Earth Day 2013

After our community 2012 Earth Day event was cancelled due to the aftermath of the flood of September 2012 that impacted portions of the Triple Cities (Binghamton area) of upstate New York, the event returned for 2013-actually two events.

After having waited on a long line the Saturday before to recycle some electronics, we realized how much of a demand there was for that kind of service. Many people do not want to see their old computers, cell phones, DVD/CD players end up in a landfill, but many communities do not offer an alternative.  And if they do, and you give the material to a recycler, are you assured that your old electronic "junk" won't end up in a third world landfill?

Universal Recycling in Binghamton, New York (and other location throughout the United States) is trying to prevent that.  The electronic material you bring in is broken down into components and the various ingredients (as described by the young man we spoke to at the Broome Community College Earth Day event on Sunday) are sold to companies that can use them.  They do everything possible to keep materials out of landfills.

We also spoke to employees of Broome County about their composting programs, and to a man who sold us a composter years ago, which we still use.  He told me that, for years, he's had a vermicomposting (worm composting) box in his office, and many of his c workers were unaware of it.  He brought it to the Earth Day event and showed me the worms, but to be honest, I am too squeamish about worms to consider it.

This time, we did not leave with tree seedlings (we have several growing in pots from previous years but have no room on our small lot to plant them) but did get a free packet of scarlet runner bean seeds, crocheting instructions for making a beach bag out of plastic grocery bags and a cloth bag for our grocery shopping.

What did you do for Earth Day?