Recyclepalooza 2024 gave residents the chance to declutter their spaces in an environmentally friendly way.
Many were repeat customers, like Marilyn Abramczyk of Homewood who brought old electrical cables.
“I try to find a home for everything I have that I don’t want anymore,” she said. “I don’t want it going in the landfills.”
Phillip River of Homewood, another repeat customer, was happy Recyclepalooza had a way to dispose of old paint safely. He was leaving spray paint and latex paint with Flat Can Recycling of Elburn, Illinois, for a small disposal fee. This was the first time the company was at Recyclepalooza.
Amy Dabe of Flat Can Recycling said the company collects the paint, weighs the paint and stores the cans until shipment to ePaint Recycling in Michigan where the paint cans are emptied and the used paint goes through a filtering machine to remove impurities so the paint can be recycled into usable paint.
The annual Flossmoor recycling event, more than a decade old, is hosted by the village’s Green Commission. It was busy for the three hours it was open on Saturday, Sept. 21. Cars drove through the Parker Junior High lot where they were greeted by volunteers from the Homewood-Flossmoor High School Key Club and National Honor Society, Parker Junior High’s Green Team and National Junior Honor Society, and members of Flossmoor’s Green Commission.
Jerry McNamara of Working Bikes estimated more than three dozen bikes were donated. Most were taken from the back of cars, but one man rode his bike to Recyclepalooza and left it for McNamara, explaining it was an extra bike no one in his house was using any longer.
Working Bikes, based in Chicago, is 25 years old. The charitable organization fixes and sells bikes or donates them to those who don’t have bikes. Many of the bikes will be shipped overseas, McNamara said.
A trailer was on site to collect clothing and shoes for Helping Hands.
Boxes were being filled with medicine bottles, bread tags, trophies, and old American flags. “We find places to take them,” a Green Commission member said.
If you can’t wait for the next Recyclepalooza, the South Suburbs now has a CHARM Center (Center for Hard to Recycle Materials) for disposal of Styrofoam, dishes, plastic bottles, containers, metal cans, electronics, and IPASS transponders.
Through a partnership with Cook County, South Suburban College, 15800 State St. in South Holland, is hosting the CHARM Center, a permanent recycling drop-off. The center is open from 8 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays; 1 to 5 p.m. Thursdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month. To find a list of what is accepted, visit the South Suburban College website at ssc.edu.