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…)

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…)

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.

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…)

Make your Valentine’s Day greener by incorporating gifts and decorations that contain recycled content and can be recycled. Rather than throw out “old” decorations, donate them to a shelter or other community service provider. Reuse is definitely a big part of recycling. A Green Valentine’s Day is a good thing!

Search the web to find which vitamins are inherently found in your favorite vegetable. Share this information with a friend. The power of a garden should never be taken for granted. A garden brings us closer to nature, provides vital sustenance, and is recyclable (composting provides the perfect closed loop system).

As an avid recycler with a scientific background, this latest posting is in response to an article I recently read in; “The Atlantic”, by C. Flanagan titled, “Cultivating Failure – How School Gardens are cheating our most vulnerable students”. (more…)

See if your community offers curbside recycling of cartons; visit www.aseptic.org. Curbside carton recycling includes standard gable top cartons and aseptic brick packages. If your community does not have curbside pick up, phone your municipal recycling facility and ask, “Why not?” Cartons should be as important to recycle as bottles and cans.

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…)

Make your effort to recycle a resolution for life. If you are lucky enough to live where financial incentive exists to recycle, consider it a bonus. Save the earth even without earning a nickel.