Sunday(11/15/2015) was America Recycles Day, set aside to remind people about the need to protect the environment by recycling items that otherwise might go into land or water.
Spokesperson Amanda Wegner from Clean Wisconsin says the state enacted the nation's first recycling law in 1994 and 94 percent of Wisconsin residents recycle. She says one common item that should be recycled is the light bulb. Compact florescent lights can cut energy costs but they have a drawback...
"....cfl bulbs do have a little bit of mercury in them.They're not meant to go in the garbage can. Instead they should be recycled. A lot of hardware stores around the state will take those bulbs back for free...."
Wegner says there are many dropoff points now for unused meds. She says plastic and paper bags are old news but still need to be recycled. Nike is recycling old sneakers, packing peanuts can be recycled. But one item is rarely thought of as a 'recycler' is the common wine cork...
"...some retailers will take them back. Whole Foods is one of them. There's also an organization called recork that has locations usually at wine shops where you can take your corks and they will be recycled...."
More information is at americarecyclesday.org or cleanwisconsin.org
