Why Use a Green Cleaner?

One area that I always try to address when I speak to businesses and companies about becoming more environmentally friendly centers around cleaning products. I always try to work that into any presentation as I've always felt it was a relatively simple change that can make a big difference in the environment.

Most over the counter cleaners are petroleum based, which an be both harmful to people and the environment. While most cleaners of that nature aren't introduced to the environment directly, they inevitably end up there indirectly. Typically, here's how the process works:

• You clean your office or home with a non-organic cleaner using with a sponge, cloth or paper towels to wipe or remove the cleaner from a surface.


• That sponge, material, paper towel, etc. is now contaminated to it's thrown away into the trash.


• The trash is removed to the local trash facility, and ultimately ends up in a landfill.


• While the material that the cleaner is on might be biodegradable, the chemical isn't, so it eventually leeches into the ground


• Once in the ground, it contaminates the soil and ground water, which then potentially carries the contaminant to plants and trees.

Again, it's not a direct path, but the long term impact is certainly not good.

Here are some interesting statistics about cleaning products from an article posted on www.treehugger.com:

• The average cleaning person uses an average of 23 gallons of cleaning chemicals (that's 87 liters) annually, 25 percent of which are hazardous per the EPA.


• The average commercial cleaning company uses approximately 5 billion pounds of chemicals each year.  Most of which are washed down the drain into a sewage or waste system.


• The EPA has also reported that there are just over 17,000 different petrochemicals used in home cleaning products. Only 30 percent of those chemicals have undergone extensive EPA testing to human health and the environment.


• The average US home contains 63 different chemical cleaning products at any given time. Those 63 chemicals equal to nearly 10 gallons of chemicals.

 Given the lack of testing and long-term implications of petroleum based cleaning products, it makes sense to switch to a safer, more eco-friendly alternative.

If you or your company outsource the cleaning, give some thought to switching to a 100% eco-friendly cleaning company. Be careful about using companies that market themselves as eco-friendly and ask to see a list of cleaning products that are being used.

If you are handling the cleaning duties at your home or residence, I'd suggest switching to an environmentally friendly cleaner like Simple Green. I know there's been some recent information in the media about certain chemicals being used in the green cleaning industry known as "greenwashing", but I've read all the information that Simple Green has published and feel that their cleaning products are still one of the best eco-friendly options on the market today. If you don't really care for Simple Green, there are plenty of other highly regarded environmentally friendly cleaners on the market.

Read More About Green Cleaning

Becoming a Recycling Force of 1

I've always been fascinated with how much could be accomplished simply by doing the small things. The image represents that very thing. What would happen if just 10% of the US population each recycled just one of the plastic cups shown below in a year?



The answer is astounding. That simple recycling act, done only once a year by 10% of the US population would do the following:

• Reduce the amount of discarded plastic in US trash dumps by an estimated 28%.


• Save 8,000 (yes, 8,000) gallons of crude oil


• Save enough electrical energy to power 1000 houses for 100 years


• Reduce air pollution from incineration equivalent to a single major forest fire burning for 90 days

Please think about that the next time you go to throw one of those cups into your trash

 

See More Here

Recycling Hits the 21st Century

While I admit to being a fan of technology, rarely does it go hand in hand with my green philosophy. I typically try to maintain a middle of the road approach and evaluate technology from the standpoint of it's benefits versus the environmental impact. However, as you are about to see, technology can be applied to recycling with some amazing results. I recently saw this blog post from Earth911.org and had to pass it on. The ideas and technology that are being displayed in this article are so far ahead of the times, it's unreal.

Read and enjoy...

Recycling and waste reduction are nothing without people; folks wanting to make a personal change, people pushing for more solutions and, of course, the people actually collecting and processing our trash and recycling.

But technology in waste reduction has come a long way, to the point that practical, viable solutions now often resemble robots from a science fiction movies. Check out a selection of the more mind-blowing advancements.

 

Photo: Olga Kalugina, coroflot.com

Scarab, a design concept by Olga Kalugina, is a tiny automated robot that has been designed to pick up trash in large, urban areas. Similar to how the Roomba vacumming robot cleans rooms, an operational Scarab could keep streets and public places free of litter.

As reported by Tuvie, Scarab's two web cameras and sensors would estimate the size of the area being cleaned and detect various refuse, which would then be picked up with the robot's 'arms,' diagonal sweeper collectors.

The robot would then sort rubbish internally based on size, then properly dispose of trash and recyclables in nearby recepticles.

The Scarab robot is still in design stages, but a prototype could make both techies and city-dwellers very happy.

 

 

Even as a growing number of people shun technology in farming for a more more holistic approach to growing food, Ben Gurion University of the Negev in southern Israel is finding new ways for farming machinery and nature to live in harmony.

The school's Mobile Robotics Lab has developed argicultural robots to help farmers get better crop yields while using less pesticides and water. The vehicular robots are mobile, about the size of a very small car and water plants with drip irrigation and spray crops with minimal pesticides, dependent upon each plant's individual needs as detected by the robots' advanced software. This carefully calculated approach is designed to prevent water run-off and drastically reduce the need for pesticides in farming.

Take a closer look at these high-tech robots and the people who created them.

 

 

California Institute of Technology's winning toilet prototype generates energy from human waste and the sun. Photo: Michael Hanson, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Bill Gates has helped change the way much of the world operates, and bathrooms are no exception. Earlier this year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sponsored a fair in which universities and other research facilities competed to reinvent the toilet.

The winning entry was designed by the California Institute of Technology and garnered the school a $100,000 prize. The solar-powered toilet prototype turns urine and feces into hydrogen gas, which is then stored in fuel cells to b

Read More here

3 Ring Binders - Can They Be Recycled?

Rarely, will you find a home or office that doesn't use a 3 ring binder of some sort for something. I was doing a quick inventory at my house, and learned that my wife and I have 23 between the two of us. Let's face it, these types of binders are one of the most versatile storage products on the market today. However, once the binder becomes damaged, broken, or old, most people simply throw them out with the trash. That's not really a good idea and here's why: 90% of all binders that are currently being sold in the United States feature a cover that is either made of vinyl or PVC. Unfortunately, PVC/Vinyl is not biodegradable and contains a number of other toxic stabilizing chemicals like lead and cadmium that are equally unhealthy for the environment. The EPA estimates that around 10 million pounds of discarded vinyl binders hit US landfills every year. With a relatively long carbon half life, those discarded binders aren't going anywhere fast.

So the big question is: what should you do with those binders when that time comes?

For starters, instead of trying to dispose of them in an environmentally safe way, consider trying to re-use them. Here are a couple of interesting and innovative approaches for used binders that I saw while searching online, which I found here:

• Scrapbooking or photo storage - My wife buys the sheets of plastic inserts with pockets and uses them as inexpensive scrapbooks (which explains why we have so many).


• Keyring - You can remove the metal strip containing the O or D rings, and then mount it on a wall. This makes an amazing keyholder or keyring for spare keys. We have one in our kitchen and use it for all of our spare/extra keys.


• Baby/child Books - This suggestion is kind of related to the scrapbooking idea, but it works. My wife takes these old damaged binders, decorates them herself (think scrapbooking clubs), and then gives them out as handmade baby books. She also uses them to keep any and all of the school work, pictures or drawings that my 6 year old nephew does for us.


• Children's Coloring Book - I got this idea from my sister-in-law as she's got twin toddler girls. She takes any old binders, and let's her girls draw or decorate the binder anyway they want to. They she fills each one with used paper from her printer (or a coloring book), and let's the girls use them as portable drawing tables on trips.


• Recipe Books - My wife stores every recipe she comes across or is given in one of 4 old binders that have been re-purposed for that use.


• Financial data - We reuse old 3 ring binders to store tax data. Each year gets it's own binder and all the financial and tax information for that year is stored in that binder.

In the event that you can't find a way to re-use them (which is doubtful), consider option #2: Donating.

You are probably wondering who in the world would accept a donation of used or broken binders? Actually you might be surprised.

• Schools - Both public and private schools may consider taking some donated 3 ring binders as long as the rings still work.


• Charity organizations - Contact your local charity organizations and see if they might have a need for any used binders. Some of these groups will even come to you for pick-up.

Finally, if the first two options don't seem appealing, you can always try the recycling route. While vinyl is technically considered a recyclable material, the costs associated with the recycling process make it cost-prohibitive to do. If you want to research possible recycling centers near you who might take a vinyl 3 ring binder, try Earth911. The only other place I'm aware that has a legitimate and effective recycling program for binders is the American Thermoplastic Company, who owns www.binder.com.

The easiest way to avoid this problem in the future is to buy recyclable binders like those manufactured by Naked Binders.com.

See the rest here

Technological Advances in Recycling

While I admit to being a fan of technology, rarely does it go hand in hand with my green philosophy. I typically try to maintain a middle of the road approach and evaluate technology from the standpoint of it's benefits versus the environmental impact. However, as you are about to see, technology can be applied to recycling with some amazing results. I recently saw this blog post from Earth911.org and had to pass it on. The ideas and technology that are being displayed in this article are so far ahead of the times, it's unreal.

Read and enjoy...

Recycling and waste reduction are nothing without people; folks wanting to make a personal change, people pushing for more solutions and, of course, the people actually collecting and processing our trash and recycling.

But technology in waste reduction has come a long way, to the point that practical, viable solutions now often resemble robots from a science fiction movies. Check out a selection of the more mind-blowing advancements.

Photo: Olga Kalugina, coroflot.com

Scarab, a design concept by Olga Kalugina, is a tiny automated robot that has been designed to pick up trash in large, urban areas. Similar to how the Roomba vacumming robot cleans rooms, an operational Scarab could keep streets and public places free of litter.

As reported by Tuvie, Scarab's two web cameras and sensors would estimate the size of the area being cleaned and detect various refuse, which would then be picked up with the robot's 'arms,' diagonal sweeper collectors.

The robot would then sort rubbish internally based on size, then properly dispose of trash and recyclables in nearby recepticles.

The Scarab robot is still in design stages, but a prototype could make both techies and city-dwellers very happy.

Even as a growing number of people shun technology in farming for a more more holistic approach to growing food, Ben Gurion University of the Negev in southern Israel is finding new ways for farming machinery and nature to live in harmony.

The school's Mobile Robotics Lab has developed argicultural robots to help farmers get better crop yields while using less pesticides and water. The vehicular robots are mobile, about the size of a very small car and water plants with drip irrigation and spray crops with minimal pesticides, dependent upon each plant's individual needs as detected by the robots' advanced software. This carefully calculated approach is designed to prevent water run-off and drastically reduce the need for pesticides in farming.

Take a closer look at these high-tech robots and the people who created them.

California Institute of Technology's winning toilet prototype generates energy from human waste and the sun. Photo: Michael Hanson, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Bill Gates has helped change the way much of the world operates, and bathrooms are no exception. Earlier this year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sponsored a fair in which universities and other research facilities competed to reinvent the toilet.

The winning entry was designed by the California Institute of Technology and garnered the school a $100,000 prize. The solar-powered toilet prototype turns urine and feces into hydrogen gas, which is then stored in fuel cells to be used as a secondary energy source for dark or low light conditions.

Such a toilet could operate entirely off the grid, especially useful in third-world countries where human waste often contaminates fresh drinking and bathing water supplies.

Have a gander at the ground-breaking toilet

No recycling mechanism dominates a recyclable material quite like fridge-recycling URT system. The 40-foot tall machine, housed at ARCA Advanced Processing in Philadelphia, has the capability to break down a standard fridge in 50 seconds, processing not only the external casing but the internal insulating foam.

The machine extracts approximately 95 percent of insulating foam from processed fridges, removing potentially harmful gasses from the material and turning it into pellets that can be used as fuel for cement manufacturing, among other various uses.

Take an up close look at the machine and see how the machine has broken down more than 100,000 fridges in the last year.

View the original article here

Ever since becoming involved in the recycling and green energy movement, I've adopted the philosphy that recycling has to be simply and uncomplicated for people to take advantage of it. The more convenient and simple it becomes to recycle, the more people will participate in the process. I think technology is the key to that goal. Eventually, technology will evolve to the point where people simply have to place an item into a trash disposal units and it will take care of evaluating the item for recycling and initiate the recycling process. No more manual sorting, driving to the local recycling center, etc. I just hope it happens before we run out of raw materials to recycle....

Why Should I Recycle My Old Cell Phone?

According to a survey by the Pew Internet Project, 9 out of every 10 adults in the United States owns and uses a cell phone. Inevitably, that phone will either break, become obsolete, or a newer model will be released. The EPA estimates that Americans discard 125 million cell phones each year, which creates about 65,000 tons of e-waste in landfills.

As each phone can contain hazardous materials like lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic. In addition to being toxic materials, all can find their way into the soil and atmosphere if discarded into a landfill.

Luckily, cell phones also contain valuable materials like gold and copper, so there's a big market in recycling them. As a matter of fact, most old cell phones contain all the basic materials needed to produce a new phone.

From the EPA site

Before you consider either recycling or re-using your old cell phone, make sure that any and all confidential data has been removed from the phone. All your old contacts, pictures, texts, etc should be erased. Also ,make sure you remove SIM card as well. Not sure how to delete the data from your cell phone? Try your local cell phone carrier first as most are happy to do it for you. If that's not an option for you, here's a great article about from PCMag that covers that topic.

How exactly are cell phones recycled?

Here's a great video about the cell phone recycling process from HowStuffWorks.com:

How Cell Phone Recycling Works


So what's the first step in recycling a phone after the data has been deleted?

As most people would be thinking about discarding the old one as they are getting a new one, start with your cell phone service provider. Most all of the major players in the cell phone industry have a recycling program set-up at every office:

• AT&T


• Cricket Wireless


• Sprint


• T-Mobile


• Verizon

Here are some other reputable sources for recycling or refurbishing cell phones:

ReCellular - A leader in recycled and refurbed cell phones, ReCellular will pay money for old cell phones that have a value.

Cell Phones for Soldiers - A non-profit organization that either refurbishes the cell phone or recycles it for money, which is then sent to our troops overseas.

GRC Recycling - Offers a recycling program that works with Operation Gratitude, which sends care packages to deployed troops.

Recycling for Charities - A program that takes in recyclable materials (including cell phones) and donates a portion of the proceeds to a charity of your choice.

These days, recycling a cell phone is quick and easy so please take the time to do it.

Read more here

Green Power in Prison

I'm always on the look-out for interesting stories about the green movement, recycling, etc. While this story isn't directly related to helping a business go green, it is an intriguing approach to green energy production.

As seen here: Green Energy Saving Tips

The country of Brazil is currently running a pilot program where inmates in the Santa Rita do Sapucai Prison are given the opportunity to produce green energy while reducing time off their sentences.

The prison authorities have installed two exercise bikes in the prison’s yard and these bikes are connected to batteries. As we all know the cyclists through the motion of the petals they produce kinetic energy which is then converted into electricity. The electricity is then used to charge the batteries. A special device on the handlebars notifies the cyclist when the battery is fully charged. The batteries are then taken to city of Santa Rita to power street lamps. It has been found that one day’s of cycling can give the energy needed to run six street light bulbs. Prison authorities have estimated that when the program is taken to its full scale the amount of green or alternative energy produced will be enough to illuminate the city!

Although the project is still in a pilot phase, the early results have been encouraging. The participating inmates are reducing their sentences at a rate of 1 day per every 24 hours of pedaling. The Brazilian government has indicated that the program maybe deployed to other prisons later this year.

Picture from MSNBC

"It's a win-win situation," the prison's director, Gilson Rafael Silva, told the AP. "People who normally are on the margins of society are contributing to the community and not only do they get out sooner in return, they also get their self-esteem back."

I've always believed that inmates could be doing far more in prison that just watching TV. I'd love to see any kind of similar program deployed in the United States.

Read more here