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Gravitating greener in 2021

(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is another in a series of recycling tips from the City of Covington's Neighborhood Services Department, Solid Waste & Recycling Division.)

COVINGTON, Ky. – When you make your New Year’s Resolutions this week, how about adding “I will take tangible steps to protect the air, earth, and waterways for my children and generations to come.”
 
How can you become a lean and green eco-warrior?
 
Glad you asked: To honor the approaching year of ’21, here are 21 practical steps you can take:
 
1 – Participate in the City of Covington’s free curbside recycling program (this is what people call a “no-brainer”).
2 – Just say “no” to straws. We all know how to drink out of a glass, right?
3 – Save landfill space by recycling your natural Christmas tree and your burned-out light strands (details in previous City of Covington releases and Facebook posts).
4 – Use cloth bags at the grocery. But if you do use plastic bags, recycle them in barrels located just inside many grocery store entrances.
5 – Drink tap water instead of bottled water.
6 – Stop throwing cigarette butts on the ground and out your car window.
7 – Bring old computer equipment, batteries, cell phones etc. to the City of Covington’s annual e-waste event.
8 – On short trips, walk or ride a bike instead of taking your car.
9 – Stop using disposable plastic utensils, plates and bowls for picnics and cook-outs. Instead, buy some cheap metal or hard plastic flatware and dishes and reuse them.
10 – Take shorter showers.
11 – Pull weeds instead of using chemicals.
12 – Use cloth napkins and diapers.
13 – Compost your food scraps, grass clippings, and leaves, or make arrangements to give them to a local community garden.
14 – Fill up your gas tank after sunset to keep fuel vapors from interacting with sunlight to create smog and making it harder to breathe.
15 – Donate your gently used clothes and household goods to a local social service agency.
16 – When you buy food and other items at the grocery, avoid products with unnecessary packaging and buy in bulk when appropriate.
17 – Don’t let grass clippings, street garbage, and other debris get washed into storm drains.
18 – Plant trees.
19 – Use alternatives to harsh chemicals to clean your home. For suggestions, look HERE or HERE or any of a number of internet sites.
20 – Get money for your metal scrap, and – if you’re rehabbing a home – make tax-deductible donations of your extra or old building supplies (things like appliances, cabinets, baseboards, extra lumber, pipes, pavers) to an agency that accepts them.
21 – Check out www.terracycle.com for innovative ways to recycle.
 
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