Entry bubble Make Every Day Earth Day

By: Editor | April 22, 2008 | Category: Home and Family

In honor of Earth Day, we welcome guest blogger Jeffrey Levy, who has worked at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency since 1993. He started out protecting the ozone layer and is now EPA's Web Content Manager.

Jeffrey and a friend sitting on a mountaintop

"Environmental protection."  To me, that phrase often raises images of massive cleanups, scientists taking water samples, and courtrooms. But it's also about individual choices that add up to big differences.  For instance, even my kids know to turn out the lights and toss cans in the recycling.  And Earth Day is all about learning what you can do.

But as fun as Earth Day can be, it's not enough to pay attention to the environment one day a year.  So as corny as my title is, how can you make it a reality?

To start, check out our Earth Day site, where you can:

  • Get daily environmental tip emails or use our widget to put them on your own site
  • Listen to podcasts
  • Read how to help protect the environment at home, at school, etc.

Staying on EPA's site, talk to us in our brand-new blog, Greenversations.  I get to talk to EPA employees all over the country who will be writing, and they've got some great stories.  For example, did you know EPA has a professional team of SCUBA divers?

If those links aren't enough to keep you busy, check out USA.gov's info about the environment from other agencies.

Reading's interesting, but get out there!  For me, anyway, sitting on a mountaintop reminds me why environmental protection matters.  Take a hike, find a federal camping spot on recreation.gov, or take advantage of your state parks.

Okay, I've gone on long enough.  Now it's your turn: share what you're doing for Earth Day and how you can make it every day!

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Entry bubble Recycle Your Old TV's, Computers and Cell Phones

By: Jake | March 31, 2008 | Category: General

Pile of Old PC's My parents' attic is a mausoleum for obsolete computers, cell phones and Nintendo systems. While my brother and I have been known to resurrect the first Nintendo system over the holidays, the other broken and obsolete electronics sit and collect dust.

It's better this electronic waste or e-waste is in the attic rather than in the landfill, since many old electronics contain environmental pollutants, but if you are like my parents, you'd like your space back (my old bedroom has become their other attic). Luckily there are ways you can electronically recycle or e-cycle.

This month the U.S. Postal Service started a pilot program where you can get envelopes to mail smaller pieces of e-waste to a recycling facility free of charge. These envelopes can be found at 1,500 post offices in 10 areas across the country, and if successful, the USPS will expand the program nationally this fall. Also, the Environmental Protection Agency has a goal to collect and recycle 1 million pounds of e-waste in the Great Lakes Region before Earth Day.

If you don't live near any of these post offices or in the Great Lakes region, the EPA's eCycling Webpage can tell you how to dispose of your e-waste properly. There are local programs and some manufacturers and retailers who will take back your old electronic products.

So as you start your spring cleaning think about how you can recycle some of those old computers, teevees and video game systems. My parents' house might not be as fun without the old Nintendo there, but at least I'll be able to see the walls in my old bedroom again.

| Comments [1] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: cellular  computers  electronics  phones  recycling  televisions 

 

Entry bubble Post Holiday Recycling

By: Colleen | December 26, 2007 | Category: Home and Family

In the words of the great philosopher Charlie Brown, "Another Christmas, come and gone." It's the "day after" and everyone is busy returning that beautiful sweater from Aunt Bethany, or using their newly received gift cards to buy presents for those who may have been forgotten on the first round of shopping (oops!).

We may have won the battle, but we've not yet won the war. We've still got to deal with the post-Christmas clean up. If your home is anything like mine, I'm sure you have bags of wrapping paper sitting around, bows stuck to everything, and piles of holiday cards from friends and family in various locations.

The easy solution? Dump it all, throw it away—out of sight, out of mind. The not difficult and greener solution? Recycle! According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Americans throw away 25% more trash between Thanksgiving and New Years than during any other time of the year.

All that wrapping paper? Most of it is recyclable. USA.gov has tons of information regarding the best ways to dispose of holiday waste. Separate your party leftovers into paper, plastics, and glass. It's best if you use washable plates and utensils to cut down on waste while you eat, drink, and be merry.

As Joanne mentioned yesterday, you may be able to re-plant your tree. If not, many cities offer special recycling services and pick-up times for live trees.

How 'bout all those holiday cards? Quite popular, aren't you!? Cut off the front, and use the pictures as post cards for next year. Many churches and community centers also collect these for arts and crafts or greeting cards.

For more tips on recycling year-round check out Nancy's post.

Hey, you might even consider recycling Aunt Bethany's sweater—she'd love to see it on you next year!

| envelope Email This Entry | Tags: cards  christmas  colleen  holiday  paper  recycle  recycling  wrapping 

 

Entry bubble America Recycles Day

By: Nancy | November 15, 2007 | Category: General

In honor of this being the 10th annual America Recycles Day, I wanted to dedicate this blog entry to my favorite recycler, Gov Gab's editor, Becky.

When most people start a job, their initial questions include "Where's the restroom?" and "What time is lunch?" Two years ago, Becky's first questions were along the lines of "Does this office recycle envelopes with windows in them?" and "Whom do I call about proper disposal of this burned out fluorescent light bulb?" Mmmmmm...I dunno. Let me find out. But in the meantime, the ladies room is down the hall on the left and lunch is at noon.

Though we appear to be kind of an Oscar and Felix pairing, the slightly sloppy Nancy and the fairly fastidious Becky have more in common than you'd think. In addition to a shared interest in public radio shows like This American Life and anything involving chocolate, we're both into recycling.

Becky may live a little more of an 'evolved' recycling lifestyle than I do. But I can still rinse a mayo jar and flatten out a cracker box with the best of them. And because my county has curbside, commingled recycling pick ups that allow me to put cardboard, paper, glass and certain plastics all in the same bin, there's no excuse for me not to recycle.

I've become a good kid about things that shouldn't be put in the trash or regular recycling bin, too.  Electronics, batteries and gunky liquids like used oil and paint require special handling. It's tempting to bury that stuff in the bottom of a bag of regular trash, but if we don't dispose of those things separately, their chemicals could end up in the water supply and I'd really rather not bathe in battery acid.

Reusing things like water bottles and shopping bags is another recycling habit that Becky and I share. It's kind of fun to tote a department store bag to the lunch table and then rattle coworkers by pulling out a soda bottle (or in Midwesterner Becky's case, a pop bottle), refilled with milk. We'll eventually recycle those bottles and bags that we're reusing. But giving things like plastic bottles another life before they hit the blue bin means that we're using fewer new containers, which saves us money and saves energy resources since fewer new bottles will have to be manufactured, filled and shipped to stores.

Get on the recycling bandwagon with us! If you're not sure how your area handles recycling, just type the name of your town or county into USA.gov's search box along with the word 'recycling,' and if your locality has a website, like Montgomery County, Maryland's entertaining blog, Talkin' Trash, you'll find it on USA.gov.

Happy America Recycles Day to you, and to Becky. Maybe I'll save this post and use it again this time next year…

 

| Comments [2] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: maryland  nancy  plastic  recycling  water