The Town of Hempstead is pleased to be participating in the annual New York State/America Recycles Day to be commemorated this year on Nov. 15. It's a large-scale way of promoting recycling and buying recycled products in New York State.

In order to participate in the program, all our residents need to do is to continue to recycle on your regular recycling day here in the Town of Hempstead, as well as at your place of business or at school. Be sure to look for products and packaging you buy that are made from recycled materials. Many paper products fall into this category like paper towels, napkins, tissues, toilet paper and office paper goods. Also, recycled plastics like clothing, T-shirts, sweaters, sleeping bags, plastic bags, patio furniture, carpeting, playground equipment, and many more items normally found around the house, have been recycled.

Many of the products and packaging you already buy are made from recycled materials and you may not even know it, like cereal boxes (with gray inside the box), metal cans, glass bottles, aluminum cans, newspapers and cardboard boxes.

Many residents have filled out a pledge card indicating their desire to recycle more, and buy products and packaging made from recycled materials. Their names have been entered into a State and National drawing. In 1998, over 75,000 New Yorkers took the pledge, and many were the winners of valuable prizes.

While the Town of Hempstead continues to lead the way in the area of recycling as we head into the 21st century, we would still like to see more and more families and individuals become involved in the recycling effort. For more information on the New York State/American Recycles Day and program, call New York State at (518) 454-7337, or write to NYSDEC at 50 Wolf Road, Albany, NY 12233-7253. There is also a National America Recycles web page at http://www.americarecyclesday.org. As most Town of Hempstead residents already know, if we all do a little, it can really mean a lot.