amberwoodhomeowners.org

I’m sure there’s a lot of you who, like me, want to do your part to help keep Texas beautiful.

However, I am having lots of confusion as to what is supposed to go into which can, speficially the paper products.

Tonight at the Amberwood Neighborhood Meeting, I got a chance to ask one of the folks in charge of the pilot program some specific questions.

Let me pass these tips on to you, in case some of you were wondering the same things:

• Paper to be recycled  and other paper products that do not have food on them go in ’single stream recycling’ (brown/tan lid)
• Paper to be recycled which has been partially wet down and paper products with a tiny little bit of food on them go in the compost (green lid)
• If you shred your recycling paper, put it in a PAPER bag so it does not blow around in the wind. DO NOT PUT IT IN A PLASTIC BAG!!!!
• Most paper towel can go into the compostables because that’s technically soiled paper.
• However remember that anything ’stinky’ needs to go into the trash, not the recycling bins.
• Stop buying styrofoam, since we can’t recycle that

More specific information can be found on top of the can, on the fliers they passed out, or on their website www.texasdisposal.com/kylerecycles.htm

Three-Cart Pilot Project Puts Kyle Subdivisions At Recycling Forefront

Texas Disposal Systems’ Project Allows More Reuse, Less Landfill Trash

The City of Kyle and Texas Disposal Systems announced that two local subdivisions are the first in Central Texas to take part in a three-cart pilot project designed to dramatically reduce the amount of trash heading to area landfills.
Residents in Kyle’s Amberwood and Indian Paintbrush subdivisions will begin using three carts to sort trash, recyclables and compostable materials. Kyle residents currently use the more traditional 96-gallon trash cart along with a 18-gallon bin for their recyclables. There is currently no collection provided for yard waste or compostable materials.

The addition of a third cart for compostable materials is a first in Central Texas and means many materials that could not previously be recycled - such as yard debris and brush - will now be utilized in an environmentally friendly manner. The compostable cart can also be used for soiled paper and other fiber packaging, and all compostable materials will be reused as organic mulch and compost and available to local gardeners and landscapers at Garden-Ville, a natural gardening supplier owned by Texas Disposal Systems.

In addition to the compostable material recycling, the pilot also increases the types of materials that can go into the regular recycling cart. These added materials will include boxboard, cardboard and non-Styrofoam plastic containers marked #1-7.
This unique three-cart pilot project puts Kyle residents at the forefront of recycling in Central Texas with virtually all reusable materials now having an easy avenue to reuse rather than a fast track to the landfill.

The three carts - a 96-gallon trash cart, a 96-gallon single-stream recycling cart, and a 96-gallon compostable cart - were delivered at the end of August to Amberwood and Indian Paintbrush residents who wished to participate in the program.
As part of the pilot program, trash service will take place every Thursday with service for recyclables and compostable materials every other Thursday. The pilot project will run six to nine months with continual evaluation throughout the process.
By making recycling easier for residents, it is anticipated that the amount of materials heading to the landfill will decrease while those provided an avenue for reuse will increase dramatically.

For more information on Texas Disposal Systems’ single-stream recycling service, visit www.texasdisposal.com/singlestream.htm.  We will also be discussing this topic at our next Amberwood Neighborhood Meeting this month.

Ray Bryant