Thanks to a partnership between the Ardmore Beautification Council and the tech company Replenysh, southern Oklahoma will have the opportunity to begin recycling. A series of five collection events are currently scheduled with the first set for June 26 at Thompson Square. If these collections are successful, more will be coming in the future.

Items being collected include cardboard, chipboard such as cereal boxes, aluminum cans, steel cans such as soup cans, glass bottles such as beer or wine bottles and pickle jars, PET bottles such as soda or water bottles and mouthwash bottles, HDPE bottles such as shampoo or detergent bottles, and PET thermoforms such as egg cartons or berry containers from the grocery store.

ABC Executive Director Julie Maher said that these items need to be sorted into their respective categories prior to recycling, so she suggested having things ready to go before arriving at the event. Items such as steel cans and glass food jars also need to be rinsed out, but the labels do not have to be removed.

“If you have everything sorted when you get to the event, that will save you a lot of time because you can just dump it and go,” Maher said. “I’m using some old laundry hampers I had around the house to sort my things. You could use garbage bags, just know that they are not collecting the plastic sack, so you’ll need to dump them out when you get here.”

Maher said Replenysh works by partnering with major corporations such as PepsiCo and Chick-fil-A that want to recycle post-consumer goods into new products. Replenysh collects the items for recycling then them to these corporations. Therefore there is no cost to the Ardmore Beautification Council, the City of Ardmore, or any local business or individual to pay for recycling.

The success of the first five recycling collections will determine whether or not more events will be scheduled in the future, so Maher urged everyone to get involved.

“We definitely want to put our best foot forward and show that we’re really committed to recycling,” she said. “The number one question people is me is where they can recycle, so I know people in the community are interested. This is now our chance, and I’m hoping to see a big response.”

The first recycling event is set for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on June 26 at Thompson Square, and additional events are set for July 10, July 24, Aug. 7 and Aug. 21. Volunteers are also needed to help work at the events and anyone interested can contact the Ardmore Beautification Council at (580) 223-2230.