There is no doubt about it, where smokers trod, cigarette butts remain. Left behind with a flick of a finger, many smokers treat the disposal of a cigarette butt as if nature can just reabsorb it. Well, this simply isn’t the case. Cigarette filters, the most littered item in the world, are not biodegradable. These polluters of our city streets, roadways, and beaches not only look unsightly but release harmful toxins into the environment. Often travelling via drainage systems into our inland waterways which eventually empty into our oceans, cigarette filters can pose serious poison and choking hazards to aquatic wildlife. Yes, cigarette butts do travel and take along their toxins too! (more…)

Punxsutawney Phil came out of his ground hog burrow and did not see his shadow, so up North spring will come early this year. Meanwhile, down South in the Gulf of Mexico, the advent of spring is not predicted by a famous ground hog, but announced by the great bird migrations. Each spring over 250 bird species (some travelling from as far south as Patagonia to as far north as the Arctic circle) travel across the Gulf of Mexico and up the Mississippi Flyway.

Because last year’s Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill wreaked havoc on avian stopover sites in the Gulf, February 2011 was established as the target date for Gulf clean-up completion (just before migratory check-in). Sadly, a clean Gulf Coast is nowhere in sight; oil rings still linger around marshland plants and tar balls still wash up on beaches. (more…)

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…)

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…)

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…)

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…)

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…)

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…)

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…)