Why Should I Recycle - Articles - Zimbio

Curbside Recycling Tips

Thu, 20 Jun 2008 16:09:00 GMT

posted by callmekelly
I was watching Living with Ed on the Green Channel and they mentioned that we should remove caps from water bottles because, not only are they not recyclable, but the whole bottle may be tossed if the cap is left on because the workers won't take the time to take them off. Astonishing! Why? I don't know. However, it is more than upsetting to know that it may have been a waste of time for me to have recycled bottles, forgetting to take the caps off. So, take those caps off people!

Same apparently goes for the lids to glass jars, though I am unable to recycle my glass curbside. So I have to take it to a recycling center.

Don't forget to rinse the recyclables out because non-water liquids can contaminate other things in your bin, rendering them unrecyclable. Also, if you don't rinse them, they could attract ants and other bugs. Nobody wants that.

Here are some other dos and don'ts, myths and facts, tips and tricks, or whatever you want to call them, about recycling:

If you leave your open bin out in the rain, paper may become soggy to a point that it can no longer be recycled. I'm not real sure what to do about that considering that it truly rains every recycling day here lately. If I put a tarp over it, they probably wouldn't take it because the people who pick up the recycling here are not the friendliest of people I'm sorry to say.

Try and collapse any boxes so more can fit within your bin. I collect recycling from family members who don't have curbside recycling, so one bin is never enough. If your bin is overflowing, then you can purchase other bins -or- you can just throw the extras in a cardboard box beside your bin. Free and easy!

You can't recycle plastic bags along with your curbside plastics #1 and #2 though most bags are #2 plastics, because the bags get caught up in the equipment. Thus, you need to take them to Wal-Mart or other stores with receptacles for plastic bags. Of course, you shouldn't be using many plastic bags anyway. Canvas bags can be bought for $1 most places now, so there's no excuse.

Shredded paper cannot be recycled with other curbside recycling because it's too easily sorted in with other recyclables, such as glass. Instead, a good idea might be to put it into your compost bin.

On a different note, but still recycling related, thanks to Be Thrifty Like Us for their tip about saving scrap metal and taking it to the scrap yard for cash! Frugal and green--my favorite combo!

There are tons of companies who will buy plastics in bulk as well. I'm looking more into that as we speak and will post more on that soon.

You know, in my neighborhood, we're only allowed 2 bags of trash unless we want to buy tags for the others. Before we started recycling, this was a problem. Luckily, now recycling keeps us from having to buy those extra tags. Yet another way recycling helps.

Good to be Green Part 2 : Get Paid to Recycle

Tue, 28 May 2008 15:00:00 GMT

posted by jquintua
We're back on track this week with the 2nd part to our small series "Good to Be Green". If you missed the 1st part, you can follow along here.

Last week we discussed The Why's of going green. This week, let's talk about The How to's. One of the most important & easiest ways to start is to recycle:

Definition of Recycle: taking a product or material at the end of its useful life and turning it into a usable raw material to make another product.

There are 4 main Categories to recycling : Curbside Recycling, Composting, Electronics & Gargage Recyclables.

*Curbside Recycling is when you place your items such as cans,plastics,bottles & papers out on the curb for pick up.

*Composting is nature's process of recycling decomposed organic materials into a rich soil known as compost. When you compost, you are returning nutrients back into the dirt.

A Benefit of Compost :
You'll get healthy plants from the rich, fertile soil that look better & grow better!

*Electronics that are older should be disposed of because they often contain dangerous elements such as lead and mercury that can contaminate the soil and water supply.

Some electronics you can donate such as cell phones & old computers. For more info, see here .

*In the garage, items such as paint & used motor oil are recyclable too!

There are many programs out there that are available for you that offer incentives and/or rewards programs. One such program is Recycle Bank where you can earn valuable rewards for recycling .

With Recycle bank, Just toss all of your recyclables into your recycling cart, with no sorting needed. When you sign up, you'll receive a special recycling bin that has a Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) chip ) embedded into your family’s recycling cart. This chip is used to record the weight, then converts it to points, and credits that amount directly to your account. You can then redeem those points for discounts and rewards at hundreds of participating businesses. You'll earn 2.5 RecycleBank points for each pound of recyclable materials.

How Recycle Bank works: 3 Step Process

1.Recycle: Place all your recyclable materials into one cart for curbside pick up
2.Record: Carts have an identification tag that is recorded by the recycling truck.
3.Reward: The amount recycled is converted into RecycleBank Points, which you can use to order rewards.

And one of their partners happens to be CVS where you can use your recycle bank awards at CVS!!

For a list of areas that participate in this program see here. Unfortunately my area is not participating as of yet but hopefully it will soon! I would love to earn more money to spend at CVS,lol!!

Staples offers $3 back through the Staples Rewards Program toward a future purchase of ink or toner when HP, Lexmark™ or original Dell cartridges are returned to the retail stores for recycling.

Through the InkDrop service, they make it easy for customers to always have the ink they need. When a cartridge runs out, customers simply drop a new one in the printer and mail in the empty cartridge using the prepaid shipping materials. You'll get a replacement automatically, and all shipping is free.

Recycle Rewards School Program offers schools a way to earn money by collecting used inkjet and laser printer cartridges and cell phones and donating to the school. You can download free posters to promote the fundraiser!

These are just a few programs out there. There are many more that are atate specific so call your local county office for more information on any programs they may have to offer.

Do you know of any other rewards programs out there? We would love to know!!

Bottles reborn as HP printer cartridges

Thu, 1 Feb 2008 10:38:01 GMT

posted by Greenbang

Greenbang likes the cheery, chirpy government recycling adverts voiced by Jane Horrocks. “Recycle,” says perky Jane. “The possibilities are endless!” A nice antidote to the scary doomladen prophecies of environmental Armageddon that Greenbang is more used to.

Recycling a glass bottle, says Horrocks, saves enough energy to power a washing machine for 10 minutes. But there’s now even more stuff you can do with your recycled bottles: HP has made an “engineering breakthrough” — that’s what they call it — to enable the use of post-consumer recycled plastics in the production of new Original HP inkjet print cartridges.

More than 200 million cartridges have been manufactured using the process thus far. HP used more than 5 million pounds of recycled plastic in its inkjet cartridges last year, and the company is committed to using twice as much in 2008.

In addition to closing the design loop, using recycled content saves energy and keeps plastic out of landfills – since first piloting the process, HP has used enough recycled plastic to fill more than 200 tractor trailers.

According to HP, the amount of recycled material in an inkjet cartridge can be between 70 and 100 percent and you can even recycle the little blighter again once you’re done. Greenbang wonders how many times you can put inkjets through the recycling process before they give up the ghost? Or do they run on and on, destined to survive the end of the world with the cockroaches?

November 15th is America Recycles Day

Wed, 16 Nov 2006 06:30:58 GMT

posted by aperna1
For Immediate Release: November 14, 2006
Contact: Bonnie Smith, 215-814-5543

PHILADELPHIA -- November 15th is America Recycles Day. Each year
our country produces almost 240 million tons of municipal solid waste,
equivalent to nearly 4 ½ pounds of waste per person each day, most of
which is recyclable.

When we recycle, we conserve energy and natural resources, reduce
air and water pollution and reduce greenhouse gases. By using our
resources wisely, we strengthen our environment and our economy.
Thousands of products are recyclable, especially paper, yard waste,
motor oil, tires, plastics, glass, batteries, building materials and
obsolete electronic products.

In 2005, recycling and composting activities prevented almost 78
million tons of material from ending up in landfills and incinerators.
Today, this country recycles 32 percent of its waste, a rate that has
almost doubled during the past 15 years.

Durable goods (tires, appliances, and furniture) and nondurable
goods (paper and clothing) account for several million tons of the solid
waste stream. While most Americans are helping by separating their
trash, there are many more steps you can take to make our communities
cleaner, healthier places to live.

Here is how each of us can make a difference by routinely
reducing, re-using and recycling materials at home and throughout our
communities--and encouraging our neighbors to do the same:

1. Buy recycled products. When we buy recycled products, we create
an economic incentive for recyclable materials to be collected,
manufactured, and marketed as new products.

2. Purchase durable, long lasting goods.

3. Re-use items by repairing them, donating them to charity and
community groups, or selling them also reduces waste.

4. Use a product more than once, either for the same purpose or for a
different purpose. Reusing, when possible, is preferable to
recycling because the item does not need to be reprocessed before
it can be used again.

5. Reduce your packaging: buy bulk or concentrated products when you
can.

6. Another form of recycling is composting. Composting is the
controlled biological decomposition of organic matter, such as
food and yard wastes, into humus, a soil-like material. Composting
is nature's way of recycling organic wastes into new soil used in
vegetable and flower gardens, landscaping, and many other
applications.

You may also want to add this link for local information on
recycling. http://www.epa.gov/reg3wcmd/solidwaste.htm.http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/reuters/brand/SIG=pd7i95;_ylt=ArpRFht2CjiIV40K9BwXobRn.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMTFqaXBkBHNlYwNwcnZkbGluaw--/*http://www.reuters.com

Recycle Your Toothbrush

Wed, 30 Oct 2008 06:38:15 GMT

posted by Wildlily44

Toothbrush recycling

Sounds a bit icky, doesn't it? It's reported that over 25,000 tons of toothbrushes end up in landfills in America each year. It's something we don't think too much about - we use them, we throw them away. Here's a couple of ideas for minimizing waste:

a) Replaceable head toothbrushes. By weight, the head of a toothbrush is the lightest part, the bristles may wear out quickly, but the handle lasts a long time. There are brands of toothbrushes now available that have replaceable heads.

b) Keep the worn out brush for cleaning, they are great for scrubbing in between tiles, cleaning car componentry and for knocking off dust that's caked onto other items.

Do you have other toothbrush recycling tips? Please add them to this article for everyone's benefit! :) Michael Bloch
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