{"id":96646,"date":"2019-11-14T18:04:42","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T23:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=96646"},"modified":"2019-11-14T18:04:42","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T23:04:42","slug":"allentown-expands-recycling-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=96646","title":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN EXPANDS RECYCLING PROGRAM"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Beginning on November 15, 2019, city of Allentown residents will be able to recycle their clothing and electronics from their doorstep.<\/p>\n

Allentown is offering this service through a one-year pilot program with retrievr<\/strong>, the first software service designed to make curbside recycling of these items as simple as a text message, to schedule an appointment.\u00a0 While this service is free for most items, there are fees to collect TVs and CRT computer monitors.<\/p>\n

According to the Wall Street Journal, consumers wear only 20% of the clothes in our closets on a regular basis. New smartphones are purchased every 2-3 years when the latest operating system upgrade makes the \u201cold\u201d one too slow, and the old phones land in a drawer.<\/p>\n

Most of these goods, such as clothing, footwear and electronics, are recyclable and yet they clutter our homes or wind up in a landfill. Offering easy and convenient curbside pick-up is a better option.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s precisely what Mayor Ray O\u2019Connell had in mind when engaging retrievr<\/strong>, \u201cAllentown is proud of our efforts to reduce our environmental impact and save taxpayers money. It\u2019s not often we get to announce a program that does both, so we\u2019re incredibly excited to have found retrievr<\/strong>. Our residents get the convenience of an at-home pickup, we keep recyclable materials out of the waste stream and the city saves on disposal fees.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city will receive 10% of the earnings for recycling clothing, however it is estimated at less than $2,000.\u00a0 The biggest savings impact will be by avoiding the landfill disposal cost of the clothing and other textiles.\u00a0 The city currently pays $56.39 per ton for landfill disposal.<\/p>\n

To participate:<\/p>\n