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Archive for the ‘Recycling’ Category

When you think about Recycling, what do you think of first? Which aspects of Recycling are important, which are essential, and which ones can you take or leave? You be the judge.

It may come as a surprise to you, but there is a really good chance that the town or city you live in offer a service you may not have heard of; an energy audit. Cities and towns all over the country have started doing this, where an auditor comes to your home and goes through your living space and helps you to see where you could make changes that will not only help you conserve energy but will help you save money! What a bonus it is to save money by doing the right thing.

There are so many changes you can make in your home to impact the way we recycle and in the end, will help you keep some of the money in your pocket.

Having recycling bins set up so that you can properly sort the items that are recycled is a great first step. That activity alone can cut down greatly on the items that end up in the landfills rather than where they can be recycled.

Keeping your televisions, DVDs, stereos and computers plugged in to a power strip or surge protector rather than directly into the wall and then turning off the power strip will cut back greatly on power “leaks” that can cost you money on your utility bill. Being aware to turn these items off, is the first step, and then having them plugged into the power strip will just further the action for saving money and energy.

Once you begin to move beyond basic background information, you begin to realize that there’s more to Recycling than you may have first thought.

Don’t leave a light on when you walk out of a room and no one else is in there. And have you changed your light bulbs from the traditional ones to the compact flourescent kind? Did you know that the newer lights use 75% less energy to run and they will out live a traditional light bulb by up to 10 years? Make the changes that need to be made in your home.

Don’t run the dishwasher or the washing machine unless they are full. It’s a waste of energy and water to run a cycle through the dishwasher when it’s only half full. Don’t turn it on until you have a full load to wash and then just wash them all at once.

Use microfiber cloths for cleaning all kinds of surfaces like furniture, counters and sinks. The bonus is that these items can be tossed into the washer and are perfectly able to be reused again and again. Think of the savings in paper towels alone! Talk about a win-win; if we use fewer paper towles, then that means fewer trees need to be cut to make them in the first place. How can we go wrong with thinking like that?

Take shorter showers and see if you can pick up a shower head that is a water-conserving item, already in place, that will save you money and you’ll never even notice the difference during your shower.

There is so much you can do in the efforts to recycle, just be sure you’re doing your part.

There’s no doubt that the topic of Recycling can be fascinating. If you still have unanswered questions about Recycling, you may find what you’re looking for in the next article.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his new GVO affiliate site: GVO

bottles and more.

Once you’re ready to begin, spread the word about your school’s recycling program. You may post attractive, eye-catching signs around the premises of your school, which contain important information about the location of the recycling bins. It would also be great if you use different colors and shapes for your recycling bins, and also stick shiny, attention-grabbing labels or

stickers to each container, so that the students and school staff will know what to throw in each of them.

Although some people may get confused about where to put which item at the start, most of them will probably get used to it in the long run. Aside from initiating a recycling campaign, it would also help if you start an environment club in your school, so more students and staff will be enticed to help oversee the campaign. The environment club could also serve as a proper forum for discussing proper waste disposal and other pressing environmental concerns in your community.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his new GVO affiliate site: GVO

According to recent figures, the United States is considered as the number 1 garbage-producing country in the planet. The Environmental Protection Agency or the EPA, states that the United States has 10,000 municipal and 3,000 urban landfills. The sad thing is that most of these landfills are tightly sealed, to prevent the garbage from leaching and contaminating nearby rivers, lakes, streams or seas.

The tight sealing of these landfills though effectively inhibits the natural degradation of organic wastes. What happens once our landfills reach full capacity? Could recycling help provide us with answers to our looming garbage crisis?

How The Recycling Movement is Picking Up Steam Today

Because environment advocates and government planners worry about the threat of a full-blown garbage crisis, more and more programs are now being implemented to prevent the overflowing of our landfills. More states and counties have now adopted a wide array of recycling and waste recovery programs.

Some US states are already far ahead of the rest when it comes to implementing recycling programs. In Portland, Oregon for example, recycling bins are in every street corner, while in Albuquerque, New Mexico, there is a clear lack of curbside recycling programs and facilities. Some US states are also offering used electronics recycling programs. Cities like Gallup, New Mexico have recycling initiatives where residents are paid one cent for each pound of plastic bottle they turn-over for recycling.

Positive Recycling Facts And Figures To Cheer About

If you don’t have accurate details regarding Recycling, then you might make a bad choice on the subject. Don’t let that happen: keep reading.

The last time the US Environment Protection Agency released data regarding

The national recycling data was way back in 2005. While the current figures have yet to be released, the 2005 data has indicated a positive improvement for recycling and materials recovery. Here are some positive developments to cheer about:

? An estimated 8,550 curbside recycling programs are now operating in the United States, and these recycling and composting programs have recovered 32.1 percent, or 79 million tons of material solid waste. The total number though does not include data from hazardous, industrial and construction waste.

? The level of composting, or the process of recycling leave, grass and o

ther organic items, rose from 3,227 in 2003, to 3,470 in 2005 alone.

? From 2005 alone, 50 percent of all paper products in the country was recycled, which amounted to 42 million tons of recycled paper. Container and packaging recycling has also increased by forty percent.

The amount of solid waste ending up in US landfills has also decreased by 9 million tons from 1990 to 2005, and the number continues to decline each year. While the not-so-recent figures may be encouraging, The EPA and other environment groups still contend that the US still needs to do more to fully address the issues of garbage and waste disposal.

When word gets around about your command of Recycling facts, others who need to know about Recycling will start to actively seek you out.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his new GVO affiliate site: GVO

Recycling is an activity that’s long been used by many societies. During these times where a lot of people worry about environmental issues such as pollution, global warming and the depletion of natural resources, recycling has become a way of life for many people. Many materials can be recycled, from paper, glass, metal, aluminum, clothing, textiles, electronic goods, to light bulbs and even used water.

Why Recycling Used Water is Important

Water recycling is primarily done to turn back dirty water into something that’s useful. While the thought of using recycled water may be offensive to some, recycled water actually has a lot of uses. It can be used for watering wetlands, crops, as well as for other industrial uses. If properly treated, recycled water can actually be used again as drinking water.

Reusing or recycling water means that you’re saving money on your water bills, because you’re using less of it, and also means that you’re actually using less fresh water for watering your lawn, washing your car and washing your clothes, plates and other items. Conserving water, as well as recycling used water, puts less strain on local water treatment facilities, and also makes more fresh water available to communities for drinking, washing and cooking.

How Water Recycling Is Done

It’s really a good idea to probe a little deeper into the subject of Recycling. What you learn may give you the confidence you need to venture into new areas.

Most sewage today is generated by residential, institutional, commercial and industrial establishments. This includes household liquid waste from baths, showers, toilets, kitchen sinks, which are disposed through the sewer system.

In a waste water recycling process, dirty water goes through a maze of extensive cleaning and treatments. The treatment methods may include the use of chemicals and other methods which eliminate bacteria and other harmful matter, as well as to return water back to its safe-to-use state.

Recycling water helps to ensure the livability of fragile natural ecosystems such as swamps, rivers, streams and lakes, and also helps in the management of existing water sources.

Recycling Black And Gray water At Home

Most of us don’t even know that there’s a definition for different types of waste water. There’s ?black? water and there’s ?gray? water. Water is considered gray when you wash clothes, clean vegetables, take a shower, brush your teeth or only lightly contaminate the water. Gray water can also be reused or easily recycled. Black water refers to water that’s used to chop meat, rinse fish, or flush the toilet. Black water can not easily be recycled, because it may contain feces or other bacteria, therefore it needs to go to a waste water treatment plant to be properly recycled.

As potable water supplies are becoming more limited, and there’s fear of widespread water shortages, recycling water has become a popular idea these days. Recycling water not only helps households, businesses and other industries, but also helps allow wildlife and other fragile ecosystems to survive.

Knowing enough about Recycling to make solid, informed choices cuts down on the fear factor.

If you apply what you’ve just learned about Recycling, you should have nothing to worry about.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his new GVO affiliate site: GVO

According to official US environmental laws, a hazardous waste is generally referred to as any waste that poses serious threats to the environment or to public health. These types of waste have the potential to cause irreversible illness or environmental damage, especially if these are improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed or managed. Here’s a primer on how to recycle and store hazardous waste.

What Differentiates Hazardous Waste From Commercial Waste?

Commercial waste is often defined as the waste or garbage that’s often generated by most businesses and commercial establishments. Hazardous or toxic wastes on the other hand, are waste materials that may cause death, serious injury and other serious health risks to man and other living creatures.

In the US, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other online state departments manage and oversee the laws which regulate the disposal of hazardous wastes. The EPA requires that hazardous wastes be handled with extra precaution, and should also disposed at designated facilities. Among the materials that need to be handled with extra care include medical waste, commercially-generated waste, electronic items and components, radioactive materials, ammunition, and other unknown materials.

Hazardous Waste Cannot Be Disposed By Conventional Means

So far, we’ve uncovered some interesting facts about Recycling. You may decide that the following information is even more interesting.

Hazardous wastes come in different physical states, from liquid, solid, gaseous and others. These types of wastes cannot simply be disposed through conventional garbage disposal methods, and depending on their physical composition, a specialized treatment or disposal process may need to be done.

A lot of people are totally unaware that their homes or offices are often filled with lots of toxic products, which may have harmful effects to the environment if these are improperly disposed. You can actually find lots of toxic products in your kitchen to storage room, from furniture polish, nail polish, floor wax, drain cleaners, laundry detergents, paints and solvents, toilet bowl cleaners, motor oils, antifreeze, window-washing fluids, batteries and many more. Remember that most of these fluids should never be poured down the drain, because they contain corrosive ingredients.

What Are The Different Methods For Recycling Hazardous Wastes?

One method for handling and recycling hazardous wastes is called waste reclamation. Through this method, a toxic or hazardous product is put through a process which makes it reusable again. Many chemical wastes can actually be reused through this recycling method.

Examples include mercury, which can be retrieved from mercury barometers and reused again for different purposes. In the proper recycling of household hazardous wastes, most towns and cities today have installed programs for recycling them. Some towns have receiving points where people can drop their used batteries, used paint, broken computers or damaged cars. Some towns also have collection facilities for recycling used motor oils, paints, textiles and other electronic components.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his new GVO affiliate site: GVO

material?.

Truthfully, the only difference between you and Recycling experts is time. If you’ll invest a little more time in reading, you’ll be that much nearer to expert status when it comes to Recycling.

How To Recycle Cardboard

? Before you contact your local recycling facility, first tear or break down all the cardboard boxes you have at home, until they are flat in a stack. You may also need to break cardboard down, depending on your town or city’s recycling program, so that it easily fits in a brown paper bag. You may also bring it along with your mixed paper wastes.

? Cal or notify your local community recycling facility, and find out whether they accept corrugated and flat cardboard. If your local recycling program doesn’t accept one or both cardboard types, then take your boxes to the local supermarket, since most supermarkets will take in the boxes.

? Also determine whether your local recycling facility accepts or recycles waxed cardboard. Waxed cardboard types include milk and juice cartons. Call your state or county recycling department for more information regarding waxed cardboard recycling.

These days, it’s easy for consumers to recycle the cardboard items they have at home. Most city and municipal recycling agencies collect different types of cardboard, along with other common recyclables such as metal, glass, plastic, textiles, aluminum and electronic products. Consumers can also deliver cardboard by bulk to a recycling facility. By promoting the recycling of cardboard and other materials, we help promote the use of recycled materials, and also help reduce the number of trees that need to be harvested for producing paper products such as cardboard.

When word gets around about your command of Recycling facts, others who need to know about Recycling will start to actively seek you out.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit this new site for my swedish customers: Billigt Webbhotell – from SEK 10:- per month!

The following article lists some simple, informative tips that will help you have a better experience with Recycling.

During these times, the headlines are often filled with horror stories about pollution, environmental degradation and the outbreak of more serious diseases. While most of us shrug our shoulders in utter helplessness, the truth is that we can actually do something to reverse the tide of environmental degradation, and we can start by doing some simple initiatives right in our own backyards. Recycling is one thing we could easily do. Here are some basic facts about recycling, and why we need to reduce, reuse and recycle.

What Is Recycling

?

By definition, recycling refers to the processing or used materials into new products or items, to prevent the wasteful disposal of useful materials, as well as reduce air, water and soil pollution, and lessen the need for conventional waste disposal methods. The recyclable materials include different types of paper, glass, plastic, metal, textiles and electronics.

Other forms of recycling include composting, which involves the reuse of biodegradable wastes like food or garden waste. The process of recycling either involves bringing recyclable materials into a collection center, or these are picked up in garbage bins, and are sorted, cleaned and re-processed into new materials at the local recycling facility.

Important Recycling Facts And Details You Should Know

It’s really a good idea to probe a little deeper into the subject of Recycling. What you learn may give you the confidence you need to venture into new areas.

Here are some disturbing facts that we all need to know, which should remind us of just t how wasteful and irresponsible we have all become.

? According to environment groups, the average American uses around seven trees a year in wood, paper and other wood by-products. The amount of wood and paper that we throw in our landfills each year is more than enough to heat 50,000,000 for the next twenty years.

? Used aluminum beverage cans are among the most easily-recyclable items today. A used aluminum can be recycled and returned back to the grocery shelf in as little as 60 days, and recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to power a television set for 3 hours.

? 2.5 million plastic bottles are used in the United States each day, and most of them are thrown away. The plastics and other types of trash that end up in our seas and oceans are estimated to kill as much as 1 million sea creatures every year. Recycling plastic can save as much energy as compared to burning it in incinerators.

? 16 billion diapers, 1.6 billion pens, 220 million car tires, and 2 billion razor blades are discarded each year in the US alone. The United States is the number one garbage-producing nation in the planet, which amounts to an estimated 1,609 pounds of trash per person.

? A single quart of improperly disposed motor oil is enough to contaminate as much as 2 million gallons of fresh water. Motor oil never wears out, but only gets dirty. Oil however, can be recycled, refined and re-used again.

If you’ve picked some pointers about Recycling that you can put into action, then by all means, do so. You won’t really be able to gain any benefits from your new knowledge if you don’t use it.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit this new site for my swedish customers: Billigt Webbhotell – from SEK 10:- per month!

their garbage collection schedules, as well as reduce the operating time of their trucks and equipments.

While some skeptics argue that recycling costs so much more than traditional garbage disposal methods, green advocates say that the prices paid for scrap materials are a direct measure of the immense value of recyclables. For example, scarp aluminum fetches a high price because recycling it eats up less energy as compared to producing a new aluminum can or container.

Recycling Saves Energy

Knowledge can give you a real advantage. To make sure you’re fully informed about Recycling, keep reading.

According to data from the US Energy Information Administration, a paper mill actually uses 40 percent less energy to make paper from recycled materials, than it does to make paper from freshly-cut lumber.

Proponents of recycling also tress that the need to use a second timber or logging truck is defrayed when paper is collected and used for recycled.

The US Environmental Protection Agency also notes that recycling aluminum cans for example saves 95 percent energy as compared to producing aluminum cans from bauxite, its virgin source. Producing recycled paper also consumes less energy and water, as compared to harvesting, processing and transporting timber.

Recycling Provides Additional Jobs

Recycling actually helps provide new jobs. While some critics counter that recycling creates jobs that offer low pay and terrible working conditions, recycling advocates stress that the jobs involving the recovery or processing of raw materials such as in mining or timber production, are actually more dangerous than recycling jobs. Mining, timber extraction and other raw material sourcing activities also often result in creating deplorable conditions for both workers and the surrounding communities.

Apart from saving money and energy, recycling also helps save precious natural resources. Paper recycling for example, helps protect forests, protects wildlife habitats, a and also allows for a wiser management of other natural resources. Recycling also cuts pollution, reduces the need for building more landfills, and also creates more jobs and residual business opportunities.

This article’s coverage of the information is as complete as it can be today. But you should always leave open the possibility that future research could uncover new facts.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit this new site for my swedish customers: Billigt Webbhotell – from SEK 10:- per month!

With the way technology is out-doing themselves year after year with newer, better, bigger and improved products for computer users, you can just imagine the amount of waste that is generated when consumers upgrade along with the process. One household may have one or two computers to upgrade on a yearly basis but if you add to that computers and monitors from even a small business, the numbers add up very quickly.

What is the problem with throwing computers, their monitors, TVs and the like away with the rest of our trash? The main concern is that with CRTs and TVs they each contain approximately four pounds of lead per unit. Lead cannot be biologically broken down and if it were placed in a landfill there is the possibility of the landfill becoming contaminated with the toxins from lead. Lead poisoning has been associated with several health problems in children, including, learning disabilities and behavior issues and in some extreme cases, where high doses of the lead has been found, there have been reports of seizures, coma and even death. There is always the risk of lead toxins seeping into a water source if left in a landfill and any results of lead poisoning are made even more tragic because they are so easily preventable.

In addition to the lead in some household items like computer screens and TVs, the plastic parts of these items sometimes contain a component that is called, brominated flame-retardant that helps the item to be resistant to flames in case of a fire. Unfortunately, while the exact results of exposure to this additive are undocumented there is sure to be some kind of negative result that it’s just better to steer clear of.

Truthfully, the only difference between you and Recycling experts is time. If you’ll invest a little more time in reading, you’ll be that much nearer to expert status when it comes to Recycling.

In an effort to keep these potentially hazardous materials out of landfills there are many other options for ridding your home of older, outdated technology. The first option should be to check with your community to see if there is a program set up to receive older CRTs and TVs for recycling. For instance, in Massachusetts, where I live, many cities and towns were given grant money for the specific purpose of setting up such a program.

If your town does not have such a program the next place to look would be at a local TV repair shop or even an electronics retailer because they may be able to reuse what you want to throw out. Some areas even have electronic recycling companies that will come to your residence or business and pick up such items and from there they are responsible for the recycling of the items. Even if a piece of electronic equipment can no longer be used for refurbishing an older model they can always be dissected and the individual components can be sold for their scrap value.

No matter what the item is that you want to recycle, there is a way to do it, all you need to do is make a phone call or two and you will have done your part to follow the recycling laws.

Don’t limit yourself by refusing to learn the details about Recycling. The more you know, the easier it will be to focus on what’s important.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit my latest acquisition: Adsense Sites and make sure to download the free adsense sites package!

The idea of recycling is to reuse an item rather than toss it into the trash and have it end up filling space in a landfill, right? Here’s a thought; why not have the waste in the first place? Are you with me? How can this be accomplished, you may be asking yourself, and that’s good because I have a few ideas I’d like to share.

Be aware of the items you purchase and how they are packaged. Some manufacturers use layers of wrapping that will just get tossed into the trash because there isn’t another use for it. Try not to purchase such items. Do a little looking, a little digging, a little research and find items that have less packaging and stick to only buying them. I believe the manufacturers will get the hint when consumers start paying attention to the waste one product makes and opt for its competitor.

A good way to utilize this kind of thinking is to buy in bulk. Buying in bulk cuts way down on the packaging and more often than not, it is a better buy just by the price. That’s a win-win, in my book!

Those of you not familiar with the latest on Recycling now have at least a basic understanding. But there’s more to come.

If you have to buy something that has an excess of packaging, stretch your mind a little and figure out what you can use that excess for and then put it to good use.

A great way to curb the surplus in a landfill is to reuse things and an easy one to do this with is the plastic bags you get to carry your groceries home in. Rather than getting the bags home, emptying the contents and putting them away and throw the used bag into the trash, think about the different things you can use that bag for; in my house all of our home-lunches are carried to and from school in reused plastic bags. We even reuse the bags over and again, until we know that nothing will stay bagged but will fall out. Just by reusing items like this will cut down greatly on the stuff that is filling up our precious space-craved landfills.

At my grocery store the store has manufactured mesh bags with the company’s logo on it and they sell them for less than a dollar. These are excellent for reuse because they last a lot longer than the plastic bags do and if you continue to bring these bags to the store rather than the plastic or even the paper bags that is a few more less that will ever leave the store.

Recycling, at its best, is prevention of excess. Keeping that in mind and taking the steps to incorporate the changes into your life will further enhance the lack of waste and will make it much easier for landfills not to get so over-filled; because over-filled landfills are not a pretty sight and not what we want in our future or in the future of our children, down through the generations. Prevention of waste takes just a little forethought, and any of us are capable of that.

That’s how things stand right now. Keep in mind that any subject can change over time, so be sure you keep up with the latest news.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, who just launched this great product..
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