Category: Personal

Hey all my MadTown friends I am sure you all recycle like me but there may be some information you are missing. It has been brought to my attention that some of us are putting the wrong items in our recycling bins. This may not seem like a big deal at first but on average 8.3% of the materials put in the green recycling carts cannot be recycled. These misplaced items are then removed at the recycling plant and sent to a landfill. In 2006 this small mistake cost Madison taxpayers $89,000 to fix.

The Streets Division recently went through the local recycling bins to identify some of the common mistakes made by Madison recyclers. Here are the most common items that residents are putting in their recycling bins that should have been put elsewhere:

–         Glass: Broken glass of any kind should be put in your tan refused cart.

–         Metal: Please bring all metal to a drop off site for recycling.

–         Styrofoam: Styrofoam should not be in your recycling cart. A common mistake! Any Styrofoam to be thrown away should be placed in your tan refuse cart.

–         Plastic Packaging: Now when you by a toy for your child it comes wrapped in three different plastic bags and a plastic box. These items do not belong in the recyclable container but should be placed in your tan refuse cart.

–         Rigid Plastics: Hard plastic can recycled by bring it to one of the local drop off sites.

–         Cups: All cups: whether it’s paper or plastic cannot be put in the green recyclable cart. They need to be put in your tan refuse cart.

To find out more about recycling click here.

You know how I love “green things” so, I wanted to share this local companies efforts.

Many people in Madison WI are finding different ways to go green. Adam’s Outdoors has found a new and innovating way to improve the local environment. They are creating eco friendly billboards. In the past billboards were made out of heavy vinyl which was not environmentally friendly. Now Adam’s Outdoors is saving the environment by using 100% recyclable materials. They are the first company in the Madison area to use recyclable materials in this way. Now that their billboards are recyclable the process of updating billboards is more efficient. They simply take the old marketing shredded it; and pressed it into a new billboard. Wondering where all the old vinyl bill boards went? Adam’s Outdoors has shipped all of them down to the Gulf coast to be used for the Katrina hurricane relief efforts. For more information check out their website by clicking here. 

Summer, unfortunately is coming to an end and instead of looking forward to picking apples and building snowmen we are worried about the rising price of home heating oil. Many people here in Madison are reworking their financial budget for the year while others are seeking different, more affordable heating possibilities.

A way to find other heating options is by visiting the Olbrich Botanical Gardens. Here they have a special conservatory exhibit: Yesterdays Plant’s Todays Energy. At this exhibit one can discover alternative energy sources that can be used in the future. At this event you can also observe other interesting facts on how prehistoric plants, such as ferns and moss, have formed some of today’s energy sources.
For more information call 608-246-44500 or visit their website here.
Hope to see you there.