Yes, even your crayons can be recycled!

Green Life Project is a weekly series of posts highlighting one change for readers to make in their lives in order to gradually green their lives.

||Week Eight||

This week’s green life project action item is to find one or more odd item you normally throw into the garbage and begin recycling it.

You’re reading about helping to improve your envirohuman impact and I suspect that you already recycle some things.  Most likely, you recycle such items as glass, metal cans, paper and cardboard, and plastic.  If you are not already doing that, please join in because those tend to be the simple ones!

We’re not going to concentrate on the simple stuff that you can recycle in this article.  Rather, let’s take a look at some of the small pieces of trash in your life that you could be recycling but maybe didn’t know that you could.  

We create mounds of plastic, metal, paper, and plastic waste (okay, so, “mounds,” is an understatement) but there are so many other sundry items your everyday recycler may not accept but that you could be giving a second life to by sending to a special recycler.

Small plastic garbage? Each month, more than 45 tons of CDs become obsolete—outdated, useless, or unwanted. What to do with them and their cases?

I just received an email with the following questions regarding recycling CDs and their cases:

How would I recycle plastic CD cases?  Can I just chuck the whole CD into the recycling bin?

Admittedly, I didn’t know the answer and needed to do some research.  After wading through some how-to crafts, I found the answer I was looking for.  Read on!

How would I recycle CD plastic covers?

Beyond, “I don’t know,” my first reaction to this question was that, sure, as the second question implies, you can put them into your general recycling bin and send them off with whatever cans, bottles, and paper you put by the curb or deliver to a recycling center.

However, I was skeptical of this actually working, because I could not find a recycling symbol and plastic type labeled on my jewel CD cases.

So, while some might have such a symbol, some do not.  I’m concerned that

We often write, “EHI Quick Tips,” which outline simple, easy steps you can take to green your daily life.  The writers of EnviroHumanImpact believe that this is a great approach to those just begining to look at a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle.  Once you have introduced a few greener buying options or changes to daily life, it can become difficult to stop yourself from adopting even more practices that will improve your envirohuman impact!

Here, we have compiled a short list of some of the easy, yet effective changes you can begin using in your daily life, right away!

1. EHI Quick Tip: Unclog that Shower Drain
2. EHI Quick Tip: Get a Watering Can
3. EHI Quick Tip: Ditch those Paper Statements
4. EHI Quick Tip: Buy a Tea Kettle
5. EHI Quick Tip: Ride the Elevators Less at Work

You might notice a common pattern here: most of our quick tips are easy and focus on reducing our energy, water, or other resource usage.  What ideas do you have for improving one’s envirohuman impact?

Lloyd Alter discussed in a recent article that as oil prices have increased (yes, of course, they have dipped down slightly recently) China has exported less steel to the U.S.  Check out his article or keep reading:

Lloyd talks about some of the political and economic implications of such a shift, but let’s look at the environmental effects.

Here, again, because of rising costs of fossil fuels, we see decreased consumption.  Suddenly, the difference in the cost of labor between the U.S. and Chinese markets, is eaten up by high oil costs.  From the article:

Rubin continues: “Shipping a standard 40-foot container from Shanghai to the US Eastern seaboard now costs $8,000. In 2000, when oil prices were $20 per barrel, it only cost $3,000 to ship the container. But at $200 per barrel, it will soon cost $15,000 in transport costs to ship from China to the US Eastern seaboard.”

Wow!  What a difference!  I had no idea it was that high of a cost to move something across the ocean (though I suppose I never had given the financial costs much thought).  This just goes to show that increased fossil fuel consumption and costs can force people to rethink the way that they act — and this is probably truer for companies moving many tons of heavy stuff (such as steel).

Let’s just hope that not only does this spark a large green energy industry, but also perhaps some manufacturing jobs of yesteryear return to the U.S. as well.

One other note: with the cost of iron ore also increasing, perhaps recycling rates and more importantly, required recycling programs, will increase as a manner of combating that high cost.  The environmental effects of mining for more ore and processing it versus recycling are high and extensive.

How are increased fuel costs affecting the way that you behave?

If you’re trying to follow the envirohuman movement, you should definitely pick up these news stories:

Pickens’ Plan to Profit Off of Public Water

I did not know that Pickens’ plan, which includes a large project of transmission lines to move electricity generated from wind power from rural areas to urban ones, seems to double as a way to move water from what arguably should be considered a public resource.  The water, from a vast underground reservoir, would use the same transmission pathway as the electricity.  Seems we should be careful of what we wish for; even though so many environmentalists, capitalists, and government officials all seem to be in favor of this plan, is it fair for an individual or company to take so much of what belong to the public an make such huge profits off of it?  The same could be asked of oil companies drilling for and profiting off of oil under public lands.

Bloomberg Skyscraper Windmill Plan

I had always wondered about the high altitude created by, among other surfaces, skyscrapers, as points of interest for wind turbines.  Obviously, in the middle of a city, the power generated has more than enough available users, but also, cities have huge overall electricity needs, but relatively little open spaces to put windmills.  Or, do they?  It seems this may be a viable plan for reducing the need for fossil fuel-burning power plants for cities and the transmission lines it might take to move power from open plains into urban areas.

Sunken Ship as Habitat

This is a very interesting concept for me, because while yes, much of this ship is made up of recyclable metals, it also includes some plastics that have concerned scientists familiar with the project for the negative effects of introducing chemicals associated with such plastics into the food chain.  This reminds me of a project that the New York Times detailed months ago, regarding the sinking of spent subway cars into harbors, also for the purpose of becoming marine habitat.  Again in that case, there was concern over the asbestos used in the subway cars, and how it escaping into the ocean might have a negative effect.  Still, the sunken vessel and the subway cars have made for great marine habitat.

Since we’re discussing the environment, it’s important to step back and take a look at some of the aspects of our daily lives that might receive little attention, yet potential changes abound that could have a huge positive envirohuman impact.

So, standardized reusable shipping containers?  Yes.  At your place of work, you likely see hundreds of boxes come in the door, get unpacked, broken down, and sent off as garbage, or, hopefully, shipped out for recycling (or maybe you don’t see them, but they’re there).

Let’s take, boxes of printer paper, for example.  We all likely do some printing or copying in our everyday lives, or at least use paper that someone has printed information onto in our meetings and correspondence.  Billions if not trillions of sheets are printed daily.  Boxes, like those at the left, are used to ship that paper to our place of work, and, once unpacked, most of them make their way to the dock of the building in which we work, again, hopefully at least for recycling.

Recycling is a good way to continue the lifecycle of usable material, but it is highly energy- and cost-intensive for the very reasons of shipping, water use, and chemical, manual, and mechancial processes that all go into continuing the cycle of that product material, like the paper fibers used in cardboard boxes.  A better recycling process is one in which the material is reused again and again, hundreds, if not thousands of times before it gets sent off for recycling in which it gets broken down into its raw materials for future reproduction of new materials and goods.

What the heck am I talking about?  At your place of work, you likely receive a good deal of mail, which, hopefully gets recycled when you’re finished reading it.  But have you noticed the bins that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), the United Parcel Service (UPS), and Federal Express (FedEx) use to bring your mail?  It’s usually a plastic-, angle-sided, open-ended container with metal reinforcements, that make these containers so reusable.

You might also receive beverages, like bottled water and sodas, that might be shipped in reusable hard plastic trays, like those here from Pepsi-Cola, that also can be reused many times before needed to be broken down again for recycling.  Although I recommend you choose a better beverage option: water, served from a reusable water bottle, these trays prove that shipping materials can be made to withstand repeated use, abuse, sliding and slamming all over the country (and world!) and that disposable, one-use shipping containers need to become a rarity.

Inter-office mail systems often reuse envelopes within a building several times before discarding them, which goes to show that there are many ways in which we have built the idea of “reusability” into our daily habits.  That’s something we need to take to the next level and push toward doing on an even larger scale.

On and off of postal and parcel trucks, beverage trucks, and others, we receive shipments of items from both reusable and those deemed throwaway, one-use packages.  But back to those boxes of printer paper.

Printer paper typically is packaged in reams of 500 pages, wrapped in paper, and placed ten to a box.  Because large businesses (and small ones, too) use so much paper, this results in millions of boxes being used for the purpose of packaging paper (only one of very many items packaged in this way) and then being tossed shortly thereafter.  Why not mimmick the boxes used by our postal deliverers?

We could have plastic ones made from recycled plastic product with straight sides, metal reinforcements, and a corresponding lid that would cover the box (just like the cardboard ones have).  In this manner, the boxes could be picked back up by those delivering the paper, be it OfficeMax or others.  The point is that reusable packaging for such industrial products, where the packaging does not even matter to the consumer, are a great place to start with reusable packaging.  USPS and Pepsi are already doing it, now how about others?

Certainly, the boxes may weight slightly more than the cardboard, however the fact that they are reusable will be a net monetary savings to the companies using them, and a net savings to the environment as our methods of shipping move toward clean, renewable fuel sources of the next decade or two.  Also, the fact that less paper will be used on packaging boxes would be even more helpful.

A quick news story I thought readers might find interesting focused on ecological, and even, yes democratic design.  A designer who has such feats under his belt as designer the 2-Euro coin is now focusing his efforts on more practical design.

The point of the story that was of most interest to me was mention of a rooftop wind turbine.  No, this is not new, but the price range he’s gearing the item to: between $780 to $1,250 for a wind turbine the designer, Philippe Starck, says can produce up to 80% of a home’s energy (invest in two of the turbines, and presumably, you could produce enough for your home, and about half of one of your neighbor’s homes (or sell the extra power back to the grid, more likely).

Another online source said that the turbine could produce 20% to 60% of a home’s energy needs, which seems more likely, when you see the design and know that it is a miniature wind turbine, it seems as if the 80% (I know, it says, “up to”) seems exaggerated.  Yes, you would need more equipment to use the energy, and it would likely take much more expertise than taking it home and installing in fifteen minutes as the designer says, but have to love this concept.

Two amazing features for the wind turbine is its design, the part anyone might see from a distance or below is clear plastic and its price range!  I mean for less than many (if not most) of us pay for a new computer, you could take care of a significant portion of your home power bills and improve your envirohuman impact!

You could probably see a very significant amount of payback for your investment rather quickly, especially since compared to several thousand you might pay for another turbine, these are cheap!  Made with plastic?  I’m not sure how long these might last or how easy it might be to get replacement plastic (how long is the warranty?), but this seems like one to look into if you’re looking for an inexpensive way to get started on greener energy.

I just read an article about new software, made available for free through Microsoft, the nonprofit Climate Savers Computing Initiative, and Verdiem, a startup.  It sounds great, especially when you look at some of the statistics they provide.

This type of application is extremely valuable to someone trying to improve his envirohuman impact, because the product is free, it saves you electricity (meaning less carbon spewed into our atmosphere), and it saves you money in the process.  Did you know that you could even extend the life of your PC?

The program is called Edison and installation is simple by downloading the program at: Verdiem, Microsoft, or Climate Savers.

If a user sets the software to put the machine in a “deep sleep” mode after a few minutes of not hitting a keystroke, the hard drive powers down and the PC sips just 5 percent of its normal energy consumption.

Even though most would probably give themselves ten or fifteen minutes, this program will let you decide how long, and putting your computer into a deep sleep more quickly or less so is up to you (yes, sleep modes are already available and I’m not sure if standard sleep mode takes the PC down to the same 5 percent).

Also,

Half of all electricity consumed by a standard PC is wasted, according to environmental and industry studies.

And because the software is being provided for free, any of the power savings are, well, free as well.  The article estimates that users could save $20 to $95 per PC per year, and any money in your pocket in a down economy is of course welcome.

Especially for this case, it’s just another simple way that you can improve your envirohuman impact and actually save some money at the same time.  Doing well by doing good, nothing to argue with there!

Read the entire story here.

Product Reviewed: President’s Choice Green 2-Ply Toilet Paper

Place of Purchase: Jewel-Osco

Purchase Price: 10 for $10 on sale

Product replaced: Non-green toilet paper, like Charmin, Cottonelle, and Quilted Northern

Ingredients: 100% post-consumer paper.  Clean and sanitary without the addition of chlorine bleach*.  Some of the recycled paper in this product may have been bleached with chlorine when originally manufactured.

Use: For any sensitive area you need to wipe!

Results: It works great!  It isn’t rough.  It didn’t leave dingleberries behind (those are those, uh, crumbs).  This product is as soft as its non-green counterparts, without the use of bleach or other chemicals. I came away from the experience with a clean behind! Yeah, I said “dingleberries,” and, “clean behind”.

Best of all: The product boasts post-consumer product, forming demand for a second-use of this useful fiber product as well as reducing demand for virgin fibers.  It also is a diversion for material that is often slated for landfills.

Why try it? Because it’s far greener than the product you are likely currently using for wiping your behind.  It’s also quite affordable.

The drawback: At 176 sheets per roll, the company would do well to double that amount, in order to get the most from the packaging.  Meaning, more paper would go into less needed plastic packaging.  It would also mean less cardboard used for the inner rolls, because fewer rolls would be used.

EHI There! What green products are you using that you love? What products are you trying to replace? Got an idea for a product you would like to be reviewed? We welcome guest columnists; just contact us!

Did you prepare any produce today?  Make coffee?  Peel a banana?

Plenty of waste to go a(g)round Chances are you have plenty of organic waste produced at home, including yard and garden waste, much of which could have a place in a composting bin or pile.  While we will discuss a little about how you could do some composting here, most people have a pretty good idea of what composting is: you either have a pile or bin of organic material that breaks down, rots, decomposes, by thriving worms, bacteria, fungi, and insects who feed on the pile.

Never composted? If you never have composted before, you are going to love how cheap the process can be (for free, if you want), easy it can be if you do not mind waiting for nature to do its thing, and how great this is for the environment.  For those who are impatient, managed compost bins can produce finished product in as little as three to four weeks.  But am I going to go into the nitty-gritty, the germy-wormy, the slimey — oh, blimey…?  Thankfully, no, that will be the subject of future articles.

And, the reasons are… Today, we will be discussing the reasons for why you should compost — one of the easiest daily habits you could carry out to improve your envirohuman impact!  Near the end, we’ll share some resources detailing the ways you can go out and actually do some composting in your own backyard.  But before then, let’s take a look at why you ought to putting your biodegradable items outside your home on the ground (or in a bin) rather than having it hauled off to be buried in the ground.

1. Wasting a resource: Having organic material hauled away as garbage is a systematic way of taking good, reusable organic matter to a large hole in the ground, where it is mixed with a host of inorganic, toxic substances and debris, such as plastic items, styrofoam, battery acid, leftover chemical detergents, and heavy metals, like lead and mercury.  Hands down, getting that organic material back is extremely difficult to impossible.
2. Causing extra fuel consumption: Hauling away that organic matter takes a lot of fuel to haul away to landfills.  According to CompostGuide.com, “The average household produces more than 200 pounds of kitchen waste every year,” and that does not include yard and garden waste, which is obviously a lot more.  So, let’s say that the average is only 200 pounds.  At that rate, every ten families is having a ton hauled away to landfills every year, contributing to global warming and particulate matter in our air by having trucks haul even more away to be buried.
3. Filling up limited landfill space: Organic matter takes a lot of space in landfills and the space is limited.  Granted, the concept of landfills needs a major overhaul — we need to send much less material to be buried, and recycle more.  But the point is that we’re limited on spaces where all of that “junk” can be buried, and we don’t need to inflate it with hundreds of millions of tons of compostable waste every year.
4. Robbing nutrients: We’re literally robbing our soil of a rich natural resource that provides necessary carbon, nitrogen, and other nutrients.  We already have erosion and soil fatigue to fight, we do not need to compound the situation by taking excess organic matter and shipping it far from where we need it — wherever we want and need to grow trees, shrubbery, and gardens.  The solution is not to go out to your local home improvement store or nursery to buy organic matter, manure, mulch, and often, chemical fertilizers.  According to CompostGuide.com, “Using compost improves soil structure, texture, and aeration and increases the soil’s water-holding capacity.”  Even if you do not garden, help keep your land’s resources fertile by composting.
5. Squandering an opportunity for which we and the environment already have paid: Much of our produce is imported from far away — we are paying for that transportation cost financially and the environment pays in that it takes fossil fuels, most of the time, to move that food from plot to table, meaning more dirty emissions and more greenhouse gases.  Having had the environment already pay (and we’ve used our dollars), are we seriously going to throw away that banana peel, those coffee grounds, that avacado peel and pit, and your (now dead, whoops!) African violets, into a pit full of toxic trash, when we could use it to enrich our soils?  Seriously?  Even if it’s not imported, it likely travelled a thousand or more miles to your home — and our soils around our homes could use the nutrients as local growing of produce gains popularity.
6. Composting is an (easy) sustainable practice: Our potential future sustainability will sit upon sustainable practices.  It’s sustainable to compost our organic matter where it falls, meaning, where you dump it right outside.  When done right, it can be done with no lingering odors or pest problems, and this practice can play a huge role in replace our dependence upon synthetic fertilizers.
7. Compost helps dilute toxic substances in our soil: As air and water pollution also pollute our soils, adding clean (or relatively clean) organic matter to our topsoil will over time help reduce the proportion of toxic materials, like lead and mercury, to organic matter, by diluting the toxins in a soil of organic material.  This also helps our soils to deal with future pollution and to remain fertile and to not be toxic for foods and trees to grow.

These are some of the main reasons for why you should begin composting in order to do your part to impove your envirohuman impact.  Need more information? A great place to start, with explanations and links to other articles on the subject, as linked to in this story, is www.CompostGuide.com.  But if you are looking for a good peer reviewed article, check out Wikipedia’s on the subject.  Bottom line is, the soil in your backyard could make great use of your coffee grounds!