Melody Tuschel, Recycling Coordinator and Outreach Liaison for Monroe County, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/1002.5FM this morning to talk about recycling.
The skip the stuff summer campaign is going on right now.
Tuschel explained, “It’s a wonderful opportunity for the businesses and the residents and visitors of Monroe County to prevent the pollution from our mangroves, our waterways, and just to go ahead and make the shift to better habits. So moving forward. So the skip the stuff summer campaign is a collaborative campaign between Monroe County, the village of Islamorada and the city of Key West, partnered with Surfrider Foundation to promote this throughout Monroe County and the municipalities to all the businesses to just kind of shift gears, and instead of automatically handing out plastics and single use materials such as utensils, straws, condiment packets, napkins and bags, we’re encouraging businesses to provide them only upon request.”
Why are those items targeted?
Tuschel said, “If you’ve ever done a Coastal Cleanup, especially here in the Keys, we have a ton of plastics polluting our waterways in near shore areas. So just a couple of facts here, Florida has 8,000 miles of shoreline that supports the diverse ecosystems tourism and wildlife and nearly 7,000 tons of plastics are estimated to enter the Florida oceans every year.”
How can local restaurants get involved with this initiative?
Tuschel said, “They can absolutely call me directly, and that’s at 305-509-0325, or Surf Rider is managing a pledge site or just give me a call. I’ll be happy to give them the information directly.”
There will also be free tire recycling for Monroe County residents.
Tuschel said, “We’ve had the opportunity to partner with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection again to offer free tire recycling for Monroe County residents. We are planning these events to coincide at the transfer stations with the compost give back, as well as they’ve been doing household materials give back. So it’d be the first Saturday of September, October and November. Again, Monroe County residents with proof of residency can bring in and recycle up to six passenger tires without the rim. No rims are accepted, up to 40 inches in size. And that will be, again, that’s at all three Monroe County transfer stations, Key Largo, Long Key and Cudjoe and that’ll be from 8am to noon. It supports mosquito control and obviously pollution, illegal dumping and such. (People will need to) please bring a photo ID, they will be asked to complete a verification form that’ll be submitted for data for the DEP, and then for our records as well. No businesses can submit the tires. It’s really an initiative for residents. Those First Saturdays, not only can you bring in your tires to recycle, but you could pick up some free compost, and then also we’re reusing the household materials that people bring in, such as paints, some coatings, cleaners, solvents, your landscaping, fertilizers, pesticides. We get a lot of this that hasn’t even been opened. So instead of just trashing it, we’re offering it back to the residents of Monroe County. So come on out. September, October, November, the first Saturday, eight to noon, bring your tires, pick up some paint and some compost.”
For more information on Skip the Stuff, click here: https://floridakeys.surfrider.org/skip-the-stuff