Category: Recycle

Recycle electronics to save resources and keep toxins out of the waste stream

12/16/2022

Recycling old electronics allows for reuse of their component parts for new devices. Reusing these materials reduces the metals and toxins that would otherwise end up in the waste stream and reduces the energy input for manufacturing new plastic and glass. Citing a 2006, U.S. Geological Survey publication, the EPA reports that:

Recycling one million laptops saves the energy equivalent to the electricity used by more than 3,500 U.S. homes in a year.
For every million cell phones we recycle, 35 thousand pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold and 33 pounds of palladium can be recovered.*

If your unwanted electronic device is still functional, consider donating it so it can be reused. Computers may be given new life with a hardware upgrade instead of complete replacement. Best Buy accepts many electronic devices for recycling and offers gift cards to trade-in qualifying devices. Retriever.com will pick up electronics from your doorstep for recycling. Keep an eye out for periodic recycling events in the area. E Force Recycling posts a list of their events on their web page. Check out the aFewSteps Recycling page and search our recycling list for how to handle specific items.

*”Electronics Donation and Recycling.” Last updated on August 23, 2022. https://www.epa.gov/recycle/electronics-donation-and-recycling

New brands of toilet paper use recycled paper and bamboo

11/10/2022

The biggest toilet paper brands are destroying Canada’s boreal forest according to a new study by the Natural Resources Defense Council, but many new brands that use recycled paper and bamboo have entered the marketplace.

It’s important to note that all of these sustainable brands make up only a fraction of the market and are nowhere near as widely available as the big brands. Still, consumers can make a difference by choosing more sustainable alternatives, both because it saves trees, but also because it sends a signal to large corporations that there is money to be made selling eco-friendly toilet paper.

Read more here:

--https://www.fastcompany.com/90677480/toilet-paper-really-is-terrible-for-the-planet-heres-what-you-can-do-about-it

Photo by Susan O'Donnell

Tennis balls are made from plastic--when they are beyond repair, get a tax deduction and ship them for free to recycleballs.org

9/8/2022

Old tennis balls can be recycled at Recycleballs.org, which offers free shipping. Jessian Choy describes the reasons to recycle tennis balls on www.sierraclub.org:
"Tennis ball fuzz is made from plastic like PET (polyethylene terephthalate), which gets worn away and becomes microfibers that turn into dust we breathe in."*
RecycleBalls grinds the rubber, which is then used as a construction material for tennis courts, playground turf, stucco, and equestrian turf and keeps tennis balls out of landfills.

*https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/ask-ms-green/how-do-i-recycle-used-tennis-balls?utm_source=insider&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

Photo by Old Photo Profile, Flickr

Changes at the Swarthmore Recycling Center: they have added a used clothing drop off but no longer collect plastic, glass, and steel

5/26/2022

You can now recycle clothes at the Used Clothing Drop-Off Shed at the Swarthmore Recycling Center at 121 Dartmouth Avenue. The shed is serviced by Turnkey Enterprises, LLC, which pays the Borough for items collected. They accept used clothing, shoes, sneakers, belts, purses, blankets, linens and stuffed toys. The clothing collected is intended for continued use as clothes, so please do not deposit cut cloth or rags. They also do not accept pillows, fabric scraps, toys, or household goods.

Another change at the Swarthmore Recycling Center is that they no longer accept glass, plastic, or steel cans; those bins have been removed from the site. However, these items can still be recycled in the curbside pickup. According to the Borough web site, residents are still encouraged to take cardboard, newspaper, office paper, and aluminum to the Recycling Center instead of including it in their curbside collection bins. The Borough sells these valuable source-separated products on the local recycling market. Also note that shredded paper is accepted at the recycling center but not curbside.

As a reminder, hours of operation of the Borough Recycling Center are:

7:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. Weekdays
9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. Weekends
Please be considerate of nearby neighbors and observe the posted hours.

McDonald’s has opened a net-zero carbon restaurant in England that will act as a blueprint for future restaurants, an industry first

4/29/2022

Treehugger.org reported on a McDonald's restaurant built in England "which is one of the first to account for embodied carbon—the upfront carbon that is emitted in the construction of the restaurant—as well as the operating emissions."* They lowered carbon emissions during construction by using various recycled materials, including appliances:
"The walls were insulated with sheep wool and clad with metal made from recycled IT equipment and "white goods": washers, fridges, and stoves, along with sustainably sourced poplar and plastic cladding made from recycled plastic bottles. The internal parapets on the roof, which nobody sees, are apparently made from recycled toasters and blenders. Instead of the usual aluminum commercial windows, it has used sustainably sourced timber.
A thousand concrete curbs were replaced with Durakerbs made out of plastic bottles, and the drive-thru lane is paved with recycled tires."
Operating emissions were reduced by installing solar panels as well as wind turbines. Author Lloyd Alter described this as an impressive first step toward sustainable construction.

*https://www.treehugger.com/mcdonalds-net-zero-restaurant-uk-5220187?utm_campaign=treehugger&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cn_nl&utm_content=26850509&utm_term=

Paper towels, napkins, tissues, and tissue paper are not recyclable even when clean, though paper towel cores and tissues boxes are

2/19/2022

Although paper towels are made of paper, they are not recyclable. Eilidh Dempsey lists the reasons in an article on utopia.org: "During manufacturing, the wood/cardboard gets pummeled and battered so much that all the natural fibers are broken down almost completely. Recycling this paper product at a later stage becomes impossible.
Not to mention the paper also gets a chemical treatment. Softeners, resins and glues are added to the paper fibers for better absorption, strength and smoothness, all of which are highly toxic. On top of that, bleaching often occurs at this stage of manufacturing." Unbleached paper towels, while still not recyclable, are compostable, and the cardboards tubes around which they are wrapped are recyclable. Dempsey suggests that the best way to reduce paper towel waste is to use washable cloth towels. Newspaper is also effective at "removing stains and streaks from glass surfaces like windows and mirrors"* However, "if you can’t quite resist them, then try to use just one square at a time. If need be, fold the square a couple of times to make it thicker, for those bigger spills. You can also reuse paper towels, especially if they were just used for mopping up water or spilled soap."*

*Eilidh Dempsey, August 16, 2021, "Are paper towels recyclable? What you need to know." utopia.org

photo by Susan O'Donnell

Recycle beauty and skincare product packaging at Nordstroms

1/27/2022

Recycling is a thing of beauty! Nordstrom has partnered with TerraCycle® to create a national program to recycle and eventually reuse empty containers and packaging from all brands of beauty and skincare products. Their goal is to recycle 100 tons of beauty packaging by 2025. You can drop off items in collection bins in the beauty department of Nordstrom stores, including those located at King of Prussia Mall and Christiana Mall in NJ. Bring your empty shampoo and conditioner bottles, skin moisturizer tubes, and makeup palettes. See the BEAUTYCYCLE website for a complete list of items that they will accept.

Compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) contain mercury toxic to humans and animals. Do not throw them out—recycle them safely at Lowe’s and Home Depot

12/27/2021

Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLS) are more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs but contain mercury, so they must be disposed of properly after they burn out. Retailers including The Home Depot and Lowe's have recycling programs for CFLs and provide bins for collection.

A recent TreeHugger.com article describes how CFLs are recycled and the materials reused. "A bulb recycler uses special machines to extract mercury and break down the CFL’s glass casing and aluminum fixtures. They can reuse the mercury in new light bulbs or in products like thermostats. The glass becomes material like concrete or tile, while the aluminum is recycled as scrap metal. Not only does recycling CFLs divert waste from the landfill, but it also prevents the release of toxic mercury into the environment."* The article also provides instructions for how to handle a broken CFL bulb: "Immediately have all other people and pets leave the room so they can avoid exposure. Open a window or door to the outside to air out the room for 5-10 minutes while you collect all broken glass and visible powder. Do not vacuum up the pieces because this could spread mercury-containing powder or vapor.
Place all broken glass and powder in a sealable container and check with your local government about disposal requirements."*

*Lauren Murphy, March 14, 2022, "How to Recycle Light Bulbs and Why You Should," www.treehugger.com

--https://www.treehugger.com/light-bulb-recycling-5206232?utm_campaign=treehugger&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cn_nl&utm_content=25939313&utm_term=

Put curbside recycling loose in the bin, not in plastic bags which jam sorting machinery.

11/9/2021

Plastic bags and curbside recycling don’t mix! Both plastic bags used to contain recyclables and those that are tossed into recycling bins are problematic for recyclers.
Single-stream curbside programs rely on mechanical sorting of recyclables. The business model for recyclers depends, in turn, on keeping the machinery running efficiently. Plastic bags slow things down in two ways:

If used to contain recyclables, plastic bags have to be separated out and ripped open by workers, so that the recyclables can be removed and sorted. That’s so inefficient that recyclers may sideline plastic bags and send them to landfills instead.
Plastic bags that are included in curbside recycling bins along with other materials – especially the flimsy, single-use bags used by many supermarkets and big-box stores – clog sorting machinery. That results in costly downtime at sorting plants.

Most supermarkets collect plastic bags for recycling, so returning them to the store where you got them is a good option. Alternatively, try to cut down on the number of plastic bags you use in the first place. When running errands, take along a reusable shopping bag instead!

Mail-back recycling doesn’t work nearly as well as we’d like to believe

10/15/2021

Treehugger.com writer Katherine Martinko reported on the disadvantages of recycling programs that function by having people mail their collected item to the recycling company for processing. These types of programs allow producers to continue manufacturing packaging that is difficult to recycle and only a fraction reaches a recycling facility. A lawsuit filed against these recyclers claims that "mail-back recycling business model encourages companies to keep producing packaging made from hard-to-recycle materials and customers to keep buying those products because they're convinced it's fine for the environment. This diverts energy and attention away from packaging innovation that could make a truly positive difference."* Shipping materials long distances has its own carbon footprint. It would be better for sustainability efforts to "shift away from mail-back recycling schemes and more toward pressuring companies to design packaging that can be recycled in local facilities (not needing to be trucked thousands of miles across the country) and advocating for reusable, refillable, and zero waste solutions."* While these materials are upcycled into new products, they are still ultimately made of plastic and will eventually have to be discarded. Martinko points out that "mail-back recycling schemes do not address the plastic problem. Rather, they perpetuate it by postponing the inevitable discard that must happen, while emitting more greenhouse gases through transportation and creating a false sense of environmental complacency in consumers."*

*Katherine Martinko, July 29, 2021, "Mail-Back recycling schemes don't work nearly as well as you'd like to believe," www.treehugger.com

The original article can be found here.

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