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Make Earth Day Everyday!

April 22, 1970 was the first Earth Day. Will County celebrates the anniversary of the public taking action in their homes, in their buisinesses, in their organizations and through their local, state and federal government agencies with a variety of activities. In 2004 Will County opened a landfill on repurposed land of a former federal munitions facility. However, for several years prior to this, the Waste Servivces division offered recycling programs and established goals for recycling through their Solid Waste Plan. In 2010, the division was renamed to Resource Recovery and Energy to reflect an expanded purpose of conserving energy and water, to compliment their goals of waste reduction and reuse. Below is a variety of presentations and information to assist you in finding ways to celebrate our natural resources.  For the 50th anniversary we partnered with other organziation to offer a Passport of activities from March through September: Click the Passport to learn more!

Report on actions and our raffles for prizes March 14-September 15, 2020	Improve the Environment, Recycle Correctly - NOW 2021	Presentation: Moving Towards a Zero Waste Life	Presentation: Greening Your Life
Presentation: Encouraging EV Adoption	Presentation: Composting with Worms	Presentation: Why the Earth Matters	Presentation: What is Solar?
Presentation: A School Waste Audit	Presentation: Reducing Ocean Trash	Presentation: 3Rs and  More	A Brief Overview of the Division
Presentation: Recycling Options		Flyer Insert for Newspapers April 2020	Curbside Recycling Guidelines

Earth Day Bingo Game - Picture Click, Copy, Paste, Enlarge, Play	Earth Day Scavenger Hunt - Picture Click, Copy, Paste, Enlarge, Play	Flyer Insert for Newspapers April 2020	2018-2020 Curbside Recycling Guidelines

A few more ideas for things to do at home to celebrate Earth Day Every Day

• Make a bird feeder. Coat a cardboard paper towel roll with honey, syrup, or peanut butter. Pour birdseed over the sticky substance. When it sets up and dries, hang it outdoors.

• Pick up the litter in your yard.

• Have a family photo contest capturing images of birds, bugs, squirrels, bees and emerging butterflies.

• Pull weeds instead of using toxic chemicals to kill them.

• Make a plastic bottle bowling game from empty recyclables. Fill bottles with an inch of water to keep them from falling over too easily. Line up pins and knock ‘em over with a soft ball.

• Paint a smooth rock with acrylic paint. Paint background color and let dry. Then, using a variety of colors create an easy dotted pattern or design.

• Make seedling pots from cardboard or plastic egg cartons. Punch tiny drain holes in the bottom of carton where eggs sit. Fill depressions with outdoor soil, compost or potting mix. Plant beans, peas, radishes, tomatoes or flower seeds just below the soil. In May, place seed trays outdoors for a few hours each day. After May 15th, cut card-board pods apart and place them directly in soil about 8 inches apart. Seedlings in plastic holders will have to be tipped out and planted. Now, watch your garden grow.

• While brushing your teeth, don’t let the water run and run. Conserve this resource!

• Make a Frisbee game using boxes, lawn chairs and hula hoops as targets.

• Go on a nature scavenger hunt. (see the link above)

• Turn off the lights and television when you leave the room and save energy.

• Tell everyone it’s Earth Day on April 22nd! Create an Earth Day message on poster board or cardboard for the front window. Sidewalk art works well too.

• Build a backyard compost bin with your family (click this link to compost page with instructions and more).