What It Means

Earth Day – April 22, 2007

How the First Earth Day Came About…

On April 22, 1970, Arbor Day activities were modified to emphasize the critical importance of the environment and to make the American public aware of the destruction of the earth's natural preserves. This day, Earth Day, was observed by twenty million Americans, most of them students. The sponsors of Earth Day hoped to start an environmental movement that would alter industrial practices and human consumption.

Twenty years later in 1990, Earth Day was observed once again. On the Mall, in the center of Washington, D.C., people gathered for Earthfest. At this second observance of Earth Day, participants and planners were not only college students but ordinary Americans of all ages and from all walks of life. Musicians performed songs about nature. Celebrities spoke about what Americans can do to recycle. Federal agencies offered expositions showing their efforts in stopping wasteful practices polluting the environment. Conservation groups taught the crowds about rain forests, and how their destruction could mean the destruction of large parts of the world. Although Earth Day is not a yearly federal holiday it has helped Americans realize that they can and should do something to protect the environment.

Since 1990, the United States has improved dramatically in their recycling activities. Recycling facts report that fifteen years ago, the U.S. recycled roughly fifteen percent of our waste materials, which today has doubled to thirty percent!

Over 40 percent of soft drink bottles are recycled as well as 40 percent of paper products.

More than 50 percent of steel products and appliances are recycled.

20 years ago in the U.S. there was one curbside recycling program in the U.S. There are now over 10,000 with 12,000 drop of recycling sites.

There are four ways to recycle: drop-off recycling centers, curbside recycling, buy back centers and deposit/refund centers (such as those for glass bottles. Did you know there are now over 450 recycling material recovery facilities that buy recyclable material, sort it, clean it, and sell it again to companies who then use it in production?

There are many uses for the recycled material in products that we use today. Some of the more common ones are paper towels, aluminum, and newspaper. But a check of recycling facts uncovers some more unusual uses for recycled materials, using recovered plastic in carpeting and park benches, and using recovered glass for paving roads. Metals can be recycled over and over.

How you can Help

Submitted by Marcia West

When working in the church kitchen, you can recycle cans by removing the labels, rinsing out the cans and placing them in the recycling can at the bottom of the steps next to the kitchen.
There is a can in the vestibule for collecting used bulletins.
Used or outdated Sunday school curriculum is collected in the office and taken to Mission Central where it goes on to serve again.
Are you swimming in plastic shopping bags? Weis Market has a bin beside their doors where they can be deposited for recycling.
Also at Weis, if you bring your own containers or bring back either plastic shopping bags or paper sacks to reuse at the checkout, they will give you 3 cents off your grocery order for every container you reuse.
The Mifflinburg food pantry uses plastic bags for distributing potatoes. So plastic bags can be dropped off for them in the food pantry’s hall at the Mifflinburg Methodist Church.

Genesis 1:26. God gives us the responsibility of caring for His creation. "Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.' "
Psalm 24:1. "The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it..."

West End Recycling Center
The municipalities of Lewis Township, Hartley Township and Hartleton Borough are proud to announce that through their cooperation with the Union County Planning Commission our new recycling center will be up and running to the public. The hours of operation will be Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The following items are accepted for recycling:
    Newspapers – Paper and inserts must be dry.
    Magazines and Catalogs – must be dry.
    Cardboard – Corrugated cardboard only. No wax cardboard, Korean cardboard, books, cereal, cookie, tissue boxes, etc. accepted. Boxes must be dry. No pizza boxes.
    Aluminum – Beverages and food cans. Also we will accept non insulated siding and storm doors with the hardware and glass removed, but please keep them separate from the beverage cans. They will go in a different container.
    Bi Metal Tin Cans – Must be washed out with labels removed. No paint cans.
    Glass, brown, green and clear – No window glass, dishes or drinking glasses, ceramics, pottery, light bulbs, etc.
    Plastic #1 clear, #2 Nonclear – Bottle shaped, mouth smaller than body. Was and remove lids. No butter dishes, motor oil bottles, brake fluid bottles, plastic bags, Styrofoam or packing peanuts.
    These allowable and non allowable item restrictions are sent down from the Lycoming County Land fill. There will be volunteer groups there to assist you in making sure that the allowable items get in their proper containers and non allowable items will have to go to the landfill truck at a fee or along back home. These volunteers are children from our communities, please let them know how much their time is appreciated. The proceeds from the sale of the aluminum are split amongst the groups who volunteer their time.