‘Tis the season to be shopping and we are shopping! National Public Radio (NPR) says that Black Friday and Cyber Monday both exceeded anticipated holiday sales levels. This year, according to the National Retail Federation, holiday sales are expected to ring in at $447.1 billion; that’s about $1,450 per capita. With holiday sales representing about 20 percent of total annual retail sales, discounters, department stores, grocery outlets, and specialty shops make sure to stock sufficient merchandise for us to choose from. And, for those of us who don’t like to elbow our way through the shopping mall, we can always order on-line. E-commerce sales (which are not included in the above forecasted number) are expected to reach $32.4 billion- a whopping 11 percent increase over last year.

So, how does all the merchandise we purchase during the holidays find its way from factories to warehouses and from warehouses to store shelves and ultimately to us? Business consultants refer to this process as Supply Chain Management (SCM). To give you an idea of the importance of SCM, the US Military and Wal-Mart invest heavily in this process and are considered to be leading experts in the field. SCM makes sure goods are where they need to be when they need to be there. Despite the complexities of SCM, at the bottom of it all and critical to the movement of most goods is the simple pallet. (more…)

November 15th is America Recycles Day (ARD). Started in 1997 to raise public awareness about the benefits of recycling, this event will be celebrated by hundreds of communities across our nation. Municipalities, schools, companies, and other organizations will conduct recycling-related activities to spread the message that recycling is good for our environment, economy, and society. So, with ARD’s thirteenth anniversary upon us, how well has America’s recycling rate improved during this time? (more…)

On November 15th, participate in America Recycles Day and help increase recycling awareness and participation in your community. Together we can increase the U.S.A. recycle rate.

No matter where we shop, the retail landscape is loaded with miscellaneous merchandise that tempts our impulses to gather and to purchase. Designed and packaged to best capture our attention, many goods are marketed in multi-material packaging to provide optimum shelf presence, safeguard product integrity, and reduce in-store pilferage. As a rule, multi-material packaging is not recycling friendly. Often comprised of both recyclable and non-recyclable materials, individual packaging components must be properly separated and sorted prior to reclamation. One such format, the blister pack, is both a merchandising marvel and an environmental nightmare. (more…)

Spread the word that plastic resin recycling symbols are missing on most blister-packed goods. Tell your friends and family to get the word out that plastic resin identification should be mandatory for all blister-packed goods. Let industry and government know we want blister-packs to be recycled. Let them know that mandatory plastic resin identification on blister packs is the first step toward making blister pack recycling a reality.

Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble”¹.

While this famous phrase may conjure up thoughts of witches concocting a potion, it surely doesn’t represent all the Halloween fun we have carving pumpkins, trick or treating, and dressing up for costume parties. This year Americans will spend $1.8 billion dollars on candy, $1.6 billion dollars on decorations, $2.0 billion dollars on costumes, and almost $350 million on greeting cards. After the holiday, tons and tons of candy wrappers, rotting pumpkins, polystyrene and latex masks, glow sticks, inflatable lawn decorations, and even pet costumes will end up in our landfills. As a nation are we under some sort of “throw away” spell?” (more…)

Make greener holiday choices this Halloween. Before choosing your costume or any decoration ask yourself, “Can I recycle this?” Let your neighbors know you are trying to make greener choices, so they wil make greener choices too. Don’t throw away your Halloween, recycle it!

For several years now, the disposable plastic shopping bag has been a worldwide, much debated, often legislated, environmental issue.  Extreme opinions exist at both ends of the spectrum.  Proponents of the disposable, plastic shopping bag argue that this inexpensive, handy tote can be reused and recycled.  Oppositionists claim the disposable plastic bag does so much damage to the environment that it must be banned.  All opinions aside, new reclamation technologies may soon enable these much debated bags to be not only recycled, but biodegraded.  Viola! Eco-friendly, disposable, plastic shopping bags!! (more…)

Always recycle your used plastic shopping bags at your local grocer or big box store. Also, let your friends know that research has been long underway to make polyethylene plastic shopping bags biodegradable.

Taking a stroll through your grocery store aisles can be a real plastic film experience. Many vegetables, deli meats, cheeses, and snack foods are wrapped or bagged in this illustrious packaging. Plastic films enable our foods to maintain good shelf life, transport better, and to showcase best. Unfortunately, good, better, best comes with one big negative: tons of this plastic film ends up in our landfills! (more…)

Check to see if your municipality offers curbside pick up for plastic wraps and films. If not, collect your used plastic wraps and films and drop them off at the nearest recycling station which accepts them. When possible, store your foods in reusable containers. Most plastic and glass reusable containers are recyclable. Help keep plastic out of our landfills. -R.G.

As a nation, are we truly reducing the amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) that ends up in landfills? Are we recycling more? How do recycling rates compare across the different regions of our country? Does the future for recycling look positive? (more…)

Do you know the recycling rate of your own community? Phone your municipality to find out. See how your community’s rate stacks up against the rest of the state. Use this information to benchmark your own efforts. Let your neighbors know there is more we can all do to increase the recycling rate. Knowledge is power. -R.G.

All around the world, communities are plagued by the contamination of heavy metals. Toxic leftovers from mining, manufacturing and application of metal laden fertilizers and pesticides, these metals do not degrade, but remain intact forever. (more…)

Prior to purchasing a plant for your home or garden, make sure to search the web about its metabolic characteristics. You may be surprised what you find out. Plants not only remove toxins from the soil, but remove toxins from the air as well. Plants add beauty to your home and improve the air quality too.

Keep recycling top of mind. Download recycling themed games, software, and apps. These digital tools will help you manage your recycling effort and provide amusement too.

Recycling software and applications are helping both individuals and large organizations keep track of their recycling efforts. Because the act of recycling is so engrained in our psyche (and that’s a good thing) programmers have not only developed professional recycling enterprise software but have written recycling into the digital gaming world. The theme of recycling cuts across industries, countries, cultures, and age groups. Whose says recycling can’t be fun? (more…)

Help keep our waterways clean. Always recycle plastic bottles and fishing line during your waterside recreational activities. If a recycling bin is not available at your waterside location, please make sure to carry away the unwanted plastic items for proper recycling. Keeping a foldable, reusable shopping bag in your car or bike pouch can help you to easily cart the recyclables.

Boats everywhere are being pulled out of storage, unwrapped, and set back into the water. Unwrapped? Yes. For those of you who are not boaters, shrink wrap goes way beyond the kitchen- it is used to keep stored boats in good condition. But what happens to all this shrink wrap after it has been used? (more…)

April 22, 2010 marked the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. By attending the 2010 New York City Earth Day event, it was obvious we have come a long way since Earth Day’s beginnings as a protest to raise environmental awareness.

Earth Day NYC 2010

Let Congress know you support a cap on green house gas emissions, text message: EDF to 30644

You’ll be heard in Washington. -R.G.

Help to decrease energy waste and lower CO2 emissions by making sure your PC has a spam filter. Use the power settings on your PC to power it down when appropriate. Every PC user who wisely manages their power usage will contribute greatly to saving energy and decreasing green house gas emissions. -R.G.

Open up your email and what do you find? Spam! Spam! Spam! Worldwide 62 trillion spam emails are sent annually. With 80 percent of all emails being spam, these Server passed aggravating messages_TM
cost our patience, our pockets, and our environment. (more…)

Make your mail box “greener” by reducing the amount of junk mail you receive. Register with the Direct Marketing Association’s, Choice Program,“DMA Choice”, to remove your name from mailing lists.

Local mail box stuffers also contribute to our heaps of junk mail. Next time you receive a coupon from a local service in your area, let the owner know you would prefer to be notified of the discount by email.

Every little bit we can do to prevent junk mail will help keep our world “greener”. -R.G.

Junk mail is on the rise. Over the past decade as worldwide letter mail volumes have seen little growth, junk mail has been growing both domestically and abroad. Thirty percent of all non-parcel mail delivered in the entire world is US junk mail. While statistics vary by source, there are about 100 billion of these unsolicited mailings generated and delivered in our country annually. With about 45% of junk mail never opened, municipalities and waste haulers are handling millions of tons of unwanted paper. (more…)

Next time you are going to visit your favorite deli or coffee bar, bring along your own cup and ask the barista to fill it up. If the barista gives you push back, politely let management know that as a customer it is important to you that the company supports reusable cups. Help keep disposable cups out of our landfills. Every little bit helps!

Americans dispose of billions upon billions of paper, plastic, and foam cups. This year over 58 billion paper cups and 25 billion polystyrene foam cups will pass through our hands and end up in landfills. While the United States is still the world’s largest culprit of disposable cup waste, growing nations like China and India are fast catching up. It’s a cup carrying, cup dumping world! (more…)

Recycle your used “Zip Lock” plastic storage bags. Cut-off all hard components (zippers etc.) and collect zipper-less bags in a plastic shopping bag. Recycle the shopping bag and its contents at your local retailer’s plastic bag recycling station. Help keep more LDPE (#4) plastic out of our landfills.

Just Zip It. Zipper-type plastic storage bags have hundreds of uses and are fast becoming the quintessential storage solution for households and businesses. Foods, electronic parts, garden soils, and even crime scene evidence end up packaged in these convenient, storage bags. Although millions of these bags are used daily, recycling used zipper-type plastic bags is not so easy. (more…)

Valentine’s Day is a festival of cards, candy, and flowers. During this holiday, 65% of all US households will exchange greeting cards, 38% will give or receive candy, and 32% will turn to flowers to say, “Will you be my Valentine?” (more…)