Michelle Bergcamp, coordinator of the Ulster agency, said that a statewide law was implemented in 2009 requiring big-box and chain stores to set up recycling bins for plastic bags. For recycling of Styrofoam peanuts, call 800-828-2214 for local recycling centers that will accept this.
Are paper bags more environmentally friendly than plastic ones (which collectively equate to twelve million barrels of oil per year and are particularly harmful to marine wildlife)? The jury is out. The best option is to use your own reusable cloth bag. (I now bring my cloth bags with me not only to the supermarket but also to Target, the drug store, and Home Depot or Loew’s. The habit has magically solved the problem of accumulating plastic bags.)
Both counties now do dual-stream recycling, which means all recycling items can be dumped into one bin. All you need to do is rinse out bottles, jars and cans. And you should be recycling your electronics as well: a state law went into effect a year ago ensures that responsible recycling of electronics is available to residents. Several times a year, collection points are set up for this waste, and many municipal transfer stations collect the waste for free, as do some office-product big-box stores.
Where does it all go? Ulster’s glass travels to northern New York, where it is remanufactured into new bottles and glassware items. Paper goes to paper mills. The aluminum from a can may end back up on the shelf in a new can in as short a time as six weeks. Plastic fibers from milk jugs and soda bottles are recycled into carpet, clothing, auto parts, tennis balls, park benches and bottles and jugs, which are all manufactured domestically.
Unfortunately, the recycling rates in both counties could be much improved. While the 1991 recycling law in Ulster County requires each municipality to have a recycling dropoff site — in Kingston, the city’s DPW picks up the waste, along with the household trash, at the curb — the county recycling rate was only 32 percent in 2011. Of 232,962 tons of trash collected, 73,911 was recyclable. That collection, however, was significant, preventing over 35,000 tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gases from being emitted, the equivalent to removing 9,000 cars from the road in a year, according to Ulster statistics. And over 250,000 cubic yards of landfill space was saved.
The recycling rate in Dutchess County was less, with about 26,000 tons of recyclables collected in 2011, according to Calogero. However, he expected the rate to improve with his agency’s recent switch to dual-stream recycling. Throwing all your cans, plastic bottles and glass jars into the bin is just as easy as tossing it in the garbage, so there’s no longer an excuse not to recycle. And discarding all your coffee grounds, vegetable and fruit cuttings and dead flowers into a container for composting not only dramatically cuts down on the amount of garbage you have to haul to the curb (or transfer station), but also benefits the garden. So do it!
Is it okay to build a bonfire on my property? (I live on five acres in the country.)
Not until after May 15. The New York State Department of Conservation has for several years issued a state-wide ban on outside fires from March 15 to May 15. The wisdom of that ban was obvious during this particularly dry spring, when brush fires were sweeping through parts of Long Island and the New Jersey Pine Barrens. In fact, Steve Peterson, deputy director of the Ulster County Emergency Management Department, said that spring, despite the cliche about April showers, tends to be a dry time of year.
After May 1, burning of branches less than six inches in diameter and eight feet in length is allowed if you live in a municipality of less than 20,000 people outside of the village or town, according to the DEC website. Larger bonfires require a permit from the local regulatory agency. Rules vary by particular municipality. Cooking or camp fires fueled with charcoal or wood are allowed, as are fires for various commercial uses on farms, ceremonial bonfires, and fires connected with a religious purpose.
Cities and towns have their own fire ordinances. In Kingston, for example, the only fires that are allowed without a permit are cooking fires. “If you have a little outdoor fireplace where you’re cooking hot dogs, that’s fine,” said John Reinardt, the city’s fire chief. Any other kind of fire — including “aesthetic” fires kindled in one of those newly popular, adorable metal “fire pits” — is illegal.
When you’re finished with the legal cooking fire, be sure to thoroughly douse the coals with water before turning in for the night. Also, of course, make sure it is barricaded from the surrounding brush by an impermeable circle of rocks or bricks.
On warm sunny days I like to meditate and do yoga outside. I’d like to add a sound element. Is there such a thing as “healing” chimes?
Yes. Woodstock Chimes offers a series of chakra-themed chimes, which contain stones whose colors correspond to different chakras as well as tunings based on frequencies that correspond to different energy points, according to founder-owner Garry Kvistad. The company sells chimes of which each correlates to a particular chakra, with a colored stone for a clapper. The larger Woodstock Chakra Chimes-Seven Stones has a central cord strung with seven colored stones and tunings derived from chance operations.
That sounds like something John Cage would dream up. Indeed, Kvistad, a musician and former music professor, has long been into Cage’s music. He recently created a new chime based on a favorite Cage composing technique: the throwing of two coins based on the I Ching, resulting in a random selection of notes with zen overtones (no pun intended). The chimes are part of the “feng shui” series, and Kvistad said he was pleased with the resonant result: “We let go of our ego and something takes over. Whether you believe in divine intervention or not, it still produces something outside our control.”
