RECYCLING TO BE STRESSED SUNDAY

Two years ago Pam Sander said it was time for the next step in recycling -- for consumers to buy products using recycled materials.

That message is now being conveyed nationally.

"If you're not buying recycled, you're not really recycling," is the 1998 theme for America Recycles Day, which will be observed across the nation Sunday.

A recycling pledge drive will be held by the Cape Girardeau Public Works Department and Wal-Mart Supercenter from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Supercenter. Participants will be asked to fill out pledge cards, which will be mailed to Washington, D.C., and entered into a national random drawing for an "American Green Dream Home," said Sander.

"I'm in complete agreement with the America Recycles Day theme," said Sander, solid-waste coordinator for Cape Girardeau. "We need to close the circle. We need to recycle by starting at the store and creating a demand for recycled paper products."

Creating a demand for recycled paper will increase the demand for recyclable materials, and the loop will close, said Sander.

John Renaud agrees. Renaud, production manger for the Southeast Missourian, said the newspaper takes steps to be part of the recycling solution. Newspapers are one of the most recycled items nationally and in the Cape Girardeau area.

"The newspaper industry helps in two ways," said Renaud. "We recycle about 30 tons of newspaper and press spoils per month, and we use a lot of recycled paper."

Nationally, the newspaper industry's recycling rates have climbed from 35 percent in 1988 to more than 68 percent in 1998.

Newspapers collected are recycled into many different products. More than 38 percent of them are turned into new newsprint. But other recycled newspapers are used in paper board packaging, for cereals, detergent boxes, egg cartons and other household paper products.

Many recycled Southeast Missourian papers are used in making cup carriers, lap trays and other products made by EnviroPak Corp., a St. Louis company which produces a variety of molded paper pulp packaging.

In Cape Girardeau newspapers are the top recyclable material collected, said Sander.

During the past fiscal year, 2.8 millions pounds of the 3.5 millions pounds of recyclable materials in the city were newsprint, she said. Second on the local recyclable list was carding, with 497,600 pounds. Next on the recyclable material list was glass, with 332,000 pounds processed here. Other materials processed included junk mail, plastic, magazines, tin, and aluminum.

"In general our citizens really are doing a good job with recycling," Sander said.

Once curbside items are collected, the city sells recyclable items by the ton to collection and processing centers, which in turn send the items to be remade or reused.

Recycling cuts down on materials to landfills, and cities are mandated to lower the volume to landfills.

Millions of Americans recycle now.

More than 5,000 events in 45 different states will take place across the nation Sunday to celebrate the success of recycling.

Federal and state governments and national organizations, including the Newspaper Association of America, are working together to encourage people to complete the recycling circle by purchasing recycled-content products.