Electronics Donation and Recycling

 

Why Recycle Electronic Products

 

Electronic products are made from valuable resources and materials, including metals, plastics, and glass, all of which require energy to mine and manufacture. Donating or recycling consumer electronics conserves our natural resources and avoids air and water pollution, as well as greenhouse gas emissions that are caused by manufacturing virgin materials.

 

For example:

• Recycling one million laptops saves the energy equivalent to the electricity used by more than 3,500 US 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.

Before Donating or Recycling Your Used Electronics

• For your computer or laptop, consider upgrading the hardware or software instead of buying a brand new product.
• Delete all personal information from your electronics.
• Remove any batteries from your electronics, they may need to be recycled separately.
• Check to see what requirements exist in your state Exit or community. 

Where to Donate or Recycle

Manufacturers and retailers offer several options to donate or recycle electronics. Search below to find programs developed by Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Electronics Challenge participants. If you are an original equipment manufacturer or retailer, learn how to join the SMM Electronics Challenge. Participation in the SMM Electronics Challenge is voluntary. EPA does not endorse any of the participants or their products and services.

• Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Electronics Challenge

Search by Electronic Device or Company

The following links exit the site Exit

http://www.epa.gov/recycle/electronics-donation-and-recycling

 

 

 

 

How to Turn Thrift Store Finds into Christmas Gifts: Thrift Store Christmas Gift Ideas

 

Thrift shopping is a great way to save money year-round. You can get children’s clothing cheaply, housewares, and even furniture. Just about anything you need for your home (besides food of course) can be bought at the thrift store. Did you ever consider doing your Christmas shopping there, though? For most people, giving used gifts is a social no-no; however, if you are crafty or just know where to look, you can get incredible thrift store gifts! Here is your guide to turning thrift store finds into Christmas Gifts

Thrift Store Christmas Gift Ideas

Mason Jars- There really are so many things you can do with these thrift shop staples. You can make cookie and brownie mix in jars and tie them with a pretty ribbon and label. You could make some homemade sugar scrubs and place them in the jars as well. Here are 15 Gift in Jar Ideas.

Old Sweaters- I have seen so many tutorials on how to use old sweaters and turn them into anything from mittens to hats. Many of these projects require very little sewing skill and they are so unique and fun! Teens might enjoy getting a new pair of boot liners like these from Scissortail Silk. Old sweaters can also be stuffed and sewn into pet beds for a great gift for our furry friends. Here are more ways to reuse old sweaters.

Clay pots- Many thrift stores have clay or plastic pots from other people’s gardening time. Clean these up, paint them and plant a houseplant in them for a truly wonderful and long living gift.

Tea cups and sugar bowls- One great use for old tea cups, especially the elegant vintage kind, is to make candles out of them. These make awesome gifts that are truly unique. Check out my tutorial on making Tea Cup Candles for inspiration. Here are directions for making Sugar Bowl Candle.

Old Vintage T-shirts- Make a quilt with them. One of my good friends has a quilt made from old T-shirts from her collage days and still loves it. You can also use them to make infinity scarves.

Old Jeans- High-waisted jeans are coming back into style and luckily the thrift store usually has plenty of them. You can create an awesome gift for a teen by covering the pockets with a fabric scrap with a cool design (think leopard print or something similar). Old jeans are also useful for making many other crafts such as purses, wallets and so on.

Framed prints- These are a thrift store lover’s favorite find. You never know what you will get when you hunt through the frames and paintings section. You can turn these into framed chalkboards, paint them white and decoupage family photos onto one.

Trays- Thrift stores are full of all kinds of trays and platters. These can be made into great things such as chalkboards, jewelry plates for rings and bangles and even bird feeders. Just about anyone on your list can be made something from a tray or platter.

What are some of your favorite ways to use thrift store finds and create new things with them? Have you ever given a re-purposed thrift store find as a gift? I would love to hear your creative ideas!

 

http://premeditatedleftovers.com/naturally-frugal-living/thrift-store-christmas-gift-ideas/

 

 

 

 

Biodegradable Coffee Cups Embedded With Seeds Grow Into Trees When Thrown Away

Image – Reduce.Reuse.Grow.

 

Here’s an amazing idea that really proves to you that anything is possible with the right approach. A small team based in California, USA that goes by the name of Reduce. Reuse. Grow. has devised an ingenious new type of coffee cup with seeds inside the walls. You can plant the cup when you are done and the seeds grow.

 

Some thought has clearly gone into this project: One thing that is clever about this cup is that the seeds included in the cups will be local to the region in which the cups are sold, so that the plants grown are appropriate for the local ecosystem. With ingenuity like this it really might be possible to turn around some of our greatest waste problems. Styrofoam (another common material for hot beverage containers) is something of an ecological nightmare, breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces which blow away on the breeze, ending up possibly eaten by animals or causing widespread pollution. I also recently found out that the part of California that I am in does not have general facilities for styrofoam recycling.

 

Billions of beverage containers are discarded each year and we’ve all seen pictures of the terrible mess we are making. So this project – and others like it – are an urgent priority. Ok here’s the full report on the new Biodegradable Coffee Cups Embedded With Seeds Grow Into Trees When Thrown Away: http://www.boredpanda.com/biodegradable-plantable-coffee-cup-reduce-reuse-grow/

 

Here’s another interesting thing you can use for seed planting: Eggshells. The plants get the calcium as the eggshell breaks down! Check it out here How To Plant Seeds Using Eggshells You could also try using home-made newspaper pots.

 

- See more at: http://off-grid.info/blog/biodegradable-coffee-cups-embedded-with-seeds-grow-into-trees-when-thrown-away/#sthash.GeYKpOiU.dpuf

 

 

 

 

Here’s what some hotels do with those barely used bars of soap

 

BY Larisa Epatko  November 3, 2015

 

Erin Zaikis (right) washes her hands with children in Shilonda, India, one of the countries where Sundara promotes the use of soap. Photo by Emily Rose Weinstein

 

Several years ago, Erin Zaikis was working in rural Thailand. She was surprised to see how many children in the village didn't wash their hands with soap, much less know what soap was.

"Just hearing that someone who's 11, 12, 13 and has lived their whole life without something that I took for granted every single day of mine was the catalyst for thinking about a solution to this problem," said Zaikis.

Back in New York she did some research. "Everyone's talking about clean water, but no one's talking about soap," she discovered. "I felt like if I didn't do something, no one would."

In 2013 Zaikis founded Sundara, a nonprofit working to improve hygiene and prevent disease in poor communities in India, Uganda and Myanmar by recycling used bars of hotel soap. Hotels pay a fee to join the program and have used bars of soap and liquid soap taken off their hands, so to speak.

Women in India package soap for Sundara, a nonprofit that teaches underserved communities about the importance of using soap to prevent disease. Photo courtesy of Sundara

Hotels were wary at first, Zaikis said, but after the first few got involved and could see how children and communities benefitted, more were willing to participate based on the testimonials. Diversey/Sealed Air based in Charlotte, N.C., donates the machines and chemicals for the sanitizing process.

Community workers mold the clean scraps into new bars of soap and distribute them to schools, health clinics and community centers, where paid "hygiene ambassadors" teach others the importance of using soap to stay healthy.

Sundara connects with local women's groups to recruit the hygiene ambassadors. The women, many of whom are illiterate and don't have other options for employment, participate in a two-week training course and receive a monthly stipend.

Kanchan Kashyap, one of the "hygiene ambassadors" in Mumbai, India, who is teaching her community to use soap. Photo by Emily Rose Weinstein

Kanchan Kashyap, 32, works as one of the hygiene ambassadors in Mumbai, India. When she and her husband moved there four years ago, they quickly learned they would need to supplement her husband's income as a painter because of their increased living expenses.

Kashyap said when she joined Sundara's team and they started going around the neighborhood touting soap's benefits, people were skeptical about the recycled soap. "They would ask us, 'What is this soap?' and 'How is it different?' But we've explained it to them and proudly say that we use it for ourselves, so now they are interested.

"We each keep a supply of soaps at our houses to hand out when our friends stop over for tea."

Kashyap said she and the other workers visit schools and teach the students to wash their hands before and after eating lunch and using the bathroom. Children who had never used a bar of soap before are not only washing their hands, but their arms, legs, face and feet.

Since its origin in 2013, Sundara, which means "beautiful" in Sanskrit, has reached 4,000 children in India, Uganda and Myanmar, and has a community-wide reach of 6,000.

"I try to bring in the idea of shared responsibility for this problem by involving community members wherever we can," said Zaikis. She leaves decisions, such as whether to deliver more soap to a school or get new schools involved, up to the community members. In that case, the locals chose the former, and this fall they bumped up soap delivery to their existing network of schools from once to twice per month.

"It's more important to see that the children are properly educated, and we're not just dropping off the soap. I want a meaningful and consistent impact within the communities and not just be a handout," she said.

The numbers of those reached might seem small now, but by educating a new generation of hand washers, it will have a multiplying effect, she added.

"Soap recycling is so simple. We're not waiting for some complicated vaccine. The solution to this problem already exists."

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/heres-hotels-used-bars-soap/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=pbsofficial&utm_campaign=newshour

 

 

 

Rotterdam may pave its roads in recycled plastic

© VolkerWessels

 

Lloyd Alter (@lloydalter)
Design / Sustainable Product Design
July 10, 2015

 

Asphalt is not pretty stuff. It emits 27 kilograms of CO2 for every tonne produced; it absorbs heat and contributes to urban heat island effects. Meanwhile, our mountains of plastic are rising faster than they can be downcycled into lawn chairs and plastic lumber.

Perhaps not for too much longer. A Dutch construction firm, VolkerWessels, is proposing a new form of roadbed made from recycled plastic. According to Gordon Darroch in the Guardian,

The plastic roads are lighter, reducing the load on the ground, and hollow, making it easier to install cables and utility pipelines below the surface. Sections can be prefabricated in a factory and transported to where they are needed, reducing on-site construction, while the shorter construction time and low maintenance will mean less congestion caused by roadworks. Lighter materials can also be transported more efficiently.

 

© VolkerWessels

 

They are going to try it out in Rotterdam. Rolf Mars of VolkerWessells' subsidiary KWS Infra, claims that "plastic offers all kinds of advantages compared to current road construction, both in laying the roads and maintenance."

An interesting idea that is probably more logical than paving it in solar cells. It will be interesting to see how this works in cold climates when plastic gets brittle. More in the Guardian.

 

http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/rotterdam-may-pave-its-roads-recycled-plastic.html

 

 

 

Chevrolet is using old batteries to save … bats?

Antonio Pasolini

Monday, June 29, 2015

 

 

Human ingenuity and creativity never fail to surprise us. As some of us may be aware, not only are bees dying out in worrying numbers, but bats are also suffering due to increased levels of ​white ​noise.

Perhaps bats do not have the same cutesy image as​ other animals, but they are really important for ecological balance, besides having an intrinsic value as any sentient being​.​ Bats can eat up to 5,000 insects per night, and as pollinators they play an important role in food crops. Pollinators are responsible for one-third of human food crops worldwide.

So, some clever folks at Chevrolet had a brilliant idea to re​-​purpose scrap Volt battery covers to protect bats.

The company has been building structures to protect bats for more than five years and more than 700 nesting boxes have been installed at its 40 wildlife habitat sites and on various public and private lands across the U.S. and Canada.

Bat man

​The initiative ​was thought up out ​of a need to meet environmental targets and find creative solutions for materials that are difficult to recycle, such as the battery trays​.

The company's landfill-free ​goal​ requires it to account for every single waste stream generated at its operations. Circuit trays called the attention of environmental engineers at the landfill-free Kokomo Operations in Indiana​ as they were not wanted by any local recyclers.

After a bit ​of ​stewing on the problem, Chevrolet staff John Bradburn had an eureka moment when he realized that he could swap out the wood pallet layers in the original bat box design with the trays, which also would save time as he could just notch two wood pieces on the sides, enabling him to slide these trays one after another right inside the battery case.

"When I held the circuit tray up, the length was about right and the width was perfect. I figured with some epoxy adhesive applied and sand sprinkled on it to make for a grittier surface, bats would have no problem hanging on," he ​said​.

After doing a trial run of the new design, Bradburn consulted with Rob Mies, a renowned bat expert. Mies put a little brown bat on it ​and it ​did what a bat does, namely, hanging on it.​

Giving kids a bat education

Efforts to protect bats have been ramped up due to a disease called white nose syndrome that's killing bats at a fast rate throughout the U.S. and beyond.

Recently, the Chevrolet Racing team, in collaboration with NASCAR Green and sustainability experts, assembled a pit crew of 50 little NASCAR fans during a recent race at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania to build 15 bat boxes.

​​Besides helping save the​ furry flying creatures, the kids at Pocono got some firsthand experience with Chevrolet's new and improved, second-generation bat house design​ with ​scrap circuit trays from ​the​ truck and SUV engine control modules generated at ​the​ Kokomo​ plant.​​

Bat populations in Pennsylvania particularly have been affected. According to data from​ ​The Center for Biological Diversity, the bat population in the northeast has declined by an estimated 99 percent.

The situation has got so bad that the little brown bat, once the most common bat in North America, is now protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Providing more homes ensures bats can get out of spaces infested with the disease and help slow it from spreading​.

This story first appeared on: JustMeans

 

http://www.greenbiz.com/article/chevrolet-using-old-batteries-save-bats

 

 

 

 

Complete Pallet Garden Set

 

If you thought pallets are something you use only if you want a minimalistic design in your furniture, think again! The possibilities of building something creative and unique are vast. The approach to using pallets is what differentiates this project. So, if you think you’re up to the task, be prepared to make a complete garden set out of pallets. We’re not talking about refurbishing some normal pallets, but actually using them to the fullest extent. Ordinary beds made out of pallets are nothing compared to a complex build like the one featured on this website. That’s because you’re not only attaching a few pallets to each other, but actually making a structure out of the wood collected from pallets, drilling them to each other in a way you would use if you’ve been working in a furniture factory. If you previously thought DIY furniture was a child’s play, this will represent a whole new level. Take the challenge and make a beautiful pallet garden set like the one you see in the picture. Good luck!

 

 

source: 1001Pallets

 

http://www.goodshomedesign.com/complete-pallet-garden-set/

 

 

 

 

Sweden Runs Out Of Garbage: Only 1% Ends Up In Landfills

November 26, 2014 by Alanna Ketler

 

 

Something incredible has been taking place in Sweden over the past several years, somewhat of a “recycling revolution,” if you will. Currently less than one percent of the garbage produced in Swedish homes ends up in the landfill today, with the other ninety-nine percent being recycled or composted.

Sweden has been known for years now for the amazing and resourceful waste management system that they have had in place for some time. They have 32 waste-to-energy (WTE) plants and this burned waste powers 20 percent of Sweden’s district heating as well as electricity for about 250,000 Swedish homes.

In fact, Sweden has become so good at recycling their waste; the country now has to import 800,000 tons of trash each year from the U.K., Italy, Ireland and Norway to keep their WTE plants up and running.

According to Swedish Waste Management communications director Anna-Carin Gripwell, “Waste today is a commodity in a different way than it has been. It’s not only waste, it’s a business.”

This is pretty impressive especially when compared to Americans who recycled just thirty-four percent of their waste in 2010 and according to the Environmental Protection Agency more than fifty percent of the average U.S. household waste ended up in landfills, this is about 136 million tons of garbage in total. According to the New York Times there are some trash burning facilities in the United States, but only a small portion of the waste is burned, and most of that burned waste ends up in landfills anyways.

What About The Environmental Effects?

Of course there is some controversy over this method of waste management and energy production. There are fumes that are produced that are toxic, but many argue that this is still a much better alternative to the typical landfills that we see more often in America. On average, more than forty percent of the world’s trash is burned and mostly in open air, this is much different from the regulated, low-emission process that has been adopted by Sweden. This makes Sweden’s method a lot more eco-friendly.

It is unfortunate that at this time the options are to either pollute the air, or pollute the Earth because we are producing so much garbage and it doesn’t just simply disappear without leaving its mark. It doesn’t look like manufacturers are going to stop making products that can’t be recycled anytime soon, so it is up to us to be more conscious with what we are consuming. We need to stop the problem at the source.

How Can We All Be A Bit More Like The Swedish? 

Sweden is an excellent example of a nation of citizens that care for their environment and their ecological footprint. If the Swedish are able to recycle 99% of their waste, why can’t we? Well we certainly can, however it does take a bit more effort. I believe that it is truly worth the effort, soon it will become so natural to us that it won’t even feel effortful, we just have to start taking that step!

There are many people now that are striving to produce zero or at least very minimal waste. You can read one of those stories here, check out the supermarket in Germany that produces zero waste here and read about the American restaurant that managed to not produce any waste in two years and counting here to get inspired on how you to can begin to implement a minimal waste, minimal footprint lifestyle.

 

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/11/26/sweden-runs-out-of-garbage-only-1-ends-up-in-landfills/