Terra Community College in Fremont will hold a recycling event for area

residents in honor of Earth Day 2010.

On April 22 from 3 to 7 p.m., the college, in partnership with Croghan Colonial Bank; AccuShred; the Ottawa Sandusky Seneca Solid Waste District; Mayle, Ray and Mayle LLC; Streacker Tractor Sales; EcoWatch Journal and Green Energy Ohio, will host Community Recycling Day and accept electronics, confidential papers and tennis shoes for recycling.

“We’ve had a Green Team here at Terra for just about a year now, and we are very excited to celebrate our first Earth Day as a team with a community recycling event,” said Lisé Konecny, Capital and Construction Project Manager at Terra.

Electronic items that will be accepted include:

• Computer CPUs;
• Monitors ($10 charge);
• Speakers, keyboards, mice;
• Electric typewriters;
• Word processors;
• Televisions ($20-25 charge);
• Sweepers;
• Fans;
• Stereo/boombox;
• Copiers;
• Printers;
• Game consoles;
• Telephones;
• Small kitchen appliances;
• Ham radio equipment;
• Just about anything with a power cord except large kitchen appliances, dehumidifiers, air conditioners and any device containing Freon.

In addition to the electronics, Terra will also be accepting confidential papers, which AccuShred will shred on site. The service is aimed at helping area residents protect themselves from identity theft.

The event will also include the recycling of tennis shoes. The OSS Solid Waste District, in cooperation with Nike, will handle that portion of the effort.

Terra will also have take-out dinners available. Each meal, prepared by Vineyard Church, includes a pulled pork sandwich, cole slaw and baked beans. The price is $5 each for pre-purchased tickets, which are available at the Kern Center and the Student Activities Center, and $7 each or two for $10 the day of the event. Proceeds will benefit the new Terra Community Garden.

Those attending should turn into the campus at 2830 Napoleon Rd., Fremont, and follow the recycling day signs. Maps to the campus are available online at www.terra.edu. For more information, call Konecny at 419-559-2380.

AccuShred representatives recently gave a demonstration of their mobile destruction truck to a few members of Terra’s Green Team and Earth Day event sponsors. From left, Kevin Walker and Lisé Konecny, of Terra; Tom Elder, of Croghan Colonial Bank; Nick Herman, Jessica Bayer, Jeff Huffman and Dr. Marsha S. Bordner, all of Terra; Jim Darr, of OSS Solid Waste District; and Matt Freed and Mike Boyd of AccuShred.

Rain barrel workshop
Bring a buddy and learn how to save money and water by building your own rain barrel at a workshop that will be held May 6 at 6:30 p.m. at Schedel Arboretum & Gardens, 19255 West Portage River South Rd. in Elmore. The workshop is sponsored by the Ottawa Soil and Water Conservation District and Schedel.

No power tools needed but two persons will be required for barrel construction. Barrels will be prepped for assembly.

In addition to constructing the 55-gallon rain barrel, participants will be invited to walk through the gardens and hear a guest speaker from Bench’s Greenhouse in Elmore discuss what is new and unusual to grow in the gardens in 2010.

The cost of the workshop is $65 per rain barrel assembled. Seats are limited to 15 rain barrels. District staff members may be available to help those who cannot bring a companion to the workshop. To register, call 419-898-1595 by April 30.

Earth Day 40th anniversary
Celebrate Earth Day with local environmental representatives and organizations Thursday, April 22, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., on the Garden Level at Bay Park Community Hospital.

For more information, call 419-690-7862.

Shred, recycle at The Andersons
In the coming weeks, The Anderson will present Shred Day and Electronic eCycling events at their Toledo-area store locations.

Items that will be collected at the No-Limit eCycling events include:
• Computers and accessories;
• Laptops;
• Office equipment;
• Toner and ink;
• VCRs and DVD players;
• Electronics;
• Phones and cell phones;
• Radios;
• Electronic games;
• Cameras and projectors;
• Documents;

No TVs, air conditioners or appliances, paint, fluorescent bulbs or alkaline batteries will be accepted.  

Each event will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dates and locations include:
• May 1: Woodville Mall store;
• June 5: Maumee store;
• Aug. 21: Talmadge Road store.

The Great American Cleanup
Local families, civic and community groups, scouts, churches and businesses are invited to participate in The Great American Cleanup clothes collection being co-sponsored by WTVG 13abc and the Erie Street Market and Keep Toledo/Lucas County Beautiful.

The event, held every April, is intended to encourage the “reuse and recycle” ethic in the community. When used textiles are collected, usable clothes are donated to charities and the fibers from the rest are recycled into roofing material, bond paper, industrial wiping clothes and remanufactured textiles.

Organizers hope to make this year’s clothes collection the biggest ever. Participation is simple – bring old clothes, shoes, fabric, used textiles, etc. to the Salvation Army drop-off site at the Erie Street Market, 237 Erie St., Toledo, now through April 30, seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information, call Keep Toledo/Lucas County Beautiful, Inc. at 419-213-2255.

Be the change
Metroparks of the Toledo Area invites area youths to “be the change” by participating in the 6th Annual Global Youth Service Day/Earth Day Work Day April 24 between 9 a.m. and noon.

A variety of work projects will be available, including natural area restoration, tree plantings and general park clean up.

A celebration will be held afterwards at the Toledo Zoo for all participating youths. Several park locations are available. Dress for the weather.

In the spirit of Earth Day, those attending are encouraged to bring their own reusable drinking bottles. Groups, families and individuals are welcome. For more information, call Alice Jacobs at 419-407-9846 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Reuse-A-Shoe
Owens Community College and Nike are encouraging area residents to give new life to their worn-out athletic shoes at the third annual “Reuse-A-Shoe” Sneaker drive being held through April 22.

Athletic shoes of any brand may be brought to the Student Health and Activities Center and the Audio/Visual Classroom Center on the college’s Oregon Road campus in Perrysburg. Nike does not accept sneakers containing metal or cleats, or dress shoes.

Shoes collected will be shipped to the Nike Recycling Center in Wilsonville, Ore., where they will be ground up and separated into one of three Nike Grind materials – rubber from the outsole, foam from the midsole and fabric from the upper. The Nike Grind is then incorporated into playground and sport surfaces as part of partnerships with industry-leading surfacing companies.

Since its inception, Nike’s “Reuse-A-Shoe” program has recycled over 25 million pairs of athletic shoes and created more than 300 sport surfaces around the globe. More than 2,100 worn-out athletic shoes have been given new life through ‘Reuse-A-Shoe” at Owens.

For more information or to donate, call 1-800-GO-OWENS, ext. 7583.

Earth Day up close & personal
Celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day April 24, at Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial in Put-in-Bay by getting up close and personal with the Lake Erie water snake, attending a Junior Ranger Jamboree, creating recycled art, listening to Chip and The Munks, or visiting the different earth-friendly booths sponsored by local organizations.

All the activities are free and begin at 10 a.m. with a “Tree Walk” at the Jane Coates Wildflower Trail sponsored by The Lake Erie Islands Chapter of the Black Swamp Conservancy, said Superintendent Blanca Alvarez Stransky. Singer-Songwriter Chip Richter, with “Chip and the Munks,” will serve up stories, songs and smiles “family style” during his free noon concert in the Visitor Center.

At 1 p.m., the National Park Service will host a Junior Ranger Jamboree in the Visitor Center theater. Children ages 5-12 will be invited to dress up in Park Ranger garb and learn about the different ranger jobs in the National Park Service.

Throughout the day, visitors will be encouraged to get fit with park rangers by participating in early 18th-century games, including sack races, stilts walking to hoop rolling. The Ranger Field Events start at 11 a.m. and continue until 4 p.m.

For more information, call Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial at 419-285-2184 or visit www.nps.gov/pevi.