East Peoria Green hosted a recycling event on Sat. Oct. 3rd.  We did this because the city of East Peoria stopped doing curbside recycling.  It was a successful event.  We filled this doghouse roll off to about 8 inches from the windows you see.  We would like to thank  East Peoria Dist. 86 for letting us use their parking lot.  Thanks to AREA Recycling for bringing the roll offs and picking them up at no charge.   The workers you see in the picture are all from EPCHS.  They are members of the HOPE Club, which is an environmental group.  Finally thanks to all those who brought us their recyclable material.

The city council is currently examining some ‘Requests for Proposals’ to restart our recycling program.  We hope they will find a proposal the city can select.

Curbside recycling has been put on hold for now in East Peoria.  East Peoria Green hopes that in the not too distant future we will have this Earth friendly action back in service.  Notable information on recycling is shown in the next few photos.  Please look them over and be aware of what recycling companies are currently looking for, or discarding in the dump.  The closer you follow these tips the more of a demand there will be for recyclables from East Peoria.  Remember, ‘If in doubt. Throw it out.’   Hope to see our blue topped curbside recycling toters on the street soon.   

Don’t forget that you can still recycle by taking your materials out to Peoria Disposal Company,  PDC, on the edge of Pekin.  14379 IL-29 Pekin, IL 61554    353-3333 

Heart of Illinois Group Sierra Club members, Beth and Ryan Johnson, of East Peoria, are thrilled with their new solar panels. The pollution free electricity the panels generate will help the world win the battle against climate crisis. They said that the thought that they are helping to preserve the environment with this installation is very satisfying. They are also looking forward to tracking the energy produced by their array in real time with an app on their phones. The installation was designed and installed by Ruyle Mechanical. Kiersten Sheets of Ruyle made the whole process from start to finish relatively stress free. The panels are American made, high efficiency, Solaria panels and were installed by union workers from Ruyle. As you can see in the picture their 5KW system is made up of 14 panels and should cover the electricity needs of the Johnson household. Because of incentives and rebates the Johnsons will have recovered all of their investment in less than 8 years. The solar panels are warrantied for 25 years and will probably last well beyond their warranty. 

1. On average, recycling 1 ton of recyclable household materials saves enough energy to power 36 homes for one month. 
2. Purchasing a live Christmas tree is more environmentally friendly than purchasing an artificial one that lasts for 10 years.  It is even better if it is sustainably and locally sourced without pesticides and herbicides.
3. Americans collectively throw away an extra 1 million tons of garbage WEEKLY between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.  Go to: https://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/eco-friendly-holiday-tips for ways to do your part to reduce your waste during the holiday season. 
4. Approximately 1.5 billion cards are sent over the holiday season in the U.S., which requires 300,000 new trees to be harvested per year.  Consider sending electronic Christmas cards instead.
5. The night before Thanksgiving is one of the top 3 nights of the year to order pizza.  Pizza boxes are recyclable, but only if they are not contaminated with food or grease.  Rip the top of the box off to be recycled and throw bottom away or compost it if that is an option for you. 
6. Holiday lighting consumes over six TW of energy per year, which is equivalent to the total monthly energy consumption by around 500,000 homes.  Be sure to use LED lights to save 90% of the energy over incandescent lights.
7. Shopping locally not only helps the local economy, but is often more environmentally friendly if products are locally sourced and since you drive a shorter distance.  For further distanced shopping trips, online ordering may be better as long as you don’t choose expedited shipping.