The Initiative is the largest Great Lakes-only investment in restoring and protecting the ecosystem in U.S. history. Recently, the Great Lakes Interagency Task Force chaired by U.S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy sent its progress report covering the first five years of the program to Congress and President Obama. Not all such reports inspire you to stand up and cheer, but this one should.

When President Obama proposed the Initiative and a bi-partisan Congress stepped up to fund it, the reason was clear. After more than a century of abuse, the integrity of the ecosystem that comprises some 95 percent of the nation’s fresh surface water—the supply for tens of millions of Americans—was unravelling fast. Decades of projects needed to bring back the health of the ecosystem and fulfill our international obligations with Canada had remained unfunded.

The Initiative changed all that. In the 25 years before the Initiative, only one of the then 31 Areas of Concern—waterfront communities with ecological or health impairments—had been taken off the cleanup list. In the first five years of the Initiative, the Presque Isle Area of Concern (AOC) in Pennsylvania has been taken off the list and cleanup has been completed in five more for ultimate delisting. Waukegan Harbor, once called the “world’s worst Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB) mess,” is now a case study in persistent restoration action prevailing over persistent toxic pollution. In other AOCs, people who once thought cleanup would never be completed are now finding hope that it will be completed, and in their lifetime.

Asian carp. Asian carp, which can eat many times their body weight in plankton—one base of the food chain—could further undermine the Great Lakes ecosystem if they ever get in and become established. Within months after my appointment in the summer of 2009, a newer monitoring technique called “environmental DNA” was turning up genetic material from two kinds of Asian carp—silver and bighead—further upstream toward Lake Michigan than previously expected. We used the Initiative, whose first funding came through only months before, to provide emergency funding to plug holes in the permeable Chicago Area Waterway System. That, and tenacious work by representatives from agencies in the United States and Canada, has meant that in the past five years, these equally tenacious fish have not made it to Lake Michigan to become established.

With the shutdown of the Toledo metro area’s water supply from toxic cyanobacteria having taken place a year ago, the thick, almost florescent green growth is a reminder along too many coastlines that phosphorus doesn’t just fertilize crops on land. Too much of it washing downstream fertilizes dangerous algal growth in the water. Under the first five years of the Initiative, the amount of farmland acreage under conservation program management in three priority watersheds—the Maumee and Western Lake Erie Basin, Saginaw Bay and Green Bay watersheds—has increased by more than two thirds from previous levels.

That’s the official report. Check it out at http://glri.us.

But if you want to know some of the unofficial successes under the first five years of the Initiative, check out the next post for Part 2.

About the author: Carolina Diaz de Villegas is a recent graduate of the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida International University, where she, Kiara Rodriguez, and Michelle Bravo have been providing technical assistance to the Town of Medley as part of projects developed under EPA’s College/Underserved Community Partnership Program.

As many of you may already know, the Everglades — home to countless native plant and animal species — is not only one of Florida’s greatest treasures, but also the largest remaining subtropical wilderness in the United States. Unfortunately, the Everglades ecosystem faces constant threats from urban and agricultural expansion.

In an effort to shift to a more sustainable way of life, efforts are underway to counteract decades of human driven land use by reforesting the small town of Medley, Florida – one tree at a time.

Medley is home to about 1,100 residents in northwest Miami-Dade County. For nearly 85% of the residents, Spanish is their first language. Residents have to drive several miles to get to the closest grocery store. Medley also is home to approximately 1,800 businesses, bringing the weekday population to nearly 60,000. More than 80% of the city is covered in impervious paving due to this industrial activity. As a result, this largely industrial town has become a food desert with heavy air pollution. An urban food desert typically has plenty of convenience stores, liquor stores, and fast food joints, but little or no access to healthy foods like fruits and vegetables.

With the support of Medley Town Mayor Roberto Martell and EPA’s College/Underserved Community Partnership Program (CUPP) , my fellow Florida International University students and I are working with local residents to address these issues.

We began by planting native trees at Medley’s Lakeside Retirement Park. We also planted a variety of native flowers and shrubs near the entrance to attract not only passersby but also pollinators. The change is so dramatic that students have informally dubbed the area the “Medley Botanical Garden.”

Click on picture to watch video

Since education is the key to progress, we worked to help local community members better understand the importance of trees and living a sustainable lifestyle in their urban landscape. My colleague Kiara Rodriguez and I talked about the importance of these principles to kids in the local afterschool care program. We taught them about carbon sequestration, the importance of recycling, and even climate change — a term most had never heard before! We also visited the Community Center during its Saturday food distribution and spoke with the elders about these topics.

This summer, supported by grants from our university, we planted more trees and created two “All-in-One” food gardens. Because much of the land surface around the Medley Lake retirement center is covered by paving and other impervious surfaces, we created an aboveground garden that uses harvested rainwater. We planted several summer crops and are working with the community center to supplement the garden soil with food waste from the cafeteria. The project has many benefits – it produces fresh food for a community in the middle of a food desert, it uses a water-efficient method for watering, and it will reduce food waste by generating compost to supplement the garden.

Here we are standing proudly next to some of our newly planted trees, along with our professor Dr. Tiffany Troxler.

My fellow student Michelle Bravo led other volunteers who built a pergola that is a central feature of the developing Medley Botanical Garden. Ms. Bravo is conducting research that showed that a botanical garden could both improve the health of elderly residents and increase carbon sequestration with the new trees planted. In a continued commitment to Medley, other Florida International University students will be working with the town to develop an economic development plan.

By increasing the amount of green mass available for carbon sequestration, we are helping Medley in the ongoing battle against climate change on a local scale, while also increasing awareness about these issues in future generations.

Over the last 35 years, we’ve heard from states and the regulated community that our hazardous waste generator regulations, which were designed for manufacturing, don’t fit all sectors and especially not the healthcare sector. We’ve listened and these two proposals make a number of updates and improvements to the existing regulations. We have proposed over 60 changes to the regulations to improve the effectiveness of and compliance with the hazardous waste generator program. This includes rearranging some of the generator regulations that had outgrown their original numbering system so it will be easier for facilities of all sizes that generate hazardous waste to find everything they need to know in one place.

The second rule will make it easier for healthcare providers to comply with hazardous waste rules while protecting the nation’s water. We’re proposing to remove the traditional manufacturing-based hazardous waste generator requirements and instead provide a new set of regulations designed to be workable in a healthcare setting while ensuring safe management and disposal of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals. The primary focus for nurses, doctors and pharmacists is providing healthcare – they are not experts in hazardous waste identification and management. This rule seeks to reduce the burden and increase compliance by proposing a more flexible, common sense approach for healthcare providers and the elimination of unnecessary management practices.

Pharmaceuticals entering the environment, through flushing or other means, are having a negative effect on aquatic ecosystems and on fish and animal populations. Our proposal is keeping pace with today’s environmental issues by banning the sewering, or flushing down the toilet or sink, of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals from healthcare facilities. It is projected to prevent the flushing of more than 6,400 tons of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals annually making our drinking water safer.

In order to keep our world safe and healthy, regulations should not only effectively manage sources of environmental harm, but also be flexible and clear enough for newcomers to understand. The updates and tailoring of the hazardous waste generator regulations by these two proposed rules increases compliance, which then increases environmental benefit. The new rules respond to the needs of both the environment and businesses, benefitting both sides.

Our proposals will be available for public comment online in the coming weeks once they are published in the Federal Register. We’d love to hear your thoughts. To review these proposed rules now, visit: www2.epa.gov/hwgenerators.

Ocean samples collected on board the Mystic found plastic throughout the 3,000 mile journey.

My love of recycling, or better said, my hatred of trash led me to a research expedition through the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre, a portion of the Atlantic Ocean that traps man-made debris.

My interest in recycling really began in the 7^th grade, when I realized how the newspaper my father read stacked up on the porch until I could carry it to my parochial grade school for recycling. Yes, those were the days when we learned about current events by reading the paper, not our tablets. And those were the days prior to curbside recycling in major cities. I knew there had to be a better way, and I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up: protect the environment. I guess you could say, I’m living my dream.

The 5 Gyres Institute sails around the world collecting samples and conducting analysis of plastic pollution in our oceans. My experience began with a flight to Bermuda where I boarded a 172 foot, three-masted schooner named the Mystic. The boat had already sailed from Miami to the Bahamas, and our final destination was back to New York City! I was in the middle of paradise, along with other “Zero Wasters,” researchers and dedicated environmentalists, collecting samples of plastic pollution and figuring out how to prevent them from getting into the water in the first place.

The research included sampling the sea surface for the 3,000 mile journey. Micro-plastics, which are smaller than a grain of rice, were found in each sample. In the middle of paradise, in the middle of the ocean, and in the middle of the New York City harbor, we were consistently finding plastics. What is often described as an “island of trash,” is more of a “plastic smog.” The sun and waves shred larger pieces of plastics into micro-plastics, which can be a variety of colors and sizes. Fish can’t distinguish between a 3mm piece of plankton and a 3mm piece of plastic. We caught a fish and dissected it, finding plastics in its stomach. This is a human health concern, as plastics can transfer toxins into fish and up the food chain.

A water sample taken this summer in the NYC Harbor contains a wide variety of plastic pollution.

As we sailed to New York City, the samples of plastics we collected were bigger and more easily identifiable than what we found in the open ocean. This makes sense, as 80 percent of the plastics in our oceans are land-based, and it takes time to break down into micro-plastics. The samples also stunk of sewage!

Our use of plastics affects our waterways, the fish we eat and the general health of our oceans. Researchers have found that experiences, rather than material consumption, make people happy. So rather than buying the next new gadget, spend time doing something interesting, with someone you love. Your wallet and our oceans will be happier, too.

We can all help prevent waste by buying less and reusing what we have. If you live in New York City, recycle with the blue and green bins. Compost with the brown bin, or bring food scraps to Green Markets all around the city, year-round.

Happy birthday Research Recap! This weekly blog series turned 1 today—celebrate by reading below for the latest in EPA science.

• Air Sensor Toolbox for Citizen Scientists
  Small, hand-held air quality sensors are now commercially available and provide citizens the ability to plan, conduct, and understand local environmental air quality as never before. EPA released training videos to share tools used to conduct projects involving this technology and to educate interested groups and individuals about best practices for successful air monitoring projects.Read more about the training in the blog Release of Community Air Monitoring Training Videos.
  
  
• Virtual Beach software making an impact
  Virtual Beach is a software suite that uses location, hydrology, land use, wave height, and weather data to create models that predict waterborne pathogen outbreaks at beaches.  Using this software, beach managers should be able to issue same-day beach closures or health advisories to protect the health of swimmers and the surrounding community.  On August 24, a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources researcher reported that Virtual Beach recently correctly predicted an outbreak at a city beach. It helped the city issue a timely advisory, and avoid unnecessary advisories.Read the full story in the article ‘Virtual Beach’ for real-water safe fun.

Photo of the Week

Dive tenders Lisa Macchio and Tim Siwiec take solid phase microextraction devices from EPA diver Brent Richmond at the Pacific Sound Resources Superfund site. EPA divers placed and retrieved these devices which absorb site contaminants over a period of time to determine if the cleanup is working.

If you have any comments or questions about what I share or about the week’s events, please submit them below in the comments section!

About the Author: Kacey Fitzpatrick is a student contractor and writer working with the science communication team in EPA’s Office of Research and Development.

Just as the President predicted, in the weeks since the announcement, we’re seeing the usual cast of special interest critics roll out the usual tired, worn out, and frankly, false arguments. Put simply, the Clean Power Plan will not impact affordable, reliable power. It will protect vulnerable communities. And it will save consumers money.

This week marks the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina—a powerful reminder that low-income and minority communities are the most vulnerable to climate-related impacts like stronger storms, floods, fires, and droughts, and the least able to rebuild after a disaster. And the carbon pollution driving climate change comes packaged with other dangerous soot- and smog-forming pollutants that can lead to lung and heart disease. Low-income and minority Americans are more likely to live in the shadow of polluting industries like power plants, and more likely to be exposed to higher levels of pollution.

When we cut carbon pollution, we also reduce other dangerous pollutants and protect public health. Under the Clean Power Plan, in 2030 alone, the U.S. will avoid up to 90,000 asthma attacks in children and 300,000 missed days of school and work due to respiratory symptoms—saving families the costs of medical treatment and hospital visits.

Martin Luther King III, son of the civil rights icon Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., recently said “The poor and disenfranchised—too often those in communities of color—still disproportionately bear society’s harms through no fault of their own. That truth has compelled the fight for social justice across the spectrum: labor rights, women’s rights—and yes—environmental rights. Because no matter who we are or where we come from, we’re all entitled to the basic human rights of clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and healthy land to call home. Make no mistake, the injustice of climate change and the pollution that fuels it are among this century’s most debilitating engines of inequality.”

Through its Clean Power Plan, EPA is striving to protect low-income and minority Americans. We received more than 4.3 million public comments on our draft rule, and hosted hundreds of meetings with stakeholders, including vulnerable communities. We heard loud and clear that we needed to make sure our rule didn’t disproportionately impact low-income Americans—and we worked with the Department of Energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to ensure that’s the case.

By 2030, the average family will save $85 a year on electricity, thanks to increased energy efficiency measures. In the interim, any small, short-term increase in electricity bills would be well within normal price fluctuations—roughly the cost of a gallon of milk per month. For each dollar spent on the Clean Power Plan, families will see 4 dollars in health benefits alone. And in all, we’ll see $45 billion a year in net benefits thanks to EPA’s plan.

Climate action is an incredible economic opportunity, and to make sure its benefits extend to every community, we’re creating a Clean Energy Incentive Program that will help states transition to clean energy faster. It’s a voluntary matching fund program states can use to encourage early investment in wind or solar power projects, as well as energy efficiency projects in low-income communities.

EPA is also requiring states to demonstrate how they are engaging with communities as they craft customized state plans to meet their carbon pollution reduction goals.

The real threat to affordable, reliable electricity is climate change. More extreme heat and cold cause utility bills to skyrocket, which hurts low-income families the most. And storms, floods, fires, and drought can knock out the power for days or weeks, threatening public health.  That’s why we need to act.

The cynics’ claims are nothing new. We heard the same tired arguments back in the 1990s, when some critics opposed EPA’s limits on acid rain-causing pollution from power plants. They warned electricity bills would go up, and the lights would go off. But they were wrong. Instead of the economic doomsday some predicted, we slashed acid rain by 60 percent—while prices stayed stable, and the lights stayed on. EPA has been limiting harmful pollution from power plants for 45 years, and we have a proven track record of keeping energy affordable and reliable.

We still have work to do to protect vulnerable communities from pollution, but EPA’s Clean Power Plan is a historic step in the right direction. In his announcement, President Obama spoke about our moral obligation to vulnerable communities, to our children, and to future generations to act on climate. The Clean Power Plan will help build a safer, brighter future for all Americans.

Main street in Cazenovia, NY – a Madison County community

Rural communities are all around us. Covering the vast majority of the national landscape, small towns, villages, rangeland tribal areas, working forests, and farmlands are integral to the American economy, and home to nearly twenty per cent of the U.S. population. These communities are all different, with unique assets and unique opportunities. However, many rural communities across the country face similar challenges—aging populations, lack of quality affordable housing, economic decline, childhood poverty, and depletion of treasured natural landscapes. The reality is that many rural communities have limited resources and planning capacity to help manage tough growth and development decisions. A new tool from EPA – the Smart Growth Self-Assessment for Rural Communities – responds to these challenges and can help.

Steamboat Springs, CO is interested in incentivizing more green building

Around the country, rural communities are turning to smart growth solutions to address common growth and development issues. But smart growth solutions are not one size fits all—what works for an urban, or even suburban community, may not be right for a more rural area. Working with a rural partner in central New York State—Madison County—EPA created the Self-Assessment to help bridge that gap and create tangible smart growth policy options for rural places. This easy-to-use tool supports the White House Rural Council’s “Rural Impact” effort, a coordinated approach across federal agencies to improve quality of life and upward mobility for kids and families in rural and tribal communities. It helps communities take a holistic look at eleven topics, ranging from revitalizing villages and town centers to supporting agriculture to providing housing and transportation choices and to improving health and active living, and then identify gaps that may be impeding their ability to reach long- and short-term goals. However, the self-assessment doesn’t just identify shortcomings; it provides practical steps and policy alternatives as well as helpful case study examples from across the country.

Underutilized property in Osceola, AR

Road tested in communities from Maine to Arkansas to Colorado, this self-assessment has already helped rural areas find new opportunities to spur economic development, improve quality of life for residents and protect the natural environment. In Damariscotta, Maine, a community with significant seasonal tourism, the self-assessment helped community members identify a key underutilized strength—local non-profits and non-profit collaborations—that could help them better capitalize on downtown economic development for the benefit of year-around residents. In Osceola, Arkansas, the self-assessment revealed how re-writing local land use plans could be an effective strategy to remove blight and underutilized properties by helping prioritize areas for infill development. And in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, the self-assessment helped local officials create a plan to further incentivize green building as a way to support local sustainability goals; this strategy was also seen as a way to lower housing prices by decreasing energy costs and other monthly expenses for renters, and helping builders reduce costs through tax credits and other programs.

Local leaders gather for a self-assessment in Damariscotta, ME

In each of these places, EPA’s Smart Growth Self-Assessment for Rural Communities helped identify gaps, offer policy options and guide community leaders down a path that can help them realize their own unique goals and vision for the future. To access this new tool and start assessing conditions and opportunities in your rural community, go to https://www.epa.gov/smart-growth/smart-growth-self-assessment-rural-communities.

Rain barrel water is great for backyard gardens and saves money, too!

A few months back, I blogged about installing my first rain barrels. With the hot summer nearly in the rear-view mirror, I can report that rain barrels work…and they save money, too!

How do I know that the rain barrels work? Well, the proof is in the peppers. And pansies. And all of the other plants that not just survived, but thrived, on the rain water collected in the barrels. By this point of the summer, I usually have garden beds full of crunchy, brown plants. The rain water has kept my flowers blooming and vegetables growing happily for over 3 months.

I saved some money, too! I water my vegetable garden and flowers about 4 times a week, using about 4 watering cans of rain water each time.  At 2 gallons per can, I avoided using nearly 450 gallons of tap water for my watering needs – enough to fill almost 10 bathtubs. And at about 9 cents per gallon for tap water, that’s a savings of around $40!  

I’ll keep using my rain barrels throughout the fall, to water fall plantings. In the winter, I’ll drain the barrels to avoid any damage. Then next spring, I’ll grab some compost, hook up my rain barrels, and get my garden growing!

For more on sustainable lawn and garden care year-round, check out these tips.

About the author: Dr. Jennie Saxe joined EPA’s Mid-Atlantic Region in 2003 and works in the Water Protection Division on sustainability programs.

Community leaders and EPA presenters

By Amanda Kaufman

I have seen a fast expansion of next generation air pollution sensor technologies while working in the field of citizen science for the past three years. Small, hand-held air quality sensors are now commercially available and provide citizens the ability to plan, conduct, and understand local environmental air quality as never before. Many of these cost less than $1,000, making them more accessible for community groups and even individuals to purchase.

While the new sensor technologies generally do not provide regulatory-grade data, such devices are rapidly advancing to improve data quality and can be used to enhance monitoring efforts. They can be used in a wide range of situations including to investigate air quality concerns in local communities and to teach people about the importance of clean air to public health and the environment.

EPA’s Kristen Benedict talks about sensor messaging

With the rapid growth of sensor technologies, there is a great demand for information on how to select the appropriate monitoring technology and use it to gather viable information. That is why I am pleased to announce the availability of six air monitoring training videos, developed to help citizen scientists conduct air quality monitoring projects. The videos feature presentations by EPA experts and a citizen science professional given at EPA’s Community Air Monitoring Training workshop on July 9, 2015.

EPA hosted the training workshop as a pilot venture to share tools used to conduct citizen science projects involving Next Generation Air Monitoring (NGAM) technology and to educate interested groups and individuals about best practices for successful air monitoring projects.

The videos are part of the Air Sensor Toolbox for Citizen Scientists and are intended to serve as resources for anyone interested in learning more about monitoring air quality. They provide short overviews (between 15-18 minutes in length) on topics that can help citizens plan and implement a successful air monitoring project. The topics and presenters are:

• Air Quality Monitoring and Sensor Technologies by Ron Williams, Project Lead for EPA’s Office of Research and Development emerging technology research area.
• How to Start a Citizen Science Program by Liz Barry, Co-founder and Director of Community Development at the Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science.
• Citizen Science Study Design by Rachelle Duvall, Research Physical Scientist in EPA’s Office of Research and Development.
• Data Measurement, Management, Quality, Uncertainty by Bob Judge, Air Monitoring Team Leader in EPA’s Region 1 Office in Boston.
• Quality Assurance by Ron Williams, Project Lead for EPA’s Office of Research and Development emerging technology research area.
• Short Term Measurements and Air Quality Messaging/ Regulatory Requirements for Data by Kristen Benedict, Atmospheric Scientist in EPA’s Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards.

I was delighted to see the enthusiasm of the workshop attendees for the training and their desire to apply it to their local situation. It was contagious. Many who attended indicated they would go home and share key aspects of the training with their community groups to develop their own citizen science research plans.

With the availability of the training videos, more people will have access to the information provided on emerging technologies and community air monitoring. I see a bright future for citizen scientists as they become more aware of their local environment.

About the Author: Amanda Kaufman is an ORISE participant hosted by EPA’s National Exposure Research Laboratory.

Make sure tires on playgrounds have drainage holes to prevent rainwater from accumulating and causing a mosquito breeding problem.

I have a vivid memory of visiting a childcare center on Staten Island, NY. When I approached a corner of the backyard, a swarm of mosquitoes must have sensed me and dive-bombed onto every exposed part of my body. I was bitten repeatedly from my head down to my shoes. When I peered over the fence into the neighboring yard, I saw thousands of mosquitoes congregating around a pile of discarded tires.

Although many scrap tires are brought to state approved disposal sites, many also wind up in illegal dump sites. Untold more are thrown along roadways or stored in yards. Tire stockpiles present a threat to human health and the environment for several reasons.

Why are improperly stored tires hazardous to your health?

Each tire in a yard, if improperly stored, can become a breeding ground for thousands of mosquitoes which can carry life-threatening diseases such as dengue fever, West Nile virus and various forms of encephalitis.

The design of tires provides an ideal nursery for mosquito larvae. Tires fill with water after a rainstorm and retain the water as some of the inside areas of the tires are shaded continuously, preventing evaporation of the trapped water. Tires are somewhat insulated and retain heat for long periods of time that speeds up mosquito egg hatching and larval growth. They also collect leaf litter and debris that provides nutrition for the larvae.

Despite over 30 years of efforts to address scrap tires, stockpiles continue to be a problem across the U.S. According to the Rubber Manufacturers Association, over 290 million more tires are scrapped every year, and over 653 million tons of these are land-disposed. Tires in dumps are difficult to clean up due to the sheer numbers and because trees grow through them and trash, leaves, garbage, and water collect in them.

Tires on playgrounds as part of climbing or swinging structures are another potential breeding site. Ensure that the tires, and other children’s outdoor play structures have drainage holes and that the holes are kept unblocked by debris, such as leaves, to maintain water flow.

Mosquito Control: The most effective mosquito control is to keep tires dry. Pesticides applied to tire piles to control larval or adult mosquitoes may not be fully effective. Shredding tires, or otherwise rendering them incapable of holding water, is usually more effective than pesticides. If you must keep tires, store them indoors or stack and cover them with a tarp to prevent them from collecting water. Drill holes in tires in play equipment or other tire sculptures to allow water drainage and prevent future water accumulation. Keep vegetation and grasses around tires short, reducing resting sites for adult mosquitoes.

Tire Recycling:  Over 1.3 million pounds of tires are recycled each year by chopping them into high grade rubber nuggets. Some are reincorporated in the manufacture of new tires while others are converted into a urethane binder to make sidewalks, playground surfaces, and basketball courts. Roads in some areas are resurfaced using tire chips for backfill and insulation, giving asphalt both springiness and longer life. In New Hampshire, Timberland is putting tires back on the road in boots and shoes with soles made of recycled rubber. And as of 2009, 40% of scrap tires are used in energy generation due to their high BTU content.

When Buying New Tires, Recycle Your Old Tires: Businesses that sell or install tires must take back tires of approximately the same size that they sell. The fee for the collection of old tires is included in the cost of new tires.

In New York City, the Department of Sanitation will accept up to four tires from passenger cars at any of its garages or at one of the department’s household special waste drop-off sites. For more information go to New York City Department of Sanitation’s website or dial 3-1-1.  There are similar programs across the country; contact your local Department of Public Works for drop sites.

About the Author: About the Author: Marcia is with EPA’s Center of Expertise for School IPM in Dallas, Texas. She holds a PhD in Environmental Management from Montclair State University along with degrees in Biology, Environmental Design, Landscape Architecture, and Instruction and Curriculum. Marcia was formerly with the EPA Region 2 Pesticides Program and has been a professor of Earth and Environmental Studies, Geology, and Oceanography at several universities.