Stop the automatic phone book deliveries.

I don't know about you, but two or three phone books each year is too much.

YellowPagesGoesGreen.org thinks the same thing. The group doesn't think that we should ban phone books all together, but put forward a simple idea: when we want one, we can ask.

Says the group:

Yellowpagesgoesgreen.com was started because we are continually bombarded with Yellow and White Page directories at both home and office. The movement is not intended to stop the use of such directories, but to eliminate the unsolicited delivery of the books. If we want a book we will call and order one.

Over 500 million of these directories are printed every year. That is nearly two books for every person in the country! These directories produce a staggering amount of waste, not only in terms of misused natural resources but also in filling of valuable landfill space.

All that paper going to waste - it's a wonder someone hasn't done this sooner.

Yellow Pages Goes Green will help remove your name from printed Telephone Directory mailing list, and provides links to resources that will help in the effort - including the Do-Not-Call Registry.

Fight identity theft AND recycle your documents

American 1 Federal Credit Union - otherwise known as my place of employment - is hosting a "Shredfest" day this Saturday.

You can drop by this Saturday, Jan. 19 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at our 718 E. Michigan Ave. branch location, at the Home Office. Document shredding company Shred-It, based in Troy, MI, are the shred experts and will shred and recycle all your personal papers.

Identity theft is said to be the ìfastest growing crime in America,î with up to 8 million Americans affected in 2005, according to a Federal Trade Commission survey. The credit union also helps members fight identity theft through postings on its ìScamWatchî web page and articles in the monthly newsletters.

Think of it this way: you can protect your personal papers and get your recycling done in one swoop.

The way I see it, the more paper we shred on Saturday, the less chance thieves can get their hands on it. And it means less paper will be going to our local landfill. Plus it's a good way to start the year off on a clean slate. You get to shred all your documents safely and securely, and weíre going to make sure it all gets recycled, too.

Hope to see you Saturday!

- by Dave Lawrence, RJ VP

How to recycle paper.

You've got a paper bag full of paper ready for recycling. You arrive at one of the drop-off sites, and see two different bins marked "newsprint/paper" and "mixed paper." Then there's one with "cardboard" on it.

What to do?

Here's a quick run-down:

Newsprint and newspaper

This one is pretty easy. Newspaper and newspaper-like newsletters get tossed into this bin, as does phone book paper. This is newsprint, according to Central Management Services:

Newsprint is an uncoated, ground wood paper made by grinding wood into pulp without removing certain components, including lignin. (Lignin remaining in the ground wood paper fiber is what causes newsprint to turn yellow and deteriorate over time.)

Easy, right? Newsprint is probably the top type of paper that's recycled, thanks to newspaper subscriptions.

Mixed paper

This is where things get tricky. Cereal boxes? Mixed paper. Copy machine and printer paper? Mixed paper. Magazines? Mixed paper. Basically, anything that's not newsprint gets thrown into these bins. The kicker is stuff that looks like cardboard - like cereal boxes or six-pack boxes - but isn't really cardboard. Basically, if you can rip it and it doesn't have the corrugation stuff between paper sheets, it's mixed paper.

Corrugated cardboard

Storage boxes, shipping boxes - anything that's corrugated (has the ripples of cardboard in between sheets for strength) counts. One clue is to look at what's already in the bin. If you see a bunch of copy paper boxes, you're good to go. What I like to do is carry my recycling paper IN a cardboard box, dump the paper in the "mixed" bin, and then dump the cardboard box in the "corrugated" bin.

It's not a huge deal if you mix up your paper in the bins, but pre-sorting makes things easier for the hauler - and the less they have to work, the more profitable recycling becomes.

And we all want that.

Easy ways to recycle at work.

Maybe you're a big recycler at home - but what about at work?

Many workplaces have instituted company-wide recycling program (Recycling Jackson's own George Gansos has done a tremendous job at Foote Health Systems), but some are still stuck in the pre-green era. What to do?

Do like I did: make it personal. Here are some quick tips to do your own recycling at your workplace.

Invest in recycling bins
Bins can be as sturdy as the plastic trash-like bins, or a plain old cardboard box - the key is to put them in places where people will use them. I've found next to the copy machine and printer works well, as well as our receptionist desk. If someone makes a mistake, the tendency is to toss the scrap paper in the trash. If you put a recycling reminder in front of them, it will better your chances of collecting the paper.

Paper, not plastic
I figured that gathering my loads in paper grocery bags would work best; that way, I could toss the whole thing in the mixed paper bin at the drop-off sites. So I sent out an all-staff e-mail asking for spare bags, and my co-workers came through in spades. Now I line the recycling bins with the paper bags, snatch them when they're full, and dump the whole load at the drop-off site.

Remind, remind, remind
Catch someone tossing their printed e-mail (can you say, "Grrr!") in the trash? Remind them of the conveniently-placed bins you have stationed next to the printer. Send out e-mail telling staff when you'll be collecting the paper each week. Post flyers (on recycled or already-used paper!) next to the copier or in the breakroom with recycling tips and information on drop-off sites in town. If you have a company newsletter, post a little article in their about your company's new efforts. Do away with disposable plates and cups, and have staff bring in their own from home.

DIY
Sometimes it takes a champion to do the right thing: if your place of employment isn't as passionate about recycling as you are, take the initiative and do everything yourself. It made take you a few extra minutes a week to gather your recycling and drop it off (say, on the way home - or on your lunch break), but your example may inspire others. I was the only recycler in my office, but the idea caught on and now I have a co-recycler who actually drops everything off for me.

Of course you'll always have the employee who dumps their Styrofoam coffee cup into the paper bin when they walk by, or the people who bypass the bin all-together and continue to toss their paper in the trash. It's no biggie. Just remember any little bit you do helps.

I've found that, over time, the amount of paper we're recycling has to make a difference somewhere, somehow. Even if it's a mindfulness trick - keeping recycling in people's brains - it's worth the effort.

Maybe someday I'll institute a system for plastic bottles. But for now, my little recycling program works just fine. And so can yours with just a little bit of effort.

This blog doesn't come from trees.

But paper towels do.



Hence the idea behind the These Come from Trees movement - an effort to save on paper towel usage.

You can buy a set of stickers that goes to help the Sierra Club, and TCFT have found the stickers - which are a kind of culture jam - reduce towel usage by about 15%.

No trees were harmed in the writing of this post.