Archive for the 'waste' Category

One more way to get rid of junk mail.

Published
by
Paul
on June 22, 2008
in action and waste
. 1 Comment

We have written in the past about how to reduce the amount of junk mail you get. See these posts by JB on the topic: Post 1, Post 2.

Our friend, Dr. B.S. (hey, that’s his name!) discovered another way, and he’s written a post about it:

While there are many websites devoted to combating the overwhelming amount of junk mail people receive, I have been turned off by the cost and questionable ulterior financial motives that these sites proffer. However, I found one free site that I signed up for while surfing on the web this morning.

www.catalogchoice.org is a site where you can opt out of catalogs that you no longer wish to receive. The process is simple. You need to first create an account and click on the link in a confirmation email. You can then search for different catalogs that you wish to unsubscribe to. There is a pretty good selection of participating merchants that respond to this service. I signed up to opt out of future Crate & Barrel and Office Depot mailings. Surprisingly, REI was not available yet. For some of the companies, you need to enter a code number that appears on your address label. I will just wait until I receive those catalogs in the mail before I will process my unsubscription.

The service claims to take ten weeks before your catalogs will stop being sent to you. Hopefully I have a cleaner mailbox to look forward to in a few months!

Thanks Dr. B.S.!

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Plastics are evil, part 2: Gentle Exfoliating Microbeads are plastic!

Published
by
Paul
on June 15, 2008
in Products and waste
. 0 Comments

200.jpg Did you know that the ‘gentle exfoliating microbeads’ that are in many facial products are made of plastic? That’s right, the same plastics that take hundreds if not thousands of years to degrade, and every time you wash your face with them, they go right down the drain, and eventually into the ocean. And while there haven’t been any studies about what happens to them when they reach the ocean, it surely cannot be good.As the blog Low Impact notes:

There haven’t been that many studies on what the long term effect is of these plastic granules floating around the ocean. It appears likely that the particles do end up inside of marine creatures. Zooplankton in particular, tiny marine creatures that filter particles out of the water for food, can end up “swallowing” these little beads. It’s not clear whether the plastic ends up harming these little critters, or if it can start to build up in higher levels as it goes up the food chain.One study has found that these plastic beads can act as a sponge for such poisons as DDT and PCBs. So wherever these bits of plastic end up, they bring some unwelcome baggage with them! 

If you’d like to avoid making this problem worse, look for “polyethylene” in the ingredients. Olay Smooth Skin Exfoliating Scrub with Gentle Microbeads, for instance, has plastic microbeads, as you can tell from it’s ingredient list:

Water, Cetyl Betaine, PPG 15 Stearyl Ether, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Glycerine, Oxidized Polyethylene, Stearyl Alcohol, Salicylic Acid, Distearyldimonium Chloride, Cetyl Alcohol, Steareth 21, Behenyl Alcohol, PPG 30, Steareth 2, Fragrance, Disodium EDTA, Ferric Ammonium Ferrocyanide 

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Doggy doo doo

Published
by
JB
on June 12, 2008
in waste
. 3 Comments

cute-dog.jpgOK, how freaking cute is this dog? Paul showed me this picture a couple of years ago and since then, I’ve been dreaming about getting one of my own, even though I’m not really a small dog person. I’ve always thought of myself as owning a larger dog.

Anyway, I don’t have a dog, or any pets for that matter - my lifestyle (long hours, lack of a yard, small house, etc.) preclude me from owning any, but I was curious to know, how do you dog-owners take care of your dog waste? Reader Betsy asked a very good question:

I’m on my own quest to save some plastic and need some ideas.

I have always gotten plastic bags at the grocery store to use as doggy pick-up on my walks. I am trying to go more green in my life and this plastic bag usage is my one last “obstacle”. Does anyone have any green ideas for picking up after my dog that’s both environmentally friendly and reasonably priced?

I google’d this and found that there is certainly no dearth of bio-degradable bags which promise eco-friendliness, yada yada yada. But man, they do seem expensive! Does anyone have any advice or solutions they can share with Betsy?

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We all burn millions of dollars each year… literally

Published
by
greenhl
on June 4, 2008
in action, energy, transportation and waste
. 3 Comments

traffic_gridlock

How often do you find yourself sitting needlessly at a traffic light? I’m not talking morning commute gridlock, but rather, sitting at a red light when there are no other cars on the road, or sitting at the 3rd, 4th, or 5th red light in a row because of poor light timing? You may not know it, but sitting at a red light costs millions of dollars a year in wasted fuel, not to mention countless hours of wasted time. In fact, up to a gallon of fuel or more an hour burns when you’re just idling and sitting at a traffic light. In addition, stop and go city driving is what causes gas mileage to plummet when driving in the city. Owners of hybrids are lucky because their gas engines turn off automatically, providing one of the primary methods for hybrid cars to save fuel. Also, hybrid cars have regenerative braking, which pumps power back into the car’s batteries when the brakes are applied, thus recouping some of the lost energy when applying the brakes.

In San Jose and Santa Clara, it’s estimated poor traffic light management wastes over $3 million dollars a year in fuel. Fortunately, the California Transportation Commission is coming to the rescue with a $52 million allocation to improve lights throughout the Bay Area, including cities in the Silicon Valley such as San Jose and Santa Clara. Some signals will simply be smarter, allowing cars at rail crossings to go first if they have been waiting the longest. Other signals will be connected to traffic control centers, allowing lights to dynamically adjust based on traffic conditions.

For those who drive certain routes daily and see cases of poorly timed lights, take the time to write or call the city. In particular, you will more often than not have a traffic department. Making them aware of poor traffic light timing patterns will at the very least bring attention to the problem. No one knows the roads better than those of us who drive them every day. Often, the latest technology isn’t needed to help bring small improvements. In fact, simple timing changes can be the quickest to implement and help the most.

As gas prices break through $4 per gallon, drivers are becoming painfully aware of how driving habits, traffic light timing, general congestion, and other factors add up to even more pain at the pumps. It’s great to see money being set aside to help address traffic light timing issues. In fact, I’ve even met some folks who have Masters degrees in Traffic Engineering. This type of work is right up their alley, and we should get them working as quickly as possible. Who isn’t for saving time, gas, and money?

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Talk about irony!

Published
by
greenhl
on May 29, 2008
in action, conservation, energy and waste
. 0 Comments

I am a member of an organization (which shall go unnamed as I’m feeling in a particularly kind mood) that sent me a publication (which shall also go unnamed) this month and last month. In last month’s mailing, the publication took care to place special 31-page insert titled, “Environmental Sustainability – Going Green: In-Store Marking Business Practices & Strategies”. The insert is actually quite good. It discusses green trends, costs, and manufacturing as they relate to the in-store marketing environment. The insert covers profiles of companies that have green practices, best green practices, and green resources to help readers take green and environmental care to the next level.

Apparently, the publication and organization thinks the insert is so good, they felt compelled to send me another exact copy of the 31-page insert. How is that for irony? The new publication had another identical copy of the 31-page insert, all nicely wrapped in what must be a very environmentally friendly plastic bag. I don’t know what the publication’s circulation is, and in fact, I’m a little afraid to ask. How many resources must have gone into producing extra copies of this insert, not to mention the added waste of distributing it and wrapping it in plastic? Do members of their organization drive around in Hummers or large SUVs with signs saying “I’m green, and I want to save Earth”?

In the spirit of this irony, I’m going to list some quick tips you can employ to stay green. I will be shocked if you don’t employ at least half these tactics already. These are the low hanging fruit items you can implement, with little or no cost, which will help our environment tremendously. In the future, I’ll write more items, some of which may be more difficult, but should be equally fulfilling to know you’re doing your part.

  • Turn off your monitor when you’re not using your computer. The power save mode is a scam – your monitor still uses electricity when it’s plugged in even when it’s off or in power save mode.
  • Replace your incandescent light bulbs with CFLs (compact fluorescents)
  • Drive slower – you can save a lot of gas by doing so, and if you leave just 5 minutes earlier, you’ll still get there on time (and more safely). While you’re at it, turn off your car if you’re waiting somewhere and not moving.
  • Don’t leave your computer or laptop on all night unless you really have to.
  • Reuse plastic bags or use reusable bags when you go grocery shopping.
  • RECYCLE! True, they may separate recyclables at the garbage facility, but do you really think they’re doing a great job?
  • Use LESS – see where in your life you can use less, whether it’s energy, water, or anything else.
  • Take shorter showers. Even 1 minute helps. At the very least, if you’re not timing yourself, start with that!

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