KGO-TV: Tips to Keep Your Child’s Toys Organized

Filed under: Earth911 - December 29, 2009

By Michael Finney

Cleaning up a young child’s room can be both time consuming and tedious.

“I have to clean up probably three to four times a day. Put the LEGOs back in the LEGOs box. Put the blocks back in the block bag,” said Lisa Galinson-Treitman who is the mother of a four-year-old.

A better option might be to purchase the Box4Blox. This tiered box sorts blocks by size. That means your child won’t have to dump out every piece to find the right one. For stuffed animals, Good Housekeeping suggests the Boon Oval Animal Bag.

“The Boon Animal Bag is so great because you can stash all of the extra stuffed animals inside and then it doubles as seating,” said Amy Roberts of Good Housekeeping.

If you still have too many toys lying around, it may be time to donate the old ones. Both charities and your family friends would be happy to get them.

“You want to make sure that the toys are clean and in working order,” said Roberts.

If not, recycle the toys by going to: Earth911.com.

Before donating old toys, it’s a good idea to make sure they haven’t been recalled.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Plan a Strategy for Taking Down Decorations

Filed under: Earth911 - December 26, 2009

By Bob Karlovits

Every holiday season brings a breakdown.

No, it isn’t when all of the chores or the credit card bills seem insurmountable or when that can’t-miss gift for that special person falls flat.

No, this breakdown is when it is time to take apart all of the decorating that has been done and return the home to its non-festive life.

Organizers, decorators and business owners all say there are ways of handling it that will create an easier holiday next year—and every year.

“Planning is the key,” says Nancy Sakino Spears, an interior decorator from Upper St. Clair, sounding the phrase that becomes something of a mantra.

These organizers agree the best way of handling the matter is to store things away in such a planned manner that making decisions next season is just about unneeded.

Jill Revitsky, owner of the Mt. Lebanon’s Discover Organizing firm and a like-named supply shop, says some devices such as wreath cases and tree bags are a quick step to safe and reasoned storage.

Most of the ideas seem rather basic, but perhaps are so simple they are overlooked.

Having a system matters.

A method and not madness

Plans can make it seem easy. For instance, Stephanie Tomasic, executive director of Overly’s Country Christmas at the Westmoreland County Fairgrounds near Greensburg, has a way of storing the display’s lights.

She had better. There are 21 million of them to put away. The lights and extension cords all are wound in the time-tested “Overly Way.” She is unsure of the origin, but positive it works, although she couldn’t really describe it.

She also says another important job is to check for burned-out bulbs and replace them before storage, to make use next season easier.

She, and other planners, also remind to pack items so the first needed are the ones in front.

Revitsky says you may need to rotate items so material for the next holiday is in the front. That requires a shuffling of goods at each holiday, she says, but makes any decorating task easier.

Many of the storage savants urge the use of plastic containers that come in a variety of sizes and sometimes have colors or colored lids to help identify them.

Jodi Eisner, owner of the Method to the Madness organizing firm in McCandless, says they are not only protective, but the colors can be keys such as “here’s orange for Halloween and pink for Easter.”

Revitsky says color-coding creates easy recognition and allows a non-decorator to get the right material simply by “looking for the red lid.”

Rubbermaid Totes, which range from 3 to 50 gallons in size and cost $4.99 to $19.99, often are mentioned for this job.

Lauren Spahr from Rubbermaid says the containers were not necessarily designed for holiday storage but “we are always pleased when we get a letter telling us about uses we didn’t think of.”

Finding the right space

Revitsky also believes in zoning storage, or keeping items close to the area where they will be used. Outdoor items could be kept in the garage, she suggests.

That means, of course, finding more than one space around the house, but it allows those spaces to be smaller.

Spears recommends creativity in space use, too. For instance, a pole or rod of some kind can be put in unused closet space to become the home for wreaths. Similarly, hat hooks can be installed to hold bags of items or extension cords, she adds.

Labels are important when specificity is demanded, Palermo says. He stores enough lights to fill three tractor trailers, he says, so labels are necessary to indicate what items are needed for his more than 100 clients. Similarly, if there are lights or decorations needed for a specific display, he says, label them.

Lists of what goes where and what items are available also are useful, Spears says. Tomasic says the crews at Overly’s make sure to keep inventories so there are no problems when decorating begins next year.

If belongings are organized and stored in known positions, space is not wasted, and the decorating job in the future is easier.

“Make it like shopping,” Eisner says, “You can just go to a spot and pull out exactly what you need.”

What to do with the tree?

Christmas trees can do more than hold lights and ornaments.

The more than 4 billion Christmas trees growing in the United States provide a great deal of oxygen and, when their days are done, can be composted into mulch or even made into materials for flood barriers, tree and recycling experts say.

Recycling programs in this area generally are run at the municipal level and can be found by contacting local governments.

But Earth911.com, a environmental-awareness firm headquartered in Arizona, has a comprehensive list of the more than 4,000 recycling programs in the United States. The list is put together for many large cities, including Pittsburgh.

Rick Dungey, a spokesman for the National Christmas Tree Association in Missouri, points to the list as a good one. He says recycling programs have grown to their current level from about 1,000 when he started with that group about 12 years ago.

Jennifer Berry from the Earth911.com says this year’s list will be the “most comprehensive” one of their efforts and will be updated by Christmas day.

Verona Press: Can I Recycle This?

Filed under: Earth911 - December 25, 2009

By Jim Ferolie

If you’re like most Americans, by Friday evening you’ll have a pile of wrapping paper, cardboard, plastic, Styrofoam and a pile of packing peanuts in your living room ready to be put on the curb.

But if you’re like many people in Dane County, you’re hoping to recycle as much of it as possible.

And depending on where you live, the rules for what you can recycle through your municipal services are often different. The City of Verona contracts through Waste Management, the Town of Verona employs Pelliterri and apartments, condominiums and businesses often have their own services or contract through other companies.

To make things more complicated, the town just switched operators this year and went from hand-dumped collection to automated. And if you’re new in the area, you might have had a completely different set of rules where you came from.

So how do you know what you can recycle?

The good news is the recycling operations in Verona are among the most user-friendly and inclusive in the nation. Most things that can be recycled anywhere can be put into our bins, with one major exception: Styrofoam, otherwise known as expanded polystyrene.

That means everything with that familiar triangular recycling symbol (except the number 6) is fair game, as long as it’s not full of contaminants, like a pizza box or a frozen food container would be. And so is most paper-based material.

“Communities that are recycling plastics 3 through 7 are recycling a material that is not recycled in many programs throughout the country through the curbside program,” said Lynn Morgan, the public relations contact for Waste Management. “That’s more inclusive than we would generally see throughout the nation.”

The reason for that is simple: There’s a big market for recycling newsprint, office paper and plastics with the numbers 1 and 2. But it’s much more difficult to recycle the rest.

Just this year, the Town of Verona moved to a single-stream recycling program, which means everything that is recyclable is placed into one bin. That has one major downside for recycling in general —introducing more contaminants and therefore lowering the quality of the material— but it increases the rate of recycling significantly.

“Communities that adopt single-stream, it’s possible to see increases of even more than 20 percent,” Morgan said. “It helps people who recycle to recycle more and is just enough convenience to get people who aren’t recycling to take it up.”

The city has not yet gone to single-stream —it’s working on a plan to switch to the large bins in June 2011— but because Waste Management dumps Verona’s recyclables into its single-stream mix, the collection is the same.

Despite a document on the city’s Web site that lists instructions for separating different types of paper, magazines, cans, bottles and cardboard, Morgan said, it’s not necessary to do so. She said separating is still recommended, however, because the 18-gallon bins get full quickly and overflowed bins lead to litter.

Some preparation, such as flattening boxes, is still recommended, as well.

“It’s not necessary to remove staples, but when you’re flattening boxes… it’s sometimes safer,” Morgan said. “Things that are readily removed, like when you’ve got the long strips of tape that can be pulled off, that makes a purer recycling mix.”

As for Christmas afternoon, some of it is easily recyclable and some isn’t.

Wrapping paper is accepted in Verona by Pellitteri but not by Waste Management because there tends to be foil in the paper. Anyone in an apartment or outside of the area should check with local rules.

Styrofoam packing peanuts aren’t accepted curbside, but more and more retailers, such as the UPS Store, are accepting them for reuse. J.T. Puffins at 5505 Odana Road (274-5613) also takes the peanuts, along with bubble wrap.

Plastic film and plastic bags aren’t accepted curbside, but most other plastics will fall in Nos. 1-7 and therefore can be sent off to the curb. Morgan said greeting cards are acceptable, even those with extra attachments like ribbons.

“The proportion of (non-paper) is small enough it’s not to the detriment of the entire load,” she said.

And the regular Styrofoam pieces inside boxes can be really difficult to get rid of. Other than reusing it yourself —always promoted as the top choice— there is at least one location in Dane County that accepts it, Home Concepts at 2134 W. Beltline Highway (271-4663). Otherwise, it can be mailed to the Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers (AFPR) for the nominal cost of postage (it’s usually pretty light).

Overall, recycling everyday materials can be complicated, and it’s always changing. That’s why it’s a good idea to check Web sites such as Earth911.com, the AFPR (epspackaging.com) for up-to-date information and to check with your local municipality.

“Every community sets up its own program,” Morgan said. “It is important to check with their communities, and with their specific recycler.”

Upstate South Carolina Daily Journal: Green Up the Family’s Daily Routine

Filed under: Earth911 - December 24, 2009

By Jessica M. Sibley

While it’s easy to put a little green into the daily routine, parents with young children tend to cringe at the idea of changing things up.

The routine is already hectic enough, right?

For the New Year, many families are attempting to turn “green living” into a family-fun activity.

Jenna Matson, mother of four kids under the age of 10, decided recently that “green” means “game.”

“I have all boys, so they really get into it,” she said. “There are rewards involved, so what kid doesn’t love that? They are having fun; they are helping the environment and learning about why it’s important. We’ve been having a good time with it.”

Peggy Roland, self-proclaimed mother of a tree-hugging family, said there are a couple of things that can be done around the holidays to help the green efforts too.

“The first is Christmas tree recycling for wood chips or compost,”Roland said. “If the tree ends up in a landfill, it will degrade slowly if there’s not enough oxygen present. While that’s still a better option that PVC (artificial) trees, Mother Nature would get a kick out of you starting the new year with treecycling. If you visit www.earth911.com, you’ll find a local center that can help.”

When it comes to wrapping those holiday gifts, the Medical University of South Carolina conducted a study that found a 25 percent increase of waste output around the Christmas season.

Instead, try using packaging from previous years or the funny pages. Ask your kids to join in and get creative with packaging too. Boxes from other gifts and cloth bags make great blank slates for seasonal packaging.

When it comes to the entire family joining in, start the morning off with a race! Allow your children to time themselves in the shower, Matson said.

“It cuts down on the water bill and helps save water,” she said.

When it comes to recycling, allow the kids to help out.

“If parents recycle, allow kids to sort,” she added. “The family that recycles together stays together. Sometimes parents don’t realize how much children care. Going green is a lifestyle, so include your kids.”

What about those dreaded dishes? Matson said it’s best to split the work with your kids into stations.

“For every five dishes that are washed, dried and put away, each kid receives a special prize at their respective station,” she said. “Now, this isn’t to get confused with normal chores. I realize chores are important to complete without rewards, but this is about bypassing the dishwasher with the help of your kids and in the end, staying green. That certainly deserves some accolades.”

Yvonne Musafelli, local green author and enthusiast, said green can be achieved in these foundation steps.

“First, decide on your level of green,” she said. “Planning is always a great first step and living an alternative lifestyle is a huge change. How eco-friendly do you really want to go? If you just want to tinker in the idea for a bit, you can change out a few light bulbs and invest in caulking to cut down on wind drafts that cause electric bills to increase. Sometimes, these changes call for an initial investment.

“Next, set a budget. Choosing eco-friendly alternatives to traditional items is more expensive; there is no way around it. You will need to establish a yearly or monthly budget and stick with that.”

The benefits of changing habits, however, will pay off.

“This is my favorite part,” she said. “Set up a savings account. Changing your life to be more energy efficient will result in saving money. It is best to save that money for a rainy day or special purchase. Each month, place the savings you see from your changes into the bank account.”

And finally, when it comes to the whole family enjoying a chunk of green savings in the New Year, an across-the-board effort is key.

“Get the family on board,” she said. “If you are trying to cut back energy costs and fossil fuel consumption and the family is not coming along for the ride, so to speak, you may soon grow tired of the process. If the entire family makes a change and sees the benefit of that change, everyone will stick with it for the long haul.”

Holiday Green TIp: Recycle the Tree and Gift Wrap

Filed under: Earth911, Press Releases - December 22, 2009

Dallas, Texas—After the gifts have been unwrapped and the tree goes dark, what is to become of the wrapping paper strewn about and that tree covered in ornaments and tinsel?

Clean out the house for the approaching New Year by doing so the green way.

1. Recycle the tree

Fresh trees are easily recyclable and also the most common kind of tree for American households. Earth911.com offers a list of 4,000 recycling programs around the country. Contact your community waste management company to see if they offer curbside pick-up for trees or if they have set up drop-off locations.

Before you recycle the tree, make sure to do the following:

Flocked trees are not able to recycled and must be put into the garbage. However, artificial trees can be donated, given to charity or sold on Craigslist or Freecycle.

2. Recycle the wrapping paper

Remove ribbons and bows, saving the ones that are still in good shape for use next year, and take off all remaining bits of tape, staples and glue. Then, separate out any metallic or glitter-encrusted paper as none of the fancy stuff is recyclable. Then, throw the rest of the paper into your recycle bin. Next year, opt for fabric gift wrap ideas, reusable gift bags, and recycled materials.

Have a happy holiday and make sure the earth is left a little happier than you left it this New Year!

Red Bluff Daily News: Positive Point: Three Rs for the Planet

Filed under: Earth911 - December 21, 2009

By Richard Mazzucchi

I am so thankful that environmentalists know how to spell when we present our three Rs of sustainability as Reduce, Reuse and Recycle how refreshing when contrasted with reading, writing, and arithmetic.

I entreat everyone to take the environmental Rs to heart, and endeavor to practice them daily in the year ahead. Doing so will make a monumental difference in the resources you need, money you have, and waste to dispose of.

If everyone in the county jumps on board, we can have a dramatic impact on the costs of garbage collection and landfill operation, and utilize the money garnered from recycling aluminum cans and plastic soda containers to purchase what few new items we may require.

Tehama County is already one of the best performers in this regard, having achieved with the help of Green Waste and the operators of the Tehama County landfill a diversion and reduction rate of more than 50 percent, meaning that more than half of what would otherwise have been added to the landfill was saved through source reduction and diversion, aka recycling.

Several special events are being conducted to help residents divert electronic equipment and tires from the landfill at no cost. In addition to curbside pickup of recyclable material many local recyclers provide convenient opportunities for residents to pocket cash by redeeming their aluminum and CRV containers while diverting other material from the landfill.

It is a sad state of affairs that our Governor has suspended nearly all the support for these recycling centers and raided their coffers to help balance the state budget.

Hopefully the stupidity of this action will become apparent before our local recyclers will have to further suspend operation and lay-off the dedicated workers that help us maintain a sustainable lifestyle. I encourage you to contact Assemblyman Jim Nielson and the governor’s office to restore full funding of recycling activities and apply for stimulus funds to further enhance sustainable practices in the North State.

With respect to the R for reduce, take the time to adopt methods that diminish the quantity of material you use and waste.

Things as simple as using washrags in place of paper towels, cutting purchase of foods with wasteful packaging, and bringing your own bags for shopping can make a significant difference. Consider sharing magazines and periodicals with your neighbors and avoid styrofoam containers, plates, and cups like the H1N1 virus, as these cheap and convenient items are an environmental and disposal nightmare.

Reuse or re-purposing of items is the best practice of all by substituting an already produced material to offset the need for new raw material and the energy for fabrication and transportation. Before purchasing new items check out the Salvation Army, Goodwill Industries, The Hospice Store, The Hope Chest, Sherry’s Antiques, yard sales and other second hand stores for usable and inexpensive items.

Using your ingenuity to craft home-made solutions for new needs and desires can save you a lot of money and engender a sense of satisfaction for your cleverness.

Let me conclude by providing a list of useful websites for further information on the three Rs for the planet. The Tehama County Landfill has a great site with information about disposal costs, locations, and recycling centers see www.tehamacountylandfill. com. There is a convenient one-stop source of information to help you find places to discard of most anything by zip-code see http://earth911.com.

You can post items on Craig’s list at no cost that may be useful to someone else see www.craiglist.org. By using these resources and making the effort to faithfully use the three Rs as you conduct your daily activities you can make the world a better place for yourself, your community, and indeed everything on the planet.

Richard Mazzucchi is a retired research engineer specializing in energy efficiency and renewable energy. He has travelled extensively and now makes his home in Los Molinos, where he is striving to manifest a sustainable and spiritual lifestyle. He can be reached at living-green@att.net.

WKYC-TV: Recycling Your Christmas Tree

Filed under: Earth911 - December 21, 2009

By Kim Wendel

If you bought a real Christmas tree this year, how are you planning to get rid of it after the holidays? Instead of sending it to the landfill, consider having it recycled it into wood chips for mulch or compost.

First, check with your local community to see if they recycle the  Christmas trees put out with the regular trash and garbage pick-up.

With Christmas trees, timing is of the essence because most recycling programs only last a few weeks into January.

If your curbside collection program accepts trees, it likely only does so for two or three weeks, because it often requires a separate truck to haul the extra waste.

Many yard waste facilities operate under special hours in January, as there isn’t a lot of yard waste to compost when trees are bare and there’s snow on the ground.

You can search by cities across the country for tree recycling programs by going online to www.Earth911.com or clicking on the local links below.

Click on the link below to see some tree recycling services from Avon to Bainbridge.

Tree recycling around Northeast Ohio

Click on the link below for tree recycling services around Akron, Summit and Stark counties and other areas nearby.

Tree recycling around Akron

Willing to take your tree to a recycling center? In Lake County, the Lake Metroparks has convenient Christmas Tree recycling/drop off locations.

Trees will be chipped and the chips composted or used at Lake Metroparks Farmpark.

Here are the recycling/drop off locations:

For directions to any park, click here.

For questions call (440) 639-7275.

10 Reasons to Fix Things That Break from FixItClub.com

Filed under: Earth911, Press Releases - December 19, 2009

Willits, CA—Stuff breaks! Appliances, furniture, furnaces, toys, garage door openers, and everything else in the home will eventually break. And, in this tight economy, buying replacement stuff isn’t always an option. Before replacing broken things, consider ten good reasons to figure out how to fix it.

1. Save money by not having to replace things that can easily be fixed. It might just need a fuse, a new electrical cord, or a screw tightened.

2. Buy better things that will last longer than disposables because they probably can be fixed if they ever do break.

3. Reduce the environmental impact of having a replacement manufactured from raw materials and transported from a far-off land.

4. Learn how to recycle the things that can’t be fixed.

5. Build new skills and discover the satisfaction of fixing something that’s broken.

6. Spend some quality time with kids fixing things together — and teaching them a good lesson in economics.

7. Keep that family clock or other heirloom running longer.

8. Justify the cost of expanding the household tool collection.

9. Impress a spouse, partner, and others with new-found fixing skills.

10. Be a smarter consumer by knowing how things work and what to do if they don’t.

Experts agree. “Repairing the items you have in your home is an excellent way to reduce your eco-impact,” says Jennifer Berry of Earth911.com. “And the benefits aren’t simply limited to your carbon footprint or waste output. You’ll also save money in the long run, which everyone can appreciate during these economic times.”

FixItClub.com is a free online resource with more than 180 illustrated Fix-It Guides on repairing everything from air conditioners to zippers. Popular how-to author Dan Ramsey’s website includes simple instructions and tips on troubleshooting and repairing or recycling household things that break. The site’s easy-to-use search engine quickly finds the appropriate Fix-It Guide for any household problem. The Fix-It Club’s goal is to help fix the economy and the environment — one repair at a time.

Discovery News: Untangling Broken Holiday Lights

Filed under: Earth911 - December 16, 2009

By Alyssa Danigelis

No. No no no. I sat on the floor holding the half-lit strand of incandescent holiday lights and wondered what to do. Thankfully, a little company in Michigan is offering a green solution to this conundrum.

Even pulling a plastic bag filled with the questionable lights from the closet seemed wrong. The strand still didn’t work after I swapped out the offending broken tiny bulb. Sure it might take about 10 years to break even on an LED strand investment, but I’ve had this heavy incandescent loop since 2003, when I taped it around a doorway in a burst of holiday spirit. And now look at it.

The little recycling diagram that city sent me doesn’t say anything about holiday lights. Trashing them isn’t an option. Environmental LED, a lighting products company based in Saline, Michigan, near Ann Arbor, says that if you send them your incandescent lights they’ll recycle them. For free. The lights are then broken down into their individual components for use. The company is even throwing in a 15 percent-off coupon for new LED ones. Several other companies recycle the strands, too–search Earth911.com for “string lights.”

Excuse me while I go get this package ready to send to Michigan. This is Queens, after all, and my half-strand won’t cut it.

Philadelphia Inquirer: GreenSpace: Prudent Battery Users Will Charge and Charge Again

Filed under: Earth911 - December 14, 2009

By Sandy Bauers

At first, I didn’t believe the statistic.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that 40 percent of all household batteries —as in AAs and AAAs— are bought during the holiday season.

Further, this blitz of battery buying bumps sales to three billion batteries a year.

How could we possibly need so many, I wondered.

Then I visited a toy store.

Batteries keep digital scores for games. They make trucks roll. They are apparently essential for toys that teach, dolls that croon, and even piggy banks that tally the take.

How depressing.

No longer do stuffed toys just cuddle. Now they can all but hold conversations. Tickle Me Elmo (three AAs) shakes with laughter and says “that tickles!” when you press his stomach.

Perhaps the most appalling toy of all was a Barbie “Shopping Time” cash register (three AAs). As if today’s tykes weren’t getting into the consumer/shopping thing soon enough, it was aimed at children as young as 3.

But with all this sputtering, perhaps I digress. The point is that tons of batteries are used, and most of the ones sold today are alkaline batteries that are used until they die, then thrown away.

They’re easy and convenient, to be sure, but also wasteful.

And expensive, says Lester Lave, professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. In this region, power from the wall outlet costs about 15 cents a kilowatt hour, compared with 60 cents to a dollar for portable power from a battery.

And no battery is truly green, he says. All have materials that are somewhat toxic.

But there are options. In fact, so many that exploring them can be dizzying.

Two Web sites present a geeky wonderland about the science of batteries and the relative merits of alkaline, nickel metal hydride and lithium.

One is www.greenbatteries.com, which Nevada’s Curtis Randolph created after losing his enthusiasm for his job and becoming passionate about batteries instead.

The other —www.batteryuniversity.com— is run by a Canadian manufacturer of battery analyzers and chargers.

Bottom line: Rechargeable is better.

For Randolph, the logic is simple. Virtually all batteries are made overseas and of roughly similar materials, eco-wise, so it’s better to use ones you can juice up again and again – hundreds of times – instead of throwing them out after one discharge cycle.

More precisely, an independent study carried out for Uniross – which, yes, makes rechargeable batteries – found that disposables had 32 times more impact on the environment than rechargeables.

All of this adds a new “r” to the familiar eco-mantra. Now, we need to reduce, reuse, recycle, and recharge.

Better still, solar charging gizmos now exist, although I’ve only seen them online and in “green” stores, not the big-box places. Insert battery, leave on sunny windowsill and voila! What a fun way to get into solar power!

Problem is, Randolph says, most solar chargers are just that: gizmos. They can take days to get a battery to full charge. Better solar chargers exist —and he sells them— but they’re upwards of $70.

Then again, if you’re not tickling Elmo every two seconds, so what if recharging takes a while?

Don’t forget that solar energy is pollution-free, Lave points out, while in this region, about two-thirds of the electricity from your wall outlet comes from coal.

The final step in greening battery use is to recycle them.

As usual, California is leading the way. It mandates recycling for all battery types.

In this region, opportunities for recycling disposable alkaline batteries are limited, but a few places exist. Check http://earth911.com.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association says that alkalines are innocuous in landfills —they no longer contain mercury— and that recycling them imposes a net negative on the environment when compared with landfilling because there’s really nothing of value in them.

This offers another reason for going with rechargeables: Because they contain valuable metals such as nickel and lithium, recycling companies want them, and many household hazardous-waste events collect them.

The Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp., an industry group, lists at www.call2recycle.org businesses that accept rechargeables.

Plugging in my semi-rural zip code, I got 15 locations within 10 miles.

Still, I wonder if we really need all these batteries, and what we are teaching our children in the process.

Back at the toy store, I paused to think about this in front of one toy in particular, powered by three AAs.

It was a Tonka trash and recycling truck.

Phoenixville News: Recycle Your Electronics for Extra Spending Money

Filed under: Earth911 - December 12, 2009

By Sarah Peppel

Does your holiday wish list include gadgets, gizmos or electronics galore? There are so many new choices and the options are exploding which begs the bigger question, what happens to the old cell phones, aging gaming systems and outdated laptops?

Clean out your junk drawers because now you can make cash or at least contribute to a good cause by recycling your old electronics. EPA.gov lists companies who offer a couple of different options. One option includes finding one of the many stores that recycle the technology and sends it out to good causes.

Radio Shack is among the companies who will accept cell phones and send them to the 911 Cell Phone Bank where the phones are refurbished and given out to law enforcement individuals who in turn use their discretion in distributing to those in need.

Recipients range from victims of spousal abuse to the elderly who are only allowed 911 calls on the refurbished phones. Radio Shack has also instituted a Trade-In Program in which items of particular value can be traded for credit in the store. Details can be viewed online or discussed with a Radio Shack employee.

AT&T also offers the program “Reuse & Recycle” in which you can drop unwanted wireless phones, smartphones, accessories and batteries* (regardless of the manufacturer or carrier) at any AT&T dealer or download a pre-paid mailing label. Thru their program Cell Phones for Soldiers, funds generated through the recycling process buy prepaid phone cards for active duty military members needing to connect with family.

More and more companies are offering incentives to recycle such as Sprint, Staples, Best Buy and Office Depot. Earth911.com allows you to enter your zip code to find recycling programs and stores near you. Many of these stores also send out their phones to the 911 Cell Phone Bank but each store has a variety of programs for different devices and incentives that can change throughout the year. Do your research on each outlet and make sure your devices are truly being refurbished or disposed of properly.

Though many of the phone companies are partnering with the U.S. EPA’s “Plug-In to eCycling” program to recycle old electronics, Sprint or Nextel is one of the few (if not only) cell phone companies currently offering a buyback program in which you can get credit from a previously owned Sprint phone towards a new Sprint phone, often ranging as high as $50 per phone. Such offers help both the consumer and the recycling effort.

On the cash end, BuyMyTronics.com is one site that allows you to send your item in for cash rewards based on condition and testing by the company. You can get cash or a donation sent to the charity of your choice. MyBoneYard.com also offers rewards on some items but allows you to donate within a variety of categories.

As the recycling of electronics becomes more popular, more entrepreneurs are getting into the business of buying and reselling refurbished technology and/or pulling apart the devices for their components. A quick search online found sites like SellYourCell.com, CellForCash.com, and Gazelle.com which offer money on more than just your cell phone. An old stand-by, of course, is E-bay where items are sold in a variety of conditions.

With all technology donations or exchanges, make sure to wipe clean any personal data before the items leaves your possession. If you are giving up a cell phone, remove the SIM card if applicable and wipe clean all memorized numbers or other information. For a computer, lost data can be retrieved so experts often suggest destroying a hard drive before disposal. Also, be clear in your description to get the best results.

Enjoy your new gadgets but get rid of the old ones in a responsible way — to reduce clutter and potentially help good causes that need your support.

E-mail questions or comments to Sarah at sarah@peppel.com or send me a tweet at www.twitter.com/DIYFrugal. For more money saving tips, check out www.diyfrugal.com.

San Diego Union-Tribune: Answers to Your Green Questions

Filed under: Earth911 - December 12, 2009

By Jennifer Davies

Being green isn’t always the easiest task. The good news is there are plenty of Web sites out there that can help make the job a little easier:

Recycling. Not sure about the what, where or how of recycling? Your first stop should be Earth911.com. The Web site has a great searchable database of recycling centers. Simply type in what you want to recycle and it will list locations near you that take that particular item.

Labeling. With more products touting their so-called green benefits, it’s hard to separate the real deal from the pretenders. To help cut through the confusion, head on over to Consumer Reports’ greenerchoices.org/eco-labels. You can search by label claim or by product area, and you can also find out more about certifying organizations. For instance, according the site, the term “biocompatible” is virtually meaningless and is not verified by any agency.

How-to. Looking for tips on how to green up every aspect of your life? Try treehugger.com. The site has a section filled with ways to be more eco-conscious in every aspect of your life, from dating to preparing cocktails to exercising to investing.

Buying guides. If you want recommendations on which products to buy, greenerchoices.com and treehugger.com have helpful guides. Another good resource is thegreenguide.com, which is run by National Geographic. The site compares the eco-friendliness of a wide range of products, including computers, moisturizers, water filters and light bulbs. For instance, the site rates the Apple MacBook Air MC233 as your greenest laptop choice. It also breaks down what you should consider before you buy.

Go local. If you want to find out about the latest beach cleanup or other environmental happenings in the county, check out I Love a Clean San Diego’s Web site at ilacsd.org. The city of San Diego’s Environmental Services Department Web site (sandiego.gov/environmental-services) also has plenty of information about local recycling programs as well as energy-saving tips and recommendations on how to live more green.

Clarksville Leaf Chronicle: Real Christmas Trees Best for Environment

Filed under: Earth911 - December 12, 2009

By Rusty Evans

At the end of every Christmas season, various items find their way to local landfills. One of these items is a staple of Christmas—the Christmas tree.

To make your Christmas greener this year, Wayne Clatterbuck, a forestry professor at the University of Tennessee, has some suggestions that will keep your holidays merry, bright, and green:

Clatterbuck suggests that consumers start by buying a real tree. “Artificial Christmas trees are not bio-degradable or recycle-friendly. Many choose-and-cut trees are available locally at family farms.

“The trees are fresh, fragrant and dollars are retained in the community.”

For a list of Christmas tree producers in Tennessee, go to www.picktnproducts.org/trees/cmastrees.html.

When Christmas ends, Clatterbuck reminds consumers not to throw away their trees. “There are many alternative options for recycling your Christmas tree,” Clatterbuck said. He adds that, “Many communities offer Christmas tree recycling programs.”

The Web site www.earth911.com offers a search engine that will locate places near you that offer Christmas tree recycling. The trees are usually shredded and chipped to be used as mulch for gardens, parks, and trails.

Christmas trees can be used for more than holding ornaments. After Christmas, Clatterbuck suggests placing your tree outside and using it as a birdfeeder. Utilize orange slices, peanut butter, suet and seed to attract birds. They will come for the food and stay for the shelter in the branches.

When placed in ponds and waterways, Christmas trees provide excellent habitat, refuge and feeding areas for aquatic life. They can also serve as effective barriers and filters to lessen soil erosion from adjacent lands into streams, much like a slit fence used during construction activities.

McKinney Courier-Gazette: Around Town: From Pokemon to Christmas

Filed under: Earth911 - December 9, 2009

Tree Recycling

Curbside Christmas tree recycling pick-up in McKinney

Residents can drop off at two locations starting Dec. 26

Decorating a Christmas tree in anticipation of presents underneath is a popular holiday custom. Recycling non-artificial trees after the holiday season is becoming another popular tradition. According to Earth911.com, about 93 percent of the 33 million real Christmas trees sold in North America each year are recycled through more than 4,000 available recycling programs.

The City of McKinney encourages residents to recycle their trees instead of throwing them away and offers free curbside pick-up or two drop-off locations. By recycling yard waste like Christmas trees into compost, the city is able to reduce its dependence on landfills and create cleaner and greener community.

McKinney will provide two locations where residents can drop Christmas trees for recycling. Bring trees that are clean and free of decorations to Al Ruschhaupt Soccer Complex at 1986 Park View Ave. or to the water tower on the corner of Alma and El Dorado in Gabe Nesbitt Community Park any time starting Dec. 26.

McKinney and IESI offer curbside pick-up for Christmas trees, poinsettias, natural wreaths and garlands as part of the city’s green waste recycling program starting on Jan. 4. The Green waste program runs every week on your trash day and will pick up trees as yard waste. All ornaments and lights must be removed before placing the tree next to the recycling and waste bins for pick-up. Place poinsettias, non-artificial wreaths and garlands, in paper lawn bags that will also be picked up on the regular trash day.

‘Tis (Almost) the Season to Treecycle

Filed under: Earth911, Press Releases - December 9, 2009

The City of Willcox will participate in the Christmas Treecycle Program. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and Earth 911 are proud to present this year’s ‘Tis the Season to Treecycle Program. For more information on the community’s Christmas tree recycling drop-off locations, visit Earth911.com web site or call Dawn Adame at 520-766-4213. This program is for city residents.

Detroit Free Press: Save Some Energy and Some Cash

Filed under: Earth911 - December 6, 2009

By Christina Hall

Compact fluorescent light bulbs offered at a discounted price and rebates for getting rid of old refrigerators are among the energy-efficient programs that were required to be in place last week by all Michigan utilities.

DTE Energy, Consumers Energy and other utilities statewide are offering discounts on CFL bulbs at participating retailers —cutting the price by at least half— but none took the controversial approach used by an Ohio electric utility.

Nearly 4 million bulbs reportedly are being warehoused by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. after a public outcry over its plans to deliver two CFL bulbs to each of its residential customers, then automatically charge them for the cost ($21.60) over three years. The utility now has to develop an alternative bulb program.

“That was never thought about here in Michigan,” said Teri Van Sumeren, manager of energy-efficient solutions for Consumers. “All of our programs will always be voluntary.”

The programs in Michigan were required by state law to save energy. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Energy announced $39 million for six states, including Michigan, for state-run, energy-efficient appliance rebate programs. Michigan’s portion is nearly $9.6 million and should provide more than 114,000 rebates.

Michigan Public Service Commission spokeswoman Judy Palnau said customers who don’t participate in the programs still will benefit as the state becomes more energy efficient thanks to folks who do. Most customers help pay for the programs through surcharges added to bills.

DTE and Consumers have special pricing for CFL bulbs at stores such as Aco Hardware, Costco and Meijer. Cost is about 99 cents per bulb. Van Sumeren said about 627,000 bulbs have been bought at the cheaper price through participating retailers since the end of July. The offer expires at the end of the year but may be available next year.

DTE spokesman Len Singer said 1.2 million bulbs have been sold since the program started in late August. It will continue until the end of the year or until the bulbs run out. The utility set a limit of about 2 million bulbs this year. Singer said the program is expected to continue next year.

CFL bulbs use up to 75% less energy than standard bulbs and last up to 10 times longer, but they contain a small amount of mercury that poses special disposal problems.

Related Information

Energy savings

Michigan utilities began offering customers energy-efficiency programs last week. Here are some of the residential programs offered by metro Detroit’s two major utilities, DTE Energy and Consumers Energy:

The Michigan Public Service Commission is compiling a list of programs for all utilities. Contact your local utility for information about available programs.

Bulb disposal

Compact fluorescent light bulbs, while much more energy efficient, contain a small amount of mercury—about the size of a period at the end of a sentence. Here are tips to safely clean up and dispose of broken bulbs.

Source: Michigan Department of Community Health

Katy Times: City No Longer Offering Paper, Plastic Recycling Services

Filed under: Earth911 - December 1, 2009

By Tracy Dang

The City of Katy is encouraging residents to support local schools and the newly built Waller County Recycling Center as they explore other recycling opportunities.

The city no longer offers paper and plastic recycling services and removed the bins on Franz Road on Nov. 20 due to the cost of the monthly rental.

The parks and recreation department benefits from profits made from the paper recycling, but it does not receive anything for plastic recycling.

Plastic recycling was being offered as a free service to residents until Abitibi Bowater Recycling recently announced it would begin assessing a $125 monthly service fee as well as a $190 charge for each trip to pick up the bins.

“(They) gave us a cost estimate of about $1,645 for eight trips during the month of November,” said Jamie Wolman, the city’s parks and recreation department’s community specialist. “That’s almost $120,000 a year. We don’t get any profits from it, and we don’t want to pass that along to the citizens.”

Still, the city said paper recycling is still available at local schools, including Katy and Hutsell Elementaries, Katy Junior High and Katy High School in the city limits.

“Please remember there are paper recycling bins at the local schools, which are a huge benefit to the schools,” the city said in a statement.

In addition, the Waller County Recycling Center, 32159 Morton Ranch Road just past the Houston Executive Airport between Katy and Brookshire, is being staffed by volunteers until the facility is fully operational starting Jan. 1.

“It is a nice facility with nice roads to get to it,” the city said. “The city encourages the citizens to utilize the facility when it opens.”

Residents can call 281-391-2009 for more information on collection times and accepted items.

The Houston-Galveston Area Council also provide an extensive list of regional recycling centers in the 13-county area. For a complete listing, collection times and accepted items, visit www.recycleinfo.org and click on “Recycle Drop-Off Centers” or go directly to www.recycleinfo.org/Documents/Centers.pdf.

The City of Houston’s 3-1-1 phone number and www.earth911.com also provides information about recycling opportunities.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Drive 
for ‘Zero
 Waste
 Zones’

Filed under: Earth911 - December 1, 2009

By Meridith Ford Goldman

Stop. Wait a minute. Did you just throw out that dryer lint? Think of all those Thanksgiving leftovers that might make your garden grow. Did you know that they —along with a multitude of other garbage such as coffee grounds, tea bags, yard trimmings and that apple core you were just about to throw away— are all compostable?

Steve Simon of Fifth Group Restaurants knows. In a move toward helping Midtown become a “zero waste zone,” he’s leading restaurants such as Ecco, La Tavola Trattoria and South City Kitchen into a new era of composting and recycling.

Industry and the private sector setting an example for saving the planet? Did we hear that right?

“As recently as a year ago,” Simon says, “I was the poster child for what not to do.”

Now, he and other members of the Green Foodservice Alliance (an environmental affiliate of the Georgia Restaurant Association, but working to be its own association) are helping restaurants and businesses work to produce “zero waste.” The goal is to recycle, compost, reuse spent grease for biofuel and donate consumable food to charity.

“I don’t know if the restaurant industry is the largest producer of trash, but it’s certainly a possibility,” Simon says. Ecco, Fifth Group’s flagship restaurant in Midtown specializing in Mediterranean cuisine, no longer dumps waste into the garbage—kitchen workers and servers scrape scraps into a compost heap. Fifth Group restaurants no longer have garbage Dumpsters on their restaurants’ sites.

So did big business suddenly get a conscience?

“I think what’s happened over the last few years is that the collaboration between government, the private sector and trade associations has helped get the kinks out of a very kinked-up system,” says Holly Elmore, the founder and executive director of the alliance. Ten years ago, just getting a trash or recycling hauler to come to your business on a regular schedule was a “nightmare,” according to Simon. Now, entrepreneurs such as Farmer D Organics are actually making money from trash and waste.

The bottom line was a motivating factor. “When businesses in Georgia, particularly Atlanta, started losing conventions because the city and state aren’t perceived as ‘green,’ it got business owners’ attention,” Simon says. “It’s really an ‘oh, by the way, this is the right thing to do’ kind of thing.”

Trash as a moneymaking investment aside, why are composting and recycling so important?

Well, let’s go back to environmental protection 101: landfill use would be tops on the punch list. Producing less waste creates smaller landfills. Composting and recycling properly are the way to start. Methane emissions at landfills are contributing factors to global warming, and Americans, according to the EPA’s Web site, produce 4.4 pounds of garbage per person, per day—a figure that has nearly doubled since 1960. Simon’s research estimates that 80 percent of what’s in our landfills might have value—in other words, it could be recycled for profit.

So what can this urban tale teach the average consumer? First, it’s up to you to “take responsibility and learn,” Elmore says. Don’t expect your overworked local government or municipality to lead the way.

“Know your city’s plan and regulations. The last thing we want is for contamination to occur in single stream recycling [all recyclables in one bin]—one mistake, and the whole bin could end up in the landfill,” Elmore explains.

She recommends using a compost tumbler (available at Farmer D Organics and most Whole Foods Markets) for composting, and stresses the importance of proper disposal of kitchen grease. “Don’t pour your grease down the drain!” Elmore exclaims.

Follow the restaurants’ lead and recycle it by storing it in a plastic container, then finding a source in your area such as Green Grease, Inc., a business in Clarkston that has just begun consumer-based programs for dropping off kitchen oils for recycling. Entrepreneurs Todd Williams and Warren Brawley will provide a plastic recycling bin for your used cooking oils for $7, and arrange when to pick it up based on the amount of oil generated. Or you can drop it off at Green Grease in a plastic container. Either way, it’s better than eventually throwing it in the trash.

“Everytime you buy something,” says Elmore, “you really should be thinking about how you’re eventually going to dispose of it.”

Not all garbage is suitable for consumer composting. Recycling and composting regulations differ. Know your city and county’s regulations. For more information, go to www.georgia.uscity.net
/Recycling_Centers or www.earth911.com or www.gacompost.org. Contact Green Grease at 678-754-4887 or 404-447-2217.