The Town of Chapel Hill has installed 13 new recycling bins along Franklin Street to collect cans and bottles that were previously thrown in the trash, and another four bins will be placed in Southern Village's central business area.

Keep NC Beautiful, in partnership with the N.C. Coca-Cola Bottlers Council, is now accepting grant applications for projects to be completed in 2012 that address litter prevention, cleanup, waste reduction, recycling and beautification.

Schools, youth and civic groups, nonprofits and KNCB affiliates are eligible to apply. Three $500 awards will be issued for each category, along with an individual category that is open for one winner at $500, or two for $250 each.

Priority will be given to applications that highlight programs or projects that coincide with the annual Keep America Beautiful Great American Cleanup, which runs from March 1 to May 31, and America Recycles Day, which is celebrated in November. Public educational initiatives focusing on enhancing cleanup and beautification efforts and increasing waste reduction and recycling behaviors are also of importance.

Applications can be downloaded at keepncbeautiful.org and are due by Feb. 15. Winners will be announced March 1.

For more information, contact KNCB Program and State Leader Brenda Ewadinger at (704) 442-0791 or bewadinger@keepncbeautiful.org.

Is your house about to burst at the seams with all the stuff you've gained from the holidays? Do you feel compelled to just toss everything in the trash just to get it out of the way? Here are some tips to help bring sanity to your household and declutter for the new year.

It's holiday time, which means more waste is making its way into your home by way of presents, decor and all those holiday goodies. Find out how and where you can dispose of the extra holiday waste with our roundup of holiday recycling programs in the Triangle area:

The City of Durham will be hosting a paper-shredding, e-waste and Christmas tree recycling event on Saturday, Jan. 14, at the Sears parking lot at Northgate Mall.

Nearly all electronics with a cord will be accepted for recycling, including:

Chatham County is offering holiday programs to recycle trees, wrapping paper, cooking oil and even nonworking strings of lights.

Free tree-cycling will be offered at the Main Solid Waste & Recycling Facility at 720 County Landfill Road on the following dates:

Don't toss that holiday waste — recycle it with Wake County's Holiday Wrap-Up recycling program.

Residents can drop off Christmas trees (without lights, ornamentation, etc.), wrapping paper (excluding foil and bows), holiday greeting cards, corrugated cardboard, chipboard (i.e. cereal boxes, paper roll tubes, etc.), SBS Board (i.e. shirt and gift boxes), magazines and catalogs at the following convenience centers:

More than 25,000 pounds of paper, electronics, rigid plastics, plastic bags and film were collected during Raleigh's second America Recycles Day collection drive, Keep NC Beautiful reports.
 

A new study says recycling efforts in North Carolina are steadily expanding, adding jobs to the economy and even growing despite the sluggish economy.

The study released Tuesday by the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources measures the impact of recycling in North Carolina.

Apple quietly rolled out enhancements to its reuse and recycling programs today. The additions? iPhones and iPads will now be accepted for Apple Gift Card trade-ins, and Apple will now accept any computer or display for free recycling, regardless of manufacturer.