Greening Steps

Hopefully everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! It's always fun to celebrate our country's birthday by getting together with family and friends, and need I mention...watching fireworks! If your family likes soda, then you probably found yourself with extra aluminum cans after the festivities. Have you ever wondered what happens to those cans after they're collected with curbside recycling? Well, wonder no more! This metallic tale can be told in 4 easy steps.

Step 1- After the cans are collected from curbside bins, they are taken to a recycling facility, like Midwest Fiber, and processed there.

We see them everywhere! Whether in waiting rooms, break rooms, offices, mail boxes, lobbies, and more, magazines are not scarce. In fact, they have been around since 1663, when the world's first magazine, Edifying Monthly Discussions, was published in Germany. Many popular magazines that we read today have experienced longevity. National Geographic first appeared in 1899, Reader's Digest started publishing in 1922, and the New Yorker arrived in 1925.

There is something that ALL of these magazines have in common. Can you guess it? Wait for it...they're all recyclable!

It's a warm day in June. You've been working in the hot sun for over an hour, and decide to pull out your plastic water bottle for something cool and refreshing. It doesn't take long to empty its contents, and you happen to see a recycle bin a short distance away. What luck!! Tossing the bottle into the bin, you wonder what will happen to it after it's sorted at a recycling facility and taken to the mill. You know that #1 PET is a commonly recycled plastic, so you pull out your phone to research the water bottle's destination.

This is what you find:

When we toss newspaper in the recycle bin, we know that we are saving natural resources, conserving landfill space, and helping the environment. But what does newspaper become after it's separated at a recycling facility and taken to the mill? The following pictures help tell the story. Recycled newspaper can be used to make new products such as egg cartons, berry boxes, kitty litter, countertop, and more! So the next time you throw newspaper in the recycle bin, remember that old news is still good news!!

A common question that we get in the recycling industry is what to do with caps and lids on glass and plastic bottles/ jars. The good news is, we have some answers!

Before throwing glass bottles and jars in the recycle bin, we ask that you remove the metal or plastic lids first. You can place the lids loosely inside the recyclable container, making eventual separation possible. By removing the lids from glass containers, you are minimizing contamination!

Reduce, reuse, and recycle. These familiar terms encompass many "green habits" that are environmentally and economically beneficial. By using less of something, using a product again, and converting waste into reusable material, you are reducing your carbon footprint. The question is, are there things that we do in our day-to-day lives that reflect "the 3 R's?" Let's put "greenness" to the test!!

Do you ever...

Have you ever seen a burn pile containing material that could have easily been reused/recycled? Wooden pallets are often discarded after showing wear, but there are creative projects that involve pallets as the main material!!

However, before reusing a pallet, it's always good to be aware of its origin. Wood is very porous, making it able to absorb any hazardous chemical that it was exposed to. So keep in mind how the pallet was used before embarking on a refurbishment project.

For those of you who love to garden, but are pressed for time when it comes to the watering process, sprinklers can be very helpful. And there is a way to make a homemade sprinkler with a plastic bottle!! This gives you a chance to reuse your bottles before recycling them.

All you have to do is poke holes in the bottle using a nail, and attach a hose to the nozzle with duct tape. Not only is this a fun way to water the garden; it serves as recreation for kids in the summer.

Excitement mounts as the spring season approaches. Most of us are counting down the days until warm weather, outdoor activities, green grass, and sunshine.

In addition to preparing for warmer temperatures, it's the time of year for spring cleaning!! I don't know about you, but I find myself wondering what to do with all of the t-shirts that are piled in my closet.

The concept of reusing materials does not always refer to financial, environmental, or economic benefits. Although these are valid reasons to recycle, sometimes reusing materials is done with the purpose of serving others. I don't know about you, but I think that is a wonderful reason!

This story comes from my experience working at a nursing home, and the "materials" that I'm referring to are flowers...lots and lots of flowers. Part of my job was to create enjoyable activities for the residents. That is why I was thrilled when a local flower shop donated all the flowers that had reached their "expiration date," and were ready for the dumpster.

It's fluffy, it's white, and it's everywhere! This winter has brought quite a few surprises, with frigid temperatures and an abundance of precipitation. Whether you're enjoying the snow with skiing, snowboarding, sledding, days off school, etc..., or wishing it would just melt, the sparkling white blanket remains.

Like many others, I'm ready to see green grass again. However, from the recent weather forecast, it looks like we'll see more snow first. When I heard that more snow was coming (fighting back the initial feeling of frusteration), I tried to think of a high point for snow (excluding Mount Everest). And the good news is, snow can be reused as chilled water!

"Golf combines two favorite American pastimes: taking long walks and hitting things with a stick."~P.J. O'Rourke

I was excited to discover that one of America's most beloved sports has a key component that is recyclable. That's right, you can recycle golf balls!

Whether you prefer it long, short, buzzed, straightened, curly, layered, etc..., most of us are very attached to our hair. Literally!

However, there is something that's not commonly known about such a common topic; hair is compostable and recyclable! Not only that, researchers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL, are testing a recovery technique for oil spilled in water. The results show that human hair is an effective material for cleaning oil spills!

It's the time of year for Christmas cards! Although it can be a bit stressful getting your cards made and ready to send out, it's always fun to receive recent pictures of family and friends. It's also sad how quickly the holiday season passes, which is why I was excited to find the following ideas for how to reuse Christmas cards and enjoy them all year!

Do you like using contact pictures on your phone? If so, try taking a snap shot of your friends' Christmas card pictures, and save them to your phone contacts. Then, you will be able to see your friends' smiling faces long after the Christmas season.

I don't know about you, but I've always wondered why I spend so much time wrapping Christmas presents so carefully with colorful wrapping paper, when all of that beautiful paper ends up in a garbage bag a few days later.

It's always fun to wrap presents for family and friends, but the amount of waste is frustrating. But, like most situations, it pays to get creative!!

As Thanksgiving approaches, it’s always fun to see the different seasonal decorations.

I’m someone who enjoys finding creative ways to decorate, which might explain why the picture on the right caught my attention.

I'm guilty. This week, my trash can is filled with single use pouches from baby foods, wrappers, packaging, and other random plastics.

What is it about convenience that seems to win out over even the staunch environmentalist's thinking?

I recently read a letter to the editor of my local paper where the writer was outraged by the LEED certified buildings popping up in town. The left wing liberal crazies are trying to push their weight around and make people do things they don't want to do.

Honestly, I am trying to understand why this person is so upset that the town and business owners are choosing to build LEED buildings. It saves money, energy, and water resources while the green rooftops are creating habitat and cleaning the air.

My husband and I got the chance this week to attend the national premier of Gasland 2, a film about fracking (hydraulic fracturing). Since the first film five years ago, much has happened in Illinois in this area. Leases are being signed in the Shawnee National Forest, companies have approached my county about fracking here, and the Illinois legislature has bills before it to ban fracking and to allow it with a minimum amount of regulatory oversight. You can guess which groups support each of these measures I'm sure.

But whether or not I think this should go on in the state or the world is not what I want to talk about. It's what led us to this point that I am interested in exploring. The consumerism, feelings that it is your right to use whatever resources you want without consequence, desire for cheap goods and services, desire to live the lifestyle Americans live, etc. : all of these things work together to lead energy companies to look for the next boom in the energy supply. First it was steam and wood, then coal, oil, nuclear, and now the big one is natural gas. All of these things made these companies rich at the expense of people, ecosystems, communities, countries, and the entire planet.

Since Mother's Day is coming up on Sunday, I thought it appropriate to address the common gifts for Mother's Day and possible alternatives that are more Earth Friendly.

First – a bouquet of flowers. While lovely, these flowers are cut and will only last a few days to a week. Instead, get flower bulbs or a perennial flower planted in a pot that mom can transplant in the yard. This is the gift that keeps on giving year after year with sweet smelling aromas just like those you smell when mom bakes your favorite sweets. As an added bonus, these flowers will take in CO2 and release Oxygen!