Posts Tagged ‘Recycling’
Friday, November 19th, 2010
You can recycle political signs or turn recycled tires into a gym floor AND you can recycle your leftovers after Thanksgiving. At least the grease.
This is the sixth year of Grease Recycling Day where you can show thanks for your planet by taking action. I wish more cities had this program (such as the city I live in).
You know all the leftover grease from the deep fried turkey? Now you know what to do with it. It’s being held the day after Thanksgiving.
Cities like you properly dispose of used cooking grease. Best of all it can be recycled into something quite useful — a clean-burning substitute for diesel fuel.
Otherwise it’s not good for your home. “Ordinary kitchen cooking grease build up can clog sewer pipes, reduce sewage flow and act as a magnet for other debris,” said Laura Hagen Fairbanks of the Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department.
There the grease can build-up and clog the sewer. This stat almost makes me lose my appetite but there’s a lot of grease that needs recycling. Last year they collected over 2,500 pounds of used cooking oil!
It doesn’t have to be Thanksgiving to be thankful for this city’s efforts to go green. Used cooking oil can be recycled year-round. If you’re in Arizona, you can get locations and times at www.grecycle.com
Tags: Arizona, Environment, Recycling, Thanksgiving, Tire
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Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
If you’re like me it’s troubling that there are a lot of political signs on lawns that seem like a big waste. Especially now that the elections are over. I’ve thought about ways that the signs could be reused. Maybe cities can collect signs, paint them over and store them. Politicians could rent them out.
In some cities in Oregon, you can recycle most plastic political yard signs by taking them apart. You can recycle the plastic part that is the rigid, corrugated plastic.
The other type of political sign is made of a thin plastic film. According to an article about the topic you can recycle these type of signs with recyclable grocery bags. You can find recycling dropoffs at some grocery or other stores (I think I’ve seen them at Costco).
Recycling signs can make a difference. “While its true plastic can biodegrade, most plastic items take between 500 and 1000 years to decompose, taking up space for several generations. According to Roseburg Disposal, recycling one ton of plastic saves 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space.”
We’re fans of reusing materials whenever possible. Like Plastic Barrels Recycled Into Playground Swings, Recycled Rubber Sinks, or recycled tires that get turned into rubber for curbs or playground surfaces.
See the article for more ideas: http://www.kmtr.com/news/local/story/Most-political-signs-can-be-recycled-avoid-the/OgiJZUUZek-6Ot1vo0KPJg.cspx?rss=191
Tags: Oregon, Recycling, rubber mulch, Waste Management
Posted in Go Green, Recycle, Reuse, rubber mulch | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
The Town of Leesburg in Virginia is testing using rubber mulch for a “greener” median. They added 20,000 pounds of rubber mulch, made from shredded tires in the median of off a freeway exit ramp. If the test is successful, rubber mulch may be installed in other town roadway medians.
Rubber mulch appeals to the city because it’s difficult to maintain their medians. It suppresses weeds. It stays put better as they put it: “Rubber mulch should stay put. Rubber mulch does not float away during heavy rains, as wood mulch tends to do.”
The rubber mulch cost the city $3,350, which is three times the cost of wood mulch. Long term though, it’s a better deal for the city. Wood mulch has to be replenished each year. Since it doesn’t require frequent replacement, rubber mulch is more cost effective over time.
See: http://www.leesburg2day.com/articles/2010/09/22/news/9533mulch091710.txt
Tags: Recycling, Rubber, rubber mulch, Virginia
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Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
Delaware is phasing in a new curbside recycling mandate that will begin next year. The measure was signed Tuesday by Gov. Jack Markell. Under the new law, which will be phased in requires all waste haulers to offer curbside recycling pickups. They have to comply by Sept. 15, 2011. The service will be offered to single family homes, restaurants and bars. Later it will go to multi-family dwellings by January 1, 2013, and remaining businesses by Jan. 1, 2014. Recycling will not be required for residents – just waste collectors to offer the service.
Another part of the law is ending the bottle bill that charged a 5-cent deposit. Instead the state will charge 4-cents a bottle, in a fee that will be non-refundable. This starts on Dec. 1, but will expire in 2014. Proceeds will go to support initial recycling work. Republicans have alleged that the new fee is a camouflaged tax that could face a court challenge.
Tags: curbside recycling, Delaware, Recycling
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Wednesday, May 19th, 2010
“The 30 largest airports in the country create “enough waste to equal the trash produced by cities the size of Miami or Minneapolis.” – USAToday article
Matt Mahler of Tierra Ideas recently wrote about how his company is helping airlines go green. He got the idea to recycle rubber and material from airplane seat covers and curtains into hip products. Delta Airlines and the company are teaming up to save worn out airline seat covers from landfills. They turn them into bags.
“Tierra Ideas’ aim is to help companies re-think how they dispose of their unwanted materials by creating the most unique recycled products anywhere.”
Tierra Ideas also recycles bicycle tires into products like a business card holder or bike bag. They clean the tires and sew them into sheets. Then the recycled rubber sheets are then made into other products.
What is also impressive about the company is that they give back to society in other ways. The Raleigh Lions Clinic for the Blind (RLCB) is where they employ visually-impaired and blind people to make the products.
Delta has donated almost 6,000 pounds of fabric from an estimated 20,000 seat covers. Airlines have come a long way. Hotels have also gone green. Next up I’ll talk about other ways airports and airlines are stepping up their recycling efforts.
Please tell us about your efforts to go green in the comments.
Tags: airlines, Delta, hotel recyling, Recycling
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Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
This is a simple recycling idea that I hope to see at more hotels. The New York Palace Hotel is a luxury hotel with fancy soap for each guest. But if you’ve been at hotels very often you’re aware of how much soap gets thrown away or stays in a closet somewhere. Now the hotel is doing something with that soap – it’s recycling.
The New York Palace has partnered with and Clean the World to implement the program. It will help people in third world countries where the soap will be sent. The soap will be sanitized and then given to homeless shelters and impoverished people around the world.
Clean the World estimates that the hotel will provide over 25,000 bars of soap monthly to underprivileged people in desperate need of soap, while simultaneously diverting 28 tons of landfill waste and recycling over four tons of plastic each year.
You can get involved. Donate soap and shampoo to: http://www.cleantheworld.org/contribute.asp or find out about becoming a Recycling Partner: http://www.cleantheworld.org/partners.asp
Think of the impact we could have on the world through this simple act – not only abroad but in our own country.
Save the trees with rubber mulch recycled tire surfacing.
Tags: Business, Environment, New York Palace Hotel, Recycling
Posted in Recycle, Reuse, rubber mulch | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010
Here’s a great idea from Nevada City, California – recycle bikes, teach kids new skills and help people in need. The project is being funded by a $1.4 million anonymous donation. It includes a new building that is a being made to house a bike workshop at a local middle school. People really got into it too (wish there were pictures). At the groundbreaking ceremony, there were bicycle helmets mixed with hard hats.
The workshop will teach students how to fix old bikes for school credit. Then they’ll donate the bikes to people who need one. I hope they’ll also consider letting people borrow the bikes to ride around town. I’m sure lots of useable bikes go into landfills and this is a positive program because it gets them back into workable condition.
This city was started during the California gold rush in the 1800s and has lots of bicycle paths and a yearly bicycle race. Hopefully this idea catches on in other cities too. Emissions can be reduced by 2 % to 4% by just a 1% switch from car to bike trips. So it really helps our environment when we choose bikes over cars.
See more at http://www.theunion.com/article/20100503/BREAKINGNEWS/100509956/1053/rss
Rubberecycle recycles old tires and makes them into rubber mulch and other products.
Tags: bicycle, Recycling, rubberecycle
Posted in Go Green, Recycle, Reuse | No Comments »
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
Earth Day is today – happy Earth Day everyone. Today, April 22, is the official day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the environment.
There is even a flag to commemorate the day.
Earth Day was founded 40 years ago by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson and is now observed all over the world. Many communities celebrate Earth Week with a week of environment-related activities. This started out small but has become big — bigger than anyone anticipated.
Nelson said: “Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day. It organized itself.”
Stimulus money is now being offered for installing alternative energy sources in homes and businesses, updating to more environmentally friendly appliances and other actions. Check your state for details about the tax rebates that are available. This makes it more affordable to save energy and over the long term will keep costs down.
Part of celebrating Earth Day is about education – letting people know what they can do to preserve resources. We believe in recycling. We took a waste product — tires and have kept them out of landfills. Rubber Mulch is a unique rubber granule formulated of 100% recycled tire rubber, and has a multitude of uses! It is now used as playground safety surfacing, landscape mulch, and arena footing. Rubber mulch is secure, resilient, and virtually indestructible. It’s also part of looking at a long-term solution.
Go green this Earth Day – support recycled products, reduce consumption and get educated on other ways to celebrate and participate in this day!
Tags: Earth Day, Recycling, rubber mulch
Posted in Recycle, Reuse | No Comments »
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