The Christmas Tree

If you opt for real holiday trees, remove all decorations and its stand, and put it outside on collection day. Don’t use a tree bag. They’ll pick it up with the rest of your organic waste.

The Old Computer

If your old computer is completely lifeless, call a local computer repair shop to see if they want it for parts or can repair it. If it does work and you just don’t need it, delete everyone important and donate it to a local charity, school, or organization. To recycle ink cartridges, Hewlett Packard will take them. They convert the material of the recycled cartridges into raw materials for everyday products.

The Used Batteries

Once your non-rechargeable, one-time-use batteries juiceless, they actually become household hazardous waste. The Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC) works alongside Natural Resources Canada, Transport Canada, Environment Canada, and every provincial and territorial environment ministry, launching a national Canadian Nickel-Cadmium (Ni-Cd)  battery recycling program called “Charge Up to Recycle!” You can drop off your batteries at many retailers, including Bell Mobility, Blacks Photography, Canadian Tire, Fido, Futureshop, Home Depot, Telus Mobility, Best Buy, and Target, among others. Because these batteries won’t end up in the landfill, it’s better for our environment and the recycled remnants are used to manufacture new Single stream recycling equipment  Ni-Cd rechargeable batteries.

The Cell Phone

Old cell phones that we know longer need pollute our waterways with flame retardants, lead, mercury, cadmium, gallium arsenide and other toxic materials. Sounds great, right? Even if your phone no longer works, Collective Good International will use it for parts and recycle what it can. This organization donates to international charities.

The Empty Paint Cans (Spray Paint, too)

You might not know, but paint and aerosol cans can be recycled with glass, metal, and cartons. Just remove the lid first and recycle as per normal.

The Craft Supplies

Sure we can recycle popsicle sticks, shoe boxes, and toilet paper rolls, but where is the fun in that? Instead, repurpose them to a teacher or daycare–and the kids will thank you!

The Empty Pie Plate

Aluminum packaging, such as those found in pie plates, wrappers, and disposable trays, can be recycled along with metals, glass, and milk cartons and Batteries.

The Old Glasses

If you have prescription lenses that you don’t need any more, did you know you can donate them? Most glasses places, such as LensCrafters, will repair and clean your glasses, then send them to international missions for people in developing countries. Lions Club International will also do away with the old lenses. Read more about it here, too..

Lucky for them, researchers at Teesside University may have a solution to their growing waste problem.

In fact, the research team  could help the United Kingdom to avoid paying £180m if they don’t devise a plan by 2020.

The team received £1.76m to find innovative uses for waste in North East England. Both industrial and household waste will be explored, as well as looking at curbside waste.

The money was funded to the Industrial Symbiosis team within the University’s Clean Environment Management Centre (CLEMANCE). This money will help them reach their target goal of reducing CO₂ by over 250,000 tonnes and preventing 250,000 tonnes of waste going to landfill. It will also help provide assistance to 40 enterprises each year.

The money will allow CLEMANCE to explore new uses for everything from household waste to plastics.

CLEMANCE Senior Practitioner Kirk Bridgewood explained that “the study was prompted by the recent collapse in the market for recycled items, which could potentially give councils a major problem if they are unable to sell the collected materials. In addition, there were stories about materials being stockpiled because no one wanted to buy. We want to find out ways of making sure that does not happen again and we will also be looking at the amount of materials exported to places like China.

“We want to see if there are ways in which materials can be recycled in the North East of England instead. Plastics are a good example. There are companies in this area that could use discarded plastics as raw materials.”

Read more from Teesside University and their ongoing projects and research.

Source

Image courtesy of euinfrastructure.com

These customers had exactly two coffees in their tray, freeing up a hand so they could (of course) text on their cell phones. While I’m all for texting, I think the last time I checked, our planet was in danger of becoming a garbage heap. No thanks to wastefulness like this of course…

However, as irritating as people’s little habits are, I did notice some good that Starbucks is initiating, getting people to step up and take accountability for their planet, and their coffee. 

What is Shared Planet?

Starbucks Shared Planet is a business commitment to the environment. This means that Starbucks will work to make green changes within their business practices, from they way they buy their coffee, to how their stores are developed and run, and even ensuring they have a presence within their communities.

The Coffee

We’ve always known that coffee comes from nature, and Starbucks is realizing this, too. They are making a point to buy Ethically Traded Coffee, which means that farmers receive a fair payment for their product, and the coffee bean is grown in an environmentally responsible way.

Conservation International has also paired up with Starbucks to develop their buying guidelines for socially, environmentally, and economically responsible coffee, and also developing a new climate change initiative which takes conservation beyond the coffee farm and into the surrounding communities and landscapes of the growers.

The support for these coffee farmers goes even further with Starbucks Farmer Support Centres which are operating within Costa Rica and eventually Ethiopia.

The Cup Stops Here

Within the store, Starbucks is committed to delivering the consumer their coffee, but it comes at a price. Ten cents will be knocked off everyone’s favourite drink, but only if they come in with their own reusable mug.

This program is being used within every Starbucks location so go get your (reusable) fill!

Speaking of cups, if you have forgotten your travel mug at home, by 2015, Starbucks is planning on having 100 percent of their cups be reusable or recyclable, which will be a huge contribution to keeping the planet green since the majority of Starbucks products come in a cup.

Also at store level comes their recycling program. This is shown to be consumers’ biggest concern when they are inside a Starbucks, and probably the most obvious. Within the next five years, Starbucks aims to have recycling available within 100 percent of their stores where they control the waste, something every major company should take into consideration, don’t you think?

To explore a green Starbucks store and get a tour of their innovative features check out: starbucks.com/sharedplanet

Within The Community

During a recession community involvement often wanes- but not for Starbucks. The company’s partners and customers in United States and Canada volunteered 245,000 hours of community service in 2008, and their goal has been increased to volunteer 1 million hours by 2015. Starbucks online social network, V2V (Volunteer to Volunteer) helps connect volunteers all over the world to make a difference in their communities. Check out v2v.net/starbucks to find out more.

To see more about the Shared Planet initiative visit:  starbucks.com/sharedplanet

Image courtesy of elephantjournal.com

Some big ticket items are the most hazardous to the environment, but are deemed crucial in the home, so how can we make them more enviro-savvy for our world?

Your Old Mattress

The Washington Post reports that most mattresses are made out of petroleum based ingredients such as polyurethane foam, and contain flame retardants which are required by law, but are often made up of chemicals harmful to human health.

Aside from the make-up of your mattress, regular tossing and turning can result in a break down of the foam within the mattress and causes dust particles to float into the air your breathe.

In 2006, a Consumer Product Safety Commission study estimated that “the average adult sleeping  on a conventional mattress will be exposed to 0.802 milligrams of antimony and 0.081 milligrams of boric acid, which is commonly used to kill cockroaches every night”. This fact alone has me questioning my Serta Beauty Rest and considering the positives a chemical free mattress may have not only on the environment, but on my peace of mind as well.

Purchasing Your New Mattress

If your in the market to purchase an organic mattress, many retailers such as JC Penney offer organic lines. Another great website to check out and purchase organic mattresses (within the US only) is The Organic Mattress Store (theorganicmatressstore.com).

They offer a wide range of mattresses for babies to adults which are made from 100% pure rubber latex (not synthetic latex) at its core and quilted with pure wool, certified organic cotton, and wrapped in a certified organic cotton fabric cover. The site also boasts duvets, pillows, organic sheets, and wooden and metal bed frames- all environmentally sound.

Lets All Do Our Part

So now that you’re doing your part and trading that old mattress in for an upgrade, it is comforting to know that others are following suit. Mattress giant Sleep Country Canada is taking initiative at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games and donating mattresses for all our athletes to get their rest on, and when the Olympics are completed, they are donating all mattresses, box springs and frames to charitable organizations throughout the Sleep Country chain region.

To read more on environmental sustainability within the 2010 Games check out vancouver2010.com/sustainability and rest at ease on some organic (bed) support.

Image courtesy of smh.com.au

These computers also include game for visitors to play; the more its played, the more the computers are used and, therefore, keep the ecosystem growing.

According to its website, Biomodd is an interactive and collaborative art project that integrates nature and technology. It fuses recycled computers, aquaponics, a rainforest ecosystem, Paete woodcarving, and a videogame based on the mythology of Mariang Makiling. (Not familiar? Learn about those with Insight Guide Philippines.)

“…Biomodd is an interactive and collaborative art project that integrates nature and technology. One of aims of the project is to create an art installation in which different forms of plant life coexist with a fully functioning computer system. This system is built almost entirely from recycled computers, and plant growth is stimulated by the excess heat of the working electronics. Visitors can interact with the art installation by playing a multiplayer computer game that runs on this hybrid system.”

The exhibit is meant to instigate discussion on eco-driven and artistic topics, including computer recycling, contemporary and traditional art, and the environment.

Currently exhibiting at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design / mcad (College of Saint Benilde), September 1-25

Biomodd will be on display until September 25th. Vermulen may move the project on to Singapore and Brazil. Report and photos by Beth Morrissey

Read more at their website: Biomodd

Image courtesy of Biomodd; see more images of their project here