Posts Tagged ‘recycling’

Jun

1st

Green Jobs Rise as Sustainable Building Increases


resized_green_construction_sustainable_buildingIn the Energy Policy Examiner, Clifford Bryan writes about the many green jobs that are showing up as sustainable building practices increase demand for green construction workers.

The factors that differentiate “green” construction derive from a new set of expectations relating to structures and their function. Green buildings aim to maximize efficiency in their use of water, energy and other resources, to minimize waste, pollution, or other contributions to environmental degradation, and to create environments that contribute to health and productivity.

The Green Jobs Guidebook (Environmental Defense Fund 2008), thought by many to be the definitive green jobs report to date, lists 41 job classifications directly related to green building. Among them: Green Building Project Design and Development; Green Building Design and Engineering; Green Building Operations; Energy Efficiency Services and Installation. Other green jobs that relate to construction include: Solar Power Installation; Maintenance, Development and Manufacturing; Wind Power Installation; Geothermal Operation and Development; Plant Environmental; Health and Safety Facility Positions; Environmental Consulting; Municipal Waste Treatment and Recycling.

In addition to new methods and materials, the culture of the green construction site can be different. According to Bill Stough, “maximizing energy efficiency and material efficiency so there is less waste being generated on a construction site – the waste that is generated on the construction site is reused to the maximum extent possible.” For example, deconstructing a building in preparation for new construction is another aspect of high performance building standards that requires special training. Recycling of building materials and debris left over from clearing the site earns points for green building certification through programs such as the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system. In addition, secondary jobs are created in the marketing of the refuse – jobs for processing the material and making it ready for use in other, less valuable products, called “downcycling”

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May

28th

Memorial Day:Red, White, Blue, AND Green!


flagMemorial Day was first widely observed on May 30, 1868, to commemorate the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers.  It was originally known as Decoration Day, and it is a day of remembrance for those who have given their lives in our nation’s service. 

This holiday weekend typically involves outdoor get togethers and campouts with families, friends, BBQ and beer.  You can serve your nation this weekend by reducing your environmental impact through your consumer choices, and here are some suggestions:

Stay local: Camp closer, drive less.  We’re blessed with wonderful camping locations in Central Texas. Check this list of camping locations: http://tinyurl.com/32nder6

Spend local:  Keeping more of your money local benefits our economy and environment in many ways.  We have great local beers lager(www.liveoakbrewing.com, www.independencebrewing.com) , wines, cheeses (www.pureluckdairy.com), organic produce…

Up the veggies, dial back the meat:  The meat industry consumes more than a third of the fossil fuels in the US and contributes 18% of greenhouse gases, which is even more than the transportation industry!  More veggies is good for your health and the planet.  Try local, grass fed choices for your meat like Betsy Ross Beef (www.rossfarm.com) available at Peoples Pharmacy. 

products_hardwoodCut down on chemicals:  Greener grilling?  Choose your heat source carefully; make sure it’s 100% wood based, like wood briquettes or natural organic charcoal. Either of these choices will leave your food without the burning of coal, petroleum products, sawdust, or limestone, which are all toxic.  Choose a plant based (pyrethrum) spray to keep away mosquitoes, and wear light colored clothing. 

recycle symbolPack out, Recycle, handle trash responsibly: Make sure guests and campers have an EASY way to recycle.  Be the leader, set a tone of respect for not generating more waste than neccessary. 

Honor our fallen heroes by respecting and protecting the nation they loved enough to give their lives for.  You’ll make a hundred choices about celebrating this weekend; make them environmentally sensitive choices; and have a HAPPY and GREEN Memorial Day weekend.

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Apr

20th

Free Recycling of Old Electronics!


YouRenew.com — renew your old electronics.

Everyday, thousands of people buy and sell electronics. But sooner or later, that new cell phone, mp3 player or other gadget becomes outdated. Unfortunately, there aren’t many places where you can recycle electronics easily, which results in too many electronics ending up in landfills. Most you renewpeople agree that recycling of electronics is important, but don’t know an easy way to make that happen.  Here’s a great site that takes moments to look up your old device and find out what value, if any it has.  You can ship it free to recycle, or sell or upgrade.  It’s easy, it’s green, it’s great!

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Apr

16th

Taiwanese Building Made of PET Bottles


The inspiration for using these beverage bottles as the primary construction material for the building came to developer Arthur Huang, of the Miniwiz plastic bottle building taiwanSustainable Energy Development Company by observing what was in the trash bins.  This is a link to a short and amazing video of a beautiful three story exhibition hall made of bottles. 

Builders turned bottles from Taiwan’s waste stream for reprocessing, into plastic containers that interlock strongly enough to block the elements and withstand storms or earthquakes, said Arthur Huang, managing director of the contractor Miniwiz Sustainable Energy Development Ltd.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8622212.stm

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Mar

27th

Dell: Earth Day and Refurb Ink


Earth Day is coming, and Dell has a wonderful program to plant trees to celebrate.  In partnership with Team Earth, Dell’s Facebook® fans will have the opportunity to donate one of 75,000 trees in a friend’s name. Become a fan and keep an eye out on our Facebook page for this special Earth Day event beginning mid-April.

Dell is also offering NextLife refurbished ink cartridges for many popular printer models that print up to 20% more pages than new, reduce waste in our landfills, and reduce resources used to produce new.  EPA estimates in 2003 said we dump 400 million cartridges into landfills each year.  If even 1% of that number was refurbished, it would be the equivalent in CO2 reduction of planting 15,000 trees.  That makes NextLife Ink cartridges a economically AND environmentally good choice!  Go to the Dell site and type in NextLife into the site search.

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Mar

9th

Hope in Haiti-Massive Recycling Effort


In an encouraging article from American Recycler,  we find massive efforts underway to recycle tons of building materials demolished by the quake.  Port Au Prince was full of buildings built “on the cheap” with little in the way of building codes, and many were damaged already by ealier quakes.  The good news is, several American companies are working to send mobile recycling equipment there to salvage a great percentage of the materials, which will then be used to rebuild the city with more hurricane and earthquake resistant structures. 

High percentages of asphalt and concrete can be crushed and reused, and in a place like Haiti, where importing of materials is expensive it makes economic sense as well as environmental sense. 

According to the report, in the U.S. sometimes disaster clean up crews are paid by the yard and so little effort is put into separating materials so that recyclables can be harvested to use again.  The economics of recycling C&D material vary depending on the nature of the project. The bigger the project, the better the economies of scale and Port Au Prince may prove to be huge. In the United States, recycled aggregate usually costs less per ton than virgin when buying recycled materials from another site.  In this case, where the city already owns the materials, the savings will be truly significant.

Read more at http://www.americanrecycler.com/0310/095haiti.shtml

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Feb

22nd

Animal Shelters Join Green Effort!


  A number of buildings in the Dallas area have greened their interiors and exteriors, but one place in Plano has really done it right.Plano’s animal shelter was recently given Plano’s first LEED certification for an existing building. It’s one of the first 10 in North Texas to receive the designation from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Several Plano employees, especially Richard Medlen, facilities maintenance superintendent, and Jamie Cantrell, animal services manager, made it their job to assure that the shelter, open in its current location since 2001, was green.

Over time, this has included an array of energy-efficient moves such as changing lighting systems, using water conservation techniques, recycling and incorporating green materials.

The Plano Animal Shelter, a 15,000-square-foot building with 95 dog runs and 120 small-animal cages, had more than 50,000 visitors last year.

“We care for an average of 200 animals each day, and there are 25 employees who work out of the shelter,” Cantrell says.

Employees participate in several green programs that are unique to the shelter.

“All organic wastes are collected by the staff to be turned into compost at the city’s facility,” Cantrell says. “All cardboard, plastic and other recyclable material is separated from the rest of our refuse so that it doesn’t end up in our landfills.”

Read the rest here: http://tinyurl.com/yzyyjve

Thanks to: RITA COOK / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

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Dec

17th

Greening Your Holidays!


So many of us are committing to positive environmental changes in large and small ways, and the holidays can present challenges to that commitment.  Read on for Stanberry Green Team’s encouragement for greener festivities with no sacrifice of fun! 

Green Buying:  Smart buyers buy local.  Buy close to the source as much as you can for your holiday foods and gifts.  Keeping money local helps in many ways; it vastly reduces use of fuel for storage and transportation of food and goods.  It puts money in the hands of people who spend money locally, economically empowering the community where you live and work, thereby supporting schools, parks, and other public systems. 

 Green Gifting:  Think conscious consumerism here.  Thoughtful choices might include passing along something that you have loved to someone who would cherish it.  People love homemade consumable gifts, or homemade anything.  Give a Go Local card from AustinFarmersMarket.org that gives ongoing discounts with local businesses.  Give gifts that empower like minded folks.  How about giving someone a set of cloth napkins and a decorative holder to replace paper ones?  Wrap gifts in reusable gift bags or arrange items in a basket…

 Green Decorating: Think “reusable” with ornaments you buy, or go with a theme that includes items from nature; fresh greens, flowers, plants, pinecones.  If you are replacing lights, consider replacing with LED.  These festive lights have a much longer life span than incandescent lights. What’s more, they use up to 90% less energy, are non-UV emitting, and remain cool to the touch, so they’re safer than traditional lights. Put outdoor lights on timers to manage the energy use. 

 Green Waste Management: We generate so much additional waste with guest, gifts, holiday feasts!  Buy foods and gifts with less packaging when you can.  Make it easy to stick with recycling by having clearly labeled bins to show guests how that is handled in your home.  Use real dishes and cloth napkins; wean yourself from disposables.  Compost your kitchen scraps in one of the new under-the-sink systems. 

 Stanberry and Associates wishes you and yours  a green and festive, warm and happy holiday season!

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Aug

11th

Recycle Bins Sing Beach Boys!


Meet Mikey and Herb. They’re not your typical “throwdefault your stuff in here” recycling bins. They don’t just sit there as you struggle to lift heavy bags full of recyclables into their mouths. Mikey and Herb march to the beat of their own drum, and instead of doing what other recycling bins do – which is hold stuff –they hold stuff and inspire people to recycle with a little bit of help from the Beach Boys.

As much as I would love to see the Beach Boys going door-to-door, asking people to recycle, what I mean by “help from the Beach Boys” is the great song that Mikey and Herb perform to the tune of “Sloop John B,” a song made famous in 1966 on the Beach Boys’ Pet Shop album.

This brilliant idea was created by Artisan Media Studios owners Don Hacker and Bob Ingraham, two San Diego entrepreneurs. Artisan Media Studios helps companies get the regional and national media attention that they deserve…and obviously they do it in the most creative of ways!

Click here for the snappy, happy little important message, and the rest of the article courtesy of Greenopolis!  http://greenopolis.com/video/singing-recycling-bins-create-their-own-tune

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Jul

2nd

Reuse + Reduce + Recycle = Responsible


The Three R’s for Today!

Protecting and preserving our resources is everybody’s job, and it relies on these R’s…reducing consumption, reusing what we can and recycling what is beyond reuse.

Learning the basics of the new three R’s is simple once you understand the benefits and follow some basic guidelines:

Properly dispose of your recyclable items to insure that they end up in the right place to be recycled, saving the energy and cost required to create a new can, bottle or paper cup. Simple fact: up to 75% of America’s trash can be recycled but current statistics indicate that only 25% is.

When we acquire and consume less, we reduce waste, helping us to become more environmentally conscious as consumers and citizens.

By reusing and recycling we reduce the impact upon our landfills. Which in turn helps to keep our planet safer and cleaner. Simple fact: toxins from garbage in landfills can leak and contaminate our ground water.

Recycling made Simple

      •  No need to remove stickers and labels from bottles, cans,
          jugs and jars
      •  Yes remove tops, metal lids, plastic lids, and caps
      •  No need to wash items clean
      •  Yes empty containers of food waste and no mold

Glass: all types

Metal: most cans, tins and aluminum foil

Paper: envelopes, boxes, magazines, newspapers, copy paper

Plastic: detergent containers, water bottles, milk jugs, food containers, most yogurt containers. For #3-#7 plastic types, check with your local facility.

Simplify by Reducing

Grocery Bags: Whether you chose paper or plastic in the past is not a concern. If you have either around still, reuse them. And for the future say no to both choices. Invest in reusable bags: canvas, mesh, cloth or even homemade bags are all environmentally friendly choices, not to mention more fashionable too.  Any Stanberry agent can give you a FREE reusable tote…

Water Containers: Just say no to disposable! It is recommended we drink 4-16oz bottles of water a day, that adds up to close to 120 disposable bottles per month. Quench your thirst and waste by investing in 3-4 refillable plastic bottles.

Reusable Coffee Mugs: No more double-cup plus a sleeve for the daily grind. Make it personal; purchase a reusable stainless or ceramic option to enjoy your cup-o-joe on the go.

And Lastly, Simply Reuse

Remember that great old saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”? We’ll it certainly still applies today; if you can’t find a place to recycle it, you can always donate it.

For further questions on recycling, the cans and cant’s or to donate specific items, try these sources:

      •  earth911.org
      •  obviously.com/recycle
      •  freecycle.org
      •  craigslist.org

Every act of conservation and caring matters. We hope the three R’s will become second nature in your everyday life.

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