LIFE’S FLAVORS 8/3 Recycling ALLISON LIBBY-THESING OF THE OAKS BED & BREAKFAST

We  have to send a huge shot out to D6 for their innovative use of a container pod in the Walmart parking lot. The pod allows residents to recycle certain parts of their household trash, to be recreated into a new product.  Sulphur Springs has been missing this key part of sustainable life for years and with the help of D6, and partnered companies, together they are making strides to reduce waste in our landfills and help create a better future for generations to come.

The new recycling hub has eight options for people to select and separate their waste.  Which means a little bit of pre-work goes a long way into making it easy to reuse the products you, as a consumer, have already used.  The easiest items to recycle are the items with a 1 on the plastic.  This pod has two options for the 1 recycling to enter.  With the help of images and words consumers can easily separate their items for a faster process to recycle.  

The pod also takes aluminum cans, pet food packaging, paper boxes (cereal boxes) and plastic bags.  With so many options avaible, and a little bit of help from consumers this program will make a huge impact on  how much waste is put back into the landfill.  On average a plastic bottle takes 450 years to breakdown.  Where as if you were to recycle that same bottle in less than 6 months it could be back into circulation and made into a new product.

Where as aluminum cans take an average of 200-500 years to fully degrade in a landfill.  With over 80,000,000,000 soda cans used per year one community can make an impact on how many are removed from the landfill and dropped off at the recycling pod.  

The pod is easy to use.  Each bin is labeled for what items can go into which doors.  Use your smart phone to scan the QR code to unlock the bins.  The doors will unlock for 20 seconds so that you can drop in your items.  If you separate them before drop off it will make it so much easier to distribute and finish up.  My kids even got in on the action and worked to make sure we did not drop items into the wrong bin. 

Glass is one of the items missing from this recycle pod so be sure to leave that at home.  Hopefully one day they will find a company partner who can recycle glass and almost nothing will enter the landfill.  The pods are self contained with solar panels on top to run the locks and the doors are light weight so it makes it easier to open when you have your hands full with recyclables.  

Grab your items and head on over to the Walmart parking lot.  The bin is located close to the Highway 11 entrance that is right behind the gas station.  Easy to spot and easy to use, we hope that members of this community band together and make use of this great option for local recycling in our community.