In coordination with Recycling Avenue, Schaumburg Township is sponsoring a small electronics dropoff at Town Hall.  Take your used laptops, ink cartridges, cell phones, digital cameras and MP3 players to One Illinois Blvd in Hoffman Estates.  They are open Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Items not accepted are computer monitors, printers, PCs, towers, fax machines, TVs, DVD players or any other large electronic.

For more information, please visit www.recyclingavenue.com

Bring your old athletic shoes to the collection bin at the Hoffman Estates Community Center & Ice Arena (CCIA) and prevent thousands of shoes from taking up space in our landfills.  The CCIA is located at 1685 W. Higgins Road.

The Hoffman Estates Park District is sponsoring this event with the Chicago Wolves and the Solid Waste Agency of Cook County (SWANCC).  

Shoes must be clean athletic shoes with no metal. Please no Vans, dress shoes, cleats, sandals, or boots.

Through this program, old athletic shoes collected will be shredded at Nike’s Oregon facility and made into “Regrind”, a material that goes into making new sports surfaces and fields, such as basketball and tennis courts, soccer and football fields and running tracks. Additionally, Nike donates sports courts, tracks and fields to communities world wide to encourage kids to be more physically active.

If you have an old, working refrigerator or freezer that is between 10 and 30 cubic feet and is easily accessible with a clear path for removal, ComEd will pick it up for free!  And pay you $25 per applicance! 

• You must be a current ComEd customer.
• Room air conditioners are accepted at the same time although no rebate is available for those.
• Each customer is limited to two appliances and one air conditioner.
• The customer must be 18 years or older.
• The program is first come, first served.

Call 1-888-806-2273 between 7am-8pm M-F and 9am-5pm Saturday for more information.  Or schedule a time online.

Keep up with books on the Green movement by reading our Green Pages newsletter. You will find a mix of green programs held at the library as well as 7 or 8 new books that the library has received.

Simply click here to choose Green Pages and any other newsletter that catches your eye.   Enter your account information and wait for the new edition to hit your Inbox. It’s a whole new way to see what the library has to offer!

What:  Environmental Fair is an annual event where speakers discuss current environmental issues and local environmental organizations share information about their organizations.
Who:  Co-sponsored by the Hoffman Estates Environmental Commission and the Schaumburg Environmental Committee.
When:  Saturday, November 14, 2009, 9:30 to 3:30
Where:  Schaumburg Prairie Center for the Arts, 201 Schaumburg Court, Schaumburg, IL
Cost:  Free

The Northwest Cook County Group of the Sierra Club is continuing their restoration work at Spring Valley Nature Sanctuary in Schaumburg.  Any who wish to participate should meet in the Spring Valley parking lot on Saturday, November 21 at 8:45 a.m.  Work will proceed until 11:30.  Gloves and tools will be provided. 

Helping restore this native habitat is the Group’s way of saying thank you to Spring Valley for the use of their meeting room.

 Recycling your household and business waste is only part of the process.  Consider buying recycled products to complete the cycle.  Check out SWANCC’s website to find ecofriendly products, links and programs. 

Everything from a list of green hotels, energy efficient appliances, safe cosmetics to green office supplies is given.

For the average household, there are multiple, advertised environmental fairs, hazardous waste collections, dropoffs and recycling events that are all FREE.  For the average business it can be difficult to find a way to be green and operate economically. 

The Illinois EPA has one way to help.  They have set up an Industrial Material Exchange that allows businesses to post both the materials they have available for recycling or materials they would like to obtain for their own uses.  Check  out the website here.

Since most smoke detectors contain small amounts of radioactive materials, they are not readily accepted at most hazardous waste dropoffs.   Federal regulations stipulate that all smoke detector packaging must contain the company’s mail back address so that they may be disposed of properly.  Please call the company for instructions on mailing the detctors back properly.

BRK ELECTRONICS:

Accepts BRK and First Alert smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.  Will accept 4 for free and then charge $1 per additional unit.
www.brkelectronics.com
1-800-323-9005

Based in Aurora, IL

For more info:  www.epa.gov/radtown/smoke-detector.html

In coordination with Recycling Avenue, the Village of Hoffman Estates is sponsoring a small electronics dropoff at the Village Hall.  Take your used laptops, ink cartridges, cell phones, digital cameras and MP3 players to 1900 Hassell Road.  They are open Monday 8:30 to 8:00, Tuesday through Friday 8:30 to 5:00 and Saturday 9:00 to noon.  The time frame for accepting electronic items is indefinite.

Items not accepted are computer monitors, towers, fax machines, TVs, DVD players or any other large electronic. 

For more information, please visit www.recyclingavenue.com