On Earth Day, Saturday, April 22, the grounds of the High Plains Community Center, and Orange Fairgrounds were a flurry of activity for several hours.
In the morning and early afternoon, residents gathered for Shredding Day, Mattress Collection, Haz Waste Collection, The Orange Community Women’s household goods collection, and prescription drug takeback activities.
Paper Shredding
As always, cars started lining up for the shredding event well before the official start time of 9 a.m. and continued until the very last minute. By 11 a.m., the truck’s sides were bulging with the shredded materials, and boxes filled with paper were stacked in the driveway.
A large van was brought in to handle the excess, and that vehicle too, was then filled to capacity and its contents securely shredded.
Mattress Collection
Orange Recycling Committee Chairman Mitch Goldblatt, who rolled up his sleeves at the event along with more than a dozen others, said the mattress collection only had five pick-up requests at the start of the day, but by the time the truck rolled away after noon, 27 mattresses filled the vehicle.
Haz Waste Collection
Residents loved the idea of dropping off their unwanted hazardous materials locally instead of having to haul them up to New Haven and the steady stream of cars to the lower fairgrounds was proof of that.
To those who walk the tracks and grounds daily, the unusual activity below was much like a scene from an epic disaster film. workers clad head to toe in white hazmat suits surrounded by metal barrels, tarp-covered metal containers, and boxes, and who knows what lies within.
One or two passersby who dared take a breath said the stench was nauseating, yet, the workers in the mix were not wearing ventilators or masks.
Community Women
The Orange Community Women seemed to have had a successful day as well. As usual, several members’ SUVs, and a trailer were loaded to the hilt with boxes of donated items and brought to a site (possibly Savers in Orange again).
The money they made from the donations will go out to the community in the form of scholarships and other charitable giving.
Prescription Drug Take-Back Day
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. about 20 individuals, including Orange Police, pharmacists, pharmacy students, and Orange CERT members gathered near the front entrance of the High Plains Community Center to participate in the DEA National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.
Throughout the five-hour period residents drove up and handed over bags of unused prescription and over-the-counter medications to the authorized helpers who dropped them into the large boxes that were set up “no questions asked.”
At the end of the collection period, a DEA officer took the collection containers to a site where all of the materials were incinerated.
If you missed the event, don’t worry, the Orange Police Department has a permanent drop box in the Headquarters lobby where you are welcome to dispose of these items 24/7. The old medications will be properly disposed of, and won’t fall into the hands of anyone who shouldn’t have them.
Girl Scout Cookies
In addition to all of the above Earth Day collection events, two small tables were strategically placed near the paper shredding site, both with energetic young ladies who were selling girl scout cookies.
To their credit, the parents (scout leaders) gave the Daisy scouts the space they needed to describe the newest cookies and handle the money — only stepping in if the first graders were stuck on how much change they owed during a “tricky” transaction.
Clean Up
In the end, the day was a wonderful success. Everyone involved cleaned up so well, that the areas were left better than when they got there. Mother Nature thanks you for that.
Anyone walking along the grounds anywhere in front of High Plains or the upper fairgrounds would never have known that anything had ever happened there earlier in the day.