Talking Trash

Monday, June 29, 2009

Independence Day 2009 - normal recycling + trash collection schedule

Friday, July 3, 2009 - Independence Day (observed) - is a regular recycling and trash collection day. All County-provided recycling and trash collections will be made on their normal schedule.

If your normal collection day is:	Your collection day for the week of July 3, 2009, is:
Monday	Monday
Tuesday	Tuesday
Wednesday	Wednesday
Thursday	Thursday
Friday	Friday

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, or if you live in a municipality, these schedule announcements may not apply to your trash service -- check with your hauler or community manager.

Shady Grove Solid Waste Transfer Station

• Friday, July 3, 2009: Normal site operations; administrative offices closed.
• Saturday, July 4, 2009: Site and administrative offices closed.
• Transfer Station location, hours and other details

Damascus and Poolesville Beauty Spots

• Saturday, July 4, 2009: closed
• Sunday, July 5, 2009: closed
• Beauty Spot locations, hours and other details

--posted by Susanne

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CATEGORIES: Holidays , News
POSTED: 3:50:00 PM |

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Our July 2009 TRRAC Newsletter is available

TRRAC is our program for recycling and waste reduction at apartment and condominium properties.

The July 2009 issue includes:

• 2009 Annual Recycling Awards
• Some easy steps to put your property in award
  contention

Interested in reading back issues? Visit our TRRAC Newsletter Archive.

--posted by Susanne

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CATEGORIES: Apartments/Condo Recycling (TRRAC) , News
POSTED: 11:26:00 AM |

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Can I recover a valuable item from the trash?

Recently, my phone rang. My Solid Waste Transfer Station colleague, Ray, was on the other end.

"Today, we had someone in here looking for a diamond watch and ring.  Maybe this would be something for the blog..."

Indeed it is!  Part of the daily Transfer Station operations includes keeping the various dropoff areas humming, and the trucks unloading.  Generally, the material that's brought in is intended to stay there.  However, sometimes, valuables mistakenly end up in the trash.  When this happens, our Transfer Station staff springs into action.

On that day, it was jewelry that had accidently ended up in the wrong place. 

Thankfully, the trash collection truck which serviced the resident's home had not yet come to the Transfer Station to unload.  When it arrived, staff pulled it aside, and had the driver unload in a separate area.  (If the truck had already unloaded when the resident contacted us, it would have been too late to attempt to find the items.)

We contacted the resident, who then came to begin the hunt for the bag which held the missing items.  We provided safety equipment, and assisted as much as possible.  This can be very challenging work, especially if the sought-for things are small.

Was there a happy ending?  The missing bag was recovered!  We were ready to celebrate!  However, it turned out that the jewelry was not in the bag after all.  The story did ultimately end in victory: the resident called us later to share that the missing items were found behind the dresser.  Hooray!

What should you do if you discover that an item of monetary or sentimental value has been whisked away as trash?  We've taken this particular jewelry situation as inspiration to jot down the procedure for how to (possibly) recover a valuable item from the trash.

--posted by Susanne and Ray

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Photo: judybaxter

CATEGORIES: Transfer Station , Trash
POSTED: 11:36:00 AM |

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Our Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 SORRT Newsletters are available

SORRT is our program for business recycling and waste reduction.

The Fall 2008 issue includes:

• Recycling: It’s now the Law in the City of Rockville
• Seven Easy Steps to Developing a Successful Business Recycling Program
• Recycling Checklist: Is your Business in Compliance?
• Focus On: Metal, Glass, and Plastic

The Spring 2009 issue includes:

• Montgomery County - 30 Years of Recycling
• Peer to Peer: Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Recycling Program
• New Recycling Resources Available for Businesses in Montgomery County

Interested in reading back issues? Visit our SORRT Newsletter Archive.

--posted by Susanne

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CATEGORIES: Business recycling (SORRT) , News
POSTED: 5:07:00 PM |

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Yard trim labels are great... when they stick

From our mailbag, in response to my recent post about the importance of labelling yard trim cans:

I agree with your concerns about labeling yard waste cans. The problem is that those labels are not robust enough to stick or stand-up to moisture and come off readily.

Thanks for your comments, M.

Agreed.  Getting the yard trim labels to remain on cans has been a challenge sometimes.  We haven't given up!  When we ordered our most recent batch of labels this Spring, we selected ones which are supposed to have better adherence and fade-resistance than our previous ones.  We'd be happy to mail you replacement yard trim labels from our new stock.

We're also happy to make a house call with spray adhesive for yard trim stickers which refuse to stay stuck.  To request a visit, please contact our Customer Service staff.

--posted by Susanne

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Comment from Scott - June 26, 2009:
The remedy for me, when the Yard Trim labels started to fall off, was to use clear packing tape over them.

CATEGORIES: Yard Trim
POSTED: 1:36:00 PM |

Friday, June 05, 2009

Our February 2009 and May 2009 TRRAC Newsletters are available

TRRAC is our program for recycling and waste reduction at apartment and condominium properties.

The February 2009 issue includes:

• Making Recycling Count - monitoring performance
• Keep Up the Great Work!
• Let Your Residents Help!
• Where Did You Get Those Baby Blues?
• Seminar Attendees Share Effective Recycling Program Strategies
• Special Recycling Education Requests? Please Ask

The May 2009 issue includes:

• Simple Ways to Recycle More Outdoors
• Montgomery County Celebrates Earth Month
• Innovation Highlight: The Gallery at White Flint Looks "Inside the Box"
• Recycling — Cost vs. Benefit
• Got Mercury? We’ll Take It!

Interested in reading back issues? Visit our TRRAC Newsletter Archive.

--posted by Susanne

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CATEGORIES: Apartments/Condo Recycling (TRRAC) , News
POSTED: 4:43:00 PM |