New Year's Day, January 1, 2006: normal collections

Because New Year's Day (January 1, 2006) falls on a Sunday, County-provided recycling and trash collections will be on their normal days. The collection schedule will not change during this holiday week.

Full holiday announcement

It's a wrap: recycle your gifts' paper

After all of your packages are unwrapped, what to do with the package trimmings?

Regular wrapping paper and tissue paper (for example, what you might use to wrap a shirt before placing it lovingly into a gift box) may go into your blue paper recycling cart.

Things which should go out as trash [if you cannot reuse them :-) ] include:

• foil-stamped paper and gift bags


• plastic-coated paper and gift bags


• plastic films


• ribbons and bows

Christmas Day, December 25, 2005: normal collections

Because Christmas Day (December 25, 2005) and New Year's Day (January 1, 2006) fall on Sundays, County-provided recycling and trash collections will be on their normal days. The collection schedule will not change during these two holiday weeks.

Full holiday announcement

Damascus Beauty Spot closed December 17 + 18, 2005

After the roads are sanded and salted… the supplies need to be restocked.

For this reason, the Damascus Beauty Spot (located at a Highway Maintenance Depot) will be closed this weekend, December 17 and 18, 2005 -- new loads of salt will be coming in.

The Poolesville Beauty Spot will be open for its normal weekend hours.

More information about our facilities and their hours

Friday, December 9, 2005: normal collection

Montgomery County-provided recycling and trash collections are on their normal schedule today. There are no pickup changes due to today's snow.

Tuesday, December 6, 2005: normal collections

Montgomery County-provided recycling and trash collections are on their normal schedule today. There are no pickup delays or other changes due to last night's snow.

Recycling Co-op for small businesses in Silver Spring

Under an arrangement put in place by the County, six Silver Spring businesses will share the costs of hiring a private recycling contractor, allowing the businesses to save money and recycle more. By combining their refuse collection services and adding recycling to their service, it is estimated that each business will save between $38 and $227 a month.

The County will be monitoring the success of the program and already has plans to form additional recycling cooperatives in Wheaton and Bethesda.

Details in news release

Web shortcut: Use It Again

Our "Use It Again" guide has a brand-new address in cyberspace: www.montgomerycountymd.gov/useitagain.

Isn't that easier to remember than:
www.montgomerycountymd.gov/apps/dpwt/solidwaste/useitagain/index.asp? :-)

Thanksgiving Day holiday

Thursday, November 24, 2005 ~ Thanksgiving Day ~ is a recycling and trash holiday. All County-provided recycling and trash collections will be one day later than normal.

If you have any questions or concerns about your County-provided collection, please contact
our Customer Service staff online or call 240-777-6410.

Note: if you (or your community) have a private contract for your trash collection, these schedule announcements may not apply -- check with your hauler or community manager.

Thursday, 11/24/05, Happy Thanksgiving to you! No collections.
Friday, 11/25/05, Thursday's pick-ups
Saturday, 11/26/04, Friday's pick-ups

Shady Grove Transfer Station:
closed: Thursday, November 24, 2005.
reopens with normal hours: November 25, 2005.

Damascus and Poolesville Beauty Spot:
open normal hours: November 26 and 27, 2005.

Nov. 11, 2005, Veterans Day: normal schedule

Friday, November 11, 2005 ~ Veterans Day ~ is a regular recycling and trash collection day. All County-provided recycling and trash collections will be made on their normal schedule.

If you have any questions or concerns about your County-provided collection, please contact our Customer Service staff online or call 240-777-6410.

Note: if you (or your community) have a private contract for your trash collection, these schedule announcements may not apply to your trash service -- check with your hauler or community manager.

Composting and Resource Recovery Facility win awards!

Our Resource Recovery Facility received the Solid Waste Association of North America's 2005 Gold Excellence Award in the Waste-to-Energy Division.

Our Composting Facility received a 2005 Silver Excellence Award in the Waste Reduction, Recycling and Composting Division.

This awards program recognizes technically and economically-sound municipal solid waste management programs that are protective of public health and the environment.

Damascus Beauty Spot closed Oct. 29-30

The Damascus Beauty Spot will be closed this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, October 29 and 30, 2005.

The Poolesville Beauty Spot will be OPEN for its normal weekend hours.

Announcing... the new Use It Again Guide

Our printed "Use It Again" guide to reuse, repair, and rental opportunities in Montgomery County has been popular since its very first printing.

About 4 years ago, we had a tech-savvy high school student intern who coded an online version of Use It Again for us. When you have a resource you love, and use it often, your wishes for it start to grow... and grow...

So, we revamped the online Use It Again from the ground up, building in a number of new features for both the end-user and the administrative side. Please enjoy the new version, launched this afternoon, and let us know what you think.

Lids: why not plastic?

What's the matter with putting plastic lids into our recycling bins?

Reasons why we cannot accept plastic lids include these:

• These lids and caps are made from a different molding process than the plastic bottles and jars which we do accept.
• The lids and caps are often "sandwiches" of several plastic resins. For example, the lid itself might be one resin, and contain a thin liner made from another resin. We need to be able to sort items into categories of a single resin.
  

Can I recycle lids?

Last week, I received a phone message from a resident:

I'm confused about recycling! Your website has some information about lids, but I still have questions!

I have updated our "how to" webpages with additional details about caps and lids from plastic bottles, glass bottles and jars, and metal cans. In short, we cannot accept any plastic lids or caps; we do take metal lids.

TRRAC: Property Manager's Guide

Our "Property Manager's Guide to Recycling" is now online. This handbook is published by TRRAC, our recycling program for apartments and condominiums. Whether developing a new recycling program or maintaining an existing one, this publication is a comprehensive resource for property managers.

Oct. 10, 2005: Columbus Day holiday - normal schedule

Monday, October 10, 2005 ~ Columbus Day ~ is a regular recycling and trash collection day. All County-provided recycling and trash collections will be made on their normal schedule.

If you have any questions or concerns about your County-provided collection, please contact our Customer Service staff online or call 240-777-6410.

Note: if you (or your community) have a private contract for your trash collection, these schedule announcements may not apply to your trash service -- check with your hauler or community manager.

Newsletter Helper: Apples, nuts, and other fall "yard trim"

Oops! The August 2005 Newsletter Helper slipped past this blog without a mention! With the official change of seasons last week, the topic is as timely as ever.

Here's the teaser: "Autumn brings with it falling leaves… as well as falling acorns, other nuts, and unwanted fruits such as apples. How do you get rid of those? Set them out with your yard trim for recycling collection!"

Yard Trim Labels: PYO

At the local orchards, "PYO" at this time of year means Pick Your Own delicious, juicy, crunchy apples. [for some apple picking of your own, try the Montgomery County Farm Directory.

Our lastest PYO is Print Your Own...

For more efficiency, I would like to suggest you post the "yard trim" label as a PDF. By the time I get to the library, I always forget to get the labels. But I'd print it out after I read your newsletter and use it.

We received this suggestion in our Electonic Mailbag. So, E., this one's for you! We (usually) have labels at the libraries, and we are happy to send some to you through the mail. Still, if you need a label right away, it's now just a click away, delivered to your printer.

Newsletter Helper: Show us the green (labels)!

The September 2005 Newsletter Helper from the Division of Solid Waste Services is now available. This month's feature is "Yard Trim Labels: Show us the green!" Letting your collection crew see green helps you avoid seeing red because of missed yard trim collections. Montgomery County’s green yard trim labels are signals to crews, helping them easily spot the cans of leaves, grass, and brush you may have set out for pickup.

Our label was redesigned over the summer. The new format is a green circle, 7" in diameter. If you've been plagued by peeling labels in the past (I was) , give these a try. We used a different label material, and this one should stick more effectively (and I'm "field-testing" one myself).