“During the holidays, it’s important to be min dful of the environmental impact of our celebrations,” said Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich. “By focusing on reducing waste, reusing items and recycling properly, we can enjoy the season while also protecting our environment. I hope all County residents and businesses consider a New Year’s resolution of small changes they can make in their daily lives to be more sustainable in 2025.”
DEP offers the following tips on how to reduce waste and recycle effectively this holiday season:
- Unwanted Mail: Reduce junk mail by removing your name from mailing lists or registering on a “Do Not Mail” service.
- Shopping and Gifting: Shop locally for gifts made from recycled materials or repurpose items into homemade gifts. Always bring reusable shopping bags and avoid excessive packaging. Look for unique gifts made from recycled materials.
- Gift Wrapping: Use repurposed or reusable wrapping materials such as outdated maps, fabric or gift bags. Reuse any bows or ribbons.
- Entertaining: Plan meals carefully to reduce food waste, use durable dishes and utensils instead of disposable ones and recycle bottles, jars, cans and containers.
“Properly disposing of Christmas trees is an easy but meaningful way for our community to support the County’s environmental efforts and start the new year with a focus on sustainability,” said DEP Director Jon Monger. “By recycling live trees and wreaths, we can transform them into valuable products like mulch that benefit the environment. I encourage everyone to recycle their live trees and wreaths as a way to give back to the environment.”
For residents of single-family homes and townhomes who receive Montgomery County-provided weekly curbside recycling collection service:
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For updates and link to press release, see here: http://www2.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgportalapps/Press_Detail.aspx?Item_ID=46358
Although, the bag tax is supposed to reduce plastic bags in our waterways and 5% of the money collected from their sales is to go to pay for waterway cleanup, I have wanted that money collected to be used like a charity. 90% goes to the impacted service need and 10% is for fundraising. I don’t think 45% should go to County Government to run the program, especially since during COVID someone forgot to make sure the merchants sent in the money collected. I never heard if that got resolved. And why should the merchants get a 50% rebate for selling the bags in the first place? However, that all might change with the County’s “new” plan to go back to paper and have no plastic bags. Saving the environment by not cutting down trees for paper bags and manufacturing plastic ones instead was inane 20 years ago and it is still being promoted elsewhere across the country. Way to go Ike Leggett! I tried to convince him to change that at a budget meeting and he blew me off. Unintended Consequences! Personally, when I am out and about I am tired of seeing plastic water bottles mainly in the woods and places I visit. I do not pick up all of them as larger carrying containers would be required. Ban them too! (My HOA has told me to not pick up trash I see in the neighborhood.) However, I think EPA should really promote and encouraging the enforcing littering laws. People have become accustomed to others being responsible for their selfish disregard and irresponsible behavior and cleaning up their messes. Next to my neighborhood is an unsigned park, which I have been trying to get the County to identify for over three years. Anyway, there is a trash can close by a path into it and yet there is junk and litter scattered on the ground within 20 feet of it. They could not be bothered to discard it effectively? Just yesterday, deep into the woods I found a large stack of carpet “squares”. How and why they carried them there I have no idea but it is ridiculously stupid. I will let Jake Adler and the Park Manager at Black Hills know about it. People, despite 50 years of Earth Day, have no restraint when it comes to littering and just leave it wherever. Why people think they have a privilege to litter and expect someone else to clean up shows how entitled we have become. Keep up your efforts and get the word out, people’s actions need to change. By personal choice would be better than punishment (like two weeks of trash pickup). By the way, the State’s Program of Operation Clean Up was taken from my early February 2023 email to County Government and to our elected in Congress. (winter time is the best time to clean up woods and waterways for multiple reasons – easily seen and spring plants are not damaged. Also, at least in Gunners Branch Park one can see the invasive species which need to be destroyed with root killer because they are the only low level plant which is green. (You all might want to work on them as well as getting HOAs and SHA to get rid of Tree of Heaven to reduce the numbers of Spotted Lanternfly).