Plastic Bags
According to EPA, the global annual consumption of plastic bags is 500 billion to 1 trillion. What's even worse is that less than 1% of these bags are recycled! Click on the link below to see the effects of plastic bags consumption and the failure to recycle these bags.
PoconoRecord
Posted by Hai at 4:46 PM
March 27, 2009Recycling: To Bail or Not to Bail???
When we tuned in last semester to the state of recycling both nationally and internationally was in peril. The fallout for large recycling firms from the global economic crisis was a major slowdown as need across the board for project materials dwindled. With a lack of demand for resources and recyclables being an early cut back for many industries, transfer stations burst at the seams with collected materials that had no logical outpost.
Flash forward six months… Many of the problems that ailed the recycling industry still persist now but the call around the country tells us “Help is on the way!” No. Wait. That was the 2004 Kerry campaign… But, like many industries around the country the recycling industry has been jockeying for aid via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, i.e. the Bailout/Stimulus/Giveusmoneykthnxbye Bill.
And it came! In part… A recent report from Resource Recycling entitled ”Repairing Recycling:Seven ways the stimuluspackage affects you” breaks down how the stimulus package will impact the recycling industry. Compared with the astronomical $789 billion package, a relatively modest amount of funds will be divvied out to recycling and waste management projects around the country. However, significantly more impactful will be larger amount of monies invested towards rebuilding infrastructure. $48 billion, for example, is allotted towards transportation projects with metals heavy bridges and rail projects high on the list. In addition, tax rebates to firms that have purchased recycling equipment over the previous five years and funding towards LEED certified projects and could also help create a market for many recycled materials (if the monies actually go towards funding new projects and not bolster existing ones).
In all of this, the recycled paper industry seems to have been left in the dust. There may be some tax breaks available to compensate for capital purchases but the direct path to aid and new markets that will be available to the metals and plastics industries is just not there. So if you’re looking for a copy of Cosmo from July, 2008 and your doctor’s office just isn’t quite up to speed yet, check out the stacks at your local transfer station. They’re probably still there.
Signing off.
Posted by Dan at 12:55 PM
Vote Earth!
Join the global effort by turning off all lights this Saturday for one hour from 8:30-9:30pm. Remember the blackout earlier this school year? Lets bring it back once again for ONE hour! You know you want to!
Posted by Hai at 12:36 PM
March 11, 2009(Demoralizing) RM Tales From Week 6
More of the same here. This week we moved one place down in the rankings in both the Grand Champion and Per Capita Challenge to 37th and 19th respectively. We still sit in 5th place in Massachusetts.
Now, of these Massachusetts Schools, The Massachusetts Maritime Academy has finally knocked off its Cheshire Cat routine – here one week, out of the rankings entirely the next - and is a mainstay in first place. It doesn’t look like that is going to change. From the looks of their website, these are a dedicated breed of seafaring people who once set in their ways will be hard pressed to dethrone from their pedestal.
And, God bless ‘em, their ways seem Hell bent on recycling. Kudos MMA. We salute you.
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, with all of their ingenuity, seems to have invented some sort of demented trash eating super beast that turns non-recyclable plastics and roofing shingles into corrugated cardboard. Their emergence into 2nd place came out of nowhere based on their early returns in the contest. Soon, the beast may die and they may come back down to earth. Who knows. But for now their 12% lead on us is daunting to say the least.
HOWEVER, the other of the schools in front of us; Boston College and Berkshire Community College – we could easily take them down. And that’s where our sights must be set right now. BC sits a paltry 2% above us and BCC a mere 0.05%.
0.05%???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I mean, seriously… you there, reading this right now. Throw your notebook that contains all of your notes from the semester into the recycling bin. DO IT NOW!!! NOW!!!!!!!
Ok, great. Now we’re in 4th. See how easy that was?
Anyway, be well and recycle strong. Until next week… well, keep recycling strong then also. But I will now leave you until next week. Aaaaanyway. Later gators.
Posted by Dan at 4:42 PM
March 4, 2009From Earth911- The Pizza Box Mystery
Published on March 2nd, 2009
The Pizza Box Mystery
by Lori Brown
Many people assume that pizza boxes are recyclable. In fact, most boxes have recycling symbols on them and are traditionally made from corrugated cardboard. They are, in and of themselves, recyclable.
However,...click to read more.
Posted by Dawn at 2:40 PM
Freshmen Dorms Take Mania into Own Hands
The heat of RecycleMania is rising with the independent, intra-dorm recycling competition between Haskell and Tilton. Brainchild of the Tilton-Haskell Advisory Board, a group of freshmen planning and executing various community-service and community-building projects, the competition put more than just bragging rights and recycling glory on the line: the victorious floor wins the prize of dinner with the Bacows which will take place in April.
The Board members measured and tracked progress by counting bags of recycling each weekend for two weeks. The mechanism left some room for subjectivity… and foul play. One Haskell suite reports a recycling bin casualty early in the game, undoubtedly a POW used for amassing more recycling volume. Breaking news: the Haskell 140s just crowned champions. Cheers, Haskell and Tilton, we tip our recycling hats to you; and congrats, 140s, tell the Bacows we say Happy Recycling!
Posted by Maegan at 1:11 PM