Recycling Centers Now Open at Lowe's

Lowe’s has recently installed permanent recycling centers in nearly all of its 1,700 stores throughout the U.S. to accept these items:

• Rechargeable batteries (of up to 11 pounds)
• Cell phones
• Compact fluorescent bulbs (most Lowe’s have been accepting used CFLs since March)
• Plastic shopping bags

For the press release, visit:

www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100928006319/en/Lowe%E2%80%99s-Launches-Recycling-Centers-U.S.-Stores

Walgreen's Launches Safe Prescription Drugs Disposal Program

Walgreens has launched the first ongoing, nationwide Safe Medication Disposal Program, a safe and environmentally responsible way to dispose of unused or expired medications. For $2.99, customers can purchase a specially designed envelope available at any Walgreens pharmacy counter that allows them to place, seal and mail prescription or over-the-counter medications they no longer use for safe, eco-friendly disposal. Once securely sealed, the envelope can be dropped into any U.S. Postal Service mailbox where it will be sent to an approved medication incinerator. Click here for the complete story.

A recent Associated Press investigation discovered trace amounts of a variety of pharmaceutical drugs in the drinking water supply of 24 major metropolitan areas across the country. Pharmaceuticals and personal care products are known to interfere with the normal growth and reproduction of fish and other aquatic life. Safely disposing of pills is a step in the right direction but reducing the amount of medication taken the US will greatly improve water quality. Discharges from waste water treatment plants and untreated sewage run-off into lakes, rivers and streams are by far the biggest source of pharmaceutical pollution. Presently, the EPA does not regulate pharmaceuticals as a pollutant so we must be extra vigilant personally to minimize the pills we take, especially hormone-related substances, which seem to have the most detrimental effect on wildlife.

From farms to feasts: Midtown restaurant in OKC to feature locally

Farm to table - the concept of using as many locally grown ingredients as possible for a meal - is carving out a spot in Midtown this month.

The restaurant Ludivine is scheduled to open in mid September in the Midtown Village area at Seventh and Hudson. The restaurant's menu is anything but static - as Ludivine's chefs scour Oklahoma's family-owned farms and ranches for ingredients, the meals will vary according to what they find.

"Rather than having an idea of the dishes you want to do, then trying to find the ingredients to fulfill that, you just take what's available from the farms, look and see what you have, then write the menu based on that," said Russ Johnson, owner and chef.

"The menu will vary a lot from week to week, and dramatically from season to season," he said. "Knowing where your food comes from and knowing the people who produce it - knowing what goes into it and what doesn't go into it - is really nice. It's something we've lost nowadays. People don't know a lot where their food comes from, and it's fun to try to change it.

Click here for the complete article. Sounds great!