Mid-Michigan Waste Authority Earth Day Celebration at the Saginaw Children’s Zoo

Informative & Fun Events Planned for Saturday, April 21st

    icon Apr 12, 2018
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Mid-Michigan Waste Authority will host its annual Earth Day Celebration on Sat., April 21, 2018, from 10 am to 2 pm at the Saginaw Children’s Zoo. This annual environmentally-themed event promises a fun-filled day for children of all ages and their families. MMWA is once again offering free admission to the first 400 people who bring a recyclable beverage container, thanks in part to ticket sponsor Waste Management.     

The eco-experience starts at the entrance gate with a visit to the Waste Management recycling truck, as zoo visitors turn in their recyclable containers. Inside the zoo, MMWA and more than a dozen community partners will offer free resources, games, activities, face painting, scavenger hunt, educational exhibits, and trash-to-treasure crafts in the event area near the horse barn.      

All children’s activities are free, thanks to sponsorships from Republic Services, ERG Environmental, 1st State Bank, Roberts, Boehler, and Fisher, PC, and Masud Labor Law Group.

Participating organizations include the SVSU Greenhouse, Saginaw Conservation District, Saginaw Valley Sustainability Society, Downtown Saginaw Farmers Market, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Consumers Energy, Midland Recyclers, Chippewa Nature Center and more.           

This year the event will focus on ways to reduce plastic waste and pollution. At the waste-free lunch station, children will receive a free reusable sandwich bag made from recycled plastic bottles, while supplies last. Zoo visitors will also learn about how they can go “Strawless in Saginaw,” by avoiding disposable plastic drinking straws.        

At 11 am, Lisa Gruenberg, Kayli Miller, and Kenadi Canole of Cheap to Chic by Lisa will share repurposing tips and tricks you can try at home to give old, unwanted household items new life. Stop by their table to see examples of the trio’s handiwork and get ideas from these expert upcyclers.         

April 21 is the first day the zoo is open to the general public this year, so the Earth Day event is a great opportunity to be among the first visitors of the season to enjoy more than 10 acres of beautiful tree-filled parkland, animal exhibits, colorful gardens, the beloved miniature train, the region's only hand-carved carousel, and so much more.

For visitors who do not arrive in time for the free admission, entrance to the zoo is just $5 per person, and free for infants 11 months of age and under. The zoo is located at 1730 S Washington Avenue in Saginaw.

Mid-Michigan Waste Authority is a government entity providing comprehensive residential solid waste services to approximately 69,000 households in 34 communities across the Saginaw Valley area.

One of the most common things are that people can do to help impact the environment that they often forget or are unaware about is to be aware before you make a trash item.  Ask it you need to buy any particular item; and if so, can you buy it with less packaging and is the packaging reusable or reyclable? People should also make small changes, as they can bring big results and lead to further behavior changes.

Take the example of plastic beverage containers and think about how many you and your family consume in a week. It is not hard to simply bring your used single serve beverage bottles back home and recycle.  Better yet, use reusable beverage bottles when on the go so far fewer finite natural resources are being used.

Another significant issue is the importance of setting goals for recycling.  Every household serviced through their municipality’s MMWA curbside solid waste program should participate in recycling. It’s a service you are already paying for, and the rewards for participating are many:  economic, environmental and societal.  

If all households would recycle the allowed, expansive list of recyclables in the curbside recycling program, trash volumes could easily shrink by 50%.  Just by recycling all home-generated paper, cookie and cereal boxboard and cardboard, which make up about 30% of the waste stream, residents could immediately and significantly impact landfill capacity demands, reduce natural resource demands and support the recycled paper industry to divert even more paper.  

That’s the potential impact from recycling just one allowed waste stream:  imagine the additional benefits of recycling the allowed plastics, metals and glass.  Meeting a 50% diversion rate is eminently doable, and all recycling efforts help reduce the impact on natural resources and spur the continued growth of the recycling industry.  In fact, the recycling industry employs 4 times as many people as the landfill disposal industry, and many of those jobs are local.

Getting into RecycleMotion is easy:  it is just 2-Steps!

1 A.  Call your municipal office/official to get a bin; or 1B) Create your own recycling bin using any 33 gallon or smaller hard-sided container, such as a large storage tote or a repurposed 33-gallon trash can and slap on a “Recyclables Only” sticker from your community or MMWA.

2.  Follow the recycling program rules for what can be recycled and how to prepare such.

Solid waste program rules are on-line at MMWA’s website at recyclemotion, org, or you can call MMWA to be sent a copy of the Loop Guide.

For more information about residential curbside collection services and other MMWA programming, visit www.recyclemotion.org

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