Sustainable Ewing Green Team

Reminder – MCIA Hazardous Waste Disposal Day on Saturday, April 8th

April 5, 2017April 5, 2017Leave a comment

The MCIA will be running its first Household Waste and Electronics Disposal Day of the year on Saturday, April 8th from 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. It will be held at John T. Dempster Fire School, Lawrence Station Rd in Lawrence Twp.

Accepted for recycling are the following:

Materials Not Accepted:

For Mercer County Residents Only. Only Residential Waste will be accepted, i.e. no Commercial Business waste. Proof of Residency will be required (Driver’s License). For more information call 609-278-8086 or visit WWW.MCIANJ.ORG.

Spring Is In the Air – Make Reduce, Reuse and Recycle a Part of Your Spring Cleaning Plan

March 18, 2017March 22, 2017Leave a comment

With the advent of spring on Monday, March 20th, many of us begin our annual spring cleaning ritual. The EGT recommends that as you go through the unwanted stuff in your home that you consider the 3Rs when you make your decisions regarding their disposal. From clothes, to furniture, to old non-working or outdated electronics, to bottles of cleaners, pesticides, oil-based paints, driveway sealer, insect repellents, to reams of unwanted sensitive documents, these all may need to go. Fortunately, there are some specialized programs that are run in Ewing and Mercer County in April to allow you to dispose of many items AND there are many organizations that will take your gently used, no longer needed items and give them a new home.

Reduce

Before you make the decision to buy new, we encourage you to reflect on whether you really need something new or whether cleaning or repair of the old item will do. For example, what about that pair of shoes with worn down heels that you love? Don’t throw them out. Take them to be repaired. There a wonderful cobber in Pennington who will make them look like new. Is your coat zipper broken? If the coat is in good condition otherwise, take it to a local tailor for repair.

Reuse

Spring is also a great time for a yard sale. Run one to find homes for clothes, toys, appliances, and books that you no longer need. Or, check out the local donation centers in Ewing and the surrounding areas at our sister website, EwingRecycles.org. Check out each to see which works best for what you want to donate. Don’t forget the Ewing Animal Shelter, behind the municipal building, that will taker unwearable clothes, sheets and towels for pet bedding.

Recycle

Events in April

MCIA Household Hazardous Waste Collection and Electronics Recycling Event
April 8, 2017 at 8:00 am – 2:00 pm at the Dempster Fire School, 350 Lawrence Station Road, Lawrence, NJ 08648. This event is for residential Waste only/No Commercial Businesses Mercer County Residents Only/ Proof of Residency Required (Driver’s License)
Ewing Shred Day
April 22, 2017 at 9:00 am – 1:00 pm, Ewing Township Municipal Building, 2 Jake Garzio Drive, Ewing, NJ, United States
Dispose of sensitive documents safely and securely at Ewing’s first Shred Day of the year at the municipal building. Document shredding will be done on site. This service is for Ewing residents only and proof of residency is required.
National Prescription Drug Take Back Day in Ewing
April 29, 2017 at the Pennington Road Fire Company, 1660 Pennington Road, Ewing, Times to be announced. Dispose of your unused medications safely and responsibly.

Don’t forget Ewing’s Convenience Centers. Ewing Township has two waste Drop Off Convenience Sites for residential use only (with proof of Ewing residency). Check http://ewingnj.org/Departments/Public-Works/Brush-Bulk-Waste.aspx for hours.

Jack Stephan Way (off of Parkway Avenue, at the old Naval Jet Propulsion Center)
Brush and Yard waste.
Department of Public Works, 136 Scotch Road
Construction debris, doors and windows, lumber, sheetrock, rugs, broken furniture, small appliances, missed garbage pick up and electronics recycling and more.

Keep the Green Theme on St. Paddy’s Day Weekend at the Mercer Green Fest

March 8, 2017March 10, 2017Leave a comment

The Mercer Green Fest – Promoting Green Living for Mercer County Families (latest updates)

The Mercer County Sustainability Coalition suggests that you keep the green theme on St. Paddy’s Day weekend and attend the Mercer Green Fest on Saturday, March 18^th! The Ewing Green Team invites all Ewing residents to join them at the 11^th annual green fair in the Mercer County area, the Mercer Green Fest, formerly called the Living Local Expo! The festival will be at Rider University’s Student Recreation Center located on the main campus in Lawrence Township. It is free and open to the public and will run from 11 am until 4 pm. The event will feature live entertainment, local sustainable businesses, sustainable community groups, and a farmer’s market, local fresh food at our lunch café, demonstrations, and speakers throughout the day. There will be fun for the whole family!

More than 70 eco-friendly businesses and organizations will be offering information and incentives to help you go green and save money. Visitors can learn about a wide variety of sustainability issues and exciting community projects such as bike trails, food waste recycling programs, energy efficiency, electric cars, health, exercise & wellness, and science fair projects from area schools. Don’t’ miss the Ewing schools, represented by the Ewing High Robotics Club and the Antheil Garden Club.

Entertainment

The event will feature entertainment for the whole family:

Miss Amy, Ewing’s own GRAMMY Nominated Artist Author/Educator, musician and Fitness Pro, will rock and roll with the kids at this year’s Festival from 11am -12 noon.
Eyes of the Wild: Traveling Zoo will take the stage from 1 pm – 2 pm and introduce children of all ages to a selection of exotic and touchable animals.
The Grand Falloons will put on their recycling and a science show with juggling, magic, comedy, song and dance from 2 pm – 3 pm.

Local Food

The local farmers will be on hand and have a great array of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as flowers, plants, herbs, and artisan food products for sale. A family friendly lunch celebrating locally grown and seasonal ingredients will also be available for purchase all day.

Speakers

This year’s Green Fest is a celebration of what we can do locally to advance our neighborhoods’ environmental quality and sustainability. You can help reduce the negative impacts of global climate change by acting locally in how you use energy in your home and business. This will also save you money in your energy bills over the long run. This year’s speaker program will highlight energy sustainability as well as provide a couple of thoughtful additions on climate change and fracking.

Saving money and energy at home through New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program.
Princeton Air will present on Home Energy Audits that can give you a plan of what to address first in your home or business to be more energy efficient
Three presentations on going solar for your home or business.
The science of Climate Change
The Consequences of Fracking.

We encourage Green Fest visitors to attend these short presentations and stop off at a table to learn more. Then turn these suggestions into actions!

The Arts

Art is an important part of a sustainable community! Everyone can have fun with our Art all Day area designing creative art and crafts. Art Has No Boundaries, a Ewing art organization dedicated to promoting the arts in our community, will insure a great time for all at the crafts table.

Giveaways

The Rider University Schimek Family Fitness Center will be open and some lucky visitor will get a free year membership!

Bring your whole family, meet your neighbors, enjoy the afternoon and learn how Mercer County area residents and businesses are building sustainable communities. For more information about the Mercer Green Fest go to mercergreenfest.org.

The Mercer Green Fest is organized by the Mercer Sustainability Coalition, a partnership of green teams, environmental commissions and sustainability organizations in Mercer County. The Ewing Green Team is a founding member. For more information contact the Ewing Green Team at ewinggreenteam@gmail.com.

Date: Saturday, March 18
Time: 11 am – 4 pm
Location: Rider University Student Recreation Center
Cost: Free and Open to the public

Mercer Green Fest – Fun for the Whole Family!

March 1, 2017March 2, 2017Leave a comment

The annual Mercer Green Fest, formerly called The Living Local Expo, invites all Mercer residents to join us at the fair and have fun going green! The festival will be at Rider University’s Student Recreation Center located on the main campus in Lawrence Township. It is Free and Open to the Public and will run from 11 am until 4 pm. The event will feature live entertainment, local sustainable businesses, sustainable community groups, a farmer’s market, local fresh food at our lunch café, demonstrations, and speakers throughout the day. There will be fun for the whole family!

The Rider University Schimek Family Fitness Center will be open and some lucky visitor will get a free year membership! Learn more about the Fitness Center.

The event will feature entertainment for the whole family:

Miss Amy, our local GRAMMY Nominated Artist Author/Educator, musician and Fitness Pro, will rock and roll with the kids at this year’s Festival from 11am -12 noon.
The Green Planet Band recycle rock n’ roll one song at a time from 12 pm – 1 pm.
Eyes of the Wild: Traveling Zoo will take the stage from 1 pm – 2 pm.
The Grand Falloons will put on their recycling and a science show with juggling, magic, comedy, song and dance from 2 pm – 3 pm.
Solar Man will arrive and provide interactive fun experimenting with solar energy between 3 pm – 4 pm.

The local farmers will have a great array of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as flowers, plants, herbs, and artisan food products for sale.

A family friendly lunch celebrating locally grown and seasonal ingredients will be available for purchase all day.

Art is an important part of a sustainable community! Everyone can have fun with our Art all Day area, designing creative art and crafts.

Time is running out, but it is not too late to secure a spot in our Green Fest through March 10 by contacting Teresita Bastides-Heron of Sustainable Lawrence at (609) 882-6367 or heron45sustainablelawrence@gmail.com or Joanne Mullowney of the Ewing Green Team at (609) 883-0862 or ewinggreenteam@gmail.com.

The Mercer Green Fest is organized by the partners of the Mercer Sustainability Coalition: the Ewing Green Team, the Hopewell Valley Green Team, Lawrence Environmental Resources & Sustainability Green Advisory Committee (ERSGAC), Sustainable Lawrence, Sustainable Princeton, the West Windsor Environmental Commission, and the Mercer County Office of Economic Development and Sustainability.