EPA's Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge

Mar 4: U.S. EPA Region 5 Administrator and Great Lakes National Program Manager, Mary Gade, has issued a call to join in the Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge. EPA is striving to mobilize hundreds of thousands of citizens in the Great Lakes basin to connect with their environment this April by helping address the environmental impact of electronic wastes and unwanted medicines. The Challenge is meant to galvanize public participation in collection events for those wastes so that one million pounds of electronic waste can be recycled and one million pills of unwanted medicines can be disposed of responsibly.

Gade said, "I am asking you to become a partner with us in spreading the news about planned collection events during Earth Week and in creating new ones. We need your help both in identifying events to be a part of the Challenge and in getting the word out to the public about these events. If your organization wishes to partner with us, please fill out the web-based partners form you can find at our Earth Day Challenge Website . . . Our partner, Earth 911, is developing an online clearinghouse that will list collection events in the basin to be held April 19-27, 2008, to show people where they can participate near their homes. If your organization is planning a collection event, we invite you to list it by filling out the registration form that can be accessed from the Challenge Web Site.

"In addition, if your organization does not have a collection event planned, but would like to do so, we can provide technical assistance and information to help you set up your event. There will also be an opportunity for Challenge partners to share the results of these collection events to gauge whether the Challenge goal as a whole has been met."

Access the Earth Day Challenge Website for complete details (click here).