Blog Archives

Stop using plastic straws

9/28/2017

Ask your server to hold the plastic straws to help reduce plastic waste in oceans.

According to www.strawlessocean.com, Americans use over 500 million straws every day, and most of those end up in our oceans, polluting the water and killing marine life. To help combat this problem, the City of Seattle has started a campaign, called Strawless In Seattle, to remove plastic straws from the waste stream. In addition to simply not using straws, they have identified a number of alternatives to plastic straws including straws made of paper, steel, glass, or bamboo, all of which are now commercially available.

Pizza boxes are recyclable

9/21/2017

Pizza boxes are recyclable at the Swarthmore Recycling Center at 121 Dartmouth Ave.

Pizza boxes that are stained with food residue cannot be recycled in curbside recycling because the oil from the food contaminates the pulp used to make recycled paper. However, you can deposit your pizza boxes in the paper and cardboard bin at the Recycling Center located at 121 Dartmouth Avenue in Swarthmore, even if they are stained with oil from the pizza. Please remove the wax paper liners and any remaining food before placing boxes in the bins. Newman & Company hauls the contents of the paper and cardboard recycling bins to make paperboard for numerous products. Their process is not affected by a little food residue on the boxes, but they do request that the wax paper liners be removed before recycling.

Recycle old car seats at Target

9/17/2017

Keep an eye out for recycling events at Target for old car seats.

Twice yearly, Target stores across the US host a recycling initiative for old baby and child car seats.

The Target located at the Springfield Mall at 1200 Baltimore Pike participates in this program. During the advertised trade-in period, simply drop off your car seat at any participatingTarget store. In return, you'll earn a 20% discount on a new car seat! You will receive a coupon for 20% off the purchase of eligible boosters, car seat bases, car seats and travel systems.

Summer is high season for citizen science projects

9/1/2017

Summer is high season for citizen science projects that appeal to both kids and adults.

Throughout the country and around the world, citizen science projects use data gathered by ordinary people to monitor environmental trends. The proliferation of smartphones has encouraged the development of apps that make it easy to submit data and photos inexpensively and in uniform format. Summer is high season for many of these projects, and kids as well as adults can get in on the action.
Specific examples include

Firefly Watch coordinated by Boston’s Museum of Science [https://www.mos.org/fireflies]
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Frog Watch USA [http://www.elearning.aza.org/frogwatch-usa]
eBird, sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Audubon Society [http://ebird.org/content/ebird/about/]

Globe Observer is a program sponsored by NASA through which cellphone users can take and contribute photographs to verify satellite data about clouds and other natural phenomena. [https://observer.globe.gov/]
The following articles and websites provide an overview of multiple citizen science projects:

Stop using plastic straws

Pizza boxes are recyclable

Recycle old car seats at Target

Summer is high season for citizen science projects

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