Pollution Prevention Night - Sept 17 (Tues) at the Superior Public Library

 Sept 17 Program on Pollution Prevention

Come to Pollution Prevention Speaker Night on Tuesday, September 17 starting at 6 p.m. at the Superior Public Library, 1530 Tower Ave.  Guest speakers, displays, and a short game will be part of the evening’s program on pollution prevention.  Information on proper disposal of household hazardous waste, lead and children, e-waste, environmental and human health connection, and more will be part of the evening’s program. National Pollution Prevention Week is September 15-21.   Helping keep water and air clean has benefits for wildlife and for humans.  Preventing pollution can save money and unhealthy consequences. Doing activities such as fixing leaks in your car, not putting medicines down your toilet, properly disposing of household hazardous waste, and reducing use of items containing toxic materials can help reduce pollution in the environment.  The speaker night is free and open to the public.   Come learn how you can reduce pollution in our community.

   For more information, contact city of Superior Environmental Services Division at 715/394-0392. 

Posted by Wendy

Hazardous Holiday Lights

As the holidays approach, many of us are pulling out last year’s lights to decorate.  Each year you find a few more lights on the strand that don’t work; eventually, the whole string of lights is out.  These little lights can cause you more harm than just the frustration you feel while trying to get them to work.  The Ecology Center, a non-profit organization based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, found that 79% of lights tested contained lead (HealthyStuff.org, 2010).  While your main concern about lead in holiday lights is probably your family’s health, please also consider the environment.  When bulbs break or the strand mysteriously stops working  and the lights are discarded in the trash, they end up in a landfill.  Lead can leach out of landfills and into our water.  Animals that rummage through landfills can also be harmed by ingesting or becoming entangled in the lights.

Please consider the environment by recycling holiday lights rather than discarding them in the trash.  Recyclers chop the lights into pieces and sort by material.  Each material component is then separately recycled. 

Local holiday light recycler:

WLSSD Materials Recovery Center

4587 Ridgeview Road

Duluth, MN 55803

Mail-in holiday light recyclers:

Environmental LED

The LED Warehouse

Attn: Christmas Light Recycling

109 E. Prairie Street

Vicksburg, MI 49097

HolidayLEDs.com

Attn: Recycling Program

3849 Guest Road

Jackson, MI 49203

Useful Links:

HealthyStuff.Org Report

http://www.healthystuff.org/get-stuff.php?report=New+Research+Finds+4+out+of+5+Sets+of+Christmas+and+Holiday+String+Lights+Contain+Lead

-Written by Jillian Schubert Edwards