Green4Good

Did you know the Village of River Forest has a curbside composting program?

The program is offered on a voluntary, subscription basis. The subscription price varies based on cart size (3 size options!), and the program auto-renews until cancelled. Residents who sign up will receive a cart, along with an under-sink collection bucket. See the table below for cart sizes and pricing.

Residents who sign-up before the 20th of the month will receive their compost container before the end of the month. Compost collection will begin the following month

Did you know that with your base service of the village refuse program, you can set out an unlimited amount of recyclables each week?

So don’t be afraid to recycle all the things!

Did you know that ComEd customers have opportunities to reduce energy usage with a FREE energy assessment that includes free & discounted products for your home (including, LED light bulbs, smart energy power strips, water saving shower heads & faucet aerators, and programmable thermostats)? This program has been vetted by one of our G4G members and she can vouch for the energy savings. Sign up here to schedule a free assessment or call 855-433-2700.

In addition, take a look at the various rebates you can get for buying energy efficient versions of appliances (even power strips and air purifiers!) you are already buying!

Finally, don’t forget to check out the

opportunities to incorporate solar energy for your home.

Did you know that groups like the Freecycle Network and Trash Nothing, are just some of the many ways to pass along items you no longer need and help keep them out of our overflowing landfills?

• Did you know that an estimated 14 billion pounds of trash- most of it plastic- is dumped in the world’s oceans every year? Work from the Algalita Foundation indicates there is six times more plastic than phytoplankton per weight and fifty times more plastic than zooplankton. The best thing we can do to start addressing this problem is reduce our consumption of plastic, especially plastic water bottles, plastic bags and single use plastic containers. Let’s all do our part for our kids’ future!

• Did you know recycling 1 ton of paper saves 7,000 gallons of water, 3 cubic yards of landfill space and 4,100 kilowatt-hours of electricity? Consider reusing containers and reducing waste. The average child’s school lunch generates 67 pounds of waste over a year. Let’s pack them waste-free lunches in reusable containers with minimal packaging.

• Did you know using cold water can save up to 80% of the energy required to wash clothes? Washing your clothes in cold or warm instead of hot water can save as much as 500 pounds of carbon dioxide per year. The average washing machine uses about 41 gallons of water per load, whereas newer, high-efficiency models use less than 28 gallons of water per load.