OKMULGEE, Okla.- The Muscogee (Creek) Nation Office of Environmental Services hosted their curbside recycling event for citizens and the community to utilize. Eligible recyclables that were brought in included white goods, sensitive documents, electronics, and tires.This was part of the America Recycles Day, and was located at the MCN Recycle Center on Nov. 17.
MCN Environmental Specialist Kristy Lawson (Cherokee) took part in helping put this event together. The department has hosted the event for over ten years. The service started out as an event hosted during the week of Earth Day in the spring. It would then gradually expand to America Recycles Day in November and a Household Hazardous Waste event hosted in September.
The events have grown tremendously with lots of people utilizing the service. The shredding truck has become a popular resource. Currently the department uses a third party service provided by Shredders Inc. for shredding. Lawson mentioned the department hopes to provide their own truck in the future.
“With our shred truck it gets full pretty quick so we ask people to show up early for it,” Lawson said.
Different counties have participated in this event. It was not only open for Mvskoke citizens, but community members as well.
“We do try to keep track, we like to ask people how they heard about the event. If they are tribal citizens, we keep a list of how many people show up and what counties they are coming from,” Lawson said.
At the end of the event organizers looked at the record of how many points, or tones of e-waste have been recycled. According to Lawson, the department’s last event, the Household Hazardous Waste event had a great turnout as well.
Lawson sees the need for recycling and encourages everyone to reuse common materials if they are able to do so. If they are not able to reuse materials, then recycling should be the next step. Lawson mentioned that there are other recycling centers around, but sometimes they charge a fee for their services. The events hosted by the MCN Office of Environmental services are free of charge, and are open to the public.
“Recycling is really important, we use a lot of natural resources for a lot of products that are made. These products are not infinite, they are limited and we need to use them wisely. It’s important for the environment because look at the ocean, look at the stuff that we are doing to the earth. So it’s really important for us to use our resources wisely, think about the end of the cycle of a product and not just that one time use,” Lawson said.
For those with questions about these events or are curious about recycling, they can contact the MCN Office of Environmental Services at 918-549-2580. Up to date information on future events can be found on their Facebook Page, Muscogee Creek Nation Office of Environmental Services.
