Recycled materials harder to sell?

An interesting story from the New York Times on how the economic troubles have affected recycled materials. Says the article:

There are no signs yet of a nationwide abandonment of recycling programs. But industry executives say that after years of growth, the whole system is facing an abrupt slowdown.

Nothing is immune, it seems, from the financial crisis - let's just hope the environment doesn't become old news.

Build a Buddhist temple out of 1 million beer bottles

It's true:

Thai monks from the Sisaket province have used over one million recycled glass bottle to construct their Buddhist temple. Mindfulness is at the center of the Buddhist discipline and the dedication and thoughtfulness required to build everything from the toilets to their crematorium from recycled bottles shows what creativity and elbow grease can accomplish.

The monks were able to clean up some of the pollution and make an amazing, and news-worthy, structure that I'm sure looks dazzling on a bright, sunny day.

If Buddhist monks can take a million beer bottles and make a house of worship, is it too much to ask for us to recycle our plastic water bottles? Seriously.

60 Minutes follows the e-waste trail

Wow - if you didn't see 60 Minutes special report on e-waste last night, be sure to check it out online. It was a scary and informative piece about what happens to our electronics when we toss them out.

60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley follows one Denver, CO "recycler" that actually sends his e-waste to China to be sold and melted down, even though the recycler claims everything stays in the U.S.

And what happens in China? That's the scariest part of the story: people getting burned, inhaling toxic fumes, and living with the highest concentration of lead in their blood of anywhere on Earth.

Frightening stuff. It's good, though, to remind us that all this gadgetry we buy has to end up somewhere.

[image courtesy of CBS.com]

Number of the week:

21,326

The amount of electronics, in pounds, that we collected at our Oct. 11 e-waste drive.

According to President Steve Noble, that's the second-highest haul ever.

"71% of it was TVs and monitors," he says, "and the rest were PCs and peripherals."

Isn't that something? Thanks again, Jackson, for taking care of your e-waste in a responsible way.

E-waste drive this weekend

That's right, electronic recyclers - it's that time again.

Recycling Jackson and Sam's Club are hosting the Fall E-waste Drive this Saturday, Oct. 11 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Sam's Club in Jackson.

We're taking the usual TVs, computer equipment, stereos, batteries, and fluorescent lights. We ask for a donation for each item you bring, but some items - like CD players and printers - are free.

Check out our e-waste page for all the details.

40 easy ways to go green.

If you haven't checked out the No Impact Man blog yet, please do. A guy, Colin, living in New York City decides he's going to live by making as little impact on the environment as possible. It's a great read.

His "40 steps on the personal path to green" post is a good primer if you're looking for ideas to reduce your own impact on our world.

Experiments like Colin's are what makes this whole "green movement" so interesting: no one has figured it all out, but - bit by bit - we're getting closer.

Choosing a safe reusable water bottle.

According to Lifehacker, "Americans consume 28 billion single use bottles of water per year and roughly 80 percent of those end up in a landfill." And considering how much bottled water we drink, all the plastic takes up a lot of space...somewhere.

The Good Human addresses some of the bottled water concerns, including a list of the best reusable bottles you can buy. The worst are PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles - the same kind Aquafina, Coke, and other water, juice, and pop bottles come in.

The site concludes that the best kind of reusable water bottle is one made out of stainless steel:

Ideally, the best way to drink water on the go would be an aluminum or stainless steel water bottle, as they seem to exhibit the least amount of health concerns out of all the choices. Add in the fact that they can be used over and over again with no degradation and do not need to be recycled each time you use one, they really are the “green” choice. And since upwards of 40% of bottled water is actually just tap water in disguise, buying it seems like not only a health risk due to the plastic leaching possibilities, but also a wallet risk due to wasting money on something you already have at home!

What kind of water bottle do you use?

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.

Downtown Jackson drop off site gone Nov. 4?

If you read Thursday's Jackson Citizen Patriot, you may have caught the story on the City Council outlining city manager William Ross's goals for the rest of the year.

One of those goals included "relocate city recycling center by Nov. 1."

We've tried to spread the news on this, but we really encourage everyone to call their city council representative and voice their opinion on the matter.

Recycling Jackson advocates keeping the site where it is, or moving it to the (often vacant) parking lot across the street. We don't want to see it on Water St. with limited hours and accessibility.

At the same time, we don't want the mess and the disrespect to continue.

Make your voice heard!

Thanks Fazoli's for the waste

This is why people complain about too much packaging in our world today.

Look at that. A simple piece of cheesecake from Fazoli's inside a container big enough for the entire cake. And because I bought two pieces, I got two of these monstrosities. Why couldn't they just stuff two pieces of cheesecake inside THIS package?

It's horrifying. And it's a good thing we have plastic recycling in Jackson County now. These two containers may need a whole bin to themselves.

Recycling gum? It's possible.

That wad of Bubbleyum you just stepped on? That could've been recycled.

Companies like Recycle Media are offering ways to recycle used bubble gum using cute, cuddly bins like the one above.

There are even some artists who use the chewed-up gum as their medium to their masterpiece.

Sign up for our new e-mail list

We're in the process of setting up a new e-mail distribution list. Maybe you received the first one we sent out a few months ago: that was simply a big Yahoo.com list. We want to do something a little fancier.

join our mailing list

* indicates required

Email Address *

Email Format

• html


• text


• mobile

Close

This is why the city wants to move the downtown drop-off site:

Our city recycling drop-off sites are not trash dumps, but some people aren't getting the message.

It's no wonder the city wants to move the site to a "secure" location: people are probably dumping in the middle of the night. That also means, however, residents can't use the drop-off site at any time.

If you see someone pulling this kind of thing, please let us know. Because of the people who do this kind of thing, we may not have recycling sites at all.

Tell City Hall not to move downtown recycling site

Our president Steve Noble read an article in Saturday's paper (I can't find it online) about how the city wants to move the Louis Glick recycling drop-off site to Emmons on Water St. Here's Steve's full letter:

Hi All

Don't know how many of your saw the article in the paper on Saturday but
the city has come out and advised that they are considering moving the
downtown recycling site to Emmons facility on Water Street. This will
greatly limit access and drastically reduce the convenience for our
residents.

I'm sure there is more to this than what was printed but that will only
come out if there is controversy. I will be offering our thoughts about
this at the city commission meeting tomorrow night to hopefully stir up
discussions before the decision is made in August. More than anything
we need residents to call their commissioner to voice an opinion against
this action.

There are several options that could implemented rather than putting the
drop off site in an old industrial section of town with limited access.
One option is to repeal the ordinance that prevents curbside pickup of
trash and recyclables. Also there is a similar location that the city
could use across the street from the current location.

I will be offering our assistance to educate the public about the
benefits of recycling and the effects of midnight dumping.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Steve

Click over to "Contact" to find the phone number to reach Steve on this effort.

Recycling saves businesses money.

A little local news for you: The Saginaw News shows how going green can help business.

"Recycling and reducing waste should prove a no-brainer for business leaders because it impacts the bottom line, Duebbert said," and the article shows how up to one-third of waste comes from businesses, and how recyclable paper makes up the majority of that.

When a company goes green, side benefits include improved employee productivity as well as an improved standing among customers who also believe in recycling. Less waste means less cost for disposal, Duebbert said.

Nice to see a Michigan-based effort to get businesses to care more about waste management.

E-waste: taking responsibility

A thought struck me during our recent e-waste drive on June 21: by recycling, people are taking responsibility for their trash.

I couldn't believe how many CTR monitors (especially Dell monitors) and old TVs that came in. Part of the haul comes from people updating to flat-screen and LCD monitors, but I couldn't help but wonder - if all of these are just coming from Jackson residents, what's happening all over the country?

People loaded these electronic relics into their vehicles, drove them to Sam's Club on a Saturday, and gave us a donation to responsibly recycle them. That's quite a bit of effort, and it happened at least a hundred times on one weekend day.

The same kind of effort goes into everyday recycling. Keeping track of paper, plastic, metal, and glass in your home, seperating it, and taking it to a recycling drop-off site takes work. Recycling isn't for lazy people.

All of that work does a lot of good. And it makes people take responsibility - both in mental effort and in calories burned - for the trash they produce. We take from the earth's supply of natural resources, and instead of tossing it out we reuse it in some other product. We could just bury it. A lot of people do.

Recyclers, however, take a stand and say, "This will not go to waste."

Or at least we say, "We'll take care of it responsibly." Thanks for taking responsibility for your corner of the world. With our successful e-waste drives, it just goes to show that feeling is shared by more and more people.

> Go here for more e-waste drive photos

E-waste drive this Saturday

Join us for our annual summer e-waste drive this Saturday, June 21 at Sam's Club in Jackson from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Head to our e-waste page on our web site for a full list of suggested donations for items. Notice the price drop: because of volume, our e-waste recycler is cutting everyone a deal, which we appreciate.

Recycling Jackson's e-waste drive is happening at the same time the Jackson County Health Department is hosting their Household Hazardous Waste drive (scroll down for their flyer). So a quick trip across town and you can get some responsible cleaning done.

Please bring your computers, TVs, stereos, cellphones, and other electronic junk to Sam's and we'll take care of it for you.

Best Buy wants your e-junk.

Sorry for the posting delay, folks. I've been on vacation - just got back from a driving tour of New England.

Getting ready for our June 21 e-waste drive at Sam's, it was nice to hear that Best Buy is now taking certain e-waste items at its locations. It looks like printer cartridges and cell phones are a go, and appliances they'll even pick up for you, but other things are touch-and-go depending on where you're at. Around here, it looks like the closest you can get is Ann Arbor.

Some items you can upgrade and trade-in for Best Buy gift cards. Not bad.

Had an experience with Best Buy recycling? Let us know in the comments. And look for more info on our summer e-waste drive, coming soon!

Links of the week.

• Reuse disposable items [from Lifehacker.com]
• Another list of ways to reuse stuff [from Tipnut.com]
• Backlash against green marketing [fromSeth Godin's blog]

That last one is interesting, because I noticed the big brew-haha that went on during the week of Earth Day. Can we really be "green" by buying (and throwing away) more stuff? Probably not.

Sign up for our e-mail list

So, we're Recycling Jackson, and every quarter we send out paper newsletters through the mail. We also print new brochures every year or so.

There's a bit of irony there. And we'd like to help end that.

That's why we're developing an e-mail list so that, if you're interested in receiving our newest newsletter, brochure, or update on e-waste drives, you can get it without any harm done to the environment.

Duh, right?

If you're interested, please send us an e-mail to: recyclingjackson [at] yahoo [.] com

We're not going to spam you, or send you stuff every week (maybe not even every month), but we would like to develop a list of hardcore supporters who are interested in hearing the latest and greatest from Recycling Jackson.

Thanks, and hope to see your e-mails soon!

Happy Earth Day.

Today's kind of a holiday for us recyclers, and this year seems like it's going to be huge. With all the global warming stuff in the news, the reports that water is becoming scarcer, and even green fashion taking hold in the public consciousness, everyone wants to slap a leaf on their logo and celebrate all week long.

Here's a round-up of what some companies and organizations are doing.

> NBC's week-long greenfest

> Fox's "Green It. Mean It." campaign

> Environmental Protection Agency's photo contest

> Al Gore's new "We Can Solve the Climate Crisis" campaign

> Ride a Monowheel to Work Day (I made the day up, but the bike is real)

> New York City's Earth Day 2008 celebration

Earth Day a hit @ Cascades

Thanks for all the nice folks who stopped and said hello during the Jackson Area Outdoor Coalition's Earth Day festivities yesterday.

Mary, our new education/outreach coordinator, Randy, and I answered questions, passed out brochures and newsletters, and enjoyed the sunshine (maybe a bit too much in my sunburned case). We also passed out white pine seedlings.




If you were there, hopefully you got some great information from all the groups - like Lynsy (above) from the Jackson Citizen Patriot (and the fab "Livin' Green" blog) and her swell new "Green MI" magazine. Everyone one from the Dahlem Center to the Friends of the Falling Water Trail were on-hand to spread the good word of sustainability and environmental care.




It really was a day for kids, though, with most groups featuring arts and crafts and educational activities. And with the setting in Sparks Park, there was tons of nature and critters and ponds to explore.

A great day. Hope to see you all again next year!

See you on Sunday for Earth Day.

We'll see you Sunday for the Jackson Area Outdoor Coalition's second Earth Day celebration.

Stop by our spot at Cascades on Sunday, April 20 from 1 to 4 p.m. We'll be handing out sapling trees and offering information on our services, and recycling in general.

Last year was a hit, and Brad Whaley, executive director of the Dahlem Conservancy, is bragging that this will be twice as big as the 2007 shindig.

“We’re really excited about all of the activities that are planned. We’ll have something there for people of all ages and interest levels,” Brad said. “We’ve got the Grand River Environmental Action Team (GREAT) bringing in their kayaks and canoes for people to try out in the lagoons, Paragon Charter Academy will be conducting a Reuse-A-Shoe drive. We’ll be building blue bird houses, passing out free tree seedlings (quantity limited) for people to plant, and leading birding tours of the park. There will be musicians, storytelling, and visual artists. There will be many other kinds of activities, demonstrations, and fun events happening, really too many to list them all. Twenty five different local groups, agencies and organizations will be there to engage people.”

How about all that for a fun Sunday afternoon? Hopefully the weather is as lovely as it was last year.

Also, Lynsy Smithson-Stanley at the CitPat (and "Livin' Green" fame) will be showcasing her awesome new Green MI magazine. Be sure to pick up a copy.

See you then!

New interactive site map available

View Larger Map

Check it out - our new recycling site locator map, thanks to Google!

Click, drag, zoom. It can handle it.

El Presidente, profiled!

If you read Thursday's edition of the Jackson Citizen Patriot, you may have seen a familiar face on page A4: our own president, Steve Noble.

Steve was profiled by the newspaper. The story includes how Steve got involved in Recycling Jackson, and a nice picture of him outside our Monroe St. drop-off site.

Steve is the second local recycler to be profiled by the CitPat. A few months ago, Mitzi had her picture in the paper, too.

Check it out - and if you see Steve, be sure to congratulate him.

Giant number of the month

161,100

That's how many pounds of e-waste we've collected so far. It all adds up to 80.5 tons of electronic junk that won't be burned or buried in some third-world landfill.

Our program kicked off three years ago this spring.

And a note: Our next e-waste drive is June 21 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Sam's Club in Jackson. Look for more info coming soon.

Meet our new Education & Outreach Coordinator

Recycling Jackson is proud to announce its new Education and Outreach Coordinator, Mary Tallman.

Mary is a native Jacksonian who graduated from the University of Michigan with a fine arts degree in painting and drawing, and earned a master of arts in education from Spring Arbor University.  

Currently, she serves as Title I parent liaison for Jackson Arts and Technology Academy.  Her work as educator for Recycling Jackson is a natural extension of her current and past work in Jackson area schools.

She and her husband Jim credit their three sons for educating them on the benefits of recycling and the necessity of strong advocacy and  good resource stewardship.  

Both Mary and her husband enjoy boating and kayaking on Browns Lake and are active in the Browns Lake Residents Association.

If your school or organization is interested in having Mary speak about the benefits of recycling, e-mail her at recyclingjackson [at] yahoo.com.

Recycling makes more sense than burning.

I wish I had the clear conscience of those who say burning our trash is the best method of disposal. But when I read facts like recycling a ton of paper saves two barrels of oil, or that recycling creates six times as many jobs as landfilling, I can't help but wonder if trash burners are thinking of America's best economic interests.

Burning trash in a barrel, as in days of old, may make our hearts and hands warm and fuzzy. The reality is, it's harmful to everything from our forests to our national fossil fuel consumption levels. In these days of $100-a-barrel oil, recycling seems the patriotic thing to do.

Maybe trash burners learned nothing from their Depressio-era relatives, or those who lived through World War II; they knew better than to let a scrap of metal or rubber go to waste. They thought long-term instead of short-term.

We're not making trash haulers rich by recycling. We're creating jobs, reducing government inolvement in how we handle our garbage, and improving the air we breathe. Who can argue against that?

The trash burning mindset is an old-fashioned one, one that is cherry-picked by those who support the county incinerator despite the evidence and benefits of recycling, and ignore the wisdom of our elders. They taught us to never let a thing go to waste. My grandma still recycles all her plastic bags and Cool Whip containers to reuse. She's taught me a lot. Maybe she needs to teach others.

In this age of disposable everything, there's a lot we could learn.


-by Dave Lawrence, Recycling Jackson VP

Renew mag subscriptions online, save a tree

A thought occurred to me today, just as I was about to drop two magazine subscription renewal envelopes in the mailbox:

Why not do this online?

I subscribe to two monthly magazines, Wired and Harper's, and both have been bugging me for months to renew my subscription. Harper's even sent me a letter saying that, by renewing early, I could save them the cost of several more notices.

Now I realize what a smart idea that was. Renew early and save the company postage and printing costs AND save on the fuel it takes to ship that envelope from Red Oak, Iowa to my apartment in Jackson, Michigan. Harper's wins, and so does the environment.

But then I thought, shucks, I betcha I could do this online. Sure enough, both sites had a renewal section. All I needed was my name and address, and a debit card, and in two minutes both subscriptions were renewed. No postage needed, no mail infrastructure to engage, no check to write, no yucky envelope taste on my tongue.

I should've thought of this a long time ago...

Free e-cycling from the Post Office

Good news: the U.S. Post Office is offering free envelopes for e-cycling in 1,500 office locations nation-wide.

Says their press release:

Customers use free envelopes found in 1,500 Post Offices to mail back inkjet cartridges, PDAs, Blackberries, digital cameras, iPods and MP3 players – without having to pay for postage.

Postage is taken care of by the Clover Technologies Group, an organization that "recycles, remanufactures and remarkets inkjet cartridges, laser cartridges and small electronics."

It sounds like the perfect marriage between a need and someone willing to pay for it: the Clover Group pays to have electronics sent their way, and they repackage them for profit. The Post Office just serves as the middle person.

According to the press release, this is just a pilot program set for 10 areas across the U.S., but "could become a national program this fall if the pilot program proves successful."

Let me tell you: make it easy for people to send their e-waste, and any program could be successful.

No word on whether Jackson County gets to be included in the pilot communities, but we'll let you know.

The space of travel.

Interesting to note how much space these people take up compared to the modes of transportation they choose.

It almost looks like the bus, which carries the same amount of people as all those cars, take us less space than the bikes.

Who wants to say public transportation is a waste now? Think about all the raw materials those cars eat up.

Trash times are changing

I would like to thank the Citizen Patriot for its public stance on the outrageous cost of trash disposal in our county. The incinerator cost is a stealth tax for the residents of this county and we have five years to learn to live without it.

Just like the infamous county proclamation that since people would not recycle in 1988 so they will not recycle now, our residents have proven that times have significantly changed. Our recycling rates now exceed 10 percent of the waste stream. People are interested in recycling and we need to capitalize on that for the benefit of all.

Concerning the program we have in place, Recycling Jackson is well on its way toward that comprehensive and cost-effective program. Working with local service providers, we have 20-plus drop-off locations in and around the county. The program accepts a more diverse array of plastics, any plastic marked #1 to #7, than neighboring counties. We have locations that accept Styrofoam, a material shunned by others for recycling. Thanks to the Jackson County Community Foundation we also have a very comprehensive electronics recycling program.

While we have a great program we do have a few steps left to take. We need more recycling opportunities for rural areas. We need to cooperatively work on educating folks about what can be recycled and need to deal with the midnight dumping that occurs at the recycling locations.

Thanks to a vote of confidence in the way of a grant from the JCCF-MACI Fund, this month we hired a community educator to address these items and many more. To assure long term success, we now need the support and cooperation of the city and county government to allow us to implement the last portions of our convenient, comprehensive and cost-effective program.

by Steve Noble, President

Apple recycles iPods and cell phones

Apple is making it easy - as easy as one, two, three, in fact - to recycle your used iPods and cellphones.

All it takes is a quick form to fill out, print the free mailing label, and cart it to your neighborhood post office. Simple, eh?

Says Apple:

Apple’s commitment to responsible environmental citizenship includes ensuring that an iPod is properly disposed of at the end of its useful life. The recycling program covers your iPod or any cell phone — regardless of the manufacturer or model. Apple’s recycling program makes it easy for you to help protect the environment.

This after much ballyhoo about Greenpeace's attacks on Apple's lack of green initiative. Take that, Greenpeace!

We're looking for a few good board members.

Recycling Jackson is looking for a few good men and women.

In fact, it seems like we're always searching for board members. New ones come and go, term limits boot others out - it's the usual story with a small non-profit organization.

Now we need at least two board members to help out our green cause. If you've always wanted to help make an environmental impact in Jackson, this is your chance.

Our board meets once a month, usually on the third Monday at 5:30. We have several committees, including site operations (for our Brown St. drop-off location), education and outreach (to get our word out in the schools and community), marketing (stuff like this blog, our quarterly newsletter, ads, and press releases), membership, and e-waste.

We're a working board, which means we do a lot of the heavy lifting for Recycling Jackson ourselves. For instance - as the marketing chair, I design the newsletter, update the web site, and send our press releases when we have something to say. We don't pay anyone to do that work for us - we do it all ourselves.

And hey, if you like getting your hands dirty, there's plenty to be done.

Our board is the perfect spot for environmentalists, home recyclers, waste management wonks, or anyone who gives a darn about the world and our place in it.

You can develop skills like community relations, networking, city and county political negotiations, and knowing the difference between cardboard and paperboard. Cool, huh?

For more information, or to ask us any questions, drop us an e-mail (recyclingjackson [at] yahoo [dot] com). There's no tests or quizes or gauntlet to run through. We just need passionate people who care about recycling.

Hope to hear from you.

- by Dave Lawrence, RJ VP

What a good neighbor

"About four years ago Mitzi Cranmore decided to start recycling to make her household green.

'After finding out how easy it was, I realized that one house does not make a difference,' Cranmore said.

She realized she could further the cause by educating students about recycling."

One of our very passionate helpers was in the paper - check out Mitzi's profile at the CitPat!

Aquafina is tap water, and therefore is nothing special.

That's what the Simple Dollar author says in a great rant on the evils of plastic-bottled water. The author says to think about the cost, the environmental impact, and the fact that it is plain ol' tap water.

Preach on!

How to: recycle glass

Recycling Jackson accepts glass bottles, as do most of the in-town drop-off sites.

Here are some guidelines, thanks to Better Homes and Gardens, and what to do and not do with your glass.

Do recycle

unbroken food and beverage containers, such as applesauce jars, ketchup bottles, wine and beer bottles.

Don't recycle

baking dishes, ceramics, windows, mirrors, and vases. They're made differently than containers and can contaminate. Donate household goods (like the baking dishes and vases).

Eventually, your recycled glass becomes food containers, tiles, landscaping and fish bowl pebbles, and road surfacing (kind of weird to think about, isn't it?).

Really, we just like the cool shattering sound when you toss a glass bottle in with the rest.

Whole Foods says 'BYOB'

Whole Foods won't say paper or plastic - they'll say bring your own.

That's thanks to their new "Bring your own bag" (or BYOB) program, outlined on their site here.

When you bring your own bag to any Whole Foods shopping location, they will give you a refund of 5 cents per bag. They also have their own canvass bags, as we've lauded before, available for the usual 99 cents.

But what about paper? Says Whole Foods:

We aren’t trying to settle the "paper vs. plastic" debate. We say "reuse!" instead. But when you don't reuse, we provide 100% recycled (and recyclable) paper bags.

Help keep sites clean.

Unfortunate news from the CitPat on Friday. C'mon, Jackson - we can do much better than this:

Trash dumped at recycling center upsets officials

Friday, January 25, 2008
By Kristin Longley

A white, 6-by-8-foot sign looms over the Summit Township recycling center: ``Free recycling depends on good sorting and preparation.''

Unfortunately, not everyone is getting the message.

Officials increasingly have noticed improper use of the recycling center, located at the township offices, 2121 Ferguson Road.

People are dropping off unaccepted materials or leaving their recyclables outside the labeled green bins, said township Trustee Gordon Heins.

Use of the center is free to anyone and open 24 hours a day.

``This could be closed down, and we don't want to do that,'' Heins said. ``It's a very popular site and only a few people are ruining it for the rest of us.''

In the past several weeks, wooden pallets, plastic foam, mechanical parts and unflattened cardboard have been found at the center. Once, officials found a plastic tub containing unidentified materials left near the bins, Heins said.

The overhead sign clearly lists the accepted materials, which include cans, glass, plastic bottles, newspaper, magazines and paper.

The recycling center opened in 2004. It was not expected to cost the township beyond building the concrete slab on which the bins sit. But the recent problems have cost both time and money.

Scattered papers and other trash prompted township leaders to add a three-sided wooden fence around the center for about $1,800, Heins said.

Still, local firefighters and township officials, including Heins, frequently have to tidy up the area, he said. Fire Chief Scot Harvey said firefighters often help clear away unaccepted materials.

``We don't mind picking up, but the biggest issue is it's getting worse,'' Harvey said. ``It's taking more and more time, and it looks bad.''

The city of Jackson's recycling center, 209 W. Louis Glick Highway, is experiencing similar problems, said SanDee Porter, public works assistant.

Pieces of furniture and other nonrecyclable items are packed between bins. Staff members visit the area two or three times per week to pick up garbage and broken glass, she said.

``A lot of people are abusing it,'' Porter said. ``Something needs to be done.''

Northwest Refuse in Blackman Township handles the recycling centers in Summit Township, Jackson and six other sites in Jackson County, said Bill Thomas, resource recovery coordinator. Sometimes, complaints arise from an overflow of recycling materials, he said.

The bins are emptied at least every Friday, and staff members check them when trucks are in the area. People can call Northwest Refuse if the bins are overflowing, Thomas said.

``For the most part it's a community effort,'' he said.

Heins said people who witness misuse of the Summit Township site are encouraged to contact the township office at 788-4113.

``We don't like garbage. We don't like trash,'' he said. ``This is a real privilege, and we want to be able to continue it.''

Bottled water: scourge of the Earth?

Salon.com ran a great question-and-answer piece, "Ask Palo," where a reader asked if bottled water was really that bad, environmentally.

Palo makes a statistical and moral case:

First, the manufacturing of plastic bottles, which are often made from nonrecycled virgin material, requires vast quantities of petroleum, and only 12 percent of this material is recovered for recycling. The total mass of an empty 1-liter bottle is around 25 grams (this varies from brand to brand) and it is made from PET (polyethylene terephthalate). One kilogram (1 kg = 2.2046 lbs.) of this type of plastic requires around 6.5 kilograms of oil, uses 294 kilograms of water (this includes power plant cooling water), and results in 3.7 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions. Based on my calculations, an empty 1-liter bottle requires over 7 liters of water in its manufacturing process, uses 162 grams of oil, and results in over 100 grams of greenhouse gas emissions. (That's about 10 balloons full of carbon dioxide, or how much an average car emits over half a kilometer or one-third of a mile.)

Next, the distribution of bottled water, often by container ship from the other side of the planet (Fiji, Evian, San Pellegrino), is fuel intensive and results in greenhouse gas and sulfur dioxide emissions. Transportation emissions are measured in grams of greenhouse gases (in carbon-dioxide-equivalent units) per metric ton per kilometer. Shipping by container ship emits about 17 grams of carbon dioxide per ton km, while trains release 56 grams per ton km, trucks spew 102 grams per ton km, and jet aircraft belch 570 grams per ton km. So the important factors in transportation emissions are weight, distance and transportation mode. Since we can't alter the weight of bottled water and companies will automatically select the most efficient and cost-effective means of transport, we are left to control the distance component through our consumer choices.

...When compared with the price of tap water, bottled water costs up to 50,000 percent more (and many brands get their water from municipal water supplies).

Bottled water also represents a major ethical dilemma, given that millions of people around the world lack access to clean and safe drinking water. Currently, over one-sixth of the world's population, or about 1 billion people, routinely lack access to safe and clean drinking water. Just 20 percent of our annual $75 billion expenditure on bottled water could provide for the drinking water needs of less fortunate people around the world. If we assume that one well is needed to meet the minimum needs of about 100 people, and if we assume an average cost per well of $1,500, we would need to spend $15 billion globally. According to these assumptions, we collectively spend five times more on bottled water each year than it would cost to eradicate the 1.8 million deaths of children due to waterborne illness each year.

So think about that next time you reach for an Aquafina: some kids don't have access to clean water out of a bucket, let alone a plastic bottle.

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

Make my bag canvas.

The world is starting to hate plastic grocery and shopping bags - and for good reason. The things are slowly but surely taking over the earth.

Much buzz has sounded over the giant, Australian-sized plastic heap in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It's a giant Atlantis of rubber ducks and plastic bags.

But just last week I noticed my favorite grocery store, Meijer (who is already doing pretty well environmentally), has provided canvas-style shopping bags for purchase. The price? Ninety-nine cents. The style? A snazzy royal blue and green.

I snatched three of them up, figuring that my $3 would help ease my conscience over using so many plastic bags over the years. That, and they make a pretty profound statement: in the checkout, there were a few shoppers who took notice of my new take-homes.

Meijer isn't alone. Local grocer Polly's Country Market, with locations from Chelsea to Adrian and everywhere in between, provides the sturdy shopping bags too, and also for 99 cents. It's a trend that includes the famous "I am not a plastic bag" bags from our friends in the East. People are eating them up.

This is a trend that we at Recycling Jackson couldn't be happier about. Just this weekend, while working at the site, I noticed people bringing their plastic recyclables wrapped in - what else? - plastic grocery bags. They don't take up as much room as, say, your Tide detergeant bottle. But add them all up together in one bundle, and you're talking about a big petroleum-based monster.

So do us all a favor: spend 99 cents a week and stock up on reusable bags. Just remember to bring them in each time you shop, and spread the word.

- by Dave Lawrence, RJ VP

How to recycle your Christmas tree.

Still have your needle-shedding Christmas tree?

The Daily Green gives some direction on how to properly take care of your tree. They point to an Earth911.org site that give tips on what to do and where to go.

Says Teresa Hall, "just because these trees are green doesn’t mean that they are always friendly to the environment."

Over at Treehugger, they held an informal poll on whether environmentalists go natural or use plastic trees, plus they give some advice on how to make your Christmas tree as earth-friendly as possible.