Archive for the ‘Recycling’ Category
Recycling At An Annual Festival
You should be able to find several indispensable facts about Recycling in the following paragraphs. If there’s at least one fact you didn’t know before, imagine the difference it might make.
For the past 25 years the city of Frederick, Maryland, has hosted a street festival in the fall. This event draws 75,000 people who flock the streets to hear live music, enjoy children’s activities and purchase items made by local artisans. The event is lacking in only one area: the area of recycling. For all of its years in existence the festival has never had the means to take on the task of recycling its cans, bottles and paper.
Last year a senior at the local high school decided it was time for a change and she and her friends organized a booth and volunteered to go around the festival collecting glass, plastic and aluminum waste off to be recycled. Can you imagine that? High school students, volunteering to spend precious weekend time, collecting trash without personal motivation or gain, I was impressed when I heard that. How many people do you know that would put themselves out like that? I don’t know too many adults, let alone any teenagers who would take that challenge on.
This year, their 25th anniversary year, things will be a little different, due in part to the efforts of last year’s senior and her group of friends and volunteers. This year the Coca-Cola Company, who has a bottling location on North Market Street, nearby the festival site, will donate 20 recycle bins to be set up throughout the festival area. Plastic and glass items to be recycled will be taken to the county’s recycling location and the aluminum collected will be resold for a small fund-raising profit.
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.
What was really impressive about this story was the self-less-ness in which these students acted. They didn’t do this because it would win them an award or a grant or money in some other form; they did this because it was the right thing to do. How many counties, cities and towns could be forever changed if the same example were set for them? This story is one of those great examples of what kind of change one person can make. It should be a testament to us all that if we just put the effort out there, step out of our comfort zones, and did something we know is right, the great changes that can be made are infinite.
In just this example, you have to figure the impact the recycling will have if even just a few of the participants take a moment to notice the recycle bins and instead of carelessly tossing their waste to where it will not be separated and recycled, they did the right thing and put their waste in the designated bins. Any efforts to change have to start somewhere and it is commendable that after 25 years, it was a teen who took on the challenge to start the change at this event.
One extra gratitude extended to this amazing student is that this year she has designed a logo that will be throughout the event that will symbolize the idea that the residents of Frederick, Maryland Recycle; she calls it, “Frederecycle.”
You can’t predict when knowing something extra about Recycling will come in handy. If you learned anything new about Recycling in this article, you should file the article where you can find it again.
About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit my latest venture: GVO to claim your $1 trial membership!
Recycling: Are You Doing Everything You Can?
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.
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.
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.
About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit my latest venture: GVO to claim your $1 trial membership!
Ideas For Family Travel
The following article lists some simple, informative tips that will help you have a better experience with Recycling.
Traveling with the family can be a joyous experience and there is no reason to leave your recycling attitudes at home; you can do your part even when you’re far from the comforts of home.
When you’re staying in a hotel or B&B, let the management of the hotel know that you will be reusing your towels and there is no need to have the bed linens changed daily. With a family, towels can get mixed up and there is an easy way to prevent that; from home, get a couple of safety pins and some beads. Put beads on the safety pins, one design for each family member and when you get to the hotel, simply pin each towel with a beaded safety pin to identify the different ones. Just reusing your towels for a few days will greatly impact the time and money that goes into running the laundry everyday.
Be sure to turn off all lights when you are leaving the hotel room, and any TVs or radios that may be plugged in and running. It’s easy to be distracted in a space that is not your home and it would be just as easy to forget the ways you conserve energy at home when you’re not there. If you find you leave the room with a light on, leave yourself a note right by the door, reminding yourself to check the lights before you walk out the door. There are some hotels that even do this for you, where they have a magnet that they leave on the door, at eye level, reminding you if you’ve turned off the lights.
Is everything making sense so far? If not, I’m sure that with just a little more reading, all the facts will fall into place.
Bring your own soap, shampoo and conditioner and leave the little bottles to be reused by guests who do not remember to bring their own. Soap travels really well in a plastic sandwich bag with a zip-lock and besides, wouldn’t you want your own choice of soap smells?
Along the same lines as remembering to turn out the lights, remember to turn down the heat/AC that will be running when you’re not in the room. And a further way to keep the room temperatures comfortable is to remember to close the drapes when you’re out of the room, most hotels have heavy drapes that will keep a cool room cool longer, if they’re closed.
Instead of leaving the light (and fan) on overnight, bring a little nightlight with you and you will save a lot by not running a rooms full light (and fan) on while you sleep. Have a permenant marker with you and assign one of the plastic cups to each person in your family when you arrive at the room. There is no reason to have dishwashing services when the plastic cups are sanitary and are perfectly capable of being reused. Avoid room service for the same reason, there is no need to have excess dishes to wash that would normally not be used. When you eat in the restaurant, they’re already doing the dishes there.
Remember that you can still have all the home values you practice at home when you’re on the road with your family. Keep recycling!
Take time to consider the points presented above. What you learn may help you overcome your hesitation to take action.
About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit my latest acquisition: Free Google Traffic System and make sure to visit my bonus site!
Buying Appliances With The Energy Star Rating
This article explains a few things about Recycling, and if you’re interested, then this is worth reading, because you can never tell what you don’t know.
We all have appliances that break down or stop working with any kind of effeciency and the question becomes, where do we turn from here? Well, I have some suggestions and these suggestions will keep in line with the idea of energy conservation and recycling.
There are home products and products for the office that have been rated and earned the ENERGY STAR rating, which means that they are within the effeciency guidelines of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) as being cost effective and/or producing less waste. These agencies have deemed certain products as energy efficient and where ever you purchase appliances or heating and cooling systems, electronics and office equipment, by choosing a product that has the Energy Star mark, you are purchasing a product that is going to work with the efforts to recycle, reuse and reduce.
Many newer homes start off with energy efficient appliances and systems that are a savings right from the start, but not every one is that lucky to have brand new equipment. It’s always good to keep in mind that when you are replacing an item, the best bet is to get the updated version which will almost automatically fall into the ratings of Energy Star and you’ll know that you will be doing your best in the effort to use less energy and produce less waste.
Hopefully the information presented so far has been applicable. You might also want to consider the following:
All of the retailers from the largest appliance chains have products that are Energy Star approved. Whether you are shopping at Lowe’s Home Improvements, Sears, Best Buy, Costco or the Home DePot, you will find a great selection of energy star rated options.
Because of the need for more and more options that will back the recycling effort in the United States, using Energy Star approved appliances not only makes sense but will end up, in the long run, saving the consumer on monthly expenses. How can helping the environment and saving money be a bad thing?
Please remember when you are making any home improvements or replacing any broken or out-dated appliances to only purchase those items that have the Energy Star rating and keep the process of recycling going. It’s always better to keep up with something, like recycling, when you don’t even know you’re doing it! Energy Star products will keep you in that frame of mind.
Also, if you are looking to upgrade your windows in your home there are Energy Star rated windows that, when installed properly, will be a great asset to your home in the struggle to control the high cost of heating. Look for double pane windows and be sure that all of the surrounding area of the window is not allowing the cold air in, because if it is, then you can bet the warm air is leaking out and there’s, “No need to heat the whole neighborhood,” as my father used to say, everytime one of my sisters or I would leave the back door opened, when we were growing up.
It never hurts to be well-informed with the latest on Recycling. Compare what you’ve learned here to future articles so that you can stay alert to changes in the area of Recycling.
About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit my latest venture: GVO and make sure to claim your $1 trial membership!
Recycling: Even Bricks Can Be ReUsed!
The only way to keep up with the latest about Recycling is to constantly stay on the lookout for new information. If you read everything you find about Recycling, it won’t take long for you to become an influential authority.
One of the most innovative ways of recycling materials that have probably been over-looked came in the form of a contractor re-using bricks from a brick wall that needed to be torn down during the construction of an addition to a home.
The contractor learned his trade from one long time mason worker who believed that if you have brick as part of your building project, it could last forever. He believed that the only structures that were worth a plugged nickel contained the strong and classy component of brick; also adding that more brick is better.
How could you go wrong following that kind of advice? In the Age of Recycling, as this time in our lives could be described, what would be the sense in sending perfectly good bricks off to a landfill? If we are going to be efficient at recycling, our best course of action is to prevent waste, right? Here are some ideas the contractor had when talking about recycling the brick wall, one brick at a time and his suggested materials.
This project may not be one where any kind of further education degree required, but it is a laborous task and keep in mind the fate of your back from bending and picking up throughout this activity. The only materials needed are, a bucket with water, brick hammers and some muriatic acid for those really stubborn cement-clinging bricks.
If your Recycling facts are out-of-date, how will that affect your actions and decisions? Make certain you don’t let important Recycling information slip by you.
This project could really make an impact on the home renovations in keeping with the theme of recycling, if done properly.
The wall needs to be taken down a brick at a time. The best way to do this and still keep the bricks in tact is to be patient and methodical. Tapping the bricks away from the mortar may sound easy but it is a sure test of patience when, in the back of your mind, you continue to think about how much more easy the task would be if you were using a large sledge hammer to do the job!
Once you have the bricks removed from the wall, begin to remove the mortar from each individual brick by chipping at it with the tapered end of the hammer. There will be some instances where the mortar is not going to come off so easily and it is suggested that by placing the brick into a 5 gallon bucket of water, that should almost always make it easier for the mortar to come off the brick. In cases where the mortar is still clinging onto the brick after a few dips in the water, try soaking the bricks in a solution of water and muriatic acid. Please remember to pay close attention to the instructions when using muriatic acid and be sure to wear gloves and protective goggles. After the bricks have soaked in the acid and water mix, all mortar should come off by using a wire brush and cleaning them off.
Reuse the bricks anyway you choose and walk away from the project knowing you’ve done your best to recycle!
About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, owner of this site as well: Wealth Upgrade Club (click to claim your FREE membership)!
Recycling and Today’s Teens
Recycling has been around longer than any of today’s young teens have been alive and maybe that’s why recycling has never been a question for them as to whether or not they should recycle but has always been more of a “How else can we help when recycling,” kind of thought process. My own generation, having grown up in the 70’s has a different mind-set. In fact, I have to remind myself the reasons we recycle, when to recycle and how to keep my family and household up-to-date and aware of the reasons to recycle.
This new, younger generation, is an impressive one, to me. They seem to be aware of humanity on a global level. Lessons they’ve been taught in school on a consistent basis have always had a common theme; take care of the Earth or we may lose it. They are keenly aware of how wasteful prior generations have been and seem to be of one mind when it comes to solving those problems.
When we recycle we are taking a step away from ourselves and begin to think about the Earth as a whole. It has become obvious to us that by recycling our waste we are going to be leaving less waste for future generations to have to deal with and we are taking an active step in keeping the planet ‘around’ for a longer period of time.
Hopefully the information presented so far has been applicable. You might also want to consider the following:
Today’s teens have inspired me by their dedication to helping others who have less than they do and how wasting any commodity or resource we may have, the idea of wasting it is simply not an option. They are forever coming up with new ways to reduce production of an item or they are constantly thinking up ways in which the item can be reused; they do this without needing to “think” about it, it’s the only way of life they’ve known.
There is an organization that has taken something many of us take for granted and figured out a way to pass on to those who are unable – to feel a little normal. Locks of Love takes hair donated by people and has that hair made into wigs for people who have had their hair fall out due to chemotherapy treatments or as the result of another disease or condition. How brilliant to think of those of us who grow our hair without thought or effort, to be able to have the privellige of helping another! It’s beautiful to me, how this new generation is always thinking about how they can help others.
There are two teens that I know of who took this idea of growing their hair in order to donate it, and dedicated this past summer to doing just that; and the week before school opened in September, sat together and had their hair cuts. What is remarkable about these two teens is that only one is a girl, the other, a young man knew there was a need for other boys his age to have wigs made for them and took on the challenge valiantly. Boys don’t have to have their hair quite as long in order to donate it, but it does have to be grown-out. My awe at teens like these two from town, who at such a volatile age, where self-image is so very fragile, would step out of their comfort zones of following the crowd, in order to do grow their hair long enough for it to be recycled and reused by others, is overwhelming. By stepping out of those comfort zones they leave themselves in a vulnerable situation, where they can become the targets for some of the ridicule that goes on in Middle school; and yet they still do it.
Maybe they are less likely to go against the idea of recycling because of the timing of their birthdates; it’s just refreshing to know that the idea of recycling is strong in this up coming generation and if we continue to foster that innate responsibility in them, we may just keep this planet around a little longer.
Now you can be a confident expert on Recycling. OK, maybe not an expert. But you should have something to bring to the table next time you join a discussion on Recycling.
About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, owner of this excellent site: Product Profits Club (click to claim your FREE membership)
Recycling: Visit A Landfill
The following article lists some simple, informative tips that will help you have a better experience with Recycling.
For 43 years I’ve been someone who never really finished the thought; when I throw something away it goes…
I’ve given myself a great gift this year; call it a field trip, if you like, but I took myself to my town’s landfill and had my eyes opened for the first time. Maybe the concept of someone reaching their 40s and still not being contientious of recycling is one that sounds far-fetched, well, it’s the truth. I didn’t grow up imagining the Earth covered in over-flowing landfills, piles and piles of garbage as high as the tallest building that was not my experience. But because the idea of leaving too much waste for the Earth to handle is a bitter reality today, I’ve begun to educate myself.
I guess I’ve always thought of using credit cards as not being real money, that’s the same way I viewed trash. I know I’ve read about landfills becoming, well, full and how that will cause a problem but until I took myself out to the site itself, I still had this childish idea that once I put something into the trash can, it just went – away.
Seeing, with my own eyes, the area designated for my community’s left overs was like a big slap of reality. I was finally able to comprehend the thought; “if I’m not the only one throwing things away carelessly, and if others are doing it too, this space will not last too long.”
The more authentic information about Recycling you know, the more likely people are to consider you a Recycling expert. Read on for even more Recycling facts that you can share.
I was surprised at some of the items I saw at the town’s landfill, too. There were pieces of furniture that, being someone creative, I could see would make nice trash-to-treasures pieces. Maybe these refurbished items could be the one piece that brought the feel of a room together, that completed what the room is to feel like and express. Instead, someone tossed them out and they were taking up (a whole lot) of space in a limited area and would cause stress, not happiness.
I’m fortunate because my children, who are early teens, have been taught about the importance of recycling and the importance of what we need to do to keep the world from being buried in useless trash. They have been paying attention to the lessons that have come their way, where as, I had to see it for myself before I could be motivated to change the way I do things.
The good news is, it only took one quick trip to the landfill, for me to come to my senses and make changes about the way I do things and about the way I think. If we are not thinking globally when it comes to waste, and what we’re leaving behind, we’re not being smart.
Grab some kids, or some forty-somethings and take yourself on a field trip that may very well, do for you what it did for me; make the changes necessary for me to see what the reality of our situation is and change the way I do things.
About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit my latest venture: GVO to claim your $1 trial membership!
How Recycling Bags Helps The Environment
The following article presents the very latest information on Recycling. If you have a particular interest in Recycling, then this informative article is required reading.
You may not be aware, but in the United States, we are using bags all of the time! There are the bags we get at the grocery store, the ones we pack lunches in, the ones other retail items come in and everything that is packaged by the manufacturer. Inevitibly we could all end up, literally, buried under the pile of bags that we collect in a life time. And what a waste that would be! The good news is that most of those bags come from recycled products and with any luck, in the recycle process, will return to the start and be recycled into bags that we will use again and again.
But what should the average American consumer do when those bags start to pile up? It doesn’t take long for the pile to start to form, maybe two or three big trips to the grocery store, and you could end up with 15 or more bags per visit. What are some of the ways we can keep the build up of plastic bags to a minimum?
It there are cats in your house those left over bags from the grocery store come in handy when cleaning out the litter box. Just having the bags around when you have to touch something you really don’t want to. By having the bags, in hand, the actual touching of the item is no longer an issue and it will help with germs being passed from cat litter box to human, which can cause all kinds of illnesses.
I trust that what you’ve read so far has been informative. The following section should go a long way toward clearing up any uncertainty that may remain.
People can reuse the bags as lunch bags, rather than the old way of using a new “brown bag” for lunch carrying purposes. It may not seem like a great effort but each and every effort, no matter how little, is having an impact.
Another way to cut down on the recycling in the area of shopping is to have a designated bag that can be used over and over again for the groceries. Totally eliminating the need for the plastic bag is a huge step toward progress when it comes to recycling. There are companies that sell bags for this purpose and some of them are made from organic materials and even have sayings on them like, “Nothing on me is plastic,” and my personal favorite, “I’m not an old bag!” I love the companies that make bags like these because they can do it with flair. Some of the recycled bags come in a rainbow of neon colors that are, to say the least, eye catching, as well as reusable! Canvas totes can be thrown into a washing machine and will serve for many, many trips to pick up bread and milk.
The bottom line is becoming aware of what we use and how such items can be reused. No matter where you shop or what purchases you make, if, at the end of the day you’re surrounded by plastic bags, there’s always a way to get more use out of them.
About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit my latest site: Power Copy Club to claim your FREE membership!
Keeping The Environment Safe From Harmful Chemicals
This interesting article addresses some of the key issues regarding Recycling. A careful reading of this material could make a big difference in how you think about Recycling.
Think about recycling and maybe the first thing to pop into your head isn’t damage that’s done to the earth when we use products with harmful chemicals, but that’s part of the cycle, too. As well as reducing waste, recycling products and reusing what can be reused, protecting the earth from harm is all a part of the same cause.
It’s not something we set out to do, at the beginning of the day; the thought isn’t, “Hmmm, how can I hurt the Earth today?” It probably sounds something much more like, “Gee, I need to clean today, let me reach under the cubboard and see what I have,” not realizing that whatever is done with the products I use to clean, once I’ve cleaned, can be harmful to not only the earth itself, but any living things that may come in contact with the wash off. We live in a sterilized world, where the idea of a clean home, clean work place and clean where ever we take our children is the first order of business. But we need to stop and think about what harm we may be doing in our quest for the cleanest living area.
Is it worth a colony of ants to clean your kitchen floor with a harmful chemical, and that when you dump out the bucket that contains those chemicals, onto the ant hill, you risk wiping out the entire population? Maybe you don’t like ants, and that wasn’t the best example, but you know what I mean. We have a responsibility to the other creatures that share this Earth with us to not purposely do it, and them, harm. We need to be mindful of what our actions are producing and how our actions affect all other living things.
Hopefully the information presented so far has been applicable. You might also want to consider the following:
There are so many options for safe-cleaning on the market today that you don’t really have to look much further than your local grocery shelf. Pay attention to the words that describe the items you are buying. Do they contain the words, toxic, poisonous, or dangerous? If they do, then keep reading the next product’s ingredients, there is a better choice out there.
Many chemicals are unable to breakdown after they have been used and may make their ways into the streams and have a disasterous affect on any forms of life that inhabit the stream. It will only take a little effort on the part of consumers to prevent something like this from happening, but we must start somewhere.
We need to be careful with the chemicals we have easy access to and become more responsible for what happens as the result of our choices. It really isn’t all that hard to make an informed choice and help the Earth; we certainly don’t want to hurt it but being irresponsible with basic cleaning products can do just that; we can end up causing great harm to the planet on which we live. Remember, it doesn’t take much more than a little awareness to be an advocate for the health of the place we call home.
Be Smart. Shop Smart. Clean Smart.
Now that wasn’t hard at all, was it? And you’ve earned a wealth of knowledge, just from taking some time to study an expert’s word on Recycling.
About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit my latest site: Power Copy Club to claim your FREE membership!
Recycling On Loon Mountain In New Hampshire
Loon Mountain is located in New Hampshire, right in the middle of the state and as a part of the White Mountains. If you know anything about New Hampshire, you’ll know that some of the country’s best winter sports take place in the White Mountains. When you think of skiing; recycling probably isn’t your first visual, but Loon Mountain is looking to change that perception.
Loon Mountain has started a new way of doing things in regards to recycling and energy conservation that should not go unnoticed and will hopefully pave the way for other resorts, all over the world, to follow.
When you think of New Hampshire, the White Mountains, or even the northeastern area of the United States and you picture the area during the winter time, you probably have visions of yummy hot cocoa with tiny marshmellows, hats, mittens and scarves covering as much of a person from Old Mr. Frost, a roaring fire and a foot and a half of snow. Most of that image is accurate, except, unfortunately, for the snow part. For more than a decade or so the northeast region has not been able to enjoy Mother Nature’s usual assault of blizzard upon blizzard, resulting in a sno-globe fantasy of winter sports. While there is still an occassional blizzard, and a lot of the White Mountain Resorts are blessed with a foot or so of base snow, it just isn’t like the winters of our grandparent’s generation. What used to fall from the sky without hesitation or exception, for the most part, today, must be manufactured.
If you base what you do on inaccurate information, you might be unpleasantly surprised by the consequences. Make sure you get the whole Recycling story from informed sources.
While most resorts have to run their snow-making machines there have been advances made in their production to further help with recycling in mind and using energy saving principles. Loon turned to a new idea in snow-making guns where the gun generates its own compressed air, thereby saving on the energy used to have a compressed air hose as a separate unit. At one place they have combined one “disconnect” between two of their popular slopes; Little Sister Trail and Loon Mountain Park and will be able to service both trails with the same snow-making apparatus.
Other efforts toward recycling include changing their light bulbs over to compact fluorescent alternatives, which are said to use 75% less energy and last ten times longer than the average light bulb. Bathrooms now have motion sensors for the lights and fans, so energy is not being used when no one is in the room. New windows and doors have been put in to replace older models that allowed for heat to leak out and the cold northeastern wind to come in.
Let’s take the lead that resorts in New Hampshire have provided and make the changes necessary in our own homes this winter, in the name of recycling and energy-saving efforts. By following the lead set by resorts like the ones on Loon Mountain, you can bet that more resorts will fall in behind, and utilize all of the resources they have in the effort to recycle.
Now you can understand why there’s a growing interest in Recycling. When people start looking for more information about Recycling, you’ll be in a position to meet their needs.
About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, still struggling with trying to cancel my Phonera account