McAlester Recognized as an Oklahoma Clean Community
For Immediate Release: July 6, 2016
Contact: Erin Hatfield, (405) 702-7119
The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), in partnership with Keep Oklahoma Beautiful (KOB), will recognize Pride in McAlester for its efforts in making the City of McAlester an Oklahoma Clean Community during a special ceremony scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Monday, July 11th, 2016. The ceremony will be held at the Kiamichi Technology Center BIZ Room, 301 Kiamichi Drive in McAlester.
Pride In McAlester works year round to promote recycling, offer residents responsible disposal of waste, conduct litter pickups, hold education programs in local schools, organize public planting programs, and coordinates with city leaders to encourage sustainable practices.
The organization’s recycling efforts include the establishment of the McAlester Recycling Center in 2010 with the City of McAlester, conducting a yearly holiday recycling drive, offering recycling during community events, securing bins for recycling in city parks, and offering recycling of items such as batteries, cooking oil, tires, and other items at special clean ups. Since 2011, the Pride In McAlester Fall and Spring Cleanups have responsibly disposed of more than 3,756,036 pounds of waste in McAlester.
The Spring Cleanup event of April 2016 recycled 29,970 pounds of electronics, 64,340 pounds of metal, and 26,000 pounds of tires. It also responsibly disposed of 1,169 pounds of household hazardous waste, 402,180 pounds of bulk trash, and 85,970 pounds of brush.
DEQ and KOB recognize entities that participate in at least one tire collection event annually and other environmental service projects. DEQ encourages entities to coordinate a community-wide cleanup of used tires. DEQ’s Tire Indemnity Fund will pay to haul off old, unused, or abandoned tires. Tire piles can be an eyesore and attract unwelcome pests, such as mosquitoes and rodents. After cleanup is complete and all criteria for other service projects are met, a community can be recognized as an Oklahoma Clean Community.
More information on the Used Tire Recycling Program is available at https://www.deq.ok.gov/land-protection-division/recycling/tire-recycling/ or by contacting Ferrella March at ferrella.march@deq.ok.gov or 405-702-5175.
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