Recycle 2 Save

We've been hearing the chants recently.. single stream, single stream, single stream. It has become  the craze and it seems that nearly everyone thinks its the wave of the future (heck they have a song about it  Toss It Baby ). Many "environmentalists" push for the idea, they claim it'll get those people recycling that previously refused and greatly improve recycling numbers and participation. I consider myself to be environmentally conscious, so much so that I think dual stream is a better option (yeah, I know, no one cares). So okay, technology in the single stream arena has improved, separating the material has become more effective, and the residual rates have gone down (still noticeably higher then a dual stream facility).  We have agreed, that with everyone pushing, single stream seems to be a necessity brought on by market demand. CRI Hamburg is in the midst of installing a single stream sorting syste...

A little lady thinking green. I know I'm not alone here, I've heard plenty of people saying the same thing this year. I am so ready for spring!The snow and ice melted, the birds starting singing, little bulbs started blooming and then.. it snowed ,ice (re)formed, and the heating oil is still pouring through our burner like coins in a slot machine. I think the biggest hurtle is the mental aspect of things. Had mother nature not let us taste the warmth we wouldn't be craving it quite as badly right now, but we did.. and we want more! This correlates with my last post talking about how to get employees to participate in the recycling efforts of a company. In most instances once staff and management "taste" the benefits of recycling or see the impact one company can have in our environment it's tough not to crave more. It becomes easy, almost second nature, to look for more ways to save or more things to pull out of trash. It is always harder to retrain a...

Kim A emailed me a question:   I have been tasked with getting our office recycling program running. The actual process of recycling collection has started but the staff isn't really jumping on board like I thought they would. I fought for our company to recycle but it's not going as planned. Please help!! Kim, thanks for writing. You are not alone, many times it is tough to get staff to jump on board with anything new let alone a new recycling program. So often people are scared of change and accustomed to doing things the way "they've always done it". I do have a few key suggestions that have provided the needed motivation in the past. 1. Keep it simple. Any extra steps needed to recycle will often be steps not taken. Place recycling bins right next to garbage bins, typically in high traffic areas. 2. Label clearly. When not sure what to do you resort to what you know. If not properly and completely labeled the employees will go back to what they k...

We all know or have known  a "Debbie Downer". The person in the crowd that seems to suck the light out of room, who can turn a good situation into a problem and a problem into a crisis of epic proportions. So often in all the environmental talk there are extremists ( Debbie Downers if you will). We definitely need to continue to make progress in our environment to right some wrongs of the past but I take the optimist approach that we are working on it. I've witnessed a lot of positive change. Most people have recognized that we need this planet and are paying attention to our environment and things are looking up. People are asking for environmentally friendlier solutions (or demanding them) and companies are taking notice and responding. I do have to admit that when I read this article: Pennsylvania County Dumps Solid Waste Department & Recycling Program, I was a bit upset. At risk of sounding like a Debbie Downer I feel like this is a move in th...