There is good news and bad news concerning United States recycling statistics.

First, the good news:

The recovery rate of municipal solid waste (a fancy way of saying city garbage) through recycling and composting programs was up to 32% as of 2005 (the US General Accounting Office only reports every two years).

That is a significant increase from 1980, when less than 10% was recycled.
Now, the bad news:

Since 1980, the generation of municipal solid waste has grown by 60% – nearly 246 million tons per year in 2005!

Organic materials make up the bulk of wastes that go into land fills. Around 35% are paper and cardboard, while yard trimmings and food scraps total about 25%.

Some Encouraging Recycling Facts

With paper products, we’re doing pretty well; almost half of the paper used in the USA is now being recycled into new paper products. That’s more than glass, metal, plastic, and “miscellaneous” combined.

The largest category of recycled paper goods was newspaper at 89%, followed closely by corrugated cardboard, at 72%.

Some paper can’t be reprocessed because of being soiled by food, etc.

Many municipalities will pick up tree trimmings and Christmas trees and turn them into mulch for parks and landscaped street medians. This has an added benefit of saving irrigation water.

Residential grass clippings and food waste can be easily composted and shouldn’t ordinarily be sent to the landfill.

Particularly good news is that lead acid batteries – a landfill disaster – are the recycling winners, with a whopping rate of 99% recovery!

Other high recovery rates include major appliances – 67%, steel cans – 63%, and aluminum cans – 45%, although the rate of aluminum recycling has dropped from a high of 68% in 1992.

Some credit for increases in the United States recycling statistics must go to the Keep America Beautiful organization’s Great American Clean-Up program. This annual event boasts 2 million volunteers and diverts thousands of tons of litter and garbage to recycling projects rather than landfills (or landscapes.

Aluminum should be recycled whenever possible; recycling saves 95% of the energy needed to produce new aluminum from raw materials.

For more United States recycling statistics, please visit the National Recycling Coalition website.

United States Recycling Statistics is a post from: Green Headquarters

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As you realize that global warming IS REAL, opportunities and need both increase for rainforest conservation. Info has been out there for decades, but maybe the public eye has become so accustomed to the burning and clear-cutting pictures, it no longer really notices them.

Logging – much of it done illegally – is the most visible form of rainforest destruction.

Clear-cutting is usually the most profitable means of harvesting valuable timber, because the rainforest tends to be an “equal opportunity grower” with trees of high monetary value interspersed with what are seen as “junk” trees.

At least with logging, not everything is wasted, as happens when the forest is burned to clear it for pasture or other agriculture. Burning rainforests can be clearly seen from outer space, as this astronaut’s photo of Mexico shows – what looks like white dots are actually fires.

But even with careful deforestation – selective logging – the roads that are built for logging access wind up being used for human activities that are further damaging to delicate ecosystems.

Why You Should Share Rainforest Conservation Info

Rainforests are crucial to the ecosystem of our planet. They have been described as the Earth’s “lungs” or respiratory system. The massive numbers of trees and other plants absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), and then “breathe out” oxygen, which we need to survive.

We (humans and animals) breathe in the air around us, take in the oxygen, then throw off carbon dioxide as we exhale. This is a great arrangement, because everything balances out, if all is working as it should.

Unfortunately, the use of fossil fuels (carbon that has been stored underground for millennia, and is now being released) is dramatically increasing the world-wide levels of CO2. So just at the time we need all those trees in the rainforest the very most, we are destroying them through ignorance and greed.

Rainforests are also home to loads of wildlife and plant species, many of which have never even been documented. Many scientists believe the potential is huge for finding medical cures in these tropical regions.

As we destroy the forests, we also wipe out the indigenous cultures and people who have lived there for generations.

Find extensive rainforest conservation info at Mongabay.com

What Can You Do to Help Preserve the Rainforests?

It’s true that this a huge and terrible mess, but, short of going into the Amazon jungle and chaining yourself to a tree (not a really useful activity), there are many little things you can do to help save the rainforests.

Anything you accomplish that will prevent Global Warming will also help with rainforest conservation (info here).

You can buy a tree, or purchase the timber rights on an acre of rainforest.

And of course there are many great non-profit organizations who urgently need your contributions. You can even trigger a donation to save the rainforest by simply clicking the mouse on your computer.

Rainforest Conservation Info is a post from: Green Headquarters

Technorati Tags: Carbon Dioxide, clear cutting, Co2, deforestation, Delicate Ecosystems, Ecosystem, Fossil Fuels, global warming, Greed, rainforest conservation info, Selective Logging, Trees In The Rainforest

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1) Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents. There are many styles available now to blend with your decor.

2) Turn your thermostat up in the summer, and down in the winter. You don’t have to get really radical, but you’ll probably be healthier, and you’ll save on your fuel bill.

3) Eat local and organic. Trucking your food back and forth across the country (or the world) makes absolutely no sense. Fresh produce tastes better, it’s more nutritious, it’s usually less expensive, and it supports your local economy.

4) Drive a fuel-efficient vehicle. The technology for electric and hybrid cars is already here, but if this isn’t an option for you, at least get make sure your car gets over 25 mpg.

5) Use public transportation, ride a bicycle, or walk instead of taking your car, when possible.

6) Use a clothesline to dry your clothes – weather permitting. You get exercise and that wonderful fresh smell!

7) Recycle, and buy goods that are made with recycled materials. Avoid disposables.

8 ) Replace older appliances with newer, more efficient ones.

9) Unplug (or use a power strip you can turn on and off) your electronics when you’re not using them. Phantom loads are a big waste.

10) Use renewable energy. Your electric company can switch you to Green Energy for a few extra cents per kilowatt.

BONUS ENTRY:
Plant something. In your yard, or even in your apartment, plants absorb and filter out harmful greenhouse gases.

For more ways to prevent global warming, visit the Union of Concerned Scientists website.

Still unsure how to start preventing Global Warming?
Check out this Global Warming Action Kit. It’s cool.

Prevent Global Warming and Help Save the World! is a post from: Green Headquarters

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An ounce of preventing global warming is worth 22,000 pounds of CO2 emissions

You want to start helping to cool down our Earth’s climate crisis, but maybe a Toyota Prius hybrid vehicle is not in this year’s budget?

Don’t be discouraged. For less than $100 you can save 11 tons of carbon dioxide – the most common greenhouse gas – from being emitted into our atmosphere.

That’s a great beginning!

This global warming prevention kit from GAIAM includes:

3 compact fluorescent light bulbs (uses only about 25% of the energy that standard incandescent bulbs consume).
Stainless steel water bottle. Quit buying water in those plastic bottles that require 47,000,000 gallons of oil to produce each year. Re-filling your water bottle from a good water filter is a much greener option.

Solar-powered flashlight. Sounds like an oxymoron, but you can charge this flashlight for 4 hours in the sun for eight hours of use. And you can charge it 500 times.

Battery charger and a 4 pack of rechargeable batteries. Can save you up to $1,500 in disposable battery costs (along with keeping toxic batteries out of the landfills).

Low-Flow shower head saves water and water heating usage (and costs).

Solar-powered fan to clip on to your firm-brimmed hat. Says “Im Cool” while you’re preventing global warming.

As an added bonus, you’ll receive the Real Goods Solar Living Sourcebook, a 550 page volume of how-to and what-for on solar power for your home, living off the grid, alternative transportation, and more global warming prevention ideas.

GAIAM is a well-established company and was doing “green” long before it was trendy.

They have a “No-Risk Guarantee” which states “We want you to be completely satisfied with every purchase you make with us. If you are in any way dissatisfied with a product you ordered or received, we’ll exchange it, credit your account or refund your money (less shipping and handling).”

Get Your Global Warming Action Kit Today!
Also makes a great gift.

Preventing Global Warming is a post from: Green Headquarters

Technorati Tags: compact fluorescent light bulb, preventing global warming, solar powered fan, solar powered flashlight

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Here is some paper recycling trivia:

For every ton of paper that is recycled, about 3 cubic yards of landfill space is saved.

In 2005, nearly fifty percent of the paper used in the United States was recycled into new paper products instead of being sent to the landfill. Today, recovered paper supplies over 40 percent of the total fiber needed to produce U.S. paper products.

Almost all the paper manufactured in Europe and the U.S. through the mid-1800s was recycled paper. Old rags and worn-out clothing were the main source of fiber supplying the paper mills (the process for making paper from wood pulp had not yet been developed).

Even though some papers claim 100% recycled fiber, paper makers will often combine various amounts of post-consumer recycled fiber with new, pre-consumer fiber to produce paper of higher quality.

Pre-consumer recovered paper is a mixture of trimmings and scraps from printing, carton manufacturing, and other converting processes that are gathered and reprocessed in the mill into a product.

Post-consumer recovered paper is what consumers bring to the recycling center – corrugated boxes, newspapers, magazines, and office paper that has already has been used. It is then returned to the paper mill for reprocessing.

Wood fibers can be recycled up to seven times before they become too short and worn out to be made into paper again. New wood fiber is needed to replace the unusable recycled fiber that washes out of the pulp during the recycling paper process.

Recycling Paper Facts is a post from: Green Headquarters

Technorati Tags: landfill, post-consumer, pre-consumer, recycling paper

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Every year, the average car spews about 10,000 pounds in CO2 pollution – a leading cause of global warming.

That’s about three times its weight in carbon dioxide!

What can you do, short of buying a hybrid or EV?

• Drive reasonable speeds. You’ll get a lot better mileage on most cars if you stay under 65 mph.
• Keep your tires properly inflated. Better mileage, more efficient braking, and a smoother ride, too.
• Keep your car tuned up and the fuel and air filters clean. Don’t make it work harder than need be.
• Then, if you want to further reduce the carbon footprint of your car, you can buy a Road TerraPass.

TerraPass invests in clean energy projects that reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
p>Your TerraPass is third-party verified to reduce the equivalent of your car’s carbon dioxide pollution (you choose which grade you’ll require).

Purchases made by TerraPass are verified each year by the Center for Resource Solutions.

What happens to the money when you buy a Road TerraPass?

First, you receive a member kit.

It includes a TerraPass window decal for the window of your car that shows how much you have reduced your carbon footprint.

Your new TerraPass bumper sticker will help spread the word.

Your TerraPass Purchase Supports Clean Energy Projects

When you buy a TerraPass, you sponsor a guaranteed reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

For example, an entrepreneurial wind farmer receives funds to expand his plant; a small dairy farmer gets capital to install digesters on her farm to control methane emissions.

Using financial instruments such as carbon credits, your funds result in guaranteed reductions. TerraPass has been financing these clean energy projects since 2005.

Reduce the carbon footprint of your car with a Road TerraPass.

Reduce the Carbon Footprint of Your Car is a post from: Green Headquarters

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Restaurants in Bay Street Emeryville urban mixed-use center have combined their “resources” in a comprehensive food waste diversion program (that’s a fancy way to say “making compost”).

The first retail center in the California Bay Area to be certified as a green business, they sort their waste, separating biodegradable trash, food, and other recyclables.

The shopping center actually has a food-only compactor: food waste is hauled away, composted, cured for 90 days, then brought back to the city as high nutrient soil.

We use a smaller scale, lower tech version for making compost in my small health food store.

Our kitchen’s organic vegetable scraps go into 5 gallon compost buckets, which are taken away every day by our Egg Lady. So our kitchen waste is run through chickens first before making compost.

There are several advantages to letting the chickens make compost for us: our trash collection bill is lower (we are charged by volume), we get great eggs to sell at the store, Egg Lady has lower feed costs, and chicken-made fertilizer for the blackberries and figs she also brings us.

This is not a new idea. Before pork was raised in factories, every restaurant had a couple of large vats outside next to the trash area – one for grease, and the other – the pig barrel. A local pigfarmer would trade it out for a empty one each night.

You can easily have an even smaller scale version in your own kitchen (for making compost, not feeding pigs).

Try keeping a large plastic container (with a good-sealing lid) under your kitchen sink. Rather than using the garbage disposal (a big water user) for food waste, chunk it in this container, instead. You can then use this “bounty” for making compost yourself.

If you don’t have a lot of scraps each day, and think you might be waiting several days to empty them, consider a specially designed compost bucket with a charcoal filter for odors (also good in case you tend to “forget” to take your to-be-compost out to the compost pile or bin).

And what if you like the idea of recycling your kitchen waste, but you just don’t have a place for a compost pile?

There’s always the indoor composter. All you have to do is empty your scraps – it does everything else… and makes finished compost in two weeks, to boot!
You’ll have less waste, and the best sort of fertilizer for your herb garden, or even your houseplants.

Upscale Restaurants are Making Compost is a post from: Green Headquarters

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All those neat rows of plants, bare ground in between, not a weed in sight.

This modern sort of farming is made possible with massive amounts of petroleum products, and not just the diesel that runs the equipment! Agricultural chemicals – fertilizers and herbicides – are also petrochemicals.

And it turns out that breaking up the soil by plowing or disking, long used for weed control and water conservation, might not be the best answer after all. Mother Nature, with her way of mulching the soil with last year’s spent crop, has it all over those USDA crop scientists.

Forward-thinking agriculturalists all over the world have looked backward and decided to try not tilling their fields.

And guess what?

No-till farming means there is a natural mulch. Mulching controls weeds, so no herbicide is needed.

Mulching also slows evaporation, so not as much irrigation is necessary. Mulch also becomes compost (and extra compost can be added on top of the mulch, if desired), so chemical fertilizer is kaput, too.

What does this mean to the farmer?

Lower costs and higher profit margins.

What does it mean to the world? Reduction and possible reversal of Global Warming.

Here’s a short film out of Canada to explain no-till farming a little more.

For more on how proper farming methods can prevent global warming, see The Carbon Cycle and Agriculture

No-Till Farming is a post from: Green Headquarters

Technorati Tags: carbon cycle, global warming, no-till farming

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“Consumers appear to be wary of companies who label their products as being ‘green,’ or environmentally friendly,” said Ipsos Reid, a market research company in Canada.

The company asked consumers about their perceptions of products touting “green” attributes. Seventy percent of American participants called the green designation “just a marketing tactic.” Sixty-four percent of Canadians agreed.

The results showed that men in the U.S. and Canada were more skeptical of green products than women. Seventy-two percent of Americans in the South will likely question a product’s green status, compared to 58 percent of Americans in the Northeast.

Forty-four percent of Americans said they wouldn’t pay more money for green building products in spite of the fact that the items could save money in the long run, and are probably safer for the environment.

Oddly, the report also said that 60 percent “disagreed” that they “would not be willing to pay more upfront for home building products that cost more upfront.”

It’s starting to sound a bit confusing.

Answers from Canadian respondents echoed this belief. Forty percent of Canadians conveyed an unwillingness to pay more for green building products.

It appears that Canadians have a better “green education” than those in the US: they are more likely than Americans to say they understand the benefits of building products with green advantages.

Green Labeling: Is It Just a Marketing Tactic? is a post from: Green Headquarters

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It is a television commercial produced by the Ad Council, an organization that always seems to come up with brilliant ways to get a message across to their targeted audience.

Very powerful.

Global Warming Video – Short and Not-So-Sweet is a post from: Green Headquarters

Technorati Tags: ad council, Audience, commercial, Global Video, global warming, global warming video, Television Commercial, Watch Tv

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