Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one’s thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Before I start about recycling, I have to share that I just had a great idea. I need to somehow incorporate a new term into these weekly tips. Ready for it? gnatural. LOL. Maybe… “Getting gNatural with gNatalie”. Haha, I should make that the title instead of Thoughtful Thursday… anyway. It’s gnatural time.
RECYCLE. Do it. NOW. End of story. But I’ll keep going… It is unbelievable the amount of waste American’s throw out in the trash every day. We’re huge fans of Discovery’s Dirty Jobs, and when I saw this episode at the San Francisco dump I was horrified. I can’t believe what a wasteful bunch of people we are. PLEASE click the link below and watch this episode.
Dirty Jobs San Francisco Dump Episode
After you watch that, I hope that in addition to considering recycling you’ll also think about the amount of food you waste and throw out. There are 3 super easy ways to reduce the amount of food that unnecessarily takes up space in landfills & dumps. 1) Cook less! We all know about obesity rates being at an all time high in our country, and especially here in the Huntington area. We eat too much. We cook too much. Fix smaller portions, and less will go to waste. 2) Compost food scraps. An actual compost pile or barrel is a great idea, or you can just make a scrap heap if you live in the right area. I live in town and we still have a “compost” area on the corner of our lot where we throw out big scraps. Birds and animals eat them often, and then they just compost naturally along with leaves and grass clippings we throw back there. 3) Use a garbage disposal for small food scraps. Simple.
Ok, now that we’ve covered all that, let’s get back to recycling. Unfortunately in West Virginia most of us have to put forth a little more effort to recycle. Back in Maryland, the city picked up recycling at every household and it was great. Fortunately right here in Huntington, most of us still have that luxury thanks to Allied Waste (formerly BFI). For a small fee ($9.95 per quarter – yes, $3.31 per month), Allied Waste picks up our recycling every other Friday. They accept cardboard, non-glossy paper, plastic (1 & 2), and aluminum cans. That pretty much takes care of all of our recycling needs. I have yet to find any place in the area that will recycle glass. So if you live in Huntington, no excuses! $3 a month is too cheap to pass up.
Allied Waste Services
Kyle Industrial Park Lesage WV 25537
304-525-1631 or 800-331-0988
Along with home pick-up in Huntington, there are several places around the area that accept various types of materials to recycle. Here is a list of the places I’m aware of. If anyone knows of another place, please leave a comment. If you live outside of Cabell County, then click here for a list of all the recycling centers in the state of West Virginia.
Empire Metal Recycling
111 22nd St. Huntington, WV 25703
Contact: Mike Smith
Telephone: 529-2339
Fax: 529-2182
E-mail: emr150@aol.com
Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to noon Saturday
Materials collected: Aluminum cans, alloys, ferrous and nonferrous scrap.
Empire Metal Recycling, Ceredo Facility
5095 U.S. 60 W. Huntington, WV 25704
Contact: Mike Vansteenberg
Telephone: 781-7801
Fax: 781-7800
E-mail: emr150@aol.com
Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to noon Saturday.
Materials collected: Aluminum cans, alloys, ferrous and nonferrous scrap.
Rt. 2 Metal and Paper Recycling
4602 Ohio River Road Huntington, WV 25702
Contact: Ken Maxwell
Telephone: 529-1308
Fax: 529-1308
Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday
Materials collected: Aluminum, copper, brass, stainless steel, radiators, cast aluminum, transmissions and batteries, cans
and converters are purchased.
Comments: No chemicals accepted.
Document shredding available.
Tin cans accepted by donation.
Purchases paper and cardboard.
Taylor’s Iron and Metal
1st Street and 3rd Avenue Huntington, WV 25701
Contact: Norman Taylor
Telephone: 525-6390
Fax: 525-6373
E-mail: timinc@ntelos.net
Web site: www.taylorironandmetal.com
Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to noon Saturday
Currently accepting Iron, Steel, Copper, Brass, Aluminum, Stainless Steel, High Temperature Alloys, Most Other Metals including auto scrap tin, appliances, batteries and metal food cans.
With future plans of paper, plastic, and glass recycling (yay!!!)
Tri-State Metal Salvage
5171 Altizer Ave. Huntington, WV 25705
Contact: Carlos Rowe
Telephone: 523-5872
Fax: 523-5872
Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday
Materials collected: Copper, brass and steel
Goodwill Industries
525 W. 19th St. Huntington, WV Telephone: 429-3261 Fax: 429-5103 Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
1005 Virginia Ave. Huntington, WV Telephone: 523-9177 Hours: Call for store hours
6007 U.S. 60 E. River Place, Ste. 208 Barboursville, WV Telephone: 736-8624 Hours: Call for store hours
500 Main St. No. 8 Perry Morris Square Milton, WV Telephone: 743-0100 Call for store hours
Cross Roads Shopping Ctr Lavalette, WV 25535 Telephone: 304-697-2764 Call for store hours
Materials collected: Paper, cardboard, packing materials, junk mail, magazines, telephone books, Furniture, clothing,
books, toys, miscellaneous household goods