Adapt this sample and submit to your favorite local newspaper.
Title: America Recycles Day: Start the Season of Giving—By Recycling
By: NAME, TITLE, ORGANIZATION
Today (or, if running on another day, “On November 15”), Lake County (or MUNICIPALITY) celebrates America Recycles Day alongside countless other communities across the country.
Each year, this day kicks off a real season of giving back, culminating in the holiday season where the giving spirit is at its highest. Giving is not limited to money or even time, it can also simply be doing your small, everyday part for the environment, today and every day. America Recycles
Day is truly a day for all of us to show our pride in our beautiful country by doing something that makes a real difference, and that is recycling.
I’m proud to be a Lake County resident, where we already do a good job of recycling. But, there’s always room for improvement. Although we recycled a lot last year, we still trashed more. As part of a new education campaign to increase recycling, let’s all try to “recycle first and trash last.”
Consider this: For each ton of paper we recycle, we save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4,000 kilowatts of energy and 7,000 gallons of water. With numbers like that, we need to be recycling all that we can. Remember that small numbers add up fast and every little bit does help and make a difference.
According to the Clean Air Council, an extra million tons of waste is generated each week between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. Consider the following tips to help improve your community and cut down on waste as we enter the holiday season.

Keep your recycling container in a kitchen pantry or by a trash can so they are convenient for family members.

This holiday season, make sure to set out containers in high-traffic areas at parties to encourage guests to recycle—and it makes your clean-up easier.

Keep a small grocery bag in your car to bring in recyclables such as cans and water bottles so they don’t get trashed.

Be your neighborhood’s “Recycling Champion.” Encourage your neighbors to fill their recycling containers each week. Let them know what they can recycle and when they can recycle. Help elderly neighbors put their carts out at the curb.

Recycle during the holidays, including wrapping paper and all of those cardboard boxes!

Start a real giving trend today by recycling in your community on America Recycles Day and
EVERY day. Start now by educating yourself and neighbors about your community’s recycling program. Recycling is good for all of us and will get the holiday season off to a great start!
Adapt this and submit to your favorite local newspaper.
Dear Editor of the PAPER NAME,
There is no question that the more we recycle and the less we trash, the more we make our community a better place to live. I am pleased to see the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County
(SWALCO) unveil a new education campaign, “Recycle First. Trash Last.” The campaign is designed to change the mindset from one of pulling recyclables out of the trash to, ideally pulling trash out of the recycling, making recycling come first.
As the (TITLE of ORGANIZATION), I am proud to support this new campaign and help spread the word among Lake County residents. Consider the statistics: while Lake County residents recycled enough to equal the weight of 563 Cloud Gates, aka “The Bean,” we also threw away enough garbage to fill Soldier Field three feet high nearly 50 times over. Sure, we already do a decent job of recycling, but there is always room for improvement.
Can you imagine the impact if each Lake County household recycled just one extra aluminum can each week? It would be the equivalent of taking 720 cars off the road in a year. Through simple acts we can all make a difference by recycling first and more, and trashing last.
It is the perfect time for this campaign, especially as we launch into the (FALL or UPCOMING
HOLIDAY) season, and I hope everyone in the county will step up and do their part to recycle.
Use your container to recycle everything possible from all rooms of your house, it’s that easy!
Get started by recycling this newspaper, when you’re done reading it! Plus, there are a whole lot more items that can be recycled. To learn more, visit www.RecycleFirstTrashLast.org
.
Together, we can recycle first and trash less, Lake County!
Sincerely,
NAME
TITLE
ORGANIZATION