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?