Recycling At the Library

Most all would agree that it’s better to recycle rather than throw away renewable products. Sometimes it is tempting to throw an empty aluminum soda can in the trash because, as you rationalize, it’s just one can out of tens of millions or tens of billions of cans. But you know you’re doing the right thing when you temporarily save a can and then dispose of it at a designated collection site. The whole recycling effort is just an extension of the old 1950’s and 60’s “don’t be a litter bug” campaign. Nowadays, not only do we avoid littering, but to further protect our planet, we try to reuse as much as possible.

It may seem unimaginable, but even eyeglasses can be recycled! Your discarded glasses may give the blessing of better vision to someone in a poor area of South America or Africa. The Library has been collecting old eyeglasses for the local Lions Club for at least 25 years. While it’s been a number of years since we have had a designated collection bin, many people continue to bring in their old eye glasses so that they may bring better sight to poor people in foreign lands. Periodically, someone from the local Lions Club stops at the Library to pick up a grocery sack or two stuffed full of eye glasses. I understand that local opticians volunteer to examine these glasses and grade them for their refraction so that when a visiting optician in a foreign country has examined and tested a patient, he can then select the correct pair from a collection of marked and graded used eyeglasses. By cleaning out our drawers of old eye glasses we have been keeping just in case we might break our new pair, we can help someone see better. With better sight that person may be able to hold down a job, learn to read, thread a needle to patch a child’s dress, etc.

The Library is just now beginning a new program of collecting empty inkjet cartridges that individuals at home or at work have previously been discarding. These cartridges are sent to a company to be recycled. For our efforts, the Library will receive a credit toward the purchase of newly refilled cartridges for each cartridge recycled. We hope that there will be a good response to this effort of recycling. Rather than consign the cartridge to the landfill, the cartridge can be refilled and used again. Both the eyeglass recycling bin and the inkjet cartridge recycling bin are found just inside the main entrance to the Library.
S
While it’s not recycling per se, the Library has begun re-polishing scratched cds and dvds for individuals for a $2.00-a-disk fee. Rather than discard the many disks that patrons were returning with scratches on them, the Library purchased an Azurdisc re-polishing machine a few months ago. This machine uses a slurry and foam pads to buff out the scratches that make cds and dvds impossible to be replayed again. A volunteer, Leonard Gabriel, has been diligently re-polishing all of the library’s cds and dvds so that patrons will have a more pleasant experience when they check out these items. It’s appreciated when a patron calls to our attention a library-owned disk that has a scratch. Now that Leonard has polished his way through the Library’s collection, we are now accepting disks from the public to re-polish. As Mr. Gabriel does his volunteer work on Tuesdays, any disks brought in will not be ready for pick up until the following Wednesday.