The QLC is partnering with the Save the Youth Academy, Hoboken Housing Authority, and Hoboken P.A.L to raise funds for back-to-school supplies for the children living in the Housing Authority. We’re also throwing a party on Saturday September 11th to kick-off the school year, educate the kids about the environment, and hand out the supplies.

We’ve been lining up donated supplies that are environmentally friendly, but are raising funds to buy additional supplies and to throw the party. The “price” of admission requires the children to participate in a series of fun and educational quizzes and games before entering the rest of the party. We’re educating the kids on why to use products that tread lightly on the environment.

We’re also teaching the kids about why they should recycle and why they shouldn’t litter. This project is an extension of an ongoing collaboration between the QLC and Save the Youth Academy to teach at-risk youth about why and how to protect the environment.

Please help out and click on the “Donate” button on our homepage and give what you can! It’s tax deductible. If you, your company, or organization want to do more, please click on “contact” and send us an email.

Recycling at this festival was a huge improvement over the attempt to recycle at the fall 2009 festival. At that event, all of the recyclables collected had too many contaminants to bring to the recycler. Sadly, it all went into the trash. Learning from these past mistakes, Jason Tecza (pictured) and JD Capuano came up with a new plan to get festival-goers to recycle and reached out for help to make it happen.

Our success is attributable to collaboration with the City of Hoboken – both Environmental Services and Cultural Affairs, help from Greener Corners, cooperation from the food vendors, and volunteers! The city was very excited about doing this and was a good partner in getting the special bins set up and in collecting the materials. Check out the administration’s excitement on the City’s website. Greener Corners is looking to bring recycling to the streets of Hoboken everyday and one of their co-founders, Aaron Klein, brought us special temporary recycling bins with clear bags just for the festival.

What really helped make this happen was volunteers wearing bright green shirts displaying “Hoboken Recycles” on the front walking around monitoring the recycling containers for contaminants. They adorned latex gloves and picked out plastics that aren’t yet recycled in Hoboken (with a 5 or 6 stamped on them) and any trash that mixed in. The volunteers also picked recyclables out of the garbage. Aaron helped with this effort. The volunteers were happy to see festival-goers largely putting items in the right receptacles – recycling vs. landfill waste.

One other ingredient added to the success. We would like to thank the food vendors who almost unanimously allowed us to tape signs instructing festival-goers to recycle on their booths.

Look for more great things we’re pushing to improve recycling in Hoboken!

Most municipalities don’t have programs in place to recycle CFLs on a regular basis. Hudson County sets up recycling days for CFLs twice in the spring and twice each fall. Visit the Hudson County Improvement Authority’s website for dates. If you don’t want to wait, Home Depot collects CFLs at every store. The store located closest to Hoboken is on Grove Street in Jersey City right by the entrance to the Holland Tunnel.

Computers, especially monitors, contain heavy metals and toxins that are dangerous if not disposed of properly. If you have an old computer that’s still in decent working order, why not donate it to the local Goodwill? You should wipe the hard drive to protect your personal information. For more information on how to protect your information, visit the Goodwill Industries International website.

Donate your old computer locally to Goodwill Industries in Jersey City on any day of the week from 10 AM until 7 PM at 2815 JFK Blvd.