Just-style management briefing: Closing the loop on recycled textiles
By MJ Deschamps
With fast fashion and quick turnover key commercial ingredients of today’s garment and apparel industry, excess textile production is prompting the sector to gravitate towards more recycling and re-use of materials, to conserve energy, increase sustainability and lower raw material costs. (more…)
Hospitals Go Green to Save Money and Save Lives
Spalding Hospital sits on Boston Harbor in Charlestown. (Photo: Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
In an effort to stabalize energy costs hospitals nationwide are investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy. Host Steve Curwood checks out the innovative design of the new Spaulding hospital with John Messervy Director of Capital and Facilities Planning for Partners’ HealthCare. (more…)
On the Move, a ‘Recyclarium’ for New York
Sims Municipal RecyclingChildren from P.S. 63 in the East Village exploring the Recyclarium’s exhibits on disposal and sorting on Tuesday.
As a state-of-the-art recycling plant rises in Brooklyn, a mobile educational space known as the Recyclariumwill be making the rounds this fall to give young New Yorkers a taste of what’s coming.
The trailer, revealed on Tuesday at P.S. 63 in the East Village, offers exhibits and interactive games that explain the ins and outs of recycling, from disposing of the materials properly to processing what eventually emerges as the recycled product. The city’s schools chancellor, Dennis M. Walcott, was on hand for the affair, which also featured a composting event.
The trailer accommodates 10 to 15 children at a time and takes about 30 minutes to explore.
As for the new recycling plant, officials with Sims Metal Management Municipal Recycling, the company that recycles the city’s metal, glass and plastic, say it will open on the waterfront in Sunset Park and include an education center with classroom space to promote recycling.
The city’s Department of Sanitation is paying the costs of the Recyclarium in the hope of spreading the idea of minimizing trash to children and young adults. Recycling is far less ingrained in New York City than it is in cities like San Francisco or Seattle.
The department also recently created the position of deputy commissioner to help the Bloomberg administration meet its goal of doubling the city’s recycling rate of 15 percent by 2017.
In addition to interactive games, the trailer presents dozens of recycling facts. Among the factoids: New Yorkers throw away 146,200 tons of glass per year. If all of it were recycled into sand, it would be enough to fill 718 sand volleyball courts, one for each elementary school in the city.
Article courtesy of MIREYA NAVARRO with the NYtimes http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/01/on-the-move-a-recyclarium-for-new-york/?utm_source=Kazi+Media+Group&utm_medium=Kazi+Media+Group
Barrington, RI Plastic Bag Ban Considered
View full article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/02/barrington-ri-plastic-bag-ban_n_1732887.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000040
BARRINGTON, R.I. (AP) — Answering the question ‘paper or plastic’ could get a lot easier in one Rhode Island town if local leaders support a call to ban plastic shopping bags.
Hundreds of residents and more than a dozen business owners in Barrington are pushing to scrap the sacks, which they say take up valuable landfill space and litter streets, streams and shorelines. But critics — including an alliance of plastic bag manufacturers — say prohibiting the ubiquitous bags would only reduce consumers’ options while doing nothing to help the environment.
The Barrington Town Council voted on Monday to direct the town’s solicitor to draft a proposed ban. The move follows a recommendation by the town’s Conservation Commission to prohibit plastic shopping bags to encourage shoppers to bring their own reusable bag. Under that recommendation, shoppers could also purchase paper bags for 5 cents each.
“It wouldn’t be a big deal to me,” said Linda Alves, who was shopping for home office supplies Wednesday in Barrington, an affluent town 20 minutes from Providence. Alves opened the trunk of her car and pulled out two reusable bags. “I have so many of these things, who needs the plastic?”
San Francisco was the first U.S. city to ban plastic shopping bags back in 2007. Several cities have followed, including Los Angeles and Seattle. The bags are banned throughout Hawaii. Westport, Conn. is the only New England community with such a ban.
“It’s a matter of changing habits, and that’s not always easy,” said Jonathan Cunitz, a member of Westport’s Representative Town Meeting and an advocate for the ban, which went into effect in 2009. “But people are now more conscious of the environment and we don’t see plastic bags on the street or on our waterfront.”
But an organization founded by plastics manufacturers to fight proposed bans argues that outlawing the bags could threaten more than 30,000 plastic bag manufacturing jobs in the U.S. Donna Dempsey, spokeswoman for the Washington D.C.-based American Progressive Bag Alliance, said the plastic bag has gotten a bad rap.
Nike, Walmart, Levi’s Launch Sustainable Apparel Index
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/07/26/nike-walmart-levis-launch-sustainable-apparel-index/
Walmart, Nike, Target, JC Penney, Levi’s and fellow members of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition have unveiled the group’s index for measuring the environmental impact of apparel products across the supply chain.
The Higg Index is an indicator-based tool for apparel that allows clothing manufacturers and brands to evaluate material types, products, facilities and processes based on a range of environmental and product design choices.
This 1.0 version of the index was developed for apparel products and measures environmental outcomes in water use and quality; energy and greenhouse gas; waste; and chemicals and toxicity.
Future releases of the index, slated for 2013, will include footwear products and social and labor impact areas, the coalition said. The index eventually will be expanded to include quantitative data and metrics and feature an improved scoring method.
The current version of the Higg Index asks practice-based, qualitative questions to gauge environmental sustainability performance. It’s based on the Eco Index and Nike’s Apparel Environmental Design Tool. However, the Higg Index has been significantly enhanced through the pilot testing period, the coalition said.
The tool includes a Materials Sustainability Index, a cradle-to-gate assessment tool to give designers and the global supply chain information on the environmental sustainability of materials.
A group of 30 manufacturers and retailers launched theSustainable Apparel Coalition last year to improve the environmental and social performance of the apparel and footwear industry, from water consumption and chemical use to waste and embedded energy in products.
Last month, Nike partnered with Random Hacks of Kindness in the Open Challenge for Sustainable Materials, an initiative that asks apparel designers and developers to use sustainable materials listed on the Nike Sustainable Materials Index.
Behind the scenes at the Sustainable Apparel Coalition
Article by Marc Gunther at Greenbiz.com: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2012/07/26/behind-scenes-sustainable-apparel-coalition?utm_source=E-News+from+GreenBiz&utm_campaign=21c7056b94-GreenBuzz-2012-27-07&utm_medium=email
The story of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition begins with a letter designed to get the attention of even a busy CEO. At the top: the logos of Walmart and Patagonia. John Fleming, who was then Walmart’s chief merchandising officer, and Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia’s founder, signed the letter, which invited chief executives of some of the world’s biggest clothing companies–fierce competitors, ordinarily — to join together to develop an index to measure the environmental impact of their products.
Their pitch, in part, read like this:
Creating a single approach for measuring sustainability in the apparel sector will do much more than accelerate meaningful social and environmental change. Standardization will enable us to maximize sustainability benefits for all buyers without investing in multiple sustainability technologies and certification processes, and ultimately empower consumers to trust claims regarding sustainably sourced apparel.
Finally, as an industry, we will benefit from the unique opportunity to shape policy and create standards for measuring sustainability before government inevitably imposes one.
…The time is right and the need is great for the apparel sector to move forward now, without further delay, in unison, with strong partners like you.
It was a risky proposition. What if it turned out that a competing company had a better sustainability story to tell? Would consumers be given access to the index? NGOs? Regulators? Most big retailers knew that they had very little visibility deep into their supply chains. Did they really want to find out, for example, that a supplier to one of their suppliers, in a factory they had never visited in China or Vietnam, exploited workers or dumped pollution into a nearby river? Any meaningful index would require companies to ask tough questions and, eventually, face demands from others to share what they had learned.
The letter went out on October 1, 2009. Less than three years later, despite those risks, the apparel industry has made major progress towards creating a global sustainability index, the Higg Index, to measure and score products, factories and companies. A first version was released today by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, the nonprofit group that developed the index.
Its vision? Nothing less than “an apparel and footwear industry that produces no unnecessary environmental harm and has a positive impact on the people and communities associated with its activities.” The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) hired an executive director, Jason Kibbey, in January, and today it has more than 60 members, representing brands, retailers and suppliers who together account for more than a third of the global apparel and footwear industry.
Eco Etiquette: How Do I Store Produce Without Plastic?
Here at MantraMeds, our scrubs are made from recycled plastic but we like to emphasize that making our planet a more sustainable place means practicing all 3 R’s: Reducing, Reusing & Recycling. Here is a great article from HuffPost Green on reducing use of plastic on all your fresh summer produce!
I started shopping at my farmers market this summer. I’ve noticed people putting fruits and vegetables directly in their totes, without taking the plastic bags some vendors offer. But how do you keep produce fresh in the fridge without the plastic?
-Raina
Not long ago, I asked myself that same question. I had recently invested in a large set of organic cotton reusable produce bags, and while I was feeling mighty proud of myself each time I ventured out to the market (look how eco-friendly I am! Who needs those wasteful plastic produce bags?), the scene in my fridge a few days later was less than pretty.
Stored in plastic, fruits and vegetables would have normally stayed fresh for at least a week. But left in my new reusable bags, all my beautiful produce fast turned into a wilted, spoiled mess. (Even the “crisper” bin seemed to do just the opposite, no matter what the setting.)
I’ve written before about the enormous environmental implications of wasted food; needless to say, my cloth produce bags were not coming close to offsetting the yearly 34 million tons of food waste to which I was now contributing.
But obviously, there were reasons to avoid the plastic bags, too (wildlife-destroying pollution, needless oil consumption, endocrine-disrupting chemicals). They also didn’t seem necessary: After all, plastic produce bags only came into being in the 1960s; plastic grocery bags, a decade later. There had to be a way to keep my fruits and veggies fresh without them.
Enter Beth Terry. As author of the blog My Plastic-free Life and the recently released book Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too, Terry knows how to keep everything from persimmons to parsnips fresh with nary a plastic bag in sight: She’s lived plastic free (and not just in the produce department) since 2007.
Terry’s storage methods come largely from Ecology Center Farmers’ Markets in Berkeley, CA, which createdthis guide on how to store more than 60 kinds of fruits and vegetables. But being the plastic-free pro that she is, Terry of course had some suggestions to add. With her help, I’ve created a condensed version for you that includes her input, below.
*Note: While the Ecology Center guide occasionally calls for paper products, Terry tries to limit these; she opts for cloth bags or plastic-free reusable containers instead. (“While plastic is truly problematic, all single-use disposable bags and wrappers have an environmental footprint,” she says.) She suggests a variety of different bags and containers on her site.
How Extended Producer Responsibility Could Revolutionize Recycling
This is a guest post from Tom Szaky, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of TerraCycle, which provides free waste collection, and then turns that waste into sustainable products. View our previous post about TerraCycle here: http://mantrameds.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/terracycle-outsmart-waste/
Widely quoted estimates suggest that 90% of the ‘stuff’ we buy is discarded within 6 months of purchase. What’s worse is that 10% of this “stuff” ends up going to some type of waste-to-energy facility, while the remaining 90% of America’s waste ends up in a landfill.
With over 360 million Americans and counting producing on average about 4 pounds of waste a day, it is clear that our recycling systems need to be expanded to accept a wider range of materials, and fast. Worse yet, even commonly recyclable packaging formats such as PET and HDPE plastic bottles are only recycled at an estimated (and paltry) 25%.
6 Tips to Avoid Food Poisoning this Summer
As August nears, we’re all scraping to hang onto these final weeks of summer. Thinking about taking a picnic to the park, packing a lunch for a hike, or hosting an outdoor bar-b-q? Careful, with the heat wave being experienced all over the US, it doesn’t take long for the warm air to spoil your food. Organic Authority gives us 6 helpful tips to avoid getting food poisoning this summer.
Written by Lacy Boggs Renner
You only need to have food poisoning once to know how incredibly awful it can be—and to become committed to doing everything possible to prevent further foodborne illnesses. The Centers for Disease Control estimate that every year, 48 million Americans—nearly one in six—will get sick from a foodborne illness.
We’ve rounded up our six best tips to keep your summer picnics and barbeques safe and healthy. Read about them here: http://www.organicauthority.com/health/tips-to-avoid-food-poisoning.html
Sustainable or Gross? 7 Tips to Re-wear Clothes Before Washing
In this article, Organic Authority brings you 7 deciding factors for what to wash and how often. A twist on sustainable clothing! Enjoy
View full article here: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1xK9Sj/www.organicauthority.com/sanctuary/7-tips-to-rewear-clothes-before-washing.html
Image: Magic Madzik
Someone had to ask, right? Is it sustainable or just plain gross to re-wear outfits before washing clothes?
The average American household does some 400 loads of laundry per year, using as much as 40 gallons of water per load, according to the Consumer Energy Center. With fresh water becoming a seriously scarce resource, that’s a huge number to take into consideration, especially when clothes are frequently and unnecessarily washed. In the not-so-olden days just a century ago, it was a given that clothes were going to be worn several times, if not dozens before washing. And even then, they were low-impact hand-washed and air-dried.
The home washing machine drastically changed all that in the 1950s. Suddenly, we could have clean clothes with little effort—a necessity that became a luxury—but in our modern efforts to decrease our consumption of resources and our impact on the environment, it’s important that we choose to develop new habits. We didn’t always look at the bottom of containers to determine whether or not they were recyclable, now it’s a habit for many of us. So is shopping at local farmers markets to support our regional economy and decrease the distance between where our food is grown and our mouths. But what about what we wear? Is just using an environmentally friendly detergent enough? Check this list of tips on re-wearing clothes to decrease your impact on the environment and make your clothes last longer:
View the 7 tips here: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1xK9Sj/www.organicauthority.com/sanctuary/7-tips-to-rewear-clothes-before-washing.html
4 Foods that Prevent Sunburn—from the Inside Out
4 Foods that Prevent Sunburn—from the Inside Out
| Written by Lacy Boggs Renner Organic Authority.com |
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We all know that it’s important to do our best to avoid sunburn altogether, but it seems inevitable: at least once a summer you end up forgetting your sunscreen and… ouch. But, if you bulk up on these foods even before you set foot outside, your body could be better equipped to prevent sunburn (and heal when you do get burned). Green teaStudies have shown that drinking two cups of green tea per day could provide your body with (a little bit of) sunburn-fighting abilities! The catechin compounds in green tea are thought to help protect the body from the sun’s radiation. Bonus: the tannic acid in tea can help fight sunburn pain, so put cool teabags on a sunburn to feel better after the fact. (Click here for more natural sunburn remedies.) PomegranatesThis wonder fruit is packed with ellagic acid, and a study from Texas A&M University found it can help protect skin from cell damage caused by UVA- and UVB-rays. GuavasNothing says summer better than tropical fruit, and this one has up to five times the amount of vitamin C—a skin-healing antioxidant—than your average orange. In fact, working any vitamin C-rich foods into your diet could help add an extra layer of protection. TomatoesThese summer gems are jam-packed with lycopene, which can help protect you from sun damage. In one study, volunteers who ate five tablespoons of tomato paste showed 25 percent more sun resistance! Image by chrisjohnbeckett You can follow Lacy on Twitter @lacylu42 |
Organic Beer and Beyond: 10 Eco-Friendly Breweries
Why not escape this record-setting July heat by taking a tour of your local brewery!? The Daily Green brings us this great slideshow highlighting the top ten eco-friendly breweries!
Go to the following link or click on the image below to “develop (yet another) iron-clad excuse to drink a cool beer… ‘I’m not just drinking, I’m saving the Earth!’” http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/latest/organic-brewery-0625?click=main_sr
Green power: The fine folks of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. allow anyone visiting their Website to see their on-site power consumption whenever they like. Over 10,000 solar panels and four co-generation fuel cells allow Sierra Nevada to power nearly their entire facility in an eco-friendly way. So feel no guilt, Mr. Thoughtful Drinker—your beverage of choice was made with the awesome power of the sun.
This July 4, Declare Your Independence
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary to go green…
Revolution is sometimes necessary, if never comfortable. Thomas Jefferson knew this when he and his revolutionary colleagues laid out their grievances before dissolving the bands that connected them with the King of England. We celebrate the success of that revolution every year, and for good reason.
This Fourth of July, a couple hundred years later, there’s another revolution afoot, with the potential to shake up the way America does business, interacts with other nations and pursues happiness. “Green” is more than a buzzword. It’s a path forward for a great nation seeking to produce its own energy, shore up its security and provide sustainable prosperity for its people.
Jefferson didn’t spend a lot of ink on energy policy in the Declaration of Independence, but a selective reading of his “indictments” against the King almost sound like a treatise on sustainability. (At least, the whole argument for untangling ourselves from that rotten King of England is framed as aligning human behavior with natural law and the “powers of the earth.”)
So, this Fourth of July, start participating in the next revolution, one that embraces good-old American ingenuity and hard work on the path toward a brighter future for our great nation.
Read more about how to Declare Your Independence from Oil, Waste, Factory Food, & Suspect Chemicals: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/declare-independence-47062306#ixzz1zUmsAlEd
Home Made Vitamin Water
Loving this idea to get you through the July heat!
Make your own vitamin water. Add fruits instead of sugar for a natural sweetener for your H20. Cut the fruit into paper-thin slices or small chunks. Combine ingredients with water. Refrigerate 4-6 hours and serve over ice. So delicious and very refreshing!
This great idea was brought to you courtesy of Homesteading.
Homesteading – the center for “How To” products on self-reliance, sustainable living, and other related fields.
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College grads in caps, gowns put a new spin on recycled bottles
At their recent commencement, more than 5,000 graduates at George Washington University joined hundreds of thousands of other students across the country in forgoing traditional polyester gowns for versions made entirely from bits of melted plastic.
By Maggie Fazeli Fard, The Washington Post
When George Washington University’s Class of 2012 marched across the Mall in D.C. to accept its degrees recently, the nation’s backyard was transformed into an eco-fashion runway.
Sure, the men wore dress shirts and slacks while the women donned colorful spring dresses and shoes that wouldn’t sink in soft soil. But on top of these outfits, each GWU student sported the newest trend: gowns made from plastic bottles.
More than 5,000 graduates at GWU joined hundreds of thousands of other students across the country in forgoing traditional polyester gowns for versions made entirely from bits of melted plastic.
“The ‘green’ gowns look and feel the same, and the students were really excited,” said Robert Blake, the manager of the GWU bookstore and a member of the university’s regalia committee. “For us, this was really a no-brainer.”
The eco-friendly fashion statement is part of a larger effort by colleges and universities to reduce the carbon footprint of commencement ceremonies.
Read full article here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2018289998_greengowns27.html
One Step At A Time
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Wellness at Work – Walking Expert Visits Wellsource, Inc.
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Walking adds years to your life, reduces stress, and doubles productivity PORTLAND, Ore. – When Robert Sweetgall left his high-paying job as a chemical engineer almost 30 years ago, he knew he was staring death in the face. His father, aunt, and uncle, all died at an early age of heart disease. And his greasy, high-cholesterol diet wasn’t doing him any favors. So he did what any sane, single bachelor would do who questioned the meaning of life. He put a few things in a fanny pack, opened the front door, and started out on an 11,028-mile walking journey that would take him across the United States seven times. Known as “The Real Forest Gump,” Robert Sweetgall shared his experience, walking tips, and health and wellness advice at Wellsource, Inc., on May 17, 2012. He is the founder of Creative Walking Inc., author of 17 books, and a longtime advocate for improving physical activity. One Step at a Time In the three decades since he walked off the job, Sweetgall has taught and inspired millions of people to be more physically active. He’s appeared on the CBS Morning News and National Public Radio, and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, People Magazine, and others. At 65 years old, he’s still trim and quick on his feet. And he continues to exercise regularly and share his message that he hopes will inspire others to get moving. Wellness at Work During Sweetgall’s cross-country adventures on foot, he wore through scores of custom-made shoes. He developed his own treatment to care for his feet. And he meticulously tracked the food he ate as part of a study for the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. He lost 11 pounds of body fat during his first journey across the country on foot, burning an estimated 1.6 million calories by putting one foot in front of the other. Walking an average of 30 miles a day gave him a lot of time to think about the message he wanted to share with people. “If you want to add years to your life, reduce stress, and double your productivity, take a five or 10-minute walk before work or school every day,” Sweetgall said. “Park your car at the far end of the parking lot, and walk to the store instead of circling around in your car. Just do something to make physical activity a part of your life. Then take it one step at a time.” About Wellsource, Inc. |
Weekend Challenge
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Weekend Challenge: Get Out, Get CreativeA new study links being outdoors and increased creativity. Got any plans for this weekend? We understand it may be scorching in your neck of the woods as summer heats up, but getting outside will not only reconnect you with nature. It’ll also make you more creative. Check it out: a recent study showed that hikers became 50% more creative after they spent four days cruising around a trail. Getting away from gadgets and walls can have serious brain benefits. You don’t have to hike all weekend, of course. Our guess is that spending just an hour or so outside, whether you’re camping, walking, or throwing a Frisbee will help clear your mind, breather easier, and maybe even refocus. Give it a shot. http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=8ccdfc0dc22f10c6f14890677&id=22076c58db# Check out Cool People Care on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/coolpeoplecare |
The $80,000 Vote for Sustainability!
AT&T is dedicated to supporting people and communities, the environment, and technology. Your vote counts: each nonprofit will win a percentage of the $80K pool, based on the number of votes they receive.
You can vote once per day, so make sure to come back tomorrow to support your favorite organization again!
ABOUT THE NONPROFITS
Roadtrip Nation
Roadtrip nation exists to support, empower, and encourage individuals who want to define their own roads in life.
Keep America Beautiful
Keep America Beautiful changes behaviors and improves communities through a focus on litter prevention, waste reduction and recycling, and beautification and community greening.
National Safety Council
The National Safety Council’s mission is to save lives by preventing injuries and deaths at work, in homes and communities and on the road through leadership, research, education and advocacy.
See video below at: http://youtu.be/Cw3-rAD1Ajk
Natural & Effective Bug Repellents
Typically on this blog, we focus on sustainability as it relates to the MantraMeds brand and the eco-friendly textiles we use to make our scrubs. We have touched on recycling plastics, organic cotton, hospital sustainability efforts, and customers who include our scrubs on their exciting healthcare missions.
Today, I’d like to venture to a topic that is particularly prevalent this time of year, especially in the hot & humid Carolinas where the scrub materials are made… MOSQUITOES! Due to this past mild winter, they are EVERYwhere! I don’t know about you, but I’m SICK of spraying my body with chemicals twice a day, and I just don’t trust those clip-on fans that continuously emit who-knows-what into the air around you.
Today I found a blog that introduces THREE eco-friendly alternatives to common bug repellent!
According to this blog, “… most bug repellents found on the market contain a chemical known as DEET (diethyl toluamide), a pesticide with known toxic effects, including endocrine disruption, brain disorders, slurred speech, skin irratation, seizures and even death. Children are more susceptible to subtle brain changes caused by chemicals in their environment because their skin more readily absorbs them (up to 56% of DEET enters the bloodstream!) and their still-developing nervous systems are more potently affected.”… YIKES!
FIND OUT ABOUT THE THREE PROPOSED “GREEN” ALTERNATIVES HERE: http://mightynest.com/blog/natural-and-effective-bug-repellents
Impact of California’s GMO Label Law
7 Ways California’s GMO Label Law Could Change the World
The California Right to Know Campaign that would require labeling of genetically modified foods was successful in collecting nearly a million signatures from California voters who want the right to know what’s in their food. So, what happens then if Californians opt for GMO labeling in November and the measure passes? How will it affect the rest of the country, and the world?
Read on here! http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1sy56R/www.organicauthority.com/foodie-buzz/california-gmo-label-law.html
High Park Fire in CO
The High Park Fire near Fort Collins, Colo. is burning on 43,433 acres as of Tuesday morning. The out of control blaze is being fought by more than 500 firefighters and they are concerned that Tuesday’s high temperatures could spread the fire further.
Read full article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/12/high-park-fire-near-fort-_n_1589541.html?utm_hp_ref=green&ir=Green&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009
Curbside Recycling – North vs. South
ECOFACT:
Only 30% of people in the Southern region of the United States had curbside recycling collection in 2008. Eighty-four percent of people in the Northeast had curbside recycling. The South also has the most landfill facilities – 726, in contrast with 134 in the northeast. [EPA]
MantraMeds posted an entry on June 1st with a great resource for finding your local recycling centers – check it out here: Recycling Center Search Engine.
Fact courtesy of Busch Systems – like them on Facebook
Navigating the How2Recycle Label
Making recycling make sense
Variation in recycling programs, unclear labeling, and inaccurate recyclability claims make proper recycling a challenge. The How2Recycle Label was created to provide consistent and transparent on-package recycling information to consumers.
Store Drop-Off
We created a special version of the label for plastic bags and films that are accepted primarily at retail stores with plastic bags. For more information, see plasticbagrecycling.org.
