Though its sounds daunting, you could start at home with a few easy steps.
Step One
Start a general audit of your daily trash, preferably within a week. Separate your trash and see what material makes up the most of your trash. If it is paper and cardboard, start with recycling those materials.
“It makes better sense to start recycling the trash you generate the most and what would be the easiest to implement in your household,” said Reina Camacho, board member of the Mariana Islands Nature Alliance, a local non-profit environmental group.
While deciding which trash to recycle, it is also helpful to find local recycling vendors that accept these items.
In the CNMI, majority of the recyclable items are paper, cardboard, aluminum, glass and plastic. Recycling aluminum includes foil, trays, pie plates, and of course, soda cans.
Some examples of recyclable household trash are paper bags, newspapers, magazines, phone books, egg and milk cartons, food boxes, junk mail, juice and water bottles.
Step Two
Organize storage for recycled goods. Plastic bins or trash cans are good storage containers to use. They are sturdy and easy to clean. Label bins if you are recycling more than one type of product for easier storage.
Step Three
Get the entire family or neighborhood involved to encourage and promote waste reduction and recycling. Call your local trash hauler and work out an arrangement to pick up the recyclable materials.
“Right now, aluminum is the only used material in the CNMI with a cash incentive, but we encourage local households to reduce their waste and recycle, even at small steps,” said Camacho.
Several homes on the islands have already begun their own recycling programs as more families become aware of how the three R’s, reduce, reuse and recycle, are crucial to a safe and healthy environment.
Kathy Yuknavage, also of the Mariana Islands Nature Alliance, explains how she and other four households got together and started their own recycling program in their neighborhood.
“I asked Eric Cruz, president of Erricco Enterprises, that if I got enough of my neighbors together to start a recycling program, would he agree and he said, yes,” said Yuknavage.
“So we all chipped in and bought a large receptacle from Erricco, which could hold four 55 gallon drums, plus an area for cardboard disposal,” she said.
Once or twice a month, Erricco’s trucks would come and pick up the recyclable materials at no additional cost and even reduced the mixed waste fee for each of the participating households.
“It was great. We love it. We are not only helping our environment, but we are also saving when it comes to disposing our waste, which is a good incentive,” said Yuknavage.
Cruz, for his part, said that Erricco Enterprises will start a pilot project in Dandan that will feature separate containers for recycling.
Families in Dandan may consider starting their own recycling programs in their neighborhood.
“We are working on a pilot project for Dandan with the containerizing systems. As a local company, we are constantly striving to provide the best services in trash disposal and recycling,” he said.
For more information on this project, please call 322-0456.
