Iowa News Service

A statewide news service for Iowa
 
Producer: Dick Layman, 4225 Fleur Drive #137, Des Moines, IA, 50321 Ph: 515-299-3965 Fax: 509-695-9627 E-mail: ins@newsservice.org
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Taking Out The Trash Soon A Thing Of The Past In IA?

DES MOINES, Iowa - Is it possible that one day Iowans won't have the chore of taking out the garbage? Almost every community in Iowa has some sort of recycling program, and if citizens would find a way to recycle most of what they dispose of, the amount needing to go to the landfill would be tiny, probably fitting in a small box every week. That's according to Amy Hock with Metro Waste Authority, who says the way to start is with making smart choices about what we buy.

"It really takes a lot of thought and a lot of planning to get to a point where we have zero waste or where, as a resident, you throw away very little. It starts with making conscious purchases when you go to the store."

Hock recommends items that have little packing material, and says one of the things that ends up in landfills that doesn't need to is plastic grocery bags; there is a special recycling program for them.

"It's a program called "build with bags" and it's where residents can take their plastic shopping bags back to the grocery store and those bags will be recycled, and they never end up in the landfill."

She says of all the items that can be recycled, the one that can be recycled repeatedly is glass products. She says the "Curb It" program started by Metro Waste Authority last year has resulted in the largest increase in recycling locally in the last 16 years.