Group to mark Earth Day with seminar, recycling event

The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y.
·2 min read
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Apr. 14—The Otsego County Conservation Association's Earth Festival will be held April 22 through 24 with a mix of online webinars, talks and in-person nature walks, according to a media release.

The event will conclude with the "Drive Through, Drop Off" recycling event, a collection of hard-to-get-rid-of items, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 24.

The "Drive Through, Drop Off" event will take place at the Meadows complex on County Road 33 in Middlefield. Items to be collected include used tennis balls; natural wine corks; clean, white rigid expanded polystyrene foam packing material and egg cartons; permanent markers and pens; eyeglasses; inkjet cartridges, cellphones and small handheld electronics such as GPS units. Empire Recycling's Confidata service will provide shredding of household documents.

"The recycling event is always a popular part of Earth Festival and we were sorry not to be able to offer it last year," said Jeff O'Handley, OCCA's program director. "We thought quite a bit about how we could provide the service for people while minimizing the risk of COVID exposure, and 'Drive Through, Drop Off' was the solution."

The event will be held in the parking area of the Meadows office complex and will be staffed by OCCA volunteers who will unload cars and sort and pack the materials for shipment to recyclers. The service is free, but people must sign up at www.occainfo.org/Earth-Festival to participate.

"Volunteers will have masks and PPE," O'Handley said. "We ask that drivers have masks as well, and that they stay in their cars to speed up traffic flow and minimize the risk of virus spread."

O'Handley said the event should not be confused with the county's annual Household Hazardous Waste Day, which was also cancelled in 2020 because of the pandemic. "Check the list at our website and only bring items listed there," he said. "We will not accept any items that are not on the list."

In addition to the "Drive Through, Drop Off" event, OCCA is sponsoring a series of online events and limited size in-person events beginning on Earth Day, April 22. All sessions are free and open to the public. Information about all Earth Festival programs can be found at www.occainfo.org/Earth-Festival.