MEDINA, Ohio -- When we think of history, we probably think of museums and antiques, wars and politicians.
But history includes anything that has happened in the past.
The Medina County Historical Society recently held a program at the Medina Library featuring three “trash talkers,” who revealed the history of Earth Day and the development of the trash and recycling programs in our area.
Local trash experts Charles Ramer, senior consultant for Resource Recycling Systems Inc. and former director of the Portage County Solid Waste District; Beth Biggins-Ramer, current director of the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District; and Ann Foky, administration assistant at the Medina County Solid Waste District, shared their expertise with an interesting Power Point presentation.
Biggins-Ramer talked first about Rachel Carson’s book, “Silent Spring,” published in 1962, that warned the public of the dangers of pesticides.
“Then, one spring, a strange blight crept over the area, and everything began to change ... In the mornings, which had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds, doves, jays and wrens, and scores of other bird voices, there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marshes,” Carson wrote.
The next jolt to the public consciousness was the 13th and last oil-slick fire on the Cuyahoga River in June 1969. The fire damaged two key railroad trestles and garnered national attention and ridicule.
The next environmental crisis involved a New York City garbage barge in 1987. The barge carrying 3,100 tons of NYC trash traveled from New York to the Bahamas before it returned to Brooklyn -- still full of stinking trash.
On the first Earth Day -- April 22, 1970 -- millions of people across the United States joined marches and demonstrations to urge the government to help protect our health and natural resources.
On Dec. 2, 1970, President Richard Nixon sent to Congress a plan to consolidate many environmental responsibilities under the Environmental Protection Agency -- the EPA.
This was followed by four modern environmental laws: 1970, Clean Air Act; 1972, Clean Water Act; 1974, Safe Drinking Water Act; and 1975, Hazardous Materials Transportation Act.
In 1976, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act -- the primary law governing the disposal of solid and hazardous waste -- led to the enactment of House Bill 592 in 1988, Ohio’s solid waste law.
The law’s main intention is to reduce reliance on landfills and to achieve Ohio’s recycling goals.
Recycling works in Medina County. Despite rumors to the contrary, suitable materials placed in the drop-off boxes do get recycled.
After being taken to the county recycling facility, recyclables are manually and mechanically sorted. The resulting baled materials are sold in the marketplace.
Glass, plastic, paper and aluminum products are sorted and processed at the facility. Organic materials are composted for sale and reuse.
Foky talked about the Medina Solid Waste facility and how audience members could help save our environment by recycling more and better.
She discussed which items are recyclable and which are not. The most common products to recycle are cans, cartons, glass, paper, boxes and plastic bottles and containers.
All recyclables should be as clean as possible, and boxes should be flattened before they are placed in the drop-off box.
More than 60 locations around the county have one or more boxes, many at schools, parks and libraries.
Several helpful handouts were available to the guests, among them a thought-provoking Native American proverb: “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”
To learn more about recycling in our area, check out RecycleMedinaCounty.com or CuyahogaRecycles.org.
To learn about upcoming programs by the Medina County Historical Society, access medinacountyhistoricalsociety.com.
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