Keep East Hampton Beautiful!

Keep America Beautiful recently challenged corporate America and municipalities to sign up for a "Recycling at Work" pledge as a way to increase the recycling of workplace trash by 10%.  Those who take the pledge commit to a 10% increase in their recycling of paper products, beverage containers, electronics and batteries by 2015. The recycling of food waste and other biodegradables is also encouraged.

(Did you know that about 27% of our solid waste is yard trimmings and food scraps and can make excellent compost? It would be best to make compost rather than pay to throw away reusable material.)

Since almost half of our Nations solid waste comes from businesses and corporations, a 10% reduction of this waste would be very good for America (and East Hampton).

HEY East Hampton businesses, corporations, and governments!

Let's join the fun and help Keep East Hampton Beautiful!

Click here to sign the pledge!

Participants are asked to:

• Increase employee awareness of the availability of recyclable services and the benefits of recycling in offices and other facilities.
• Make recycling more convenient to enable greater participation in recycling at the workplace.
• Identify cost-effective opportunities to incorporate consideration of end of life recyclability
• Purchase products with increased recycled content.
• Report on their progress each year through the Recycling at Work on-line reporting system.
• Invite at least one other organization to take the Pledge.

According to Matt McKenna, Keep America Beautiful president, in order to "increase our national municipal recycling rate from its current 34% level, the increase will come less from national initiatives and more from locally driven efforts. Engaging individuals to take the action to recycle at home, at work and at play is the linchpin to increasing recycling rates."

In East Hampton, an increase in recycling would also mean an increase in the sale of recyclable materials by the Town and a decrease in disposal costs$!!

It is a win-win for all of us and a very good way to help treat this fine Blue Planet a little kinder!

East Hampton actually saw a 47% DECREASE in its recycling rate from 1998 to 2009! This is unacceptable. Each East Hampton resident generates an average of 7.43 pounds of trash per person PER DAY! The only other town on Long Island who generates more trash per person is Glen Cove. We really do make a lot of trash here in East Hampton. The average American generates 4.5 pounds of trash each day, so we are almost double the national average.

As a nation, we created over 250 million tons of trash in 2010! And where does it all go? Buried, burned and into the Earth's oceans. This type of waste disposal is harmful to our air, water, soil, oceans, wildlife, and people. 

This is not a sustainable way to manage our trash.   

How do we work to reduce these numbers and become a more sustainable community? 

It's simple. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and COMPOST!

Businesses, residents and our local governments can do better. 

Lets all try to do our part to Keep America and East Hampton BEAUTIFUL!

For today and tomorrow:

Reduce

Reuse

Recycle

Compost

Repeat....