or facilities are provided by using the “ecopark Prospector” tool on its website.

Crayon recycling

The Crayon Recycling Program takes old, rejected, broken crayons and recycles them into fresh, new crayons, which are then available for purchase. Leave the wrappers on the crayons for easier sorting.

Battery recycling

All non-rechargeable batteries contain heavy metals: mercury, lead, cadmium, and nickel.

In landfills, heavy metals can leach slowly into soil, groundwater or surface water.
When burned, some heavy metals such as mercury may vaporize and escape into the air, and cadmium and lead may end up as ash.

Dry-cell batteries contribute about 88 percent of the total mercury and 50 percent of the cadmium in the municipal solid waste stream.

Family-sized battery recycling:

Waste Management offers a small battery recycling kit that accepts alkaline, button and rechargeable batteries. The 4" x 6" x 2.5" box costs $16.95.

Large family or group battery recycling:

The Big Green Box for consumer use offers certified recycling for all lithium, alkaline, lead, mercury, nickel-cadmium, nickel metal-hydride, magnesium, silver, zinc and lead batteries. The 13"w x 13"l x 8.5"h box holds 40 pounds of batteries and costs $58.

Composting

The original, do-it-yourself green activity. Recycle your yard and kitchen wastes and create great organic material for your garden and lawn. You’ll keep 500-600 pounds of waste from going to the landfill each year! New composting bins are available that minimize odor and critter intruders, making composting easier than ever and possible in even small yards.

Resources to get you started:

• A detailed written primer on composting.
• A You Tube video introduction to composting by the Sierra Club.
• Check your Monroe County local library for more information.

Computer recycling

Goodwill and Dell have teamed up to provide locations to recycle all your old computer equipment, printers, monitors, etc. for free. Just take them to your local Goodwill store. Learn more on the Dell Reconnect website.

Cork recycling

Save your wine and champagne corks—extend their life!

Sneaker recycling

Give new life to those old, beat up sneakers!

Nike’s Reuse-a-Shoe program turns worn-out athletic shoes of any brand into Nike Grind, a material used in sport tracks, courts and playgrounds.

Rigid foam packaging

To recycle the rigid foam packaging — made from expanded polystyrene (EPS) — that protects computer and electronic equipments, break them up tightly in a box to mail at one of the foam packaging recyclers in the U.S.

Details and locations on this page of the Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers web site.