Free Binders for School, Home, Business: Just Come Pick Them Up

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Lenore Collins

Teachers, students, community groups, churches, day care operators, anyone: the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District has lots of binders left over from Zero Landfill Cleveland’s operations this past summer.

Free binders at the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District (photo credit: Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District)

What: binders of various sizes, colors, capacities, perfect for organizing and displaying information and materials.
Where they came from: surplus materials donated to Zero Landfill Cleveland by the local graphic design, interior design and architectural community.
Who: free to anyone who will pick them up.
Where: Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District’s Garfield Heights facility, 4750 E 131st Street in Garfield Heights (map).
More information: call (216) 443-3749.

Zero Landfill Cleveland kept these binders out of the landfill. Now they’re looking for some good homes.

Want to stay in touch with the latest recycling news in the Cleveland area? Just click on the Follow button at the bottom of my blog Home page, or subscribe to my Examiner.com page.

Free art and craft materials: ZeroLandfill adds one more summer harvest day, Friday, August 29

Posted on August 28, 2014 by Lenore Collins

ZeroLandfill Cleveland extends its summer 2014 harvest through Friday, August 29. So if you missed the last two weekends (or even if you didn’t), this is your chance to pick up art and craft materials, free for the taking. Samples of tile, fabric, carpet, interior design materials, and other items remain, along with a large selection of three-ring binders.

ZeroLandfill pollinators stocking the warehouse for August harvest events (photo credit: ZeroLandfill Cleveland)

When: hours are 12 p.m.–3 p.m.
Where: Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District, 4750 East 131 Street, Garfield Heights (map and directions), side door.
What: art and craft materials donated by the local graphic design, interior design and architectural community.
Who: artists, educators, homeschoolers, community program administrators, craftworkers, artists, daycare providers, anyone who can use the materials offered. You don’t need to be a resident of Cuyahoga County, or even of Northeast Ohio.
How: Come to the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste Facility on Friday, August 29, check in at the reception table, explore what’s available and take what you need. Be sure to bring boxes and bags to take your materials home.

ZeroLandfill asks you to note that:

Pollination and harvest hours are only during the hours posted.
All questions should be directed to IIDA Cleveland/Akron City Center at clevak@gmail.com. Please do not contact the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste Facility with any questions.
All volunteer positions are currently filled. ZeroLandfill thanks you for your willingness to help but cannot accept any walk-ins.

ZeroLandfill is a project of BeeDance, LLC, an online marketplace that connects abandoned assets destined for the waste stream with local audiences who will use these assets in their programs and processes.

ZeroLandfill collects specification samples from architectural, interior and graphic design firms and distributes them to local artists and arts educators. Since 2006, the ZeroLandfill project team has reduced pressure on local landfills by distributing over one million pounds of these materials.

For more information about ZeroLandfill, visit the ZeroLandfill website and Facebook page.

ZeroLandfill: Keeping art and craft materials out of the landfill

Want to stay in touch with the latest recycling news in the Cleveland area? Just click on the Follow button at the bottom of my blog Home page, or subscribe to my Examiner.com page.

August recycling event: ZeroLandfill summer harvest, August 15 and 22

Posted on August 7, 2014 by Lenore Collins

ZeroLandfill Cleveland’s 2014 summer harvests will take place on Friday, August 15 and Friday, August 22.

A warehouse filled with art and craft materials, free for the taking, just before school starts: what terrific timing!

ZeroLandfill pollinators stocking the warehouse for August harvest events (photo credit: ZeroLandfill Cleveland)

When: hours are 12 p.m.–3 p.m.
Where: Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District, 4750 East 131 Street, Garfield Heights (map and directions), side door.
What: art and craft materials donated by the local graphic design, interior design and architectural community.
Who: artists, educators, homeschoolers, community program administrators, craftworkers, artists, daycare providers, anyone who can use the materials offered. You don’t need to be a resident of Cuyahoga County, or even of Northeast Ohio.
How: Come to the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste Facility on either date, check in at the reception table, explore what’s available and take what you need. Be sure to bring boxes and bags to take your materials home.

ZeroLandfill asks you to note that:

Pollination and harvest hours are only during the hours and dates posted.
All questions should be directed to IIDA Cleveland/Akron City Center at clevak@gmail.com. Please do not contact the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste Facility with any questions.
All volunteer positions are currently filled. ZeroLandfill thanks you for your willingness to help but cannot accept any walk-ins.

For more information about ZeroLandfill, visit the ZeroLandfill website and Facebook page.

ZeroLandfill: Keeping art and craft materials out of the landfill

Want to stay in touch with the latest recycling news in the Cleveland area? Just click on the Follow button at the bottom of my blog Home page, or subscribe to my Examiner.com page.

A new way to recycle books: Little Free Libraries

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Lenore Collins

Keep your eyes open, and you’ll see Little Free Libraries sprouting up all over Northeast Ohio.

These book-houses (they look like birdhouses, although they’re a little larger) take books out of the bookstore and into the community. Anyone who wants a book can take one and keep it. Or return it. Or pass it on to the next reader. It’s that simple.

This Little Free Library was designed by Todd Bol in memory of his mother, Esther Bol, a school teacher and lover of books. Photo credit: Lisa Colon DeLay

The Little Free Library movement got started when Todd Bol, the son of a Wisconsin schoolteacher, built the first one — a model of a one-room schoolhouse — as a memorial to his mother, mounted it on his front lawn, and filled it with books. He shared his idea with a friend who had been helping to support village libraries in Sri Lanka. The idea went viral: you’ll find Little Free Libraries in all 50 states and at least 40 countries worldwide. (Read more about Todd Bol and the beginnings of Little Free Libraries here.)

Locally, a retired library director, Bob Cheshier, picked up on the idea and placed 14 Little Free Libraries near Cleveland schools. After Bob died earlier this year, the community continued his work. (For more of Bob’s story, check out Margaret Bernstein’s articles in the May 26 and May 30 Cleveland Plain Dealer.)

Mentor Public Library has placed Little Free Libraries in 12 locations in Mentor and Mentor-on-the-Lake (see articles in the News-Herald, Plain Dealer and Mentor Patch), and Cleveland Central Promise Neighborhood is placing ten of them around the Promise Neighborhood.

Want to donate a book? If there’s a Little Free Library in your neighborhood, just add it to the collection. Or check out the map on the Little Free Library website. The little boxes are turning up in more and more places as the movement continues to grow, locally and worldwide.

Little Free Libraries: one more way to keep books in the hands of readers and out of the landfill.

Want to stay in touch with the latest recycling news in the Cleveland area? Just click on the Follow button at the bottom of my blog Home page, or subscribe to my Examiner.com page.

Paper Shopping Bags Become Kitty Playhouses at the Humane Society

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Lenore Collins

This is a cat guarding his new house.

The forever-in-the-landfill plastic shopping bag has pretty much displaced the paper bags that carried our grandparents’ groceries home, but some stores still offer paper. So, of course, I have accumulated quite a few (use it up, wear it out …).

Our local humane society wants them! They open the bags and put them into the cat cages, where the kitties turn them into playhouses and hiding places.

Of course — anyone who has lived with a cat knows how that works!

(BTW: this post is tagged “free to a good home.” The bags are free, the cats are not.)

Free Driftwood at Fairport Harbor Lakefront Park

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Lenore Collins

During the Lake Metroparks spring cleanup of Fairport Harbor Lakefront Park, the public is welcome to collect and take home any of the driftwood that has washed ashore over the winter. (Be aware that Lake Metroparks prohibits vehicles and chainsaws on the beach.)

The park is located at 301 Huntington Beach Drive. (Click here for map.)

Keep the driftwood out of the landfill: Lake Metroparks gets it!

(Need some ideas for using driftwood? Try the creative website BetweenTheShores and eHow’s Ideas for Driftwood.)

Free CDs Saturday, February 11 at WKSU

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Lenore Collins

Radio station WKSU(FM 89.7) is making room in its music library. On Saturday, February 11, the member-supported NPR station is giving away the misfits from its CD collection.

Some of the CDs are just not WKSU’s kind of music, some are duplicates of songs already in their library, but all of them are looking for a new home. They’re free for the taking at the WKSU Broadcast Center at 1613 East Summit Street (corner of Summit and Loop) in Kent (map here). Doors open at 10:00 am and the event closes at 1:00 pm.

While there is no charge for the CDs, the nonprofit suggests a $5.00 donation to attend the event — how can you beat that for a bargain?

Keep It Out of the Landfill

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.

Category Archives: Free to a Good Home