Colorado Springs, Wednesday, March 28, 2012 – At its March 27 meeting, the El Paso County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution declaring April 2012 as “Earth Month” and April 22 as “Earth Day.” “We all can help raise awareness and encourage our community…to voice their appreciation for the planet, to promote its protection, and to conserve our resources to make El Paso County a better place to live,” Commissioner Dennis Hisey said as he read the resolution into the record.
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El Paso County Commissioners Sallie Clark, Dennis Hisey
Amy Lathen, Peggy Littleon and Darryl Glenn recognize
the importance of Earth Month 2012 and encourage
residents to recycle through the County's facility. |
Kathy Andrew, Environmental Division Manager, announced that as part of Earth Month, El Paso County will begin offering a free porcelain recycling program, giving residents an environmentally friendly way to dispose of old toilets and sinks. The items will be crushed and used in road maintenance. Porcelain will be added April 2, 2012 to a long list of items ranging from motor oil and electronics to fertilizer and paint which are accepted for recycling at no cost at the County’s Household Hazardous Waste Disposal facility. To make it even more convenient for County residents to do the right thing, in addition to its regular schedule, the facility at 3255 Akers Drive will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. three Saturdays in April; the 14th, 21st, and 28th.
Commissioner Hisey, who remembers the first Earth Day, mostly because his high school canceled a bon fire to prevent air pollution, said, conservation, is not new. “Not everybody is or has been wasteful. Previous generations were aware of their limited resources. They had less and made due with less. I think we can learn a lot by looking backwards.”
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Commissioners at the El Paso County Household
Chemical Waste Collection Facility off of Akers Dr. |
Board Vice Chair, Commissioner Sallie Clark, said, “Like Commissioner Hisey said, conservation is not a new thing, the products we have invented over the years have created part of the trash and the waste, like electronic equipment, we just throw it away. We don’t want to reuse a computer. That’s what’s different; the products we now use are creating some of our landfill issues and the County's facility offers a voluntary alternative for proper and safe disposal.”
Allison Plute and Megan Andreozzi of Pikes Peak Earth Day told Commissioners of many activities the organization has planned in April, including a presentation by Dennis Hayes, the organizer of the first Earth Day in 1970. A list of Pikes Peak Earth Day activities is available at: www.pikespeakearthday.org
For more information on the El Paso County’s recycling programs and events call 520-7878 or check out the Environment Division’s page on the website.
*El Paso County Public Information
