Welcome to the September Edition of the City of Fort Wayne’s Green City email newsletter.
Upcoming events:
Saturday, September 8th is Tox-Away Day. Tox-Away Day provides Allen County residents with an opportunity to safely dispose of unwanted household hazardous waste. These materials, if disposed of improperly, can be dangerous to your health and the health of your family, as well as the health of the environment.
First, we’d like to share with you some interesting facts on recycling:
Did you know that over 60% of the waste you produce in your home can be recycled?
Currently Fort Wayne residents under utilize the curbside recycling program, which means that about 40,000 tons of recyclable materials goes into the landfill each year from Fort Wayne residents alone!
Recycling is easy. All you have to do is put your recyclable product in the yellow or brown bins instead of the trash can! I’ll explain more about the bins in a little bit.
*Recycling one aluminum pop can saves an amount of energy equal to six ounces of gasoline, and cuts air pollution by 95% compared to just trashing it.
*Recycling glass saves enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for four hours, and cuts air pollution by 20%, and water pollution by 50%, compared to just trashing it.
*Recycling a one-gallon plastic milk jug will save enough energy to keep a 100-watt light bulb burning for 11 hours. Plastic is also made from petroleum, a finite material that will eventually be used up completely.
*Recycling a one-foot high stack of newspapers saves enough electricity to heat a home for 17 hours.
The curbside residential recycling program allows for the following materials to be recycled:
*In the Brown Bin you should put: Junk Mail, Office Paper, Newspaper, Magazines, Catalogues, Cardboard, Fiberboard, and Phone books.
Some common household items that should be recycled in the brown bin are: toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, cardboard packaging from crackers, and all junk mail, whether the envelope has a plastic window in it or not.
Shredded paper is okay to go in your brown recycle bin too.
Cardboard needs to be broken down. Any extra cardboard can be placed in brown paper sacks. Large pieces of cardboard need to be cut down into 3 feet by 3 feet sections and bundled with string or twine.
*In the Yellow Bin you should put: Clear Glass, Brown Glass, Green Glass, Plastics 1 & 2 (look on the underside of the plastic for the number in a triangle of arrows), Aluminum Cans, Bi-Metal Cans, Tin Cans, Steel Cans, Aluminum Foil Pie Pans, and Empty Steel Paint Cans.
Some common household items that should be recycled in the yellow bin are: plastic water bottles, detergent bottles, and glass bottles.
The following things should not be recycled through the curbside recycling program: Light Bulbs, Scrap Metal, Plastic Wrap, Styrofoam, Styrofoam Packing Peanuts, Mirrors, Ceramics, Plastics #’s 3,4,5,6,7, Plastic Bags (even #2), and Cardboard Milk/Juice Cartons.
If you live in Fort Wayne and need recycling bins, please call our 311 call center.
The City is reducing our contribution to air pollution in the following way:
As part of our contract with National Serv-all (NSA), we required that all 24 of their trucks have Donaldson 6000 Diesel Oxidation Catalyst. Starting in 2006, NSA began retrofitting 6 trucks per year so that by the end of 2009, all trucks will be equipped with the oxidation catalyst. The Federal Highway Administration estimates that on average a diesel truck emits 37,025 tons per year of VOC’s and 204,715 ton per year of carbon monoxide. The EPA has estimated the mean emissions reduction for VOC’s and CO to be 60% and 20% respectively resulting in 22,215 tons VOC’s and 40,934 tons CO not being released to the environment every year for each truck that is retrofitted.
Highlights from the Solid Waste and Recycling Survey are:
A survey was conducted this June of 402 Fort Wayne residents on issues relating to their garbage and recycling services. Overall, 97% of those surveyed stated that they were either satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their garbage collection service. Ninety-four percent said they were either satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their garbage carts. As a reminder, call 311 if you have a current issue with garbage collection.
Another interesting statistic the survey found was that 18% of those surveyed reported raking up grass clippings from mowing and putting them in the garbage. Grass clippings are very beneficial to yards. They can reduce the amount of weeds in the yard, and at the same time, work to fertilize the grass. They can also be used in flower beds and gardens as a natural fertilizer and weed minimizer.
Thank you very much for being a subscriber to our Green City email newsletter. We hope this has been helpful and informative to you.
We will contact you once per month with the email newsletter, as well as on Air Quality Action Days to alert you when air conditions indicate you need to take action.
If you would like to suggest topics or articles to include in monthly email newsletters, please email
Please pass this email newsletter on to your friends and family, so that everyone can share in the knowledge and have an impact on reducing energy consumption.
