Recycling 101

I've had a few requests to cover recycling basics.  So I am happy to share this riveting essay on the ins and outs of recycling: why, what, how & where.  If you’re already a recycling fiend, then good job!  If you are not, there’s no better time to start than this week!

Why? It’s always difficult to begin a new habit.  The young kids I worked with in a local school district were already familiar with recycling and many did it at home.  It was easy breezy to teach them about recycling and to build on their existing habits.  Unfortunately for many adults, recycling has not been part of our lives until recently.  As the world moves forward, there is only so much space available for trash.  We have become disconnected from the consequences of our consumption, as in what it takes to make what we buy and what happens when we’re done with it.  If items aren’t recycled, then new “stuff” must be created from earth’s resources.

I met a woman who refused to recycle because, in her words, “The recycling company is making money off of me, so I’m not recycling”.  Wow.

So really, why should we recycle?

1. The earth is kinda running out of landfill space...and do we really want more?
2. Recycling, more often than not, saves existing resources.
3. Recycling items can save money.
4. Recycling is efficiency and responsibility all in one.

 So you’ve thought about it & you’re on board to get started.  Now what? 

1. Form a plan: where you’ll keep your recyclables (a bin in the pantry, in the garage).
2. Will you sign up for pick up (or have it in your city already) or take them to a pick up site?
3. Have a family meeting & celebrate being an B.A.B.E!

What? A quick peek of what we can recycle in general, everywhere in the U.S.:

• Newspaper
• Cardboard (no greasy pizza boxes)
• Magazines
• Plastic (#1-3)
• Glass
• Aluminum
• Steel
• Paper

.  Here is what cannot be recycled:

• Lids of anything and butter tubs…it has to do with the type of plastic they are made of; we won’t bore you with the process J
• Greasy pizza boxes…because they are greasy and the paper content is degraded.
• Ziplocs
• Milk & juice containers with a bunch of juice left in them.  This attracts pests to the recycling site, makes a mess & contaminates.  Give these items a quick rinse & be done.
• Any food or organic matter.
• Aluminum foil with last night’s BBQ sauce all over it
• Toilet paper, tissues, paper towels.  And for the record, recycled toilet paper means it was made out of recycled paper, not used toilet paper.  Really?
• Styrofoam and packing materials
• Window glass & mirrors
• Gift wrap, apparently¸ is of too poor quality of paper to be recycled.  
• Mustard-colored envelopes.  We didn't know this, but the dye in the envelope is too difficult to remove during the recycling process.

As exciting as this article has been to read, all good things must come to an end.  We’ve told you what you can & can’t recycle and some ideas of how to get started at home.  We believe that we’re at a point in this country where we should ALL be recycling, whether it’s mandatory in your area or not.  Did you know:

• It takes 80-100 years for an aluminum can to decompose (break down) in a landfill, but recycled, they can be made into soda cans, pie plates, license plates, thumbtacks, aluminum foil, and many other items.
• Glass takes over 1,000,000 (one million) years to decompose in a landfill, but can be recycled into jars, jewelry, bottles, dishes, drinking glasses, coffee mugs and many other items.
• It can take up to 700 years for plastic to decompose in a landfill, but recycled, PET plastic can be made into clothing, fiberfill for sleeping bags, toys, stuffed animals, rulers and more.

The energy savings aren’t huge for recycling material into new uses, but the raw material savings are priceless.  We often forget that for all the stuff we own, that “stuff” had to be made from something.  Saving our earth’s resources, where possible, only makes sense.  Want a great little informative flick?  www.thestoryofstuff.com

As for TVs, computers, batteries, oil, electronics, paint, appliances and other large or questionable items, log onto your local solid waste authority’s web site & they’ll let you know how & where you should dispose of these items.  Many electronics contain valuable copper and other recyclable parts, but also many other components that are toxic and need to be removed before being thrown out.

I think we’ve covered all the basics.  You now have absolutely no reason to not go out and recycle with enthusiasm! Yahoooo!

5 Things to be Greener for the Holidays

In the spirit of giving, we're going to give you a short list - I know, we're too kind.  It's the kind of B.A.B.Es we are!  No need for an intro, this is simple stuff:

1. If you don't recycle, start this season.  You have way too many bottles, cans, jars, etc. coming through to just toss them in the trash.  Bonus stat: Each person in the U.S. produces about 4.6 lbs. of trash per day.  Wow.  Apparently we only recycle about 35% of that trash.  
2. Consider using 100% recycled paper wrapping paper this season.  If you already have wrapping paper - please use that up first.  You've already purchased it, no need to waste it.
3. Throwing a dinner party?  You may think it a waste, but consider buying (or go all Martha S and sew your own!) cloth napkins.  Seriously, buy (or sew) 6-12 one time and you are golden for quite some time!  If every household in the United States replaced just one package of virgin fiber napkins with 100 percent recycled ones, we could save 1 million trees. 
4. Consider buying a local gift this season.  What do we mean by that?  Drive downtown, pick a store - preferably from a small business owner, a single location store - and buy something from them.  You're helping out your local economy and your fellow real human being.  
5. Buy domestic shrimp, not imported.  That's your best health and eco-friendly bet.  Check out Monterey bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch guide.  It's an awesome app, or downloadable guide for your shopping pleasure. Very handy, indeed.
   
   

The Green Thing—what a crock.

This was sent to me by a couple of friends...how true it is!  We should all stop & think about our day-to-day activities; interesting:

The Green Thing

 In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today.  Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over.  So they really were recycled.
But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind.  We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes.  Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.  
In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.  
When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.  

Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power.  
We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.
We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.
We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances.  And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Need Ink?

I live my life pretty green:  recycle, compost, buy 100% recycled content paper, CFL bulbs, buy local, blah, blah, blah.  But every time I run out of ink, I run to the nearest office supply & buy more.  I trade in my used ones, of course, but I still buy new cartridges.  Hellooo, refills!  Why this never crossed my mind, I have no idea.  So, my awesome friend took my old cartridges to Cartridge World (happens to be the place closest to where I live) and voila!  New cartridges, no plastic dumped in the trash & tons of energy was saved!  Oh, and I saved a bit of money, too!  Hey - saving the world & saving money?  You must be talking about a B.A.B.E!
For your reading pleasure, here are some nifty facts about ink cartridges, taken from the Cartridge World website (thanks gang!):

Facts About the Environmental Impact of Printer Cartridges

• It takes about a gallon of oil to make a new laser cartridge.
• Almost 8 cartridges are thrown away per second in the United States alone!
• In North America alone, over 350 million cartridges per year are discarded in our landfills, and that number increases by 12 percent annually!
• Every remanufactured laser cartridge saves nearly 2.5 pounds of metal & plastic waste from being deposited in landfills.
• A laser cartridge thrown into landfill can take up to 450 years to decompose. Some components made of industrial grade plastics will take over a thousand years to decompose.
• 70 percent of used printer cartridges throughout the world are currently being thrown out.
• In one year, if the world’s discarded cartridges were stacked end-to-end; they would circle the earth over three times.

We Can Make a Difference!

Every single cartridge saved from a landfill makes a difference. This will not only protect our environment but save consumers thousands of dollars. Now imagine the difference when individuals, then organizations, then cities, then states and then nations start participating! That is Impact with Effect! At Cartridge World we are not only making a difference, we are changing the world!

Did You Know? 

• Most printer cartridges can be refilled or remanufactured.
• By bringing your used cartridges to Cartridge World, you can help protect our environment, and save substantially compared to the cost of a new cartridge!
• Cartridge World is dedicated to saving consumers, businesses, and the planet!

www.cartridgeworld.com/environment/think-green/