Youth and adults at the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin holds three events for EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge

Spread over 234,000 acres just south of Green Bay, the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin reservation is known for it's beauty

By planning numerous Earth Day 2008 projects and other environment awareness campaigns, the tribe is preserving the dignity of its reservation.

Students and adults at the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin are joining forces for Earth Day 2008 and cleaning up the reservation, recycling electronics and properly disposing of old/unwanted medicines.

These photos show the large 30-yard dumpsters filled with electronics at the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin solid waste transfer station in Keshena, WI.

"Tribal members living on the reservation bring electronics and other stuff to the transfer station," said Diana Wolf, the MITW Solid Waste/Recycling Coordinator. "We compact cardboard and breakdown electronics at the transfer site." (Photos by Diana Wolf)

(Keshena, Wisconsin) - As the students of all ages plan a major hands-on clean up of a tribal community and the recycling of electronics and proper disposal of unwanted medications to honor Earth Day 2008, adult members of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin in Keshena, WI have already turned in several thousand pounds of electronic waste as part of a national Earth Day Project.

The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin (MITW), located about 30 miles south of Green Bay, is collecting e-Waste all month including during the tribe's regular curbside bulk items Spring Cleaning collection on April 21-24 (Monday thru Thursday).

"We are getting lots of electronics right now," said Diana Wolf, the MITW Solid Waste/Recycling Coordinator.

Meanwhile - tribal grade and middle schoolers are planning an outdoor cleanup project for the last Friday in April, and the students at the tribal college have scheduled an April 22 collection of e-Waste and unwanted pharmaceuticals.

The three projects are part of about 37 events planned across 8 states in hundreds of cities as part of the Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The events are being promoted by the interfaith Earth Healing Initiative that teams numerous faith communities and American Indian tribes with local challenge organizers to be volunteers and participants in the projects spread across the Great Lakes basin.

During the first week of April, the tribe’s drop-off sites collected several thousand pounds of electronics including 919 pounds of "low-grade circuit boards" that tribal employees remove from TV sets, stereos, high quality computers, cassette players and other electronics.

Wolf estimated that about two tons (4,000 pounds) of electronics will be turned in by the end of the month.

Wolf said that the 919 pounds of e-recyclables (circuit boards) represents about 100 individual TVs, computers or other electronics.

The circuit boards and some other the electronics are turned over to Mike Zastrow, a buyer for Samuels Recycling in Green Bay.

Plastics and wood from electronics collected by the tribe are recycled by Waste Management Inc. in Antigo, WI

"The electronics contain silver and gold and we give it Samuel's Recycling in Green Bay - they pay us 12 cents per pound," Wolf said. "We are assured it is recycled correctly."

The tribe pays Lamp Recyclers Inc. of DePere, WI to remove hazardous materials like fluorescent light bulbs, batteries and some parts of TVs and computer components.

"We will do whatever it takes to do cradle to grave recycling," Wolf said, adding the tribe follows EPA guidelines for electronics and other recyclables.

When you add up the labor to break up the electronics and other costs the tribe is losing cash money but are gaining something much more important - a clean community that the adults can proudly leave their children.

"We are not making a profit off of it but it is the right thing to do," Wolf said.

On Friday, April 25, 2008, the 183 students at the Menominee Tribal School (k-8) will be cleaning the area around the school of litter and recyclables and other downtown areas of Neopit, one of four communities on the reservation.

The tribe's 234,000-acre reservation includes the communities of Keshena, Zoar and South Branch.

"The students will be picking up litter and recyclables - and anything that's on the roads or sidewalks or the yards," Wolf said, adding the students will be planting 50 saplings.

The tribal school cleanup project will be followed by a potluck picnic lunch of native foods plus Sloppy Joes, potato chips and Kool-Aid, Wolf said.

"We are inviting the parents to bring a potluck and there will likely be wild rice and other Native American dishes," Wolf said.

The lunch will include a drama performance and include Native Music involving the "Wind Eagle Drum" or the "high school drum" consisting of students who are learning the music of the Menominee tribe's history.

"Our school is very much a cultural-motivated school," Wolf said. "The school teaches about the Menominee culture and language. The students learn about our Menominee history and our language amongst the non-native teaching."

"My children speak fluent Menominee because they have been in the school for three years," Wolf said.

The MITW has nearly 10,000 members including an enrolled population of 8,471 (most of whom still live on the reservation) and 1,268 enrolled descendants.

"We believe it's important for our Tribal members to recycle, reduce waste and energy consumption, and reuse items," said Wolf.

Wolf said her office does everything they can to educate youngsters about protecting the environment. Wolf said every year her co-workers have to clean up illegal dumping sites in the tribe's 234,000 acres of forest.

The tribe's solid waste facility has annually collected up to five tons of computers and other electronics over the past decade.

Meanwhile in a separate event, Menominee tribal college students are doing their part to protect the planet with e-Waste and pharmaceutical collections.

The College of Menominee Nation (State Hwy. 47/55) in Keshena, is accepting e-waste and unwanted medicines on April 22 from 9 a.m. to noon - and accepting e-Waste from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the commons building.

The college’s Implementing Sustainable Development class is hosting the collection with help from the tribe's solid waste coordinator.

The e-Waste collection will accept electronics including old/broken computers, cell phones and batteries. The pharmaceutical collection is accepting old and unwanted medications that must be in their original bottle or container.

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Keshena, Wisconsin:

(all month) April 21, 2008

Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin

Diana Wolf (715-799-5189)

e-Waste

Collected with regular curbside bulk items Spring Cleaning collection.

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Keshena, Wisconsin:

April 22, 2008

9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (e-Waste)

9 a.m. to noon (Pharmaceuticals)

College of Menominee Nation - commons building

Cheyenne Caldwell

715-851-3240

e-Waste and Unwanted Medications

State Hwy. 47/55

Our college will collect e-waste and expired medicines and work with the Solid Waste Coordinator of the Menominee Indian Tribe in the disposal of this material.

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Related Links:

Earth healing Initiative Keshena, WI page

Earth Healing Initiative website

Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin homepage

College of Menominee Nation

Tribal Earth Week Flyer

Call: Diana 715-799-5189 or Jeremy 715-799-5710

Samuels Recycling - Green Bay, WI:

Links to sites about Samuel's Recycling in Green Bay: (Buyer Mike Zastrow - 1-920-494-3451)

Alternative Metal Recycling page on Samuels Recycling

Wisconsin DNR page about Samuels Recycling

WI DNR Recycling page

Green Bay newspaper info about Samuels Recycling