Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION DEPARTMENT
Solid Waste
It is very important that we all do our part to take care of the environment. To aid you in answering your questions regarding your recycling needs we have provided information for Sonoma and Marin County recycling programs.
RECYCLING
Recycling is the third R of the three R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Recycling means taking a product or material at the end of its useful life and turning it into a usable raw material to make another product.
SONOMA COUNTY WASTE MANAGEMENT AGENCY
The Environmental Protection Department has the 2008 Sonoma County Recycling Guides.
It conains information on:
- Toxic Disposal
- Curbside Recycling
- Used Oil Recycling
- Drop-Off Recycling Areas
- Disposal Sites
- Business Recycling
- Plus information on how to dispose of appliances, batteries, computers, building materials, christmas trees, concrete and much more.
We have some available at the tribal office if you want to drop by and pick one up.
MARIN SANITARY SERVICE
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Reduce
We should all avoid products with excessive packaging
- The production of the packaging uses additional energy
- The extra volume and weight will have to be transported (by lorries, aircraft, ships etc.)
- The packaging will be thrown out and will need to be collected from your home by a large waste disposal truck
- Packaging then takes more space at land fill sites
Re-use
Everyone should try and re-use products for as long as feasibly possible. It is amazing how often people buy certain products and use them only once or twice, even though they can be re-used many times. For instance can you think of some items of clothing you have worn only once?
Recycle
Recycling uses less energy and produces less pollution than making things from scratch.
For example:
- Making Aluminium cans from old ones uses one twelfth of the energy to make them from raw materials.
- For glass bottles, 315kg of CO2 is saved per tonne of glass recycled after taking into account the transportation and processing
- Making bags from recycled polythene takes one third the Sulphur Dioxide and half the Nitrous Oxide, than making them from scratch.
Another form of recycling is composting household and garden waste.
Why compost?
- it helps fertilize soil, making plants and vegetables grow better
- using home made compost will minimise depletion of peat bogs
- reduces the number of refuse collections needed
- reduces the strain on land fill sites
- you may be able to get a reduced price compost bin via the recycle now website
What can you compost?
- Garden waste (fallen leaves, grass cuttings and prunings)
- Kitchen waste (such as raw vegetables, fruit, crushed egg shells, tea leaves and tea bags)
- In addition try, shredded paper and cardboard.
Gifting items to charity is also an excellent form of recycling. Charities not only sell old clothes, but would also appreciate other house hold items, such as books, music CDs, videos, etc. As well as saving the planet against global warming you will also be helping others.
G E T T I N G T O Z E R O W A S T E
Jean- Michael Cousteau and his team sail into the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" while shooting "Voyage to Kure".
O C E A N A D V E N T U R E S : T R A S H O N T H E S P I N C Y C L E
A few weeks from now, San Francisco residents will start facing warnings, and even fines, if they fail to recycle, as the city – like many in California – aims to keep ever more garbage out of its landfills. But, after twenty years of curbside recycling and, more recently, composting programs, Californians produce more waste than ever. Amy Standen reports, recycling can only take us so far.
