With America Recycles Day arriving on Sunday, Nov. 15, area residents and local enterprises face calls to reevaluate their discarded items and pledge to purchase merchandise manufactured from recycled goods.
More than 70% of residents in the community recycle daily, outpacing the national rate of over 50%, according to Mary Aldrich from Minn Kota during a discussion about local waste management on WDAY Radio – AM 970 and FM 93.1.
Commercial operations remain the biggest source of landfill trash, despite that resident engagement.
“All businesses do, big or small,” Aldrich told WDAY Radio – AM 970 and FM 93.1 when asked if companies need to step up their efforts. “That is the major generators of waste. In a community, they represent about 68% of the trash that goes to the landfill.”
Commercial Recycling Participation
About 85% of area businesses currently participate in recycling. Those operations generate roughly 70% of the material volume processed at Minn Kota’s facility.
Common commercial recyclables include corrugated cardboard, sorted office paper, and aluminum beverage cans. West Acres serves as an example of a local business actively recycling large quantities of cardboard, Aldrich noted.
To keep cardboard out of the landfill, the City of Fargo runs initiatives that either pick up the material directly or direct businesses to Minn Kota.
Secure Document Disposal
Items placed in standard garbage receptacles become public once collected. Materials placed in recycling bins remain confidential.
At Minn Kota, sensitive documents undergo shredding before being dispatched to paper mills, where facilities convert the material into common household products such as hand towels, facial tissues, and toilet paper. Aldrich said that this cycle helps keep retail paper prices from climbing even higher.
Residents looking for moving or packing boxes were advised not to pull them from private business bins. Aldrich suggested they instead reach out to liquor stores, packaging stores, or Minn Kota.
Pledges and Recycled Products
A central focus of America Recycles Day is encouraging people to sign a personal waste-reduction pledge. That pledge can include picking up neighborhood litter, recycling consistently, and intentionally shopping for post-consumer recycled goods.
Aldrich drew attention to several marketplace goods built from recycled inputs, such as composite lumber, Mohawk Industry carpeting and vinyl plank flooring fashioned from recycled water and soda bottles, and paper egg cartons created out of paper fibers and newsprint by Tactive Corporation based in Moorhead, Minnesota. Unlike paper cartons, Styrofoam egg cartons cannot be recycled.
“You got to buy recycled content,” Aldrich told WDAY Radio – AM 970 and FM 93.1. “And that’s the pledge that America Recycles Day is looking for.”
Recycling Sector Rivals Automotive Industry While Minn Kota Matches Aluminum Collection
The domestic recycling market constitutes a $37.8 billion commercial sector that provides nearly 700,000 positions, standing shoulder to shoulder with the automotive sector.
Closer to home, Minn Kota is tying aluminum can collection to community causes. For the duration of the month, the organization is providing a 1-cent-per-pound bonus added to its baseline 60-cents-per-pound payout for aluminum beverage cans gathered throughout the Fargo-Moorhead region, with proceeds supporting the Snacks for Students initiative previously known as Cans for Cartons.
A similar summer match for Honor Flight raised more than $1,000. Minn Kota plans to donate those funds during the Giving Hearts program so the amounts can be doubled.
Reduce Food Waste and Donate Clothing During Thanksgiving
With Thanksgiving approaching, Aldrich advised community members to get rid of unwanted garments responsibly and pay attention to food waste, which makes up 11% of the waste stream.
“I always say that the garbage is your past, but recycling is your future,” Aldrich told WDAY Radio – AM 970 and FM 93.1.
More information on local recycling programs is available at MinnKotaRecycling.com.
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