Go Green by Recycling!

We add greenhouse gases into the atmosphere from many different sources; by filling our landfills, driving cars, using electricity from coal-fired power plants, and heating our homes with oil or natural gas.

Deforestation (cutting down large areas of forests) also contributes to the greenhouse effect because the trees, which use carbon dioxide, a major component of greenhouse gases, are removed.

These actions cause carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases to be released into the atmosphere. There is such an over-abundance of gases that are emitted, that they are trapped in the atmosphere like a heat-trapping blanket around earth.

The greenhouse gases contribute to global warming.

Back to Top

Remember these three R's:
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

First and foremost - reduce the amount of garbage you create. Start small. Try to use cloth napkins, for instance, instead of paper napkins. Use old rags to clean instead of paper towels. Don't eat out as much - cook more and use your dishes, glasses and silverware instead of paper plates and plastic-ware (unless you're going to re-use them).

Always think in terms of using re-usable instead of disposable items. If you walk, bike-ride or jog, opt for a re-usable drinking bottle filled with filtered water instead of taking bottled water. Use re-usable containers to take your lunch to work in. When you stop at the coffee shop, have them fill your own re-usable mug.

Here are some simple tips to get you started on the right track with recycling your goods:

The most common items recycling centers take are paper products, plastic, glass, aluminum and tin cans. Check with your local recycling center and see what items they take.

Store your recyclables separately by paper goods in one container, aluminum cans in another container, etc. Some recycling centers pay for bulk aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles.

Getting paid may be one way to motivate your children to get involved. There are programs that pay educational and non-profit organizations through cash or merchandise incentives for recycling ink-jet cartridges and cell phones. My granddaughter's school has a recycle bin located on the side of the building to recycle paper and magazines.

Sometimes you may have to take your recycling products to a center; but many cities will pick up your recycling for you. Just make sure you place the recyclables out on a regular basis if your city picks up, or you will have a build-up of junk in your garage or other designated area.

This is a very important point: You will also need a regular schedule to take your products to a recycling center. If you forget to take care of the products, it's only human nature that you'll be more likely to just throw them away to get rid of them.

Definitely speak to your city officials if your city doesn't have a recycling pick-up option or a center to take your products to. You don't have to be a politically involved person, but you can speak to your village, your alderman, or other local area politician. You may want to speak to some of your neighbors as well to get some more people in your area involved.

Back to Top

In addition to the standard paper products, plastic, glass, aluminum and tin cans, you can use your imagination to "THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX."

The next time you get a hair cut, think about the many people who suffer hair loss. Organizations like wigsforkids.org and locksoflove.org use donated hair to make wigs for people like the ones described here.

Quite often your local salon can tell you what the requirements are for these organizations. They may have certain requirements such as health condition of hair, non-chemically treated hair, and length of donated hair. Your gift can mean so much to someone in need.

A good rule of thumb for shopping for clothing and shoes is that when you purchase something new, donate something old (this is one I REALLY have to work on). Don't wait until spring cleaning to purge - this way you keep the clutter down and you actually get use out of the clothing in your closet. This is a good lesson to teach your children and to make them conscious of giving to the needy. You can donate to Goodwill, Salvation Army, adoption centers and churches. For nicer items, there are ways to make a little money by using consignment shops, listing your items on ebay or taking out an ad in a local newspaper; Craigslist has become very popular for listing classifieds.

Recycle/donate your old eyeglasses to the needy. New Eyes for the Needy has been in existence since 1932 and has brought the gift of improved vision to over 7,000,000 needy people all over the U.S. and the world.

How about your old greeting/holiday cards? St. Jude's Ranch for abused and neglected children accepts used greeting and holiday cards for their Recycled Card Program. The children there re-use different sections of the cards to make their own handmade cards to sell and make money.

~ Thank you pushcake72 on flickr creative commons for the photo. ~

Back to Top

It goes without saying that we should recycle paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, newspaper and magazines.

Old working computers, laptops, and printers can be donated to schools, churches, Goodwill and Salvation Army. If the computer equipment is no longer usable, the parts can be recycled. You can actually list equipment on ebay, for instance, 'for parts.' There are national recycling centers that may charge a small fee ($10 - $20) to take your old computers, monitors, printers, rechargeable batteries, cell phones, t.v.'s etc. Cell phone companies have recycling programs for old cell phones as well. By recycling these electronics, precious metals, copper, and engineered plastics can be recovered for re-use.

Visit Collective Good to start a program for donating wireless phones in your hometown. This program allows you to support a charity of your choice and you receive tax credit, or you can receive credit that can be used toward music.

• Recycling one million desktop computers prevents the release of greenhouse gases equivalent to the annual emissions of 16,000 passenger cars.


• By recycling 100 million cell phones, approximately 7,500 pounds of gold could be recovered - allowing that amount of gold to go into new products. Recovering the gold from cell phones, rather than mining it from the earth, would prevent 12,000,000,000 pounds of loose soil, sand, and rock from having to be moved, mined, and processed.

Contact your local packing, shipping and moving stores to recycle packing peanuts.

Motor oil and other auto-related stuff like car batteries and tires should ALWAYS be recycled. Disposing of these items improperly poses a direct threat to our environment.

Appliances - You can find out how to recycle your old oven, refrigerator, stove or freezer by checking out ARCA -the Appliance Recycling Center.

Paint is another item that has hazardous effects on the environment. It should be disposed of responsibly.

Old compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) need to be disposed of responsibly because they contain mercury gas which is very toxic. These bulbs use less energy and are recommended for earth-friendly living; however, just make sure to recycle them properly.

Some other items you may not have considered are: Carpeting, Drywall, and Foam Packaging.

A great source for finding local recycling centers in your area is Earth911.com. Input the material you're interested in recycling and your zip code at the top of the page and the site will take you to a page that lists your local recycling centers.

Back to Top

There are some items that, even though they are recyclable, should not be recycled. Examples of these are:

Pizza boxes - The oils and juices from pizza can contaminate cardboard boxes, making it impossible to process them into clean paper.
Used Napkins and paper towels - They're typically used to wipe up food, used with cleaning products, and other "hazardous waste," and therefore the uncertainty of its use makes it undesirable as an item to be recycled.
Sticky notes - Because the notes are colored, of varying sizes and have adhesive on the back, they are undesirable for recycling.

Generally, paper with any type of contamination (food or cleaning product for instance) or layers of plastic cannot be recycled. Plastic laminated paper is bad for recycling plants.

Interesting huh?

Other things that some people think can be recycled, but absolutely cannot:

Plastic-coated boxes, such as freezer or juice boxes
Ceramics or pottery
Margarine tubs
Pyrex glass
Screw tops on plastic bottles (remove them before recycling the bottles). Aveda takes the caps and recycles them for new packaging materials.
Plastic bags (if you cannot re-purpose them, check to see if your local grocery store has a recycling bin for used plastic bags).

Back to Top

Bulk items use less packaging. Wholesale clubs like Sam's Club or Costco sell in bulk and local co-ops sell produce locally grown by farmers who use little or no packaging.

When you purchase produce from your local co-op or farmer's market, pack them in your own re-usable bags and containers. You can find local farmers by visiting Local Harvest.org. Some banks and many churches allow farmers market groups to set up booths in their parking lots to sell their locally-grown produce every week.

So, buying in bulk can be a very smart option to use less packaging - just divide the portions you want in your own re-usable containers. Don't forget the children either. Instead of buying individually wrapped snacks for the convenience of packing their lunches, buy in bulk and send their portions in your own containers.

TerraCycle and Walmart have joined forces to promote different recycling brigades to recycle chip bags, cookie packaging and juice pouches, just to name a few. You will be able to: first and foremost, keep the bag out of the landfill, secondly, recycle it to turn it into a re-purposed item, such as a book-bag or kite, and the bonus, is to raise money for your favorite charity or school.

Participation in this recycling brigade is free of charge and there is no charge for shipping. Apply here.

Find out what other types of products are made from the recycled bags and shop for green products at TerraCycle's ShopOnlyGreen.com.

Back to Top

RecycleBank rewards you for taking positive green actions.

RecycleBank has team up with other businesses to provide incentives for us to recycle. You can earn points if you recycle, reduce or reuse. These points can be redeemed for merchandise from over 1500 local and national businesses.

A nifty way to help save the environment is to recycle some of the products yourself. You can become creative by learning to reuse your products to create crafts or even to garden. A plastic liter bottle can make an excellent bird feeder. Plastic or styrofoam cups and even egg cartons can be reused to start vegetable seeds.

Create crafts out of those old jeans. One cute idea is a denim gadget holder and you can find instructions at Instructables.com. Another instruction page shows another recycled denim Cell Phone Pocket.

These are just simple ideas. There are so many more creative and beautiful crafts you can make using what you already have at home. Your local library and the internet are excellent sources for ideas on making crafts, jewelry and other things from recycled material. These can be fun projects for children too!

Product Details
Eco Craft: Recycle Recraft Restyle
by Susan Wasinger (Hardcover - Mar. 3, 2009)
Buy new: $24.95 $16.47
36 new from $14.53
10 used from $20.36

Ecoart!: Earth-Friendly Art and Craft Experiences
for 3-To 9-Year-Olds (Williamson Kids Can! Series)
by Laurie Carlson (Paperback - Oct. 1992)
Buy new: $12.95 $10.36
40 new from $7.45
37 used from $2.50

Instead of cleaning out your closets and throwing everything away, donate some of the items you want to get rid of. There are internet sites and libraries that will accept some of those old books you have, if they're in decent condition. Your clothes can go to a Goodwill or Salvation Army and is a great way to reuse. Consignment shops will sell your designer clothing for you and the proceeds from the sale are split between you and the shop.

Many people are capitalizing on selling their 'junk' on ebay. As long as there's a demand for what you want to sell, why not give it a try?

Then there's always the old trusty garage sale to clean your house and garage of the junk you've accumulated over the years. Take a nice summer weekend to have your garage sale and enjoy the sunshine while you sit in your driveway waiting for treasure-hunters to stop by.

Back to Top

Sometimes plastic bags come in handy. For instance, you may want to have a few plastic bags around to clean up after your pet.

It's really great when a store carries the bio-degradable plastic bags. Then I don't feel so bad when I need plastic. Many stores sell canvas bags for a very reasonable price and it cuts down on the need for plastic bags to accumulate in your closet or overrun the landfills.

So when the cashier asks you, "paper or plastic," you can say you brought your own recyclable bags! Just make sure to carry them in your car, so you will have them when you decide to stop off at the store after work.

Back to Top

Where you can pick up a handful of your soil and breathe in the rich sweet aroma...without the unpleasant odor of fertilizer...

Go green by starting your own garden and using your own compost made from recycled organic materials from your kitchen.

Click Here to learn how to make the world's best compost!

Back to Top

   (3)

Back to Top

MARCH 27, 2010, 8:30 PM

Blog - -The State of Going Green Consciousness

Back to Top

Earth Day is Friday, April 22, 2011

- - Pick 5 actions to make a change for the world! Visit Pick 5 for the Environment to begin.

- - Find Earth Day events in your area.

           

Find out how to get involved in the A Billion Acts of Green and get organizing tips in their Organizing Guide.

Measure Your Earthday Network Footprint
=> Use this cool interactive Ecological Footprint Calculator.