Banner paper boxes reused for fluorescent tubes

Here's a handy little something I do at work.

We print banners and posters on three-foot-wide HP paper. Each roll of paper comes in these long, narrow cardboard boxes.

One day, I got the bright idea to start keeping our fluorescent tubes in the boxes until they could be recycled. And it works great: there's a little plastic or paper tube in the box that kept the paper rolled up, and the lights slide right in.

Every once in a while, I take a stack of them to our drop-off site. "Reuse" comes before "recycle," and this is a handy way to reuse something so unique.

RJ holds chamber luncheon

Our old pal and former president Travis Fojtasek, along with the newly-reformed Recycling Task Force, gave a lunch talk about the benefits of recycling to Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce members.

Fojtasek told the group about the history of recycling in Jackson County, something he has worked hard to maintain:

Within Jackson County it has been demonstrated that private enterprise and local authorities can work together on recycling. The county government has not shown support due to the existence of the county incinerator. However, Recycling Jackson went to the Villages and Townships of our county and now Emmons, Modern Waste Disposal and Northwest Refuse pick up from 21 recycling centers free-of-charge.

He also gave tips on how to start a recycling program at local businesses, followed by a question-and-answer session for everyone who attended.

Wear sustainable shoes with Eco Sneaks

Looking to make a difference with your feet?

A company called Simple Shoes has developed the Eco Sneak, a sustainable pair of sneakers that "uses materials like recycled car tires, certified organic cotton, PET (think recycled plastic bottles), recycled bike tires, and hemp."

Simple Shoes uses the shoe box to make a statement, as well:

The box is made from 100% post consumer recycled paper and printed with soy-based inks. The shoes have foot forms made from 100% post consumer paper pulp inside them when they arrive in the box. This is the only other packaging that comes with the shoes. No plastic, no excess paper stuffed inside the shoes, nothing.

A new pair of Eco Sneaks will set you back $55-70.

Hope for e-waste in Nigeria

That's the great thing about recycling electronics: what most Americans consider obsolete is pretty advanced for developing nations.

Time-lapsed e-waste collection

Here's how they do it in Vermont.

Small Dog Electronics, an Apple reseller and electronics store, hosted a five-hour e-waste event where they collected 150 tons of electronic waste (e-waste).

This video was made using time-lapsed images over an hour. Look at all those recyclers!

Recycling Jackson at Earth Day 2009

Recycling Jackson participated in the Jackson Outdoor Coalition's third Earth Day activities at Cascades this past weekend.

Despite the rain, we answered many questions and passed out lots of coloring books and bags for the kids.

Don't forget to plant the saplings we handed out - today's Earth Day!

Bad news: only pastics #1-2 accepted

Recycling Jackson received unfortunate news from Northwest Refuse: they're no longer accepting colored glass or plastics numbered #3-7.

"Due to circumstances beyond our control we are unable to locate a market and are therefore no longer able to accept the above items as recyclable materials," Northwest told us in a letter.

Now they're only accepting clear glass and plastics #1 and #2.

The recycled material market hasn't been kind to recyclers lately.

Northwest tells us that they're working on updating the drop-off site signage to reflect the changes. It was nice when we could say any type of plastic is acceptable for recycling; let's hope we get back to that soon.