Get rid of your stuff and support the Environment Committee, GRinCH and PAR-Recycle Works

Got an old cell phone or computer you need to recycle? Bring it — or anything else with a plug! — to our next e-recycling event, Saturday, March 25, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Norwood-Fontbonne Academy, 8891 Germantown Ave. Weavers Way Environment Committee and GRinCH (GReen in Chestnut Hill) are once again partnering, and as in the past, we request donations to help support WWEC’s grant program as well as GRinCH’s Green Warrior Student grants. What's new this time is that PAR-Recycle Works of Germantown will be our recycler. 

Located at 342 E. Walnut Lane, PAR-Recycle Works is a nonprofit that offers environmentally responsible recycling services while providing valuable workforce training to formerly incarcerated individuals. 

We first heard about PAR-Recycle Works through an article in the Chestnut Hill Local. Then, last December, Maurice Q. Jones, their operations manager, contacted us. We invited him to our January meeting, where he and George Limbach, the president of their board of directors, showed us a video about the company and explained how materials are recycled through their program. We then set up a site visit, and after meeting with some of the workers and board members, we decided to go with them for our March event. 

The reasons are several: 

• PAR-Recycle Works is a local company. They are, in fact, operating out of the building in East Germantown that used to be the Weavers Way warehouse—how’s that for serendipity! 
• Secondly, giving formerly incarcerated individuals a chance to work and obtain job training and experience provides a sorely needed service, as ex-offenders are often discriminated against and cannot find work. 
• Finally, PAR-Recycle Works is a nonprofit that doesn’t charge for its services. They rely upon the proceeds from selling scrap metals and other reusable materials along with grants and donations. We will be giving them a donation out of the proceeds from our March event. 

To learn more about the environmental and social mission of PAR-Recycle Works, visit their website at www.par-recycleworks.org.