The theme for 2018:
Use Less Plastic
Oct 3, 2018
Financial Report:
- We are financially in good standing
- 63 PAID MEMBERS!!! 3 over the 2018 goal of 60 thank you all!
- This year we awarded 2 = $500 scholarships to graduating Mayfield seniors
- Amazon Smile: We are registered as a charity/non-profit and will receive a small percentage from orders placed thru this department of Amazon. Visit Amazonsmile.com
FREECYCLE/E-Waste Drives
Once again both were a big success! We had 16 volunteers, thank you all who helped out! The E-WASTE total was 1,100 lbs…bringing the total from all drives to approx.. 15,000 lbs saved from the landfill…
LITTLE FREE LIBRARY
Has been used all summer and restocked a few times
GAZEBO ZERO WASTE POTLUCK:
Sept, good thing we moved inside! Thanks to all who attended.
ALKALINE BATTERY RECYCLING:
Our drop-offs to Bulldog Battery in Willoughby have been just under 200 lbs = $160.00
SKIP THE STRAW CAMPAIGN:
The world is paying attention! We are partnering with the City Of Cleveland’s Office of Sustainability in getting the word out. It’s up to us to say…NO STRAW PLEASE
RAIN BARREL NEEDS A NEW HOME:
- Carol Smith in Richmond Hts has one to donate
- SHRED DAY, this Sat…9-1 pm, service dept
- GREEN PAPER PRODUCTS: 93 Alpha Park
FRANK MANCUSO:
Author of “Evolution of Pollution”…phytoplankton & plastic pollution
TONIGHT’s Movie:
“PLASTIC PARADISE”
DISCUSSIONS:
- Comments from those who attended Dr. Mason’s presentation
- NOV. 7 Annual Business meeting and election of officers
Sept 2018
FINANCIAL REPORT
- The HHGTF is in good financial standing.
- Membership: 63 PAID MEMBERS!!! 3 over the 2018 goal of 60 thank you all!
- REMINDER, Amazon Smile: ORDER THRU Amazon Smile, and HHGTF will receive 0.5% of eligible sales
- Scholarship: The Alan Lorenz Environmental Education Scholarship
- This year we awarded 2 = $500 scholarships to graduating Mayfield seniors – Caravita Melaragno and Lauren Irwin.
- The Lorenz family has once again helped fund the 2019 scholarship awards with another $400.00
FREECYCLE/E-Waste Drives:
Once again both were a big success! We had 16 volunteers, thank you all who helped out! The E-WASTE total was 1,100 lbs…bringing the total from all drives to approx.. 15,000 lbs saved from the landfill…
LITTLE FREE LIBRARY:
LITTLE FREE LIBRARY: Has been used all summer and restocked a few times.
ALKALINE BATTERY RECYCLING:
Our first drop-off to Bulldog Battery in Willoughby was 90 lbs. ($67) and we have at least that amount to be taken to them again. The successful participation of the community proves the need to continue this recycling effort…I am hoping we might convince the city to take on this effort in the future.
SKIP THE STRAW CAMPAIGN:
The world is paying attention! We are partnering with the City of Cleveland’s Office of Sustainability in getting the word out. Laura Jackson from our Skip the Straw Committee has already gotten at least one restaurant on Lee to agree to only give straws upon request, and the city of Cleveland has gotten many more…so, everyone, help us out!
AUGUST:
Field Trip to PLASTIC MATERIALS, INC- an industrial recycling facility in Macedonia.
OCT 3 – MOVIE AND DISCUSSION NIGHT AT THE PARK: At the city park in the pole barn…movie- “PLASTIC PARADISE”
Aug 14, 2018
TONIGHT’s Presentations
- THE PERILS of PLASTICS Aug 14, 2018 presentation given by Dr. Sherri Mason, Chair of Geology & Environmental Sciences and Professor of Chemistry at the State University of New York in Fredonia, with over 140 in attendance.
- Dr. Mason on “Plastic pollution in our Great Lake”
The Highland Heights Green Task Force, Friends of Euclid Creek with several other watershed and environmental groups sponsored bringing Dr. Mason to town in August to present at the Beachwood Community Center her ongoing research findings on plastic pollution in our Great Lakes. Dr. Mason gave a very interesting, if not disturbing, educational presentation on the dangers of plastics once it finds their way into our waters. If you were unable to attend, you should still be able to view the presentation that she gave to The City Club earlier in the day at this link: Cityclub and search for Dr. Sherri Mason, 2018. - Sunny Simon on Legislation for Fees for Bags
Other speakers for the evening included Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Sunny Simon, updating us on her efforts to pass legislation for a fee on plastic bags, Executive Director of Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District, Diane Bickett addressed the issues of recycling in the county, and Dr. Cathi Lehn from the City of Cleveland’s Office on Sustainability with more information on the dangers of plastics., and the SKIP THE STRAW initiative. - The ‘SKIP THE STRAW” movement is a sub-campaign also for the HHGTF’s ‘USE LESS PLASTICS” campaign, and we are partnering with the City of Cleveland’s “Plastic Reduction Working Group” with efforts to encourage the public to simply say..” No straw please” when eating out and to also ask local eateries to only give straws upon request. We hope you will join this movement that is picking up steam across the city, country, and world.
Also In August…
On August 1st about 20 of us took a very educational/informational tour of PLASTIC MATERIALS, INC. in Macedonia, which is a post-consumer industrial plastics recycler.
June 6, 2018
FINANCIAL REPORT
- The HHGTF is in good financial standing.
- REMINDER, Amazon Smile: ORDER THRU Amazon Smile, and HHGTF will receive 0.5% of eligible sales
- The Alan Lorenz Environmental Education Scholarship
- Recipient Lauren Irwin, sent a thank you note but is in NC already
- Recipient Caravita Melaragno will be joining us tonight a bit later to tell us of her career plans.
- The new amount earmarked for the 2019 scholarship is $400.00 from Pat Lorenz.
FREECYCLE/E-WASTE DRIVE
Sunday, June 24, @ the H Hts Park, 10-3
Outreach during Summer Break
Although July will be SUMMER BREAK, we will have an outreach table at the Highland Hts. Community Day on Saturday, July 21st, from 12 – 6pm
SKIP THE STRAW CAMPAIGN
- Hand-outs for restaurants…still need table tents for restaurants.
- Paul C. attended the last Plastic Reduction Working Group meeting.
ALKALINE BATTERY RECYCLING
- If we take it to BullDog Battery, the charge is $1/lb
- We already have about 100 lbs. There are collection boxes at H Hts city hall, JT Highland Auto, and Wildcat Fitness facility at Mayfield High School.
LITTLE FREE LIBRARY- TOM PAPPAS BOOK REPORTS:
- Fran Ursu – “Food, Inc” and ‘GOOD GUT” & “HAPPY GUT”
- Mary K Evans – “RANCHER, FARMER, FISHERMAN”
- Tom Pappas – FROM Smithsonian Magazine: article about ‘POISON GAS” from WWII
- Judy Dearden – “PLASTICS, A Toxic Love Story” plus “Nat Geographic Mag…on PLASTICS”
- Deb Kramarz – “A BEAUTIFUL LAWN ORGANICALLY” by Good Nature’s Alec McClennan
- Rick Evans – Sodastream Product Review
- Mary Fash – “GREEN BEHAVIOR” internet article
- Rosemary Balazs – Report on how weather change is affecting the Olympic games
- Cara Melarango – 2018 HHGTF scholarship winner gave a recap of her career plans
May 2, 2018
FINANCIAL REPORT
- The HHGTF is in good financial standing.
- Amazon Smile: ORDER THRU Amazon Smile and HHGTF will receive 0.5% of eligible sales
- The Alan Lorenz Environmental Education Scholarship
- We have 2 scholarship winners that both have plans for careers in engineering.
- This Friday is the Honors Awards and we will be awarding the scholarships with Donna Grigas being our presenter, and Alan Lorenz’s widow Pat will again be joining us.
- We would like to send a huge thank you to the Lorenz family for helping fund the scholarship.
SIGN–UP LIST:
- In need of more volunteers for the FREECYCLE/E-WASTE DRIVE, Sun June 24, for the afternoon shift 12- 3:00
- Also, now would be a good time to sign-up to give a book/article report for June 6th
- And the MOVIE & DISCUSSION night in October…the movie is ‘PLASTIC PARADISE’
HILLCREST HOSPITAL EARTHDAY CELEBRATION
- HILLCREST HOSPITAL EARTHDAY CELEBRATION in the atrium was on April 24th. Four hundred and Thirty attendees stopped by our table
- The display items were alternatives to the following:
- Plastic Straws
- Restaurant to-go containers
- plastic produce bags
- Bee’s Wraps instead of plastic wrap.
- The alternatives were also raffled off.
- THANK YOU TO ALL VOLUNTEERS!
SKIP THE STRAW CAMPAIGN:
- We will be working in conjunction with the city of Cleveland’s “PLASTIC REDUCTION WORKING GROUP”.
- Our VP Paul Costanzo HAS attended a meeting as our delegate and plans to attend the next one, on May 15.
ALKALINE BATTERY RECYCLING
Drop-off boxes have been placed at the following locations.
- WILDCAT FITNESS CENTER at Mayfield High School
- JT Highland Auto (Highland & Bishop)
- Highland Hts City Hall
Tonight’s Presentation
MAN’S IMPACT on OUR WATERS, an HHGTF combined program with FOEC. Please welcome our speaker, coming all the way from Toledo to present tonight. Sandy Biln is the Executive director of the Lake Erie Foundation…and the topic is ‘MAN’S IMPACT ON OUR WATERS”
April 4, 2018
FINANCIAL REPORT
- HHGTF is in good financial standing.
- Amazon Smile: We are registered as a charity/non-profit and will receive a small percentage of orders placed thru this department of Amazon. Order through Amazon Smile and HHGTF will receive 0.5% of eligible sales
- Membership: Total paid members to date 58 w/one on the way, goal is 60.
- Alan Lorenz Environmental Scholarship Fund:
- We received 2 scholarship applications…both are hoping for careers in engineering
- Thursday is interview night, and the winner(s) will be decided by our scholarship committee.
SIGN–UP LIST:
- In need of more volunteers for the FREECYCLE/E-WASTE DRIVE, Sun June 24
- Also, now would be a good time to sign-up to give a book report for June 6th
HHGTF 2018 CAMPAIGN:
“USE LESS PLASTIC”: 2018 Calendars on the back table
EARTHDAY CELEBRATION at HILLCREST HOSPITAL
- HILLCREST HOSPITAL EARTHDAY CELEBRATION will be in the atrium on April 24th from 11-2.
- Our table will have display items on alternatives to the following: Plastic Straws, Restaurant to-go containers, plastic bags and plastic water bottles, and Bee’s Wraps instead of plastic wrap.
SKIP THE STRAW CAMPAIGN:
- We will be working in conjunction with the city of Cleveland’s “PLASTIC REDUCTION WORKING GROUP”.
- Our VP Paul Costanzo attended their last meeting as our delegate.
- The actual kick-off for this campaign will be this month.
ALKALINE BATTERY RECYCLING
Drop-off boxes have been placed at the following locations.
- WILDCAT FITNESS CENTER at Mayfield High School
- JT Highland Auto (Highland & Bishop)
- Highland Hts City Hall
- Highland Hts Service Dept has declined our request to place a box with them
- FOEC has finalized the plans for Dr. Sam (Sherri) Mason’s presentation.
- The program will be held on August 14 at the Beachwood Civic Center from 6:30 to 8:30.
- Sunny Simon will also give a short presentation on her proposal for reducing plastic bag use.
Tonight’s Presentation
ACCURATE IT, Electronic Recycling Explained
March 7, 2018
FINANCIAL REPORT
- HHGTF is in good financial standing.
- Amazon Smile: We are registered as a charity/non-profit and will receive a small percentage of orders placed thru this department of Amazon.
- Membership: Total paid members to date 58 w/one on the way, goal is 60.
- Alan Lorenz Environmental Scholarship Fund:
- Scholarship balance = $649.95 from donations
- Amount voted on for the 2018 award = $1,000.00.
- Either one @$1,000 or 2 @ $500.00 will decide after the interviews on April 5th with the awards being given on May 4, committee: Marybeth Skala, Donna Grigas and Joan Albro
HHGTF 2018 CAMPAIGN:
“USE LESS PLASTIC”: 2018 Calendars on the back table
HILLCREST HOSPITAL EARTHDAY CELEBRATION
- HILLCREST HOSPITAL EARTHDAY CELEBRATION will be in the atrium on April 24th from 11-2.
- Our table will have display items on alternatives to the following: Plastic Straws, Restaurant to-go containers, plastic bags and plastic water bottles, and Bee’s Wraps instead of plastic wrap.
SKIP THE STRAW CAMPAIGN:
- We will be working in conjunction with the city of Cleveland’s “PLASTIC REDUCTION WORKING GROUP”
- Our VP Paul Costanzo attended their last meeting as our delegate.
- The actual kick-off for this campaign will be in April.
ALKALINE BATTERY RECYCLING
Drop-off boxes are planned to be placed at the following locations.
- WILDCAT FITNESS CENTER
- Our city Service department
- TJ Auto (Maybe)
- Look for boxes to be out soon…
- Sign-up lists…need additional help for the FREECYCLE/E-WASTE DRIVE…Sun, June 21
APRIL 4TH Program:
- Jack Knapp, Director of Client Relations with ACCURATE, IT the company from Columbus that picks up and recycles the electronics collected at our E-Waste Drive will be our presenter
- Jack will be educating us on how electronic recycling works.
Coming in August:
- Friends of Euclid Creek
- Many other watershed groups will be sponsoring Dr. Sam Mason, professor of chemistry @ SUNY of Fredonia, to come to Cleveland to give a presentation on the plastic pollution in our Great Lakes…this is a must attend event.
OPEN DISCUSSION/SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO MAKE THE HHGTF BETTER…
Mel Hauser with GOOD NATURE LAWN COMPANY is with us tonight. Welcome, Mel! With spring right around the corner, we thought this would be good timing for Mel to give a short presentation about how GOOD NATURE works.
February 7, 2018
FINANCIAL REPORT
- We are financially in good standing.
- Membership: Paid memberships at the end of January = 58…only 2 to go to get to our goal of 60!
Welcome to our new members:- Vince Adamus
- Melanie and Rich Kutnick
- Sue Polomsky
- Mary Scibana
- Sunny Simon
- Pat Simpson
Thank you for joining us, and believing in our mission!
- Taxes: Federal and State taxes for HHGTF have been filed for 2017…good for another year!
SKIP THE STRAW
- The first meeting of the committee took place last week to discuss our strategies
- Most went away with a task of some sort such as working on graphics and text, and our “elevator speech”
- Anyone else wanting to join should put your name on the sign-up sheet, also …please tell restaurant servers… ”NO STRAW PLEASE”
- REUSABLE PRODUCE BAGS @ HEINEN’S have been re-ordered, consider buying…
The campaign…the first meeting of the committee met last week to discuss our strategies…most went away with a task of some sort…working on graphics and text, and our “elevator speech”…anyone else wanting to join…put your name on the sign-up sheet, also …please tell restaurant servers… ”NO STRAW PLEASE” REUSABLE PRODUCE BAGS @ HEINEN’S have been re-ordered, consider buying…
ALKALINE BATTERY RECYCLING w/ The Big Green Box
Lancaster…still working out the details with boxes and drop-off sites…any suggestions?
HHGTF Calendar
Limited copies are on the sign-in table…the year is set
- March 7 – Annual Business meeting, Mel Hausser, Good Nature will join us, and tentatively my investment advisor from Morgan Stanley will give us some info on green investments
- April 4 – ACCURATE IT, our electronics recycler from Columbus
- May 2 – LAKE ERIE FOUNDATION, Exec. Director, Sandy Bihn, “Man’s Impact on our Waters” , our yearly combined meeting with Friends of Euclid Creek.
- Sign-up sheets in a notebook…looking for more volunteers for FREECYCLE in June especially.
Tonight’s Presentation
I am so pleased to welcome, once again, Don Johnson, from Kimble’s Transfer and Recycling Facility! (Also with us tonight is Doreen Schreiber, Business Recycling Specialist, with Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District). Don, along with Cassie, were our very first speakers…back in 2011, and then led a number of us on a tour of Kimble’s new transfer facility that had just been built in Twinsburg. A lot has changed in recycling, and Don will talk about the evolution of participating in residential recycling programs from 1990 to 2018. We will save a little time, in the end, to go over items we brought with us to see if they are “trash” or “recyclables”.
January 3, 2018
FINANCIAL REPORT
- Alan Lorenz Environmental Scholarship Fund: Balance is $649.95
For distribution of the scholarship we decided on the following: 1 @ $1,000.00 2 @ $ 500.00 Other TBD. - GoDaddy Website: Renewed for 2 years at a cost of $181.26 = $7.55/month
PLASTIC STRAW CAMPAIGN
FOR AREA RESTAURANTS, COMMITTEE, “Skip The Straw, Save a Sea Turtle”
HHGTF TENTATIVE 2018 CALENDAR
2018 campaign “USE LESS PLASTIC”
- JANUARY 1 Plastic and Paper Bag fee explained…Sunny Simon
- FEBRUARY 7 Kimble & Solid Waste District- what and how to recycle
- MARCH 7 Bi-Annual Business Meeting, +Tom Arbeznik, Financial advisor- green investment
- APRIL 4 Accurate IT (our electronics recycler) Jack Knapp
- APRIL ? HILLCREST HOSPITAL EARTHDAY CELEBRATION, Atrium
- MAY 2 Lake Erie Foundation, “MAN’S IMPACT ON OUR WATERS”
- JUNE 6 Book Reports
- JUNE 24 FREECYCLE/E-WASTE DRIVE , Sun, June 24th , 2018
- JULY Summer break
- JULY 21 HH Community Day, July 21, 2018
- AUGUST 1 FIELD TRIP: PLASTIC RECYCLER…tentative, location to be announced
- SEPT 5 Gazebo Potluck Dinner
- OCT 3 Movie & Discussion – “PLASTIC PARADISE” documentary PARK POLE BARN
- NOV Year-End Business meeting and elections
- **NOTE; FOEC, trying to get Dr. Sam (Sheri) Mason to do a talk, would be combined w/us Most meetings/events at the Highland Hts Community Center, 7 pm.
Tonight’s Presentation
CUYAHOGA COUNTY COUNCILWOMAN, SUNNY SIMON explained the proposed PLASTIC and PAPER BAG LEGISLATION and answered our questions. Sunny discussed how Cuyahoga County could soon join other cities across the country by placing a 10-cent fee on plastic and paper single-use bags. Sunny recently introduced legislation that if approved would take effect in July 2018. The goal is to prompt Cuyahoga County residents into using reusable bags, which would keep plastic out of Lake Erie. This 10-cent fee is a fee for our future and for our children.