The mission of the Pottawatomie Recycling Committee is to raise funds for the county recycling program.  The PRC is a group of environmentally aware citizens whose goal is to maintain the quality of the environment of Pottawatomie County and to minimize the necessity of placing recyclables in landfills throughout the state. 

RYOT Becomes the Recycling Mascot
 
        Keaton Blaske, 8-year old son of Kevin and Yvonne Blaske of Havensville, submitted the winning name of RYOT in the Name the Recyclable Person Contest sponsored by Pottawatomie Recycling Committee.  RYOT stands for Recycle Your Own Trash.  The recycling person was created  by the staff of Pottawatomie Noxious Weed Department.  While on lunch break, Tim Eisenbarth, Ed Ringel, Gayla Figge, and Chris Wege designed and built RYOT out of all recyclable materials, using such items as fiberboard boxes, office paper, newspapers, # 1 and # 2 plastic containers, tin cans, and electronics.  RYOT will be used in an educational way to promote recycling in the county.  Funding for the contest was made possible through the TransCanada grant recently received by PRC.
        Sherry Helus, chairperson of PRC presented Keaton with his winning $50.00 savings bond, noting that over ninety entries had been received with name suggestions.  PRC found his name suggestion to be the most original.  In his explanation of the name, Keaton wrote, "I named him RYOT because his name means recycle your own trash.  You can recycle old TVs, pop cans, plastic bottles, newspapers, and magazines.  We should recycle because it keeps the earth clean.  Recycling is easy to do.  You just need bins to put them in.  Any person can do it."
        RYOT will be on display at the Pottawatomie County Fair in the Noxious Weed booth. 
 
Shown in the photo, left to right:  Tim Eisenbarth, director of Noxious Weed Department, RYOT, Keaton Blaske, and Sherry Helus.

Each year Kansans produce about 3.2 million tons of trash,

which is enough to bury

100 football fields 3 feet deep in trash. 

But we recycle only about 20% of it! 

*Courtesy Kansas Dept. of Health and Environment

 

Please Recycle The Following

Clear #1 plastic drink bottles and #2 plastic milk jugs - rinsed out

(According to Beverage Marketing Corporation, by one estimate U.S. drinkers toss 60 million plastic water bottles a day.)

Plastic shopping bags and other #1 and #2 plastics - rinsed out

Glass: clear, green, and brown - rinsed out

Steel food cans - rinsed out

Aluminum cans and other foil items

Fiberboard such as cereal and cake mix boxes

Brown paper bags and all other feed sacks that do NOT have a plastic liner

Corrugated cardboard boxes - broken down so they lay flat

Magazines, telephone books, catalogs, and old books

Mixed paper which includes junk mail, school papers, cards etc.

White copy paper

Newspapers

 

Items NOT accepted in the Recycling Trailers

Oil containers of any kind (Motor oil to cooking oil to salad dressing bottles) 

There is a green army trailer east of Bob's Service in Onaga where used oil filters can be left.

Cardboard that has oil of any kind on it such as pizza box lids

Window panes

Plastics #3, #5 and #7 as well as hard plastic pill bottles. 

(Check symbol for the number on the bottom of the container)

Lids on milk jugs, drink bottles and other plastic containers

Wax paper, styrofoam and other food wrappers

Laminated or waxed paper products

Recycling Trailer Sites in Pottawatomie County

MAP

Onaga - Fair Grounds, northeast corner of Onaga to the west of the Fair Pavilion

Westmoreland - south across from the Health Department at 320 Main St.

St. George - new St. George Elementary school on the west edge of town

Wamego - south side of 4th street across from the Dutch Mill

St. Marys - 420 S. 6th**

Landfill - 8585 Wheaton Rd. **

**Open during business hours only.  All other trailers open 24x7 - just pull the door and place your items in the correct container.  Thank you.

***Newspaper Drive!!

Start collecting for the 2010 early Spring Newspaper drive!  This drive tentatively will be held in April.  Watch for information coming out in local newspapers.  We make the most money if we collect 25 tons of newpaper so start hoarding them now! 

It is greatly appreciated if newspapers can be stored at home between drives.

Financial Donations may be made out to:

Pottawatomie Recycling Committee, Phyllis Hupe, Treasurer, P.O. Box 171, Westmoreland, Kansas 66549

 

Or for a tax-deductible donation to:

Wamego Community Foundation, Memo line: Pottawatomie Recycling Committee, P.O. Box 25, Wamego, Kansas 66547

Questions?

Contact

 

shelus@wamego.net    1-785-456-9814 Chairperson
          eberges@bluevalley.net    1-785-889-7104  
          pajhupe@bluevalley.net    1-785-457-2801 Treasurer
        weed@pottcounty.org     1-785-457-2888