Embrace Love for Our Planet This Valentine’s Day: A Heartfelt Reminder to Cherish the Earth

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Embrace Love for Our Planet This Valentine’s Day: A Heartfelt Reminder to Cherish the Earth

Valentine’s Day is a special time to celebrate love. It’s also a great opportunity to show some love to our planet. Here are some simple ways to make your Valentine’s Day more eco-friendly!

Flowers

Receiving flowers is always a delight, especially when they come in a nice vase. After the flowers fade, wash the vase and keep it for next time or donate it. Remember, broken vases can’t be recycled. If your bouquet comes wrapped, throw away the outer covering in the trash. For wilted flowers, you have a couple of choices. You can dry them for decoration or use the petals as natural confetti. Alternatively, add them to your compost or toss them in the trash.

Chocolates

Chocolate is a Valentine’s favorite! After you finish enjoying your treats, recycling the boxes is easy—just flatten them first. However, plastic containers and any wrappers need to go in the trash. Metal tins can be reused or recycled at scrap metal locations. Foil wrappers are too small to recycle and should also be discarded.

Valentines

Cheesy Valentine’s cards bring a smile! Keep them, but remember, they can only be recycled if they’re not too glittery. So, if you want to recycle, stick to cards without lots of embellishments.

Stuffed Animals

Stuffed animals are gifts filled with comfort and nostalgia. If you find yourself with more than you need, consider donating them. If they’re no longer wanted, you can toss them, but donating is always a better option.

Food and Drink

Whether you’re sharing a fancy meal or pizza, don’t forget about recycling! Glass bottles and aluminum cans are recyclable. Corks can be saved for crafts. But watch out for pizza boxes; they can only be recycled if they’re barely greasy. As for takeout containers, unfortunately, most can’t be recycled, including Styrofoam and plastic ones.

Here are some recycling tips to follow:

  1. Don’t bag your recyclables. Bags can’t be recycled, and workers won’t open them to check what’s inside.
  2. Keep plastic films and bags out of the recycling! They can cause issues at recycling centers.
  3. Styrofoam isn’t recyclable in many places. Check local drop-off spots if you want to recycle it.

With these easy suggestions, you can have a wonderful Valentine’s Day while also caring for our environment.

Amanda Haffele is the Portage County Solid Waste Director. You can reach her at the Material Recovery Facility in Plover.



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