A truck of e-waste that was kept out of our landfill, Earth Day 2017Silver City's annual Earth Day celebration will be on Saturday, April 21, from 10 am to 2 pm, at Gough Park. More than 30 organizations and businesses will showcase their mission, services, or green products. The event will feature live entertainment throughout the day in the gazebo, as well as food and kids' activities.

There is still time to register for a vendor space, go to www.gilaresources.info  o download the registration application, or contact Doyne Wrealli, GRIP Program Associate and coordinator of the event, at earthendoyne@gmail.com or 575-297-9734. Those wishing to volunteer for the event should also contact Doyne.

"We're really excited to have some first-time presenters and activities," said Wrealli. "I think there will be a lot of surprises, from animals and fun kids' activities to creating art pieces. We'd love to hear from anyone who would like to participate, either as vendors or volunteers."

This year's national Earth Day theme, End Plastic Pollution, focuses on the global plastic problem and ways to address it. Plastics litter our landscape, clog waterways, and pollute our oceans, and growing evidence shows how they contribute to health problems in humans and animals. By 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the world's oceans! In our area, plastic can kill wildlife when they become entangled or ingest it. This is a problem we can help solve by cleaning up plastic trash, drastically reducing the amount of plastic used, and recycling 100% of the rest.

"Plastic pollution is ubiquitous in our environment. Plastic is created from petroleum and accounts for 8% of the world's oil production. Only 9% of plastic is currently recycled, and the rest breaks down over time, becoming what's called microplastics, and releasing toxic chemicals into the environment. Studies are also finding microplastics and plastic fibers in tap water all over the world, and in approximately 90% of the name-brand single-use bottles of water that you purchase," said Wrealli. "Plastic pollution is already a global environmental crisis. It's critical that we learn how to end plastic pollution before it becomes a global health crisis."

The Town of Silver City's Recycling Advisory Committee will be offering free e-waste collection as part of the Earth Day celebration, as well as a large-scale document shredder, so documents containing private information can be quickly and securely readied for recycling. Both of these services will be set up in the parking lot just south of Gough Park, across 12th Street, and there will be volunteers directing people to drive through and drop off the materials.

The term "e-waste" is loosely applied to electronic equipment that is at the end of its useful life. Certain electronics contain materials that render them hazardous, depending on their condition and density. For instance, nonfunctioning CRTs (cathode ray tubes) from televisions and computer monitors are considered hazardous and should not be put in the landfill. Depleted rechargeable batteries should also be kept out of the landfill, and will be collected as e-waste. "Much of the e-waste we collect is actually recycled, and not just disposed of. Salvaging steel and many precious metals such as gold, silver, and copper, as well as plastics, is not only a benefit to our environment, but a benefit to our economy as well," said the Town of Silver City's Recycling Advisory Committee chairperson Dave Krisch.

Silver City's 2018 Earth Day Celebration is coordinated this year by the Gila Resources Information Project and sponsored by the Town of Silver City Recycling Advisory Committee, Lone Mountain Natives, Binary Circuits, and Freeport-McMoRan.

For more information, to volunteer, or to obtain a vendor registration form, go to www.gilaresources.info, or contact GRIP Program Associate Doyne Wrealli at earthendoyne@gmail.com or call 575-297-9734.