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If ever there was a town on Long Island to jump on the environmental bandwagon of late, Huntington is it. The town, widely recognized as the most culturally robust area on Long Island, is also hoping to gain the same recognition for its efforts to encourage green living. Some recent initiatives are token gestures to environmentalism, while others have more meat to them.
Let’s start with the town’s recent Family Earth Day Expo. On April 12, Huntington hosted a number of family-friendly events aimed at sparking interest among residents to recycle. The Expo started with the annual “Plug-in to E-Cycling Day,” giving residents the opportunity to dispose of obsolete “e-waste” items such as cell phones, pagers, radios, stereos, computers, laptops, fax machines, and televisions.
For the first time, the event also had a “Green Showcase,” sponsored by Commerce Bank and the Solar Center, which featured multiple hands-on demonstrations on residential solar energy, green cleaning, composting, organic gardening, and how to make your own biofuel. Children were also taught how to make a small pot out of recycled newspaper, and plant an organic vegetable, seed, or flower. The last part of the day included the annual “Touch A Truck” event, during which residents learned about the different trucks on display—including a fire truck, a rescue vehicle, a dump truck, a street cleaner, an electric lawn mower, a biofuel motorcycle, and a garbage truck.
Along the lines of green living, Councilman Mark Cuthbertson passed a resolution at the April 8 town board meeting declaring April 12 to be Huntington’s Plastic Bag Recycling Day. It was a means to kick off a town initiative in which residents can recycle plastic bags with the town. The effort is said to be the first by a Long Island township. Also, at the April Expo, Wild By Nature provided the first 500 families who bring a minimum of ten plastic grocery bags for recycling a free reusable grocery bag.
Separately, in March Huntington approved a bike-sharing program for town workers. The program is aimed at encouraging exercise during lunch breaks, reducing traffic in Huntington Village, and building awareness about eco-friendly transportation. The bike share program, which starts in May to coincide with “National Bike Month,” provides two bicycles equipped with fenders, chain guards, and rear luggage racks. Employees who wish to use the bikes must take a bicycle safety course, sign waiver forms, agree to wear a helmet at all times, and lock the bicycle with each use.
The first two bikes were donated at the board meeting by the Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce and JVKellyGroup Inc. “It is my hope that Town of Huntington employees will take advantage of this bicycle sharing program,” said Cuthbertson, who came up with the idea after reading about similar programs in other areas. “With the skyrocketing price of gas, employees can leave their cars behind and get some exercise while using an alternative, eco-friendly mode of transportation,” Cuthbertson continued.
For all this, we’ll excuse the town for the former recycling-center supervisor arrested in late March for allegedly stealing $500 from a town safe. You can’t win them all.
