It looks like it’s going to be another scorching summer in Chattanooga. In fact, those in the know are predicting record breaking heat to arrive any time now. This is such an important issue for local residents that the Chattanooga City council put out new guidelines for all city employees who work outdoors to follow. Public works employees are being asked to take more breaks and drink more water while on the job. Nobody seems to be complaining about that directive.

There are other changes in store for municipal employees especially on the Chattanooga police force: They’ve been given new uniforms. Chattanooga Police Sergeant Charlie Brown recently told a local news station, “In 19 years this is the most comfortable I’ve ever been.” That’s probably because for the first time in the city’s history, police officers have the option to wear shorts if they prefer. There are also a line-up of new shoes and shirts made from what they are calling “breathable material” that goes a long way to beat the heat.

“It breathes better than the polyester,” said Brown, “you’re a whole lot more comfortable and it moves a whole lot easier.”

Obviously when the heat goes up, the air conditioners come on. The strain on Chattanooga’s energy grid could spark brown outs across the city unless folks do their part to conserve. Beyond switching to fans or sleeping out in the backyard, one proactive step you can take to conserve energy is not to waste it and that can be accomplished by recycling. When you recycle you are actually reducing the amount of natural resources that we all use. Lessen the need for those resources means they will be available when we need them such as when the heat rises. In other words, you could make an argument that sorting your recyclables can let you keep the AC on a bit longer.

Of course you don’t have to just stop at all your household plastics or paper. You can go bigger. How much bigger? What about sofa big? Or mattress big? Or washing machine big? Any one of those items can actually be hauled away to a proper recycling facility and broken down. Here’s the best part about this: You don’t have to lift a finger except to call a professional junk hauling crew like Junk King Chattanooga. Let these movers take away all your bulky recyclable materials because they’ll know just where to take them.

There could be several facilities around Chattanooga to handle all those repurposing needs. This means one center for metals, one for wood and another for material and cloth. Would you know where to find these places? Sure you can Google them but don’t be surprised if they are spread out all over the outskirts of the city. When the professional junk haulers show up, just let them know you want your materials recycled. In fact, you might not even ask. They’ll probably already be recycling because they know what’s good for their business is good for Chattanooga.