Go Green Kids & Parents Magazine

October 2019

GO GREEN

kids & parents

MAGAZINE

Contents

Pg 3 RESILIENCE DEFINES

Pg 6 AG


 could grow on trees Cancer cures

Pg 20-23 Pg 11 How to over come fear, doubt & anxiety

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You need to know this month: Flower Fruit Animal extinction Green things this month

Pg28

Pg 33

CITY SHUTS DOWN PRESCHOOL FARM

RECYCLING 101

Go Green Kids & Parents Magazine Publisher

Ggk Media charlene3w2@gmail.com gogreenkidsandparents@gmail.com

Editor

Graphic Design

Charlene Alvarez

Aaron Steven

Regional Manager Louis Catalina

954-548-6513

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RESILIENCE DEFINES AG COMMUNITY IN WAKE OF NATURAL DISASTER BPT) - The hits just seem to keep on coming. For America’s farmers, it feels like it’s been one natural disaster after the next. From record wildfires in California and unprecedented hurricanes in the South and Southeast to the relentless flooding in the Midwest, people in the agricultural community have been hit hard in recent months. But they aren’t letting misfortune define them. Instead, the entire community has shown incredible resilience, coming together to face the challenges head on. (

Hope in devastation The disasters may have seemed never-ending, causing billions of dollars in damage from California to North Carolina and seemingly everywhere in between. But they were followed by equally endless stories of farmers going above and beyond to help their neighbors in need.

Reports of farmers helping sandbag against rising floodwaters, rescuing each other from encroaching fires and lending a hand wherever they could were a source of hope in the face of so much destruction.

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In the wake of the storms, those same communities are coming together to help each other rebuild, sharing resources as they try to put the pieces of their farming operations — and their lives — back together.

“People lost everything they had, from homes to crops. It was heartbreaking,” said Elwood Garner, a farm manager with Dail Farms, which produces crops, chickens and hogs near Kenansville, North Carolina. “While farmers tend to be an independent bunch, it makes you feel good that people still care and want to help their local communities.”

COMMUNITY EFFORT It’s not just farmers helping farmers, but the entire agricultural community that has come together to provide support and assistance during this time of need. Austin Anderson, a sales rep for Syngenta, which produces seeds and agrochemicals for farms across the globe, delivered meals to farmers and others impacted by Hurricane Florence in the Greenville, North Carolina, area.

“It’s all about neighbors helping neighbors,” Anderson said. “Agriculture is a resilient community.”

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE Farmers will hope to recover much of their losses through crop insurance and other unique programs like the Syngenta AgriClime™ initiative, a pilot program that offers cash back on Syngenta products if certain weather thresholds are met or missed during an offer period. But the widespread damage to infrastructure, equipment and the land itself means the road to recovery won’t be easy. Many hope that new innovations in agricultural science can provide a path forward and help ease the burden caused by future disasters.

In California, where record wildfires damaged or destroyed many grape farms, growers largely had to sell what product they had left at a discount because of the perception the grapes would produce low-quality wine. Now, the Lake County Winegrape Commission is undertaking a research project with the University of California – Davis and others to study the true effect of wildfire smoke on grapes.

With damaged equipment and saturated soils either delaying or preventing traditional planting and harvest seasons, it could be Dyears before many family farms fully return to normal. But the agricultural community is no stranger to tough times. With a resilient spirit and the help of its neighbors, the community expects to come through these disasters stronger than ever.

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Cancer Cures Could Grow on Trees—if the FDA Gets into the 21st Century The FDA has approved for marketing two human drugs obtained from genetically engineered animals—but none from genetically engineered plants. The primary reason is excessive regulation at the Department of Agriculture.

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Politicians talk a lot about farming but seldom about “pharming,” even though the latter can also have a big impact on Americans’ pocketbooks—and their health. The punny name refers to genetically modifying plants such as corn, rice, tobacco, and alfalfa to produce high concentrations of pharmaceutical ingredients. Many common medicines already come from plants, including morphine, the fiber supplement Metamucil, and the cancer drug Taxol. Yet heavy-handed federal regulations have frozen out pharming efforts, making it far too difficult for researchers to use this approach to create new medications.

An article this month in the journal Nature highlights pharming’s enormous promise. The authors estimate that proteins could be obtained from genetically engineered tobacco plants at 1/1,000th the cost of current methods. Compared with proteins derived from mammalian cells or chemical systems, proteins from genetically engineered plants are also easy to scale up and synthesize with other proteins, and they remain stable at room temperature for longer periods.

FDA

Restrictions

The Food and Drug Administration has approved for marketing two human drugs obtained from genetically engineered animals—an anticoagulant secreted into goat’s milk and an enzyme to treat a rare genetic disease, obtained from the eggs of genetically engineered chickens—but none from genetically engineered plants. The primary reason is excessive regulation at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and FDA.

Without a clear and reasonable regulatory framework, it isn’t surprising that pharmaceutical companies are reluctant to make large upfront investments.

In 2003, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service set out highly detailed guidelines for how and where pharmaceutical companies could plant their crops and store their equipment. This ended most entrepreneurial interest in pharming. Without a clear and reasonable regulatory framework, it isn’t surprising that pharmaceutical companies, most of which have little experience with plants, are reluctant to make large upfront investments.

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Innovation in

the Marketplace

Or consider HIV. A combination drug called Truvada that interferes with an enzyme critical to the replication of the virus is about 90% effective at suppressing it, but it costs $2,000 a month. This is costly for U.S. patients but puts the drug out of reach for patients in developing countries.

Researchers are looking for cheaper alternatives. Some are exploring topically applied drugs called microbicides to block virus entry into cells and thus transmission between people. Genetically engineered plants, grown at a large scale, could synthesize several anti-HIV microbicides at once. A medicine that contains several different antivirals reduces the likelihood of a resistant strain of HIV emerging during treatment. It’s possible a crude plant extract could be used as the drug. (Think of it as similar to the use of crude extracts of the aloe plant for various ailments.) This would cut costs by reducing the need for complicated production processes.

During the 2014 Ebola crisis, ZMapp—a cocktail of three antibodies produced in genetically engineered tobacco plants—was tested in a clinical trial. The drug “appeared to be beneficial” for Ebola patients, although it “did not meet the prespecified clinical threshold for efficacy,” investigators wrote. Similarly, Middle East respiratory syndrome is an emerging virus, first reported in 2012, with a high fatality rate. Plant Plant-made vaccines have also been tested to prevent seasonal flu. The ability of influenza to infect multiple animal species (for example, humans, birds, and pigs), as well as to change its surface proteins rapidly, makes developing effective vaccines a constant challenge.

Scalability constraints and long production times have limited the ability of public health officials to satisfy global demand. Fortunately, flu vaccines produced in genetically engineered plants as “virus-like particles,” as well by presenting antigens on the surface of plant viruses, have shown safety and efficacy in clinical trials. They have not yet been approved for marketing.

It’s time for the FDA and USDA to overhaul their policies to reflect properly the risks and benefits of this crucial technology.

viruses (which aren’t infectious to humans) have been engineered to carry an antiviral protein that could be administered to patients via an inhaler to block MERS.

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Plant-made vaccines are also under development to address diseases that can spread from animals to humans, including the West Nile, chikungunya, and Zika viruses. In many cases, a highly specific protein can neutralize the pathogen and can be used both as a diagnostic tool and for prevention. Conventional protein expression systems are more costly and harder to scale than proteins engineered in plants.

Fortunately, commercial-scale manufacturing facilities for pharmed substances have been built in the past decade in Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas, and Kansas. Three are funded by the Defense Department and poised to process thousands of pounds of plant biomass into more purified forms of biologics, including vaccines and antibodies. The fourth belongs to Ventria Bioscience and is the country’s largest manufacturing facility for plant-made pharmaceuticals.

The technology and infrastructure exist for plant-based vaccines and therapies to transform medicine. What’s missing is a regulatory framework that will attract drug companies and entrepreneurs. It’s time for the FDA and USDA to overhaul their policies to reflect properly the risks and benefits of this crucial technology.

This first appeared in the WSJ.

This article was reprinted from Human Progress.

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Parents: Gardens aren’t only in the yard…

How to Overcome the Fear, Doubt, and Anxiety That Inhibit Growth

Resistance won’t retreat merely because you have changed your circumstances.

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https://fee.org/people/barry-brownstein/

P

erhaps you want to be a better coder, a better writer, or a better musician.

Perhaps you want to start a new business or begin an exercise program. You are full of good intentions, but your efforts seem to sputter out. You’re not alone.

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Resistance Against Meaningful Goals When you work towards a meaningful goal, expect to face “a repelling force.”

Steven Pressfield calls it “Resistance.”

In his journey of becoming a best-selling author, Pressfield came to know well the many faces of Resistance.

In his book The War of Art, he explains the aim of Resistance “is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.” Pressfield warns, Resistance arises whenever we attempt “any act that derives from our higher nature instead of our lower.”

Pressfield shares this insight: Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us.

Between the two stands Resistance.

Understanding Resistance Pressfield spells out the mindset of a professional and that of an amateur.

The amateur gives in to Resistance, placing blame for unmet goals on life circumstances—their upbringing, their partner or lack of one, their busy schedule, and on and on.

Using external circumstances to rationalize our lack of progress is selfdefeating. Pressfield instructs, Resistance arises from within. It is self-generated and self-perpetuated…

Rationalization is Resistance's spin doctor.

Did you procrastinate today? Again, you’re not alone. Pressfield writes,

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Procrastination is the most common manifestation of Resistance because it's the easiest to rationalize. We don't tell ourselves, "I'm never going to write my symphony." Instead, we say, "I am going to write my symphony; I'm just going to start tomorrow.”

Resistance, Pressfield warns, “will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. It will perjure, fabricate, falsify; seduce, bully, cajole.” Living with our self-deception, “we feel like hell,” there is constant low-grade unhappiness and misery.

Succumbing to Resistance, most of us have experienced the feelings Pressfield describes: We're bored, we're restless. We can't get no satisfaction. There's guilt but we can't put our finger on the source.

If you think your stars have to align to beat Resistance, you’re wrong. What happens after you get a new desk and new computer? What happens after you find a quiet apartment or house, live with a supportive partner, and find a great job with a supportive boss? Resistance won’t retreat merely because you have changed your circumstances. When you’re still not ready to do your work, notice how your excuses morph.

Amateurs Don’t Show Up There is nothing wrong with you. Everyone faces Resistance. Fear, selfdoubt, and anxiety never fully go away. Resistance is always there in full force when we entertain its bad advice. Professionals realize these thoughts will fade away if they turn toward their work.

Amateurs resist Resistance, which only tightens its grip. Pressfield writes,

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Resistance has no strength of its own. Every ounce of juice it possesses comes from us. We feed it with power by our fear of it.

“The professional knows,” Pressfield counsels, “that Resistance is like a telemarketer; if you so much as say hello, you're finished.” Heed his advice.

Pressfield wrote The War of Art before smartphones were drawing our attention from our work. If you are constantly checking your phone while you are doing your work, Resistance will beat you. (Watch for my follow-up essay, “How to Break Your Digital Addiction”) It took me years to learn a simple truth: To beat Resistance, show up and keep a regular schedule, whether or not you feel like it. The amateur thinks their feelings are providing important information; the professional knows they need to think about doing their work, not themselves. Pressfield shares this anecdote: Someone once asked Somerset Maugham if he wrote on a schedule or only when struck by inspiration. "I write only when inspiration strikes," he replied. "Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp.”

According to Pressfield here are three clear signs of an amateur: One, he doesn't show up every day. Two, he doesn't show up no matter what. Three, he doesn't stay on the job all day. He is not committed over the long haul; the stakes for him are illusory and fake.

Don’t Be a Victim Amateurs cast themselves as victims. Pressfield pointedly observes those playing the victim role seek to achieve gratification not by honest work or a contribution made out of one's experience or insight or love, but by the manipulation of others through silent (and not-so-silent) threat.

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Pressfield adds, Resistance knows that the more psychic energy we expend dredging and re-dredging the tired, boring injustices of our personal lives, the less juice we have to do our work.

Have you had a bad break? Get back to work. Pressfield explains, The professional conducts his business in the real world. Adversity, injustice, bad hops and rotten calls, even good breaks and lucky bounces all comprise the ground over which the campaign must be waged. The field is level, the professional understands, only in heaven.

Doing your work comes with no guarantees of success. Are you having “grandiose fantasies” of how the world will receive your work? That’s the sign of an amateur mindset. Pressfield observes, Resistance knows that the amateur composer will never write his symphony because he is overly invested in its success and overterrified of its failure. The amateur takes it so seriously it paralyzes him.

I write almost every day. If I don’t show up, seeking to improve my technique, Resistance will kick my butt. Resistance will kick yours too, if you don’t practice. Be a professional; do your work.

Pressfield makes it clear, if you are seeking inspiration, begin by “mastering technique.” Toil “beside the front door of technique, [leave] room for genius to enter by the back.”

Practice, Don’t Focus on Goals “Everything in life worth achieving requires practice,” writes Thomas Sterner in his book The Practicing Mind: Developing Focus and Discipline in Your Life. Sterner provides an excellent definition of practice:

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When we practice something, we are involved in the deliberate repetition of a process with the intention of reaching a specific goal.

Sterner makes clear, Good practice mechanics require deliberately and intentionally staying in the process of doing something and being aware of whether or not we are actually accomplishing that.

Here is the rub: The only way we can effectively practice is to suspend our attention to our goals. Sterner explains, When you focus your mind on where you want to end up, you are never where you are, and you exhaust your energy with unrelated thoughts instead of putting it into what you are doing.

We torture ourselves by remembering past failures or dreams of future success. Our mind isn’t present, and our efforts are diluted. Sterner discerns, frustration results: [W]hen your mind is only on the finished product, not only do you feel frustrated in every second that you have not met that goal, but you experience anxiety in every “mistake” you make while practicing. You view each mistake as a barrier, something delaying you from realizing your goal and experiencing the joy that reaching that goal is going to give you.

To a professional, the process they follow to reach their goal is not a nuisance. Process is a necessity that amateurs overlook. Amateurs are fixated on the goal, professionals continue to use the final goal as a rudder to steer [their] practice session, but not as an indicator of how [they] are doing.

Sterner advises us to avoid comparisons. Using the metaphor of a flower’s development, Sterner asks, “At what point in a flower’s life, from seed to full bloom, does it reach perfection?” We can’t proceed to “full

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bloom” and skip the process. Comparing our lives to “ideal images” will create unhappiness:

Do you think that a flower seed sits in the ground and says, “This is going to take forever. I have to push all this dirt out of my way just to get to the surface and see the sun. Every time it rains or somebody waters me, I’m soaking wet and surrounded by mud. When do I get to bloom?

That’s when I’ll be happy; that’s when everybody will be impressed with me.

I hope I’m an orchid and not some wildflower nobody notices. Orchids have it all . . . no, wait; I want to be an oak tree. They are bigger than anybody else in the forest and live longer, too.”

Seeking perfection is an amateur’s false goal, steering us away from our process. Sterner writes, "Our impatience to reach some false goal that will not make us any happier than we are right now.” Absorbed in what we are doing, impatience “fades away.”

Go pro, face Resistance; watch your commitment to a process pay compound interest.

You know when you are not in process mode. Your mind is flitting all over the place. Should haves, could haves, would haves come and go. Resisting the process, you are sure—like everyone else in the grip of an amateur mindset—the world is to blame for your lack of focus and progress.

You won’t find more than fleeting happiness by reaching a goal. Instead, go pro, face Resistance; watch your commitment to a process pay compound interest. You’re may be in the valley today but progress up the side of the mountain occurs one step at a time.

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FRUIT

You Need To Know

This Month

Pumpkin

Did you know…

Fun Facts About The Pumpkin!

• • • •

Pumpkins contain potassium and Vitamin A. Pumpkin flowers are edible.

The largest pumpkin pie ever made was over five feet in diameter and weighed over 350 pounds. ...

In early colonial times, pumpkins were used as an ingredient for the crust of pies, not the filling.

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FLOWER

You Need To Know

This Month

Marigold

Did you know…

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•

Marigold flowers can be eaten and are often used in salads or as a substitute for the much more expensive saffron spice. The leaves of the marigold plant are also occasionally eaten, but not as tasty.

•

The same antioxidant carotenoids that contribute to the marigold’s captivating color may also provide positive health benefits for humans, such as possibly lowering the risk of heart disease and some forms of cancer.

•

Another great use for the marigold is as a natural insect repellent. It’s strong scent helps keep mosquitos and aphids away from vegetable gardens, and placing a potted plant near a window will keep flies and mosquitos out of your home. www.progflowers.com

Green things

Walk to School October 2, 2019

YOU can do…

Wednesday, October 2

Type to enter text

October 16, 2019 OCTOBER

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ENERGY SOCIETY

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ANIMAL

You Need To Know

This Month

DANGER OF EXTINCTION

American bison

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Polar bear

Snow leopard

Black Rhinoceros

Red panda

“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.” “Notice that autumn is more the season of the soul than of nature.” “I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” “I hope I can be the autumn leaf, who looked at the sky and lived.

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City Shuts Downs Preschoolers’ Farm Stand Citing Zoning Violations The Little Ones Learning Center in Forest Park, Georgia, has often sold its produce with discounts to local food stamp recipients and other neighbors and has been acknowledged as a leader in the farm-to-school healthy food movement.

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It’s like something out of The Onion: city manager shuts down preschool farm stand out of fear that, if allowed, “we could end up with one on every corner.”

Farm Stand Shut Down Alas, this is not satire. It’s the current predicament facing the Little Ones Learning Center in Forest Park, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta. In an area where access to fresh fruits and vegetables can be limited, this preschool has stepped up to prioritize growing and selling fresh produce from its school gardens. According to recent reporting in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Little Ones has often sold its produce with generous discounts to local food stamp recipients and other neighbors and has been acknowledged as a leader in the farm-to-school healthy food movement.

That is, until the city shut down the bimonthly farm stand program last month for zoning violations.

Despite protests from community members, city officials are holding firm to their stance that allowing one farm stand could lead to an unruly proliferation of fresh produce.

Central planners are uneasy with spontaneous order, or the decentralized, peaceful process of human action in an open marketplace

“Anywhere you live, you’ve got to have rules and regulations,” Forest Park City Manager Angela Redding said. “Otherwise, you would just have whatever,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

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That “whatever� is exactly the hope and promise that irks central planners. Whatever symbolizes what is possible when individuals and organizations spontaneously create new streams of value for their neighbors. Whatever are opportunities for mutual gain through voluntary exchange. Whatever are new inventions, new services, and new ways of living and being that augment our existence and improve our future. Whatever is freedom.

Central Planners Are

Threatened by Freedom Freedom is the threat. Central planners are uneasy with spontaneous order, or the decentralized, peaceful process of human action that occurs when individuals follow their diverse interests in an open marketplace of trade. A preschool finds it beneficial for their students, parents, employees, and neighbors when they emphasize immersive gardening, sustainably-grown produce, and farm stand commerce. Students enjoy it, parents

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value the experience for their children, teachers choose to work in this farm-focused environment, and neighbors are willing to pay for the garden bounty from a twice-per-month farm stand. It is a beautiful example of the beneficial gains achieved through free markets.

That is, until the city’s central planners intervened out of fears that allowing one neighborhood farm stand to operate could lead to many, un-zoned farm stands. This is particularly poignant given that this preschool is located in one of the most disadvantaged counties in Atlanta.

Little Ones preschool director Wande Okunoren-Meadows told Mother Nature Network: "According to the United Way, Clayton County has the lowest child wellbeing index out of all the metro Atlanta counties…So if we're trying to move the needle and figure out ways to improve well-being, I'm not saying the farm stand is the only way to do it, but Little Ones is trying to be part of the solution.”

Zoning is often considered to be a protection mechanism, ensuring that neighborhoods remain orderly and livable. Yet, zoning laws in this country have a long history of racist tendencies.

Granting power to government officials to control housing, commerce, and neighborhood development has previously led to unfair practices and unfavorable results. Decentralizing that

Sadly, children’s lemonade stands are also routinely shut down for similar reasons, often with the same outrage.

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power by eliminating questionable zoning practices can ensure that power is more justly distributed among the individual citizens of a particular community.

In the case of the Little Ones preschool, power would shift from city planners to local neighbors and businesses.

The Little

city has offered Ones an opportunity to hold their farm stand in another part of town, but it is far away from the preschool and its neighborhood. City officials also said that Little Ones could pay $50 for a “special event” permit for each day it hosts its farm stand—a fee that is prohibitively expensive for the school and its small produce stand. For now, the school is selling its fruits and vegetables inside the building, but the indoor location is leading to far fewer sales as passersby don’t realize it’s there.

The Little Ones parent and educator community is hoping that the city rules can be changed to allow for occasional outdoor farm stands.

Cases like Little Ones preschool expose the deleterious effects of zoning regulations. "It's like shutting down a kid's lemonade stand," Okunoren-Meadows says. "Nobody does this. It just shouldn't happen,” the preschool director told Mother Nature Network.

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Sadly, children’s lemonade stands are also routinely shut down for similar reasons, often with the same outrage.

We should be outraged when young entrepreneurs are prohibited from producing and selling something of value to their neighbors due to restrictive regulations that centralize power and weaken neighborhood dynamism. Some states, like Utah, are passing laws to protect young entrepreneurs from these zoning and licensing challenges. The key is to look beyond preschool farm stands and advocate for more freedom for all.

Kerry McDonald Kerry McDonald is a Senior Education Fellow at FEE and author of Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom (Chicago Review Press, 2019). She is also a regular Forbes contributor. Kerry has a B.A. in economics from Bowdoin College and an M.Ed. in education policy from Harvard University. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband and four children. You can sign up for her weekly newsletter on parenting and education here.

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Recycling 101:

What to know before you throw (BPT) - When it comes to recycling, do you know what to throw?

A plastic milk jug is recyclable, but an old plastic toy isn't. The cardboard box from your latest online order can go in your recycling container, but a greasy pizza box shouldn't. Aluminum cans, yes; aluminum foil, no.

It can seem confusing, but that's where Recycling Simplified comes in.

Republic Services aims to simplify recycling with easy-to-follow tips for consumers.

Consumers are trying to do the right thing by recycling, but they don't always know what - or how - to recycle. In fact, about one-third of what gets tossed in curbside recycling containers doesn't belong there. That's one out of every three items!

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Many items are placed in the recycling bin with the hope that they'll be recycled. This is known as "wish-cycling." But people sometimes confuse "reuse" with "recycle." Examples of this include old clothing and shoes, stued animals, tools and plastic toys. All of these items could be reused if donated, but they won't find a new home if you put them in your recycling bin. Take them to a donation box or thrift shop.

So, what does belong in the recycling bin? There are three main categories of recyclables: Paper and cardboard, metal cans including aluminum, and plastic bottles and jugs. With bottles and jugs, leave the caps on or throw them away - they're too small to recycle by themselves.

Also, recyclables should be empty, clean and dry. Even when an item is recyclable, like a soup can or plastic ketchup bottle, any remaining food or liquid becomes a problem. When those items come into contact with clean recyclables, that leftover chicken noodle soup will saturate otherwise good paper and cardboard. This is known as contamination, and once it happens, perfectly recyclable items become trash and wind up in the landfill - which is what we're all trying to avoid by recycling.

And don't bag your recyclables. The sorting process at a recycling center happens quickly, and most of what is bagged or bundled ends up in the garbage because sorters cannot see the contents. Plastic bags also can get tangled in the machinery, causing delays or even damage.

"Many of us want to be better recyclers, but we aren't sure how or think we don't have the time," said Pete Keller, vice president of recycling and sustainability at Republic Services. "With a few simple steps, we can all do our part to make environmentally responsible choices and help make a positive impact in our community for generations to come."

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Make sure you know how and what to recycle with these simple Do's and Don'ts from Republic Services:

DO recycle paper products. Clean, dry, flattened cardboard, newspapers and magazines, oďŹƒce paper and mail are accepted. Break down cardboard boxes before putting in your bin and remove any plastic such as the see-through windows in envelopes.

DO recycle empty soda or food cans. Be sure any remaining food or liquid is removed and the can is rinsed and dry.

DO recycle "Empty, Clean, Dry" plastic. You can leave the tops on bottles and jugs.

DO remember, when in doubt, throw it out. If you're unsure whether an item is recyclable, put it in the trash.

DON'T recycle wet or food-tainted items. A greasy pizza box should go in the trash.

DON'T recycle cans that held hazardous waste. Metal cans that contained paint, oil or any other potentially hazardous waste need special handling.

Consult your city or county website for information on hazardous waste disposal.

DON'T recycle yard or food waste. Composting options for tree trimmings and other yard waste may be available in your community, but not via your recycling container.

DON'T bag it. Reuse plastic bags if you can, then return them to grocery stores for commercial processing.

For more quick and easy guidelines to becoming a better recycler, visit RecyclingSimplified.com 

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