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Earth Day Live!
Thursday, April 22 at 6pm
Join us for our online family-friendly celebration of Earth Day and the Ecology Action Center’s 50th Birthday! This event will include fun video shorts about some of the EAC’s exciting new programs, music by the Sarah Quah Band, A children's story, and more! We hope you and your family will join us for some fun celebrating our planet and our birthday!
Viewers can watch the live stream of the event via EAC’s YouTube channel or Facebook Live. |
Earth Day Trail and Creek Clean-Up Day - Saturday, April 24, 2021
Let the Earth Day celebrations continue by helping the Ecology Action Center clean up the Constitution Trail and Sugar Creek at our annual clean-up event on Saturday, April 24, 2021 from 9 a.m. to noon!
The EAC, the Friends of the Constitution Trial, and the McLean County Wheelers need your help cleaning up along the trail from Tipton Park west to the Chateau, from the Chateau west to Audubon Gardens, and east and west of the trail by the Habitat ReStore in historic West Bloomington.
Since the coronavirus is still prevalent in our community, we are capping volunteers at 30 per site. All volunteers are required to wear masks. A parent or guardian must accompany minors. Dress appropriately for the weather and bring your own work gloves if possible. Trash bags and trash grabbers will be provided. Volunteer registration REQUIRED ahead of time. Registration is open until full.
If you are not available on the April 24, but still want to help, you can create your own clean-up crew with your pod. Reach out to the EAC about borrowing trash grabbers, safety vests, and other supplies!
SIGN UP NOW TO VOLUNTEER |
A Burning Question
Many are aware that our landfills are filling too quickly. This increases our need to build more landfills, and more landfills generally leads to more methane produced If reducing the quantity of refuse is the solution, then surely shrinking an existing pile of trash would help, right? Burning trash may sound like a good way to reduce the quantity of garbage in landfills, because it causes the trash we’ve already created to take up less space. Is incineration a solution to reduce landfill usage?
To answer that question, we must start by taking a closer look at exactly what is in the landfill. Inert materials such as plastics do not decompose appreciably. Because of this, they don’t produce methane, and don’t contribute significantly to air pollution after disposal. Materials derived directly from living things, on the other hand, are able to decompose in a variety of settings. In a moist environment with enough oxygen, organic matter such as food, paper products, grass clippings, leaves and more becomes compost. The work of composting is done by living things such as worms, insects, bacteria and other beneficial microorganisms – all of which need oxygen. Modern landfills are lined and managed to maximize space efficiency, and those practices create an anaerobic environment by keeping oxygen out. Without oxygen, worms and other compost critters can’t live in landfills, and without those composting creatures organic matter can’t break down into compost. When organic matter breaks down anaerobically, it produces the potent greenhouse gas methane.
Once landfilled, inert plastics don’t contribute significantly to air pollution. In contrast, burning garbage releases myriad particles and gases into the air, including a lot more of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide than is released by composting.
The key to minimizing landfill use without creating more pollution is not to incinerate trash, but to reduce our use of disposable items. Opt for reusable items whenever possible, instead of disposables. Recycle everything that is recyclable. Check Recycle Coach (RecycleBN.org) to learn what’s recyclable curbside, and how to recycle many other items. Importantly, organic matter should not be sent to the landfill. Compost organic matter to prevent it from decomposing anaerobically, and prevent methane production in landfills. See CompostBN.org for tips on backyard composting, or visit BNcommunityComposting.org so sign up for this “all-inclusive” local program. |
Paint Disposal
For many, springtime means planting the garden, starting up the mower, and cleaning out the shed. What can be done with a few cans of paint that you’re not going to use?
Usable paint can be offered free of charge to another community member. We recently produced a guide to help you get started on online platforms that accommodate this, such as Freecycle, Facebook Marketplace, and NextDoor. That guide can be found at https://ecologyactioncenter.org/guide-to-community-reuse/.
For disposal, latex paint can be poured out in a thin layer onto cardboard, newspaper or similar. Once dry, it can be rolled up and placed in trash. If you are able to completely remove the latex paint from the can, then the clean can may be recycled. If there is too much paint to pour out, add kitty litter, sawdust or shredded newspaper to hasten the drying. Just remember that it needs to be completely dry before placing in trash.
Acrylic, enamel, and oil paints, stains, urethanes and varnishes are all hazardous waste, so both the paint and the container must be disposed of properly. Please add an absorbent substance such as newspaper, sawdust, or kitty litter until all liquid is absorbed. Even after this is done, the container and its entire contents must be taken to a hazardous waste collection event or location. The Ecology Action Center actively raises funds in order to host such an event locally; provided we raise enough funds, our next collection event is anticipated for fall 2021. If you don't want to wait that long and are willing to travel, Illinois has a four full-time collection centers: one in Rockford and a few in the Chicagoland area. Check Recycle Coach (RecycleBN.org) for hours and locations. |
Recycle your old clothing and shoes
Our friends at Home Sweet Home Ministries have a clothing a shoe recycling program. They collect shoes and clothes in any condition in their many donation bins. Some of the items are sold in other thrift stores, other items are shipped to other countries for reuse, and others are recycled into currency, building materials, and other items. This keeps these items out of our landfills, and the money generated from their recycling helps provide programs and services for the many people in our community that HSHM serves.
There are convenient drop-off locations all over Bloomington-Normal, making donating easy! Clothing and shoes never need to go in the garbage and on to the landfill. Between the numerous second-hand stores (BroMenn Thrift, Goodwill, 2 FruGALS Thrift, etc.), the EAC’s Freecycle program, and Home Sweet Home Ministries’ convenient drop-off locations repurposing clothing and shoes is easy! |
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