Sue Reyzlik/Keep Fremont Beautiful
Thousands of volunteers across America dedicated themselves to improving their hometowns during the Keep America Beautiful “Great American Cleanup.”
Those volunteers completed Litter cleanups, beautification projects and recycling activities. Here in Fremont we celebrated the “Great American Cleanup” in our own way -- with education events, litter cleanups, tree planting and lots of recycling.
The “Friends of the Library” Book Sale was a huge success. It was estimated that the group collected more than 250,000 books and other items such as puzzles, games, videos and CDs. The “Friends” raised more than $17,000 at this year’s event. Remember, you can take your unwanted books to Keene Memorial Library during regular business hours. The “Friends of the Library” volunteers sort books, puzzles, videos and other materials all year long.
The 14th annual Keep Fremont Beautiful Eco-Fair was held April 16. More than 500 students and adults gathered to learn more about Keeping Fremont Beautiful and how to protect the environment. This year’s Eco-Fair featured 29 environmental booth displays including five “hands-on” activity booths where students made envelopes, book marks, fans, cards and beads from discarded materials. More than 60 adult volunteers dedicated themselves to creating this successful educational event.
Elementary students and their parents from Grant, Clarmar, Bell Field, Milliken Park, Platteville and Howard Schools collected 1,920 pounds of litter during the KAB Great American Cleanup. American National Bank, First State Bank and Trust Co. and Fremont National Bank and Trust Co. donated prizes for this annual event. McDonald’s Restaurant gave each participating student a free hamburger.
As of this writing, nearly 4,000 pounds of PET No. 1 Plastic were collected for the KAB “Return The Warmth” School recycling project. You can still participate by taking your No. 1 plastic water and pop bottles to the Waste Connection Recycling Facility on 1200 Hamilton St. The No. 1 plastic that is collected through May 31 will be divided equally among participating schools for the KAB national contest.
For our local PET recycling competition, the schools collected No. 1 plastic from March 1 through April 30. Platteville Elementary School recycled 5.71 pounds of plastic per student and they were awarded a $200 prize for the most plastic recycled per student. Clarmar Elementary School recycled 1,224.6 pounds of plastic and earned a $200 prize for the most plastic collected. Bell Field, Howard, Grant and Milliken Park Elementary Schools were awarded a $100 for their recycling efforts.
Keep Fremont Beautiful and All Metals Market hosted our Spring Metal Recycling Collection on April 26. Volunteers helped unload 2,630 pounds of metal from participant trunks and trucks. Thank goodness we had the parks department log lifter to help with some of the heavier discards. Thanks Willy. The next All Metals Collection Site will be held from 5:30-7 p.m. the last Wednesday in August.
The Paper Shredding Day, hosted by American National Bank, resulted in the collection of 5,460 pounds of paper for recycling -- that is a 29 percent increase from the first paper shredding day in 2007. Citizens were encouraged to bring their “information sensitive” documents to the bank for destruction. The shredded paper will be recycled.
Keep Fremont Beautiful in cooperation with the City of Fremont, Wal-Mart Supercenter, Three Rivers Health Department and local pharmacists collected 283 pounds of raw pharmaceutical waste and 130 pounds of packaging waste. Clean Harbors took possession of the medicinal waste and transported it to an incineration facility.
Remember, don’t flush any medicinal waste down the toilet. Call KFB at 727-2808 for a free medicine disposal brochure.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Keep Fremont Beautiful “Great American Cleanup.” Thank you to the hundreds of volunteers who made the projects so successful.
Sue Reyzlik is coordinator of Keep Fremont Beautiful
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