Printer Cartridges

Have you wondered what to do with your cartridges when they’ve run out of ink?  Options are pretty limited – either throw them in a landfill or take them to a recycling drop off location.  Recycling cartridges can be very beneficial, can save lots of money, and can prevent a lot of pollution.  Listed below are the places in the Tri-Cities that collect printer cartridges for recycling:

Best Buy

6809 W. Canal Dr.

Kennewick

Cartridge World

1360 N. Louisiana St, Ste. B

Kennewick

Cartridge World

5025 Road 68, Ste. A-2

Pasco

Office Depot

6815 W. Canal Dr.

Kennewick

Office Depot

1717 George Washington Way

Richland

Staples

1480 Tapteal Dr.

Richland

All of these stores accept printer cartridges for recycling.  This is an excellent way to prevent pollution.

Source: http://ecyclingcenter.com/ssr-Kennewick%20Washington%20-Toner%20Cartridge-Recycling-%2846.226234,%20-119.210648%29-res-25.html

Newspaper Rubber Bands

For a while now, I have been saving my rubber bands that come on my newspapers.  After a few weeks, I return them to my newspaper deliverer.  In a way, I am recycling my newspaper. 

You can do this too.  After taking the rubber band off your newspaper, you can save it and return it to your newspaper deliverer when they come to collect your fines.  I’m sure they’ll be willing to take it, they are, after all, the ones who have to pay for the rubber bands, not the newspaper provider.

However, today, I began to wonder: What else can I do with my newspaper rubber bands?

After a search on the internet, I found only two ideas: Keep them and reuse them, and donate them to schools.  Basically, these ideas are just for keeping the rubber bands lying around and waiting for a use for them to come up.

All of these ideas are great and keep rubber bands out of landfills.  However, I believe that returning them to the newspaper carrier would be the most sustainable.

Yes, BP is Still Trying to Clean Up the Gulf of Mexico. Here's the Latest.

Today, I am going to talk about the cleanup efforts in the Gulf of Mexico.  It is well known that a BP oil rig exploded of the Gulf of Mexico on April 20^th, 2010, and ever since they have been trying to clean it up.  It only took 87 days for BP to stop the leak, meaning that 87 days’ worth of leaked oil was at one point sitting in the Gulf of Mexico.  Now, the cleanup of the Gulf of Mexico is starting to wind down. 

Yet, residents along the beach continue to note that oil is still on the beaches.  Greg Miller, who works for a realty company in Fort Morgan, Alabama, stated that “we’ve asked them to numerous times to clean it up and then this past Sunday, it came out in the paper that it was all clean… but when you look close, it’s all still there.”

He said that many people have called and asked if there is still tar balls left in the sand.  This has caused people to change their minds about vacations.  Mr. Miller also noted that the BP workers are constantly driving right over the material without stopping to pick it up, sometimes multiple times per day.  A BP spokesman said that this material will be cleaned up, even though operations are starting to wind down and come to a close.

The beaches to the east were reportedly cleaner, but oil is still showing up in more limited numbers of tar balls and on shells.

I feel BP needs to focus more on cleaning up in a more orderly fashion.  It took them a long time to stop the leak, and now they are ignoring little bits of pollution.  Mr. Miller also said that he knows “they don’t have to do a deep clean...”  Does this mean BP is not planning to clean up all of the oil that they put into the world’s water system?  I will keep you as updated as I can on this issue.

Source: http://blog.al.com/live/2011/02/residents_say_oil_still_on_bea.html

What to Do With Styrofoam

I have a question to pose for you – what do you do when you receive Styrofoam in the packaging in a product of yours?  I didn’t know there was anything else one could do besides throwing it in the landfill garbage, but I now know that I stand corrected – which I am perfectly fine with.  Thanks to the website “Green Living Tips” (www.greenlivingtips.com), I have found a lot of things that you can do with your Styrofoam you find in packages and products you buy. 

Styrofoam is actually the trademarked name of the Dow Company; it is made of material called polystyrene and marked with the recycling symbol with the number 6 in it.  Because Styrofoam is a type of plastic, it takes a long time to decompose.  When it finally manages to decompose, it releases very toxic materials into the ground, greatly polluting the environment.  This is why it is so important for us to reuse Styrofoam as much as possible.

It is important to know that burning polystyrene is not a good option.  Although the elimination chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) made some people believe that burning Styrofoam will not harm the environment.  However, it still can cause major damage to the environment.

1. In their “Recycling Styrofoam” article, Green Living Tips gave the following ideas for recycling Styrofoam: Keep as packaging

This is the most simple way option Green Living Tips gives.  This recommendation includes keeping the packaging and using it again when you need it. 

      

     2.       Craft shops

Craft shops can be a great place to take your Styrofoam that you don’t plan to use.  Many people find this Styrofoam useful for their projects and are willing to purchase this from the store.  Therefore, the store may even give you money for your Styrofoam.  

      3.       Earth911.org

Using the search box in the top right corner of Earth 911’s website, type in the word “polystyrene” and your location (typing “Styrofoam” will not work).  The website will list all of the businesses in your area that accept Styrofoam.  

      4.       Planters

This isn’t the only place I’ve heard of using Styrofoam in the bottom of planters, because they help keep moisture in.  However, there is the question of pollution from the degrading of Styrofoam. 

      5.        Mail back initiative

The Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers offers a mail back program.  You can simply mail in your Styrofoam for the price of shipping, and they will recycle your Styrofoam for you. 

       6.       Sell It yourself

The Recycled Plastics Markets Database allows you to sell your Styrofoam and find a variety of buyers who will purchase it.

Being as investigative as I am, I decided to look up businesses in the Tri-Cities area that take Styrofoam.  Here are my results:

·          

      Clayton Ward Recycling

1936 Saint Street, Richland

I have not confirmed this with the company yet, but I will be doing so tomorrow afternoon.  The site also says that they will take many other plastics not picked up at the curb.  Note, however, that this is Earth 911, not Clayton Ward’s actual site, which says they only accept #1 and #2 plastic.  This however, has not been updated since June 14^th.  I will report back tomorrow on my findings.

Sources:

Green Living Tips (www.greenlivingtips.com)

Earth 911 (www.earth911.org)

Clayton-Ward Recycling (www.claytonwardrecycling.com

Begin Test: Reusable Drink Holders

Recently, I have bought two reusable coffee cups: one for hot coffee and one for cold coffee and frappuccinos.  It’s no secret that the cups provided at coffee shops, such as Starbucks and Tully’s, are not very environmentally friendly – especially the plastic cups for cold coffee.   I am going to be testing how effective these coffee cups are when it comes to ordering coffee from these places.  In a future post, I will report back to you on how easy these are to live with – how sustainable they are, how practical they are, and if they really are worth the money you pay for them. 

In the upcoming months, I will be reporting back on the hot beverage holder first, and will soon after that report back on the cold beverage holder. 

First impressions show that the hot coffee holder is more effective at keeping beverages warm than the paper ones from Starbucks.  Also, both are much more sustainable than the alternatives from the store. 

All in all, these two products look like practical sustainability.

Plastic Shopping Bags vs. Reusable Shopping Bags

In today’s society, plastic shopping bags are the dominant form of shopping bags.  Although they are cheap and readily available at the grocery store, they have two main issues.  First off, they are extremely weak and flimsy, and I have experienced them ripping on the way back from a grocery trip many times.  Second, they are very bad for the environment.  They end up in landfills, where they biodegrade.  However, as plastic contains a lot of toxic chemicals in it, this causes pollution and can make these sites very unhealthy.  I do not need to bring up the plastic island in the Pacific Ocean.  They can also end up blowing around in the wind, which can cause them to choke animals, or end up in the ocean.  Although they are recyclable, the process to recycle them is cumbersome: you must bring them back to the store and put them in a bin in the front of the store.  The only city that I know of that will recycle them curbside is Seattle.  Needless to say, plastic shopping bags are quite a pain.

That is why I have been trying out reusable shopping bags for a few years now.  They are environmentally friendly, and are relatively simple to use.  This post compares a reusable shopping bag to a plastic one provided at the store.

The Test

Reusable shopping bags are expensive.  Whereas a plastic shopping bag provided at a store generally costs about five cents, you must purchase multiple shopping bags from a store.   Depending on the size and store, this can cost anywhere from $0.69 to $1.29.  Purchasing ten bags, then, can cost anywhere from $7 to $13!  This overall limits the appeal of reusable shopping bags.

However, once you have purchased your reusable shopping bags, you receive a ton of benefits.  First off, at select stores, you receive $0.05 off your purchase every time you use the bags.  Now, that may not sound too appealing, but just think – if you buy the $0.69 bags, it only takes thirteen trips to the store to pay off one bag.  If you shop at multiple stores per week, the savings will quickly add up. 

Compared to plastic shopping bags, reusable shopping bags are much more durable.  You are much less likely to experience a rip on the way home from a trip to the grocery store.  You will then be much more likely to be able to use the bags repeatedly, and benefit the environment. 

Reusable shopping bags do, however, have their downfalls.  I cannot tell you how many times I have forgotten to bring the bags with me into the store, and have had to use the plastic bags.  And, they aren’t recyclable.  If a plastic shopping bag rips, you can bring it back to the store to recycle the material.  However, once a reusable shopping bag rips, you cannot recycle it, and have to send it to the landfill.

The Verdict

Overall, I found reusable shopping bags practical.  I would definitely recommend using them over plastic shopping bags.  Reusable shopping bags are just another simple, practical way that we can benefit our environment.

The Scores

·          

      Sustainability

o   Reusable bags: 9

o   Plastic bags: 1

·         Practicality

o   Reusable bags: 8

o   Plastic bags: 6

·         Overall

o   Reusable bags: 8.5

o   Plastic bags: 3.5

Recycled vs. Regular Printer Paper

In the picture above, can you tell which piece of paper is recycled and which isn’t?

Recycled paper has not been given the best reputation.  I used to think of recycled paper as a light brown color, and very thin and weak.  To this day, I still think of newspaper when I think of recycled paper.   

However, many companies are beginning to introduce recycled printer paper, and one of the pieces of paper in the picture above is an example of this.  I stumbled upon this product about a year ago and have been using it ever since.  The product: Georgia-Pacific Recycled Copy & Print. This post is comparing Georgia-Pacific’s Recycled product with a basic piece of printer paper, without recycled content.

Now, before I go too far, I just want to make one thing clear: Georgia-Pacific’s product does not contain 100% recycled material.  In fact, only 30% of it is post-consumer waste.  Although this is a bit discouraging, it is better than other products, which come from freshly cut trees.

The Test

Compared with the non-recycled paper, Georgia-Pacific’s product feels thicker, which isn’t a bad way to prevent tears in the paper.  Georgia-Pacific’s product wrinkled less when squeezed between two fingers with the same amount of force.  Inks show up about the same on both sheets of paper.  I’ve found through experience that Georgia-Pacific’s products are less likely to be accidentally ripped out of three-ring binders due to use than regular printer paper. 

So is the recycled paper as good as or better than regular printer paper?  Overall, I feel that the recycled paper stays together better with wear and tear.  However, I still have two complaints.   First, only 30% of the paper is post-consumer waste.  I would like to see Georgia-Pacific introduce a product that is 100% recycled; this would be a great advancement and be an excellent way to head toward a sustainable future.  Second, it comes in plastic packaging, which greatly limits its appeal as a sustainable product.  The package is marked as recyclable, but many cities don’t have programs for plastic packages.  I would like to see Georgia-Pacific sell the product in more environmentally friendly packaging, such as paper.

All in all, I would recommend Georgia-Pacific’s paper.  It is just as durable, if not more, than regular printer paper, and only costs $1 more.  However, it still has a long way to go before it can be considered “Practical Sustainability.”

By the way, the recycled paper is the piece on the left in the picture above.

The picture below shows the results from my wrinkle test, arranged the same as the photo above.

Test Scores

•  Sustainability
• Georgia-Pacific: 7
• Regular printer paper: 4

• Practicality
• Regular printer paper: 10
• Georgia-Pacific: 9

• Overall
• Georgia-Pacific: 8
• Regular printer paper: 7

Georgia-Pacific                             regular printer paper