August is the month that big box stores load up on traditional school supplies. For us environmentally conscious shoppers, there are more green choices for back to school supplies than ever before. Also, knowing how to properly recycle these scholastic tools can make them even greener. Smart teachers and PTA moms know well that establishing a recycling club, collecting items, and recycling in bulk can be great educational and fundraising opportunities too. (more…)

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!

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…)

When we think of recycling beverage containers, the plastic bottle or the aluminum can come to mind. The prolific use and discard of these holders of liquids has spurred us on to enact anti-litter laws, collect used bottles and cans, and to recycle. As systems to recycle beverage containers evolve, our focus (at least in the USA) seems to still revolve around the collection of PET plastic, aluminum cans, and glass. While advancements in packaging technology have brought us beverage products packaged in “long life packaging” like the Tetrapak® aseptic brick, little has been done (at least in our country) to “sort out” how these useful multi-material packages can be recycled. (more…)

As many cities brought in 2010 under bursts of confetti made from virgin paper, I wondered what this new decade may have in store for recycling. Are we finally getting waste disposal under control? (more…)

With the gift giving season upon us, we have lots of shopping alternatives: the local mall, big box stores, catalogue mail order, and the internet. No matter which shopping path we choose, it’s either “shop until we drop” or “pick before we click”. Hauling shopping bags around the mall, collecting shirt boxes for gift wrapping, or unpacking items we have ordered on-line, our holiday gift gathering techniques bring lots of extra packaging. Holiday shopping can be stressful – on us and on the environment! Please don’t get me wrong, I am not a “Bah Humbug” type of gal, but I do believe there is a lot everyone can do to cut down on excessive packaging. (more…)

Getting a school recycling program off the ground seems like an easy task, but all sorts of issues can arise. To help make your effort seamlessly implementable and successful, I’ve put together a few pointers (or at least a few questions you can hash over) before you start. (more…)

Plastic as a Recycling Foundation

Is the time right for MRF World to take plastics more seriously? Should plastics be at the forefront of curbside recycling? Just as co-mingling of recyclables has made collection at curbside easier, the co-mingling of information on recovered materials may provide some answers. Trust me. We are not mixing apples and oranges; the markets do share some interesting parallels. (more…)

Recycling household plastic containers can be a challenging endeavor. Since all plastics are not alike, we need to know which types of plastics our municipality accepts for recycling. Hair care products, beverages, laundry detergents, yogurts, margarines, salad dressings, frozen dinners, household cleaners, condiments, pet foods, body lotions … (you name it) are available in plastic containers. Since different plastics have different properties, the containers we so enthusiastically recycle often contain more than one type of plastic. Plastic properties such as strength, toughness, flexibility, barrier to moisture or gas, and melting point are all important factors which help to maintain the integrity of packaged goods. Piling these unlike containers together for recycling can be a problem not only for our local municipal recycling depot but for the commercial reclaimer who ultimately melts and reforms these containers. (more…)