We ask that you:

1. Wash all your SUP so that it’s oil- and food-free.

2. Deliver your clean SUP in brown paper bags or cardboard boxes. Plastic bags are not recycled at Michael Brothers. (Recycle plastic bags at Giant Eagle stores.)

3. Deliver them during office hours the previous week if you can’t bring them on that Sunday.

4. Leave your bags and boxes in the hallway near the parking lot door to make it easy for our volunteers to collect.

· Numbered Single-Use Plastic (SUP), numbers 1 to 7, which means only plastic that has a number within the chasing arrows recycle symbol. No unnumbered and unknown SUP is acceptable. Please note that you no longer need to separate plastics; numbers 1 to 7 can be together in 1 container.

· Plastic bottle caps and lids are accepted.

· Metal foil, metal lids, disposable pie tins are accepted; these need to be placed in a separate bag from the plastics. Please put metal cans in curbside recycling.

REMEMBER: Don’t bring items that can be recycled through the city’s recycling program such as milk or detergent jugs.

THANK YOU FOR TAKING PART IN OUR SINGLE-USE PLASTIC COLLECTION PROJECT!

• Sixth’s members regularly sign petitions, address legislators, and participate in Earth Day and other green advocacy activities aimed at improving the region’s air, passing environmental legislation, combating fracking, and advancing a host of other green-oriented activities

• Members have been active in issues surrounding the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, such as promotion of publicly owned water and green infrastructure for our water system

• Some members of Sixth’s congregation and community have participated with No Plastics Please and the What’s SUP campaign, initiatives that target single-use plastic reduction

• Sixth Church congregants have attended the Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light conference, which brings interfaith-based action and thinking to a variety of earth-care issues

• Sixth has served as an active collection point for hard-to-recycle items like electronic waste, snack bag wrappers, CFL bulbs, bottle caps, and batteries. We have collected and recycled hundreds of pounds of e-waste. (Due to a change in where items can be recycled, the church will no longer be collecting most items. Please see the link below for outside resources.)

• We have replaced two dozen ceiling fixtures all over the church to now use LED bulbs

• We have reduced use of paper and plastic products during our after-church fellowship hour

• We also replaced an old, leaky gas burner in our hot water system with a more energy-efficient unit and switched our electricity supplier to a green-energy provider

• Our Sunday school students and youth volunteer each year for our annual neighborhood clean-up which takes place on or around Earth Day

• Sixth Church regularly hosts speakers from environmental programs, organizations, and advocacy initiatives. We’ve hosted leading environmental activists and representatives from green building and green burials groups, for example.

• We’ve chosen a Sunday School curriculum for elementary and middle school students which includes environmentally friendly suggestions and learning activities

• We use donated recycled materials for crafts and activities, recycle classroom supplies as we are able, and teach children ways to reuse items and reduce waste

• Our worship services regularly include and touch on themes of environmental justice and green advocacy

Resources for Hard-to-Recycle Items!