Lower Makefield Township EAC members collect styrofoam to protect our landfills.
The Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) of Lower Makefield Township in April conducted its latest community recycling event. This marks the 17th such event held by the EAC.
The first of these very successful collections occurred in January 2017. Initially, the recycling collections occurred once a year and only styrofoam was collected. However, beginning in 2020 both the frequency of the events and the number of items collected for recycling have increased. The recycling events are now held three times a year (spring, fall, and post-holidays).
In addition to Styrofoam, the EAC now collects house-hold batteries, wine corks and prescription pill containers.
The collected styrofoam is transported by the EAC to Ray Bob’s Packaging in Bristol. It is reused for packaging or made into picture frames and furniture molding. The pill bottles collected are shipped to developing countries for re-use as medical supplies. The corks are reused in construction or as artwork. The nickel, lead, and cobalt in the house-hold batteries are recovered and reused in new batteries, eliminating the need to obtain them from environmentally damaging mining operations.
A significant quantity of recycled items is collected during the events. For example, in January 2024 the EAC collected 800 cubic feet of styrofoam, 150 pounds of house-batteries, approximately 500 pill bottles, and several hundred wine bottle corks.
The EAC recycling events are held on Saturday mornings in the parking lot of the Lower Makefield Township building at 1100 Edgewood Road. The next event is scheduled on October 26 (Saturday) from 10 am to noon.