MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - On Saturday, September 29th, Meridian Township hosted their annual Fall Recycling Event at Chippewa Middle School.

The Recycling Event is a way for people to drop off paints, older electronics, and metal items with freon for a small fee. Additionally, medications, packing peanuts, egg cartons, bicycles, documents, large metal items, household cleaners, fluorescent light bulbs, and newer electronics could all be disposed of for free.

Meridian Township Recycling & Energy Coordinator LeRoy Harvey said, "We try and involve local businesses to the greatest extent that we can. This event keeps stuff out of landfills, keeps it reused, recycled, or properly disposed of. Not everything is recyclable, but we'll also work to recycle the styrofoam that comes in and the cardboard, which comes in with part of the electronics and to the extent that we can recycle everything, we do."

The Ingham County Health Department participated in the recycling event to collect household cleaners and fluorescent light bulbs. This was the Health Department's first effort to reach out to smaller communities to help with recycling in Ingham County. They viewed the Fall Recycling Event as a success, not only for the recyclables they collected, but for the number of volunteers that made the event run smoothly.

Volunteers came from all over the Township, but Okemos High School had almost forty-five student volunteers from the ACTION club, led by Aparna Krishnamurthy and Liam Speicher. They were pleasantly surprised with the turnout of their classmates. Speicher stated, "So many students showing up shows how much they care about their community." Krishnamurthy added that, "With Homecoming this weekend, it's great to see so many students turning out to help."

The next recycling event will be held in the spring, with the date yet to be determined.