Recycling on St. Croix
For those of you who haven’t heard yet, we finally have a recycling program on St. Croix! Thanks to the volunteers of the Plastic Drop Off Recycling Group, you can now drop off your plastic and aluminum cans for recycling at locations across the island. Read on to find out how you can participate in recycling locally and reducing the amount of trash that ends up in our landfill.
In a perfect world we would all have access to zero-waste stores, utilize only reusable containers, and do away with disposable straws. While we may not live in a perfect world, at least we now have a way to recycle plastic and aluminum cans here on St. Croix thanks to the grassroots movement of volunteers known as the “Plastic drop off and recycling program” group on Facebook. On Saturdays, volunteers man drop off locations island wide where anyone who wants to can deposit their recyclables. It takes a little bit of effort, but isn’t our environment worth it? Here are the locations, times and details for responsibly dropping off your recyclables:
- West End : Market STX (formerly Plaza West) from 7am – 12pm on Saturdays: Gary and Diane Brooks and their volunteer crew collect plastic, and washed and rinsed aluminum cans in bins or cardboard boxes (NOT in plastic bags).
- Leatherback Brewing Company also takes aluminum cans in for recycling. If you are in that area, you can drop off rinsed-out, uncrushed aluminum cans to the bartender anytime they are open. Current business hours are 11:30am to 8pm Monday-Saturday and 12pm to 7pm Sunday. You can also drop cans off at Ziggy’s Market and Gas Station (east end) and they will get them to Leatherback.
- The St. Croix Animal Welfare Center is always in need of newspaper, used to line the crates for puppies and kittens. Please save your newspaper and make a point of dropping them off.
Recycling Do’s and Do Not’s
- DO check out the Plastic drop off and recycling program Facebook page for more information on what is recyclable.
- DO rinse out aluminum cans before dropping them off for recycling.
- DO rinse out all plastic and remove the lids before dropping them off for recycling.
- DO NOT bring boxes, styrofoam, dark colored plastic containers, hangers, laundry baskets, 3-5 gallon water bottles, oil or gas containers, or egg cartons – they are not recyclable.
- DO bring your recyclables in a reusable bin or box (which eliminates ‘contaminated plastic’), or in a clear plastic bag.
- DO NOT bring your recyclables in black or white trash bags. The volunteers must be able to see what’s in the bags to be able to direct them to the proper side for sorting.
- DO drop off your recyclables by the ending time noted above for each location. After the drop off time ends, the volunteers are sorting and prepping the recyclables for shipping and do not have time to accept new drop offs.
In addition to manning the recycling drop offs and sorting the recyclables, this amazing group also has a student recycling program with participating schools being sponsored by local businesses. If you are interested in sponsoring a school, or volunteering at a drop off location, please reach out to one of the Admins on the Facebook page.
We here at GoToStCroix.com would like say THANK YOU to all of the volunteers who continue to make this recycling project possible, to Plaza West for sponsoring the program, and to Leatherback Brewing for accepting aluminum cans for recycling. Also, thank you to everyone who is participating by collecting and dropping off recyclables…all of you are helping to make our island a better (and cleaner) place to live!
-Jennie Ogden, Editor
