landfills

Even Rechargeable Batteries Need Recycling -- Do You Know How?

jplatt — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 08:00:00 -0400

Have you ever used a rechargeable battery so many times it stops holding a charge? It happens. Even the best rechargeable batteries are only good for so many uses. And yes, when they're dead it's time to throw them out -- or turn them in for recycling.

Some communities have programs for recycling batteries, but not everyone knows how to use them, or where to find them. The best way to find the options nearest to you is the Call2Recycle program from the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation. By calling 800-8-BATTERY or using their web site, you can find the nearest battery or cellphone recycling program. I found two locations less than a mile from my house, neither of which I knew took batteries for recycling!

The site also contains great tips on getting the most use out of your rechargeable batteries, and a fun guide to finding all of the batteries in your house. (Remember, we're not just talking about AA batteries here, but batteries for laptops, cellphones, power tools, toys and more!).

So give it a try and let's keep those batteries from ending up in a landfill!

The Benefits of Recycling: Let's Talk Trash

RiverWired.com — Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Sure, recycling benefits the environment in a variety of ways- it uses fewer resources, reduces landfill waste, etc etc. We’ve all heard about the three R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, in case you live under a rock) a thousand times before. With that in mind, we’ve compiled this list of seven facts about recycling that you may not have heard before, in the hopes that this newfound information will invigorate you to take your own personal recycling initiatives to the next level (which, if you’re looking at this website, are probably already pretty stellar in the first place). Here goes:

1. To produce each week’s Sunday newspapers, 500,000 trees must be cut down. If every American recycled just one tenth of their newspapers, we would save about 25,000,000 trees a year.

2. A used aluminum can is recycled and back on the grocery shelf in as little as 60 days, creating a highly efficient closed recycling loop. If thrown away, aluminum cans will stay intact in can form for over 500 years.

3. Over the course of one year in the U.S., the recycling of steel saves enough energy to heat and light 18 million homes.

4. Approximately 1 billion trees worth of paper are thrown away every year in the U.S.

5. Americans use 2,500,000 plastic bottles an hour (!), most of which are thrown away. Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator.

6. Every year, each American throws out about 1,200 pounds of organic garbage that could have been composted.

7. On average, every American produces about 4.4 pounds of solid waste per day, amounting to almost a ton of trash per person, per year.

You already knew recycling was important. When you examine some of the statistics, however, the numbers are pretty staggering. So pack up your plastic bottles and head to a processing plant already. What are you waiting for?

Sources:

Recycling-Revolution.com

BuyRecycled.com

Want to find out more about recycling?

Recycling Tips: Did You Know You Cannot Recycle Messy Pizza Boxes?

Recycling the Looking Glass: When Garbage and Art Collide

Top 10 Recycling Resources

Recycled Record Snack Tray

The Benefits of Recycling Cardboard

The Art of Garbage

Reduce, Reuse… FREECYCLE

Recycle Those Electronics!

Back to Basics—RRR

Picking Up Garbage TVs and Recycling as Art

Students Recycle and Reduce Garbage: Take It Or Leave It

Knight Rider Recycled—Reborn With Green Twist!

Recycling Your Garbage: Where Does it All Go?

Cut Waste: Download Your Movies

jplatt — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Toshiba announced today that it will probably write off nearly $1 billion in losses following its decision to dry-dock its HD DVD format. Beyond that, thousands of customers are now going to have to write off their purchases of HD DVD players and movies. And where are all of those players and movies going to end up? That's right -- landfills around the globe.

Blu-Ray may have won the battle, but the HD format war isn't over. New technologies are already being developed which will once again vie for market dominance. And meanwhile, your old players and movies are still sitting there, hoping you won't replace them and toss them like day-old bread.

So, if you haven't already invested in a Blu-ray player, you might want to consider a new video format that will never end up in the trash: a download. Numerous services (including Vongo, Netflix, and Amazon's Unbox) now offer you the chance to download movies directly onto your PC, either as temporary "rentals" or as files you get to keep forever.

Sure, you might not immediately think of your PC as your home entertainment center, but studies show that people are now spending more time in front of their computers than their TVs, so why not complete that transition?