Friday January 4, 2013: 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm -- Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

This Friday, January 4, we'll be making an electronic instrument out of commonly available pieces and parts.

For this Maker Music event, the Ann Arbor Hacker-Makers of All Hands Active will be teaching people how use basic circuitry to create their own musical instrument, the Atari Punk Circuit. What's that? An Atari Punk Circuit uses an assortment of basic electronics and two knobs to allow people to create basic two-tone electronic sounds, kind of like those that used to be the soundtrack to the first video games on the Atari video game console.

Do you need to know electronics to come to this event? No, that's why we're having it! Come learn a bit about electricity, circuits, and have some fun trying out making different sounds. After you're finished, take a look at our Music Tools collection, too!

This event is for adults and teens (grade 6 and up).

There are checklists for gifts, for meals, for trips, but the one we rarely remember until the bins are full and the tree has more needles on the floor than on the branches is the exciting and much-anticipated Solid Waste Holiday Checklist from the City of Ann Arbor.

Makes you all warm and fuzzy just reading the title. And this year there is something to really knock the socks off the mantle: Single-family Ann Arbor residents can get rewards for holiday recycling by signing up with Recyclebank.

Trash and recycling will not be picked up on Monday, December 26, 2011, or Monday, January 2, 2012, due to holiday observances. Solid waste collections will be delayed one day both weeks and occur Tuesday through Saturday. Undecorated holiday trees may be dropped off—free and 24/7—in the parking lot adjacent to the Drop-Off Station at 2950 E. Ellsworth starting December 15 through January 31, 2012.

Happy Holidays and let's re-use, recycle, and re-gift all year.

The City of Ann Arbor Fall Leaf Management Guide offers five ways to manage leaves this fall:
-Mulching
-Compostable pickup
-Compost at home
-Free Leaf Drop-off @ Ann Arbor Compost Center
-Free Leaf Drop-off @ Recycle Ann Arbor

Grab a Rake, Help a Neighbor . . .
Neighborhood Senior Services is coordinating its 35th annual fall chore day on a Saturday, in mid-November from 10-2. Volunteers sign up online by Oct 31 at www.nssweb.org and assist raking leaves, checking smoke alarms, and helping seniors throughout Washtenaw County. 734.712.7775. Groups, individuals, and families are welcome to participate.

Start with the Rain Barrel Truckload Sale on Sat., July 30, 9am-3pm at 37137 Marquette, Westland, MI (just east of Newburgh Road). A barrel costs $60, and the sale is sponsored by Alliance of Rouge Communities. Then on Tuesday, August 2, 8-9am, the Huron Watershed Council and Clean Energy Coalition are teaming up at a before work breakfast to teach easy techniques and show affordable tools that can help a family of four save up to $300 annually on utility bills. The event is free with coffee and bagels provided. It takes place at the NEW Center, 1100 North Main St., Ann Arbor. Contact Pam Labadie at plabadie@hrwc.org or 734-769-5123 x 602.

Celebrate Earth Day this month of April with some earth-friendly upcycled crafts. Keywords: Upcycle, repurpose, reclaim, remake.

For some inspiration try Recyclo-Gami: 40Crafts To Make Your Friends Green With Envy! The book is full of ideas for reusing common materials to make accessories, jewelry, household decorations, games, and gifts.

Green Crafts For Children: 35 Step-By-Step Projects Using Natural, Recycled, And Found Materials is another fun book, with kid-friendly projects reusing materials and found items you might normally discard.

For more sophisticated making, try Eco-Craft: Recycle-Recraft-Restyle, which focuses on repurposing materials into lovely designs for the home.

Check out more recycled craft projects in these books as well!

drop-off station

Recycle Ann Arbor's Drop-Off Station has new hours of operation. The new days and hours are as follows:
-Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:30 a.m. ~ 6:30 p.m.
-Saturdays, 9: a.m. ~ 6 p.m.

A deficit budget has caused the cutback in hours -- see the press release for full details. The same range of services will be offered but in a more limited timeframe.

clock

Here's the scoop on A2 services for the Holiday weeks:

-There will be no interruption of trash or recycling collection Christmas or New Year's weeks. Your regular pickup day is your regular pickup day. That's easy!

-All City Hall offices will close at noon on Thursday, Dec. 23 and reopen on Monday, Dec. 27. Likewise, offices will close at noon on Thursday, Dec. 30 and reopen on Monday, Jan. 3, 2011.

-The deadline to pay winter taxes to the City of Ann Arbor has been extended to Monday, Jan. 3, 2011 due to the City Hall closures over the New Year's Holiday.

compost cart

July 30, 2010 is the deadline for ordering a compost cart at the one-time only fee of $25. But wait there's more! The carts will be home-delivered starting in September. And ordering couldn't be easier. You can order online, by phone at 734.994.7336 ext 0 or in person at 220 E. Huron -- the Customer Service Center. So quit dragging those paper yard waste bags and starting rolling with the flow -- the recycle flow.

compost cart

In observance of the Independence Day holiday, all City Hall offices will be closed on Monday, July 5th. Trash, recycling and compost service will NOT be affected so put your stuff out on your regularly-scheduled trash day. And remember, July 5th is the start of the Single-stream Recycling Program. More stuff into the recycle bin, less stuff in the landfills. Yeah!

Do you have an computer, monitor, or other type of e-Waste that you want to get rid of but don't know how to? The Office of Campus Sustainability along with Ann Arbor Public Schools are sponsoring a free event to recycle unwanted electronics in a responsible, earth friendly way. This event is a part of U-M's month long celebration of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. On Saturday, April 24 between 9am and 2pm you can bring any unwanted computer systems, A/V equipment, hand held devices, and other types of e-Waste to Pioneer High School for safe and environmentally conscious recycling. e-Waste is the fastest growing waste stream and distributes hazardous chemicals into the environment. By recycling your e-Waste in this way, you will be protecting the environment, conserving natural resources, acting responsibly, and providing raw materials for more products to be made.

There is also an institutional e-Waste event on Thursday April 22 and Friday April 23 between 9am and 2pm at Washtenaw Intermediate School District. Registration is required for this event.

For more information on this event and how to spread the word, visit their website.recycle