Recycling Hub

It’s easier to get the whole family to start recycling than you might think. Just telling everyone to recycle if not enough. You need to get organized and organize the closets and kitchen to encourage your family to recycle.

Buy plastic bins and mark them with “newspaper”, “paper”, “plastic bottles”, “cans” and place them in the kitchen. To keep the kitchen clean, you can place them in the closet. They don’t have to be super big, just enough for a few days to a week’s recycling. Then teach you children and husband where to find them and how to fill them up.

But a composting bin and place in on the kitchen counter and place all unwanted vegetables in it and empty it in a designated composting pile area in the backyard.

Make recycling fun for your children. You can do the same with unwanted toys and clothes. Place two medium sized plastic bins in children’s closets and ask them to place unwanted toys and out-grown clothes in them. Then take the items and donate them to the salvation army. This way, the house stays neat and organized and everything is recycled.

Having to keep grandchildren busy during rainy days, I like to pull out the childrens paints, but you can imagine how messy it can be unless you have an easy way to put different colours of paint in a non spill environment. Well the best thing I have found is the plastic egg containers that are very popular with Omega 3 eggs. When you flip it open you actually have 24 spots for paint. Kids love it and there’s no mess.

1. Buy a recycle container and place it in the kitchen. This makes you to remember to recycle.

2. Make sure bottles and tins are cleaned before putting in the recycling bin. This prevents flies both at home and the recycling place.

3. Reorganize the kitchen so it has an efficient recycling area with good sized containers to help with sorting and holding. This will encourage everyone in the family to remember to recycle.

4. Cut both the tops and the bottoms off metal cans and squash them makes them smaller to fit into the recycling bin.

5. Put a ‘no junk mail’ sticker on your letter box. You’ll be amazed at how much this reduces your junk mails.

6. Spread the word and set an axample in your community. By telling other people and helping them to get started, we increase the savings that can be made. Get your kids involved , if we can educate them early, they will grow up and appreciate waste reduction and will be able to apply these skills in later life.

Why not make your own greenhouse using recycled plastic bottles. First you need to build a timber frame to the size of the greenhouse you desire, do not forget that you will need to make a frame for a door!

Then collect lots and lots of plastic bottles. 2L bottles are ideal and you will need to use bottles that have straight sides, shaped bottles will not work for this. Whichever size you choose don’t forget that all your bottles will need to be of the same size.

My greenhouse took approximately 1,500 bottles to make) Simply cut off the bottom of each bottle and then thread them onto metal rods, you will need to make sure they are all threaded on in the same direction so that the top of each bottle fits snug into the underside of next bottle. Next fix metal rods (top and bottom) to framework, butting up each column of bottles to the next until all walls and the door are created. The use of a few coloured plastic bottles above the door will give an interesting stained glass effect!

Lead-Acid Automobile Batteries
Nearly 90 percent of all lead-acid batteries are recycled. Almost any retailer that sells lead-acid batteries collects used batteries for recycling, as required by most state laws. Reclaimers crush batteries into nickel-sized pieces and separate the plastic components. They send the plastic to a reprocessor for manufacture into new plastic products and deliver purified lead to battery manufacturers and other industries. A typical lead-acid battery contains 60 to 80 percent recycled lead and plastic.

Non-Automotive Lead-Based Batteries
Gel cells and sealed lead-acid batteries are commonly used to power industrial equipment, emergency lighting, and alarm systems. The same recycling process applies as with automotive batteries. An automotive store or a local waste agency may accept the batteries for recycling.

Dry-Cell Batteries
Dry-cell batteries include alkaline and carbon zinc (9-volt, D, C, AA, AAA), mercuric-oxide (button, some cylindrical and rectangular), silver-oxide and zinc-air (button), and lithium (9-volt, C, AA, coin, button, rechargeable). On average, each person in the United States discards eight dry-cell batteries per year.

• Alkaline and Zinc-Carbon Batteries
  Alkaline batteries, the everyday household batteries used in flashlights, remote controls, and other appliances. Several reclamation companies now process these batteries.
• Button-Cell Batteries
  Most small, round “button-cell” type batteries found in items such as watches and hearing aids contain mercury, silver, cadmium, lithium, or other heavy metals as their main component. Button cells are increasingly targeted for recycling because of the value of recoverable materials, their small size, and their easy handling relative to other battery types.
• Rechargeable Batteries
  The Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC), a nonprofit public service organization, targets four kinds of rechargeable batteries for recycling: nickel-cadmium (Ni-CD), nickel metal hydride, lithium ion, and small-sealed lead. Its “Charge Up to Recycle!” program offers various recycling plans for communities, retailers, businesses, and public agencies.

Source: http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/battery.htm

When you need a portable, convenient power source, you can rely on batteries. Batteries of all shapes and sizes supply power to everyday electronics like toys and power tools, but batteries also work where we don’t see them too. During a power outage, phone lines still operate because they are equipped with lead-acid batteries. Batteries help control power fluctuations, run commuter trains, and provide back-up power for critical needs like hospitals and military operations. The versatility of batteries is reflected in the different sizes and shapes, but all batteries have two common elements that combine to make power: an electrolyte and a heavy metal.

Just the Facts

• Americans purchase nearly 3 billion dry-cell batteries every year to power radios, toys, cellular phones, watches, laptop computers, and portable power tools.
• Inside a battery, heavy metals react with chemical electrolyte to produce the battery’s power.
• Wet-cell batteries, which contain a liquid electrolyte, commonly power automobiles, boats, or motorcycles.
• Nearly 99 million wet-cell lead-acid car batteries are manufactured each year.
• Mercury was phased out of certain types of batteries in conjunction with the “Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable Battery Management Act,” passed in 1996.
• Recycling batteries keeps heavy metals out of landfills and the air. Recycling saves resources because recovered plastic and metals can be used to make new batteries.

Batteries contain heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, and nickel, which can contaminate the environment when batteries are improperly disposed of. When incinerated, certain metals might be released into the air or can concentrate in the ash produced by the combustion process.

One way to reduce the number of batteries in the waste stream is to purchase rechargeable batteries. Nearly one in five dry-cell batteries purchased in the United States is rechargeable. Over its useful life, each rechargeable battery may substitute for hundreds of single-use batteries.

Source: http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/battery.htm

Product labels can be confusing to consumers interested in buying recycled because of the different recycling terminology used. The following definitions might help clarify any uncertainty regarding manufacturers’ claims. For more detailed guidance, view a summary of the Federal Trade Commission’s brochure Sorting Out Green Advertising Claims or their Official Guidance for the use of environmental marketing claims.

• Recycled-content products are made from materials that would otherwise have been discarded. Items in this category are made totally or partially from material destined for disposal or recovered from industrial activities-like aluminum soda cans or newspaper. Recycled-content products also can be items that are rebuilt or remanufactured from used products such as toner cartridges or computers.
• Postconsumer content refers to material from products that were used by consumers or businesses and would otherwise be discarded as waste. If a product is labeled “recycled content,” the rest of the product material might have come from excess or damaged items generated during normal manufacturing processes-not collected through a local recycling program.
• Recyclable products can be collected and remanufactured into new products after they’ve been used. These products do not necessarily contain recycled materials and only benefit the environment if people recycle them after use. Check with your local recycling program to determine which items are recyclable in your community.

Source: http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/rrr/buyrecycled.htm

* Recycling protects and expands U.S. manufacturing jobs and increases U.S. competitiveness.
* Recycling reduces the need for landfilling and incineration.
* Recycling prevents pollution caused by the manufacturing of products from virgin materials.
* Recycling saves energy.
* Recycling decreases emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change.
* Recycling conserves natural resources such as timber, water, and minerals.
* Recycling helps sustain the environment for future generations.

Source: http://www.epa.gov/

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends a three-tiered approach for managing solid waste. Each of these should be practiced to decrease the amount of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), more commonly known as trash or garbage, headed for final disposal. They are in order of importance:

• Reduce – making something smaller or using less, resulting in a smaller amount of waste.
  • “Source reduction” is reducing waste before you purchase it, or by purchasing products that are not wasteful in their packaging or use.
  • A key part of waste reduction is conservation– using natural resources wisely, and using less than usual to avoid waste.
• Reuse – putting an item to another use after its original function has been fulfilled. There are two types of reuse possible:
  • Conventional reuse – where the product is used a number of times for the same function before becoming obsolete or unusable.
  • New life reuse – where a new use is found for the item.
• Recycle - collecting materials that would otherwise be considered waste to be broken down and remade into new products. Recycled materials can be derived from:
  • Pre-consumer waste – materials used in manufacturing.
  • Post-consumer waste – materials discarded by the consumer.

  Source: U.S. General Services Administration