Calling all home gardeners and environmental enthusiasts! If you were considering purchasing a rain barrel or compost bin through the opportunity we announced in April, but time got away from you, please read on! Due to Covid-19 precautions, the order and pick-up dates have been extended from May to July.

Aside from the date change, all other details pertaining to product ordering and pick-up remain the same. Orders can be made at this link through July 17th. Orders will be available for pick up on Saturday, July 25th, from 10 am-12 pm in the parking lot of the Ottawa Hills Elementary School (3602 Indian Rd., Ottawa Hills OH, 43606). If anything changes regarding this new schedule, we will post updated information on our @PCSMaumee social media channels.

Recycling can sometimes feel underwhelming; simply putting a bottle or cardboard box does not feel like a huge step to help our environment and our waterways. It’s hard to remember the huge impacts recycling has. Every item that you recycle is one less in a mountain of trash, one happier fish that isn’t caught in a bottle. Here is a list of information from our partners at Keeping Toledo/Lucas County Beautiful that can make your impact so much greater: Recycler's List 

 Bonus! more recycling/reusing tips:

• Textiles that are unable to be donated because they look (or maybe had) like a dog chew them – Goodwill, Salvation Army, and Easter Seals still take these items and are starting to re-open
• Envelopes with plastic windows – those are okay to put into the paper recycling
• Plastic bags (grocery, dry cleaning bags, bread bags, wraps, and other stretchy plastics) – grocery stores will take these (except during COVID19); usually, the bins are set up at the front of the store

The sky is blue, the wind is blowing through the trees, summertime is in the air, and there is litter on the ground...wait, gross. On your walks and family-outings, we encourage you to do mini clean-ups to help keep our waterways beautiful all summer long. We have long partnered with the Ocean Conservancy and we are now featured partners on their Clean Swell App! This paperless tracker is very easy to navigate. It resembles our data cards, but instead of tallying data on pen/paper, you simply tap the icon of trash you are picking up. Plus, there are cute badges to earn for each clean-up that turns colorful once you have completed a clean-up. Any time you use the app in our region you will be directly contributing to the database that helps our local governments make decisions and see trash trends!