CELEBRATING THE PLANET
Earth Day activities draw crowds
If you’re confused about what can go in your recycling bins there’s an app for that.
It’s called Recycle Coach. And the mobile phone app will even send you texts or emails to remind you when the next garbage, recycling or yard waste day is coming up for your street.
The Essex-Windsor Solid Waste Authority was telling people about the new free app at Earth Day at Malden Park Sunday.
“A lot of people have been asking ‘Hey. I need my calendar on my phone. Can’t you send me reminders?’ Now we can,” Cat Griffin, communications specialist with the Essex-Windsor Solid Waste Authority, said Sunday.
The Recycle Coach app, available at the App Store and Google Play, can be personalized so you only receive the notices you want. You can learn more about the app or search recyclables online at the solid waste authority’s website www.ewswa. org under What goes where? The app allows residents to type in their municipality and type in any product to find out if it can go in the blue box or red box to be recycled in their region. Griffin said the What Goes Where feature has more than 3,000 products and the authority continues to add to the database. There’s also tips on composting or holding a garage sale and information on websites where users sell and swap reusable items. An 2014 audit showed 37 per cent of what was in garbage bags in Windsor Essex could have been recycled: 22 per cent paper and 15 per cent recyclable containers, Griffin said.
Michelle Flood, who was with her husband and two children Sunday for their first Earth Day event at Malden Park, said she tries to go by the recycling symbol on packages but has learned that sometimes those products can’t be recycled here. An app would certainly help. “That’s kind of cool,” the LaSalle resident said.
Her husband, Justin, said a refund on pop cans might encourage more recycling. More recycle bins in parks or at events would also help. He said Earth Day is good for raising awareness.
More than 30 different organizations participate in Earth Day Windsor Essex, which has been celebrated since 1989.
The Essex Region Conservation Authority and the Detroit River Canadian Cleanup invited residents to east Windsor Sunday to help plant 2,200 native trees and shrubs for an Earth Day event along the Ganatchio Trail. Point Pelee National Park held a beach cleanup day.