Your Questions About Recycling

The Expert answers:

I assume Watts is known by everyone here. Except me. If I knew I could help. Try Freecycle.org, Curbside. Cardboard is not valuable per pound. I only get 4 bucks for 700 pounds of it. Some people burn it for heat.

The Expert answers:

The difference may not be immediately felt by our generations.

Recycling,,,or the idea of doing so is a valid thought for our species to not only control our excess waste, but to re-use those things that don’t truly degrade rapidly, or at all, naturally, or use natural resources that we seem to be unable to stop using,,,IE: Clear cutting Forests,,, with one byproduct being your toilet tissue rolls.

It is also an expensive effort, though I have no Stats of the difference in cost savings.

Our species major problem is greed, and it is a fact that in the USA we are more wasteful, or casual about waste, in general, than most other nations,,,NO offense to us as a nation is meant however.

One of the long term effects,,,hopefully, will be reflected in less Clear Cutting of Forests, though housing, etc. Is the largest user. Plastic Milk jugs will likely be around as long as I am, but have some value when recycled.

I guess my feeling is that conservation is as important as recycling. We should develop better systems for USE of anything, and define what we want to end up as LANDFILL.

Rev. Steven

The Expert answers:

You call your waste hauler. They give them out for free (whoever picks up your trash)

The Expert answers:

Are you talking about recycling things without sending stuff out?

There are not many continuous loops you can achieve, but you can at least re-use things once or twice.

Example: Capturing as much “grey” water for reuse. Grey water can be almost any used water – from dishwashing, to laundry, to shower/bath/rinse water, to (although gross) sewage. You don’t need to recover every drop, so any amount would make a difference.

Re-Uses:
– Water your plants, and ideally, food plants in a garden, but a bunch of window planters in the city would work too.
– Capture shower/wash/mopping water for flushing your toilet.

Oddly, you may already recycle more than you think. Washing dishes is technically recycling, as you get to use your dinnerware more than once and reduce waste. So are hand-me-down clothes and toys. Heirloom items and prized possessions are a stretch, but the re-use is in the enjoyment of the items, so they count. Keeping old clothes for dirty rags or work shirts counts as well. Even lining trash cans with supermarket shopping bags is recycling of generated waste. We still buy some grocery items based on possible reuse of their glass jar/packaging.

We use food prep discards (vege skins. Ends, scraps and such) to make soup stock.

Croutons from stale bread.

When cooking fatty foods, I save the grease for flavoring/future use (example of recycling not being healthy for your “environment . . .).

I re-use drink bottles by freezing new drinks in them – keeps the drink cold throughout the day and acts as a cold pack for my other items in my lunch cooler – no need to risk the communal office fridge. I can toss when they really wear out.

Then there’s going out of your way to recycle at home: Composting; making fireplace logs from used paper/newsprint; recovery of rainwater for indoor use; quilting old scraps of cloth; making a workbench from an old door;etc.

It’s all how you want to think about recycling.

Good luck!

The Expert answers:

I’m in the exact same situation; my apartment building manager says that recycling would be too expensive… I now collect all my recyclables in my unit, and drive to the recycling facility every 3 weeks.

Depending on where you live, there is probably a drop-off location. If you go to this website (http://earth911.org/) and enter your zip code at the top of the page to find a location.

The Expert answers:

Where I live the state set the price. Check to see if your state has a recycling program.

California Refund Value

Consumers pay CRV (California Refund Value) when they purchase beverages from a retailer, which is refunded when they redeem the containers at a recycling center. Effective January 1, 2007, CRV paid to consumers when they recycle containers at recycling centers will increase to 5¢ for each beverage container less than 24 ounces and 10¢ for each container 24 ounces or greater.

The Expert answers:

Freetheplanet.org has an online publication entitled “On-Campus Recycling Campaign Guide” at http://www.freetheplanet.org/resources/recycling_guide.pdf . It has excellent suggestions for starting recycling programs on college campuses.

The National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Ecology program has lots of information about environmental projects in the university environment. They also have case studies from campuses across the country. See http://www.nwf.org/campusecology/ for more information

Finally, the Grassroots Recycling Network has a Campus Action campaign that includes links to successful campus recycling programs. See http://www.grrn.org/campus/campus_recycling.html

Please let me know if you need more information.

Laura L. Barnes, MSLIS
Illinois Waste Management and Research Center Library

The Expert answers:

You have to transport the waste paper to your plant, fuel is used, Diesel.

You grind the paper into small pcs. Electrical energy is used to power the grinders. Gas or propane is used to move the bails of paper out side of your building and electrical power is used for fort lifts inside the plant.

Moving the paper from the grinder to the bleacher is conveyor belts. Electrical power again.

Bleaching of the paper will take out most of the color and leave you with a gunky mess of ink and fine paper, this isn’t usable waste.

To the dryers next, again in tubs and a fork lift. Pour it out and press it down into form and extrude it into the thickness you want and the pattern on the paper you need. I.e. A paper napkin that is a lite brown in color and used to clean up after eating fast food.

So your waste is anything that is not made into paper that comes in with your paper. String, wire, etc. Fuels and electrical power. Any water used will be contaminated so it has to be put into a holding pond and then pumped out again to drain and to the sewer system a After it is stirred and cleaned up.

The Expert answers:

It sounds like a great project! Be sure you have official permission from the park to hold your event. Will you have someone there to receive the donations or will you provide receptacles that you will empty periodically? If you are manning the collection area, do you have enough volunteers to cover your staffing needs? If not, many high schools (at least around here) require community service from their students. You could get willing workers there. You could also check with your local Boy Scout and Girl Scout Councils. They can point you to troops in the area who might like to help. When you get the word out about your event you”ll want to be very specific about what you’ll accept in the way of recyclables. If you’re thinking cans and bottles you don’t want to annoy people by turning away their donations of dead televisions and newspapers. I’m not sure what you’re thinking of in the way of incentives, but a good source for little crafty things would be Girl Scout leaders. They might even be willing to put their girls to work making things if you provide the materials. Anyway, good luck on your event!