Go Green with your Waste Stream!
Reduce, re-use, recycle & compost for a better future.
Jan. 2010 Green Tip: Go Green with your E-Waste
Did you know? Electronic waste is the fastest growing waste stream (only 12% gets recycled) and the biggest source of toxic heavy metals in our landfills. “Scientists are finding higher and higher levels of flame retardants used in electronics and other products in the bodies of Americans and in fish in our lakes and bays - and even in polar bears. … E-waste should not be buried with municipal garbage.” (Source: Texas Campaign for the Environment website, 2009).
What you can do:
1. Vote with your dollars! Buy electronics from retailers or manufacturers who take back and recycle their non-working products. For the latest information, visit texastakeback.org If you are buying a new TV, buy from manufacturers who will take back & recycle their Tvs (most do not), visit takebackmytv.com
2. Visit texastakeback.org to find a drop-off location for your electronics. Here are some of the responsible recycling options on that website:
* Central Texas Goodwill accepts all working TVs, as well as non-working Panasonic, Sharp and Toshiba televisions.
* Central Texas Goodwill recycles any brand of non-working computers and parts. For a full list of the manufacturer's computer recycling programs, visit www.texasrecyclescomputers.org.
* All Best Buy stores recycle most electronics.
* Costco's e-waste recycling program offers Costco cash cards in exchange for electronics that you ship (at no cost to you) to their partner, Gazelle. Visit Costco's home page and click the "recycle" button to print free shipping labels. They accept over 20 categories of electronics.
3. Educate and Advocate! To learn more about the e-waste issue in Texas (from a public-interest perspective), visit: texasenvironment.org/ewaste.cfm
Oct. 2009 Green Tip – Compost your Pumpkins at school Nov. 2-4
Did you know? “If you compost or green-cycle your jack-o'-lantern this year, you'll keep 10 to 20 pounds of waste out of the landfill. And even though pumpkins are biodegradable, almost nothing that's biodegradable breaks down under the dry and oxygen-deprived conditions of a landfill.
“If just 10 percent of all pumpkins sold this year were composted instead of being thrown out with the garbage, 100 million pounds of waste could be kept from the nation's landfills annually. The effect of this level of waste reduction would be as though nearly 42,000 U.S. households stopped producing garbage altogether.”*
What you can do: Don’t wait for your pumpkin to rot on your porch! Carve it as close to Halloween as you can, then bring it to school anytime Monday through Wednesday to the collection bin in front of the school, conveniently located at the north side of the circle drive!
If you want to see a compost demonstration involving our pumpkins, join Master Composter Tim Mateer by the school compost bins on Sat. November 7 at 10 a.m.
*www.blueegg.com/answer/Compost-Your-Jack-O-Lantern.html
“We hear a lot about climate change, and what we can do and should do, and stuff that's happening in Congress. But people want to know what they can practically do every single day, and composting your food scraps is probably the single most effective thing that you can do as a citizen in the United States today.”
--JARED BLUMENFELD (Environmental Officer for the City of San Francisco, where city trucks pick up food scraps for composting, just like they pick up recycling!)
Sept. 2009 Green Tip: Go Green with classroom parties!
Did you know: Each year, Americans toss out enough paper and plastic cups, forks, and spoons to circle the equator 300 times if you laid them end-to-end. Plus, dishwashing takes less water than producing new disposable plates.
But on the dishwashing end of things, we are in a drought! Also, many of us have limited resources in this economy for things like disposables. That begs the question: what sort of dishware should we use for our classroom parties at a time like this?
What you can do:
1. For families who want to contribute to classroom parties but have limited resources, check out our PTA “party pack.” It is a set of 30 re-usable cups, plates and bowls that you take home to wash and return to school the next day. Remember that typically less water is used to wash a full load in a dishwasher (15 gallons) than washing dishes at the sink (5 gallons per minute). To reserve the party pack, visit the Go Green page at brykerwoodspta.org
2. When buying disposables, look for 100% recycled dishware OR, if you are willing to tear up and toss them into our school compost bins, buy dishware that’s labeled “compostable.” Avoid "biodegradable" dishware, as it may contain toxins and should NOT go into home or school compost piles.
While we are on the topic, think about other ways we can be less-wasteful at school: by using no more than 2 paper towels at the sink, by bringing your own mug to Monday morning coffee, and by packing a litter-free lunch! Bring your ideas for cutting waste to the Go Green committee.
Sources: http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-27-umbra-dishwashers-vs-handwash/
http://www.idealbite.com/mobile/tiplibrary/archives/fashion-plates-resolutions-week
http://www.idealbite.com/tiplibrary/archives/starch-your-engines
Sept. 2009 Green Tip: Trim Your Trash
Did you know? The collection, disposal and storage of garbage are a major contributor to climate change. It is estimated that “significantly decreasing waste disposed in landfills and incinerators will reduce greenhouse gas emissions the equivalent to closing 21% of U.S. coal-fired power plants. This is comparable to leading climate protection proposals such as improving national vehicle fuel efficiency." (StopTrashingtheClimate.org) Yard trimmings and food residuals together constitute a quarter of a U.S. city's garbage and packaging materials make up nearly a third of an American consumer's waste.
What you can do: When it comes to the waste we produce, we save money and the planet by reducing, reusing and recycling and composting! Support the City of Austin in its goal to reduce our waste 90% by 2040. It can be done!
* A fun and EASY way to inspire the whole family to change the way we think of STUFF is by watching the short animation at StoryofStuff.com
* Small steps add up to a big difference, but building them into your routine takes effort (such is my experience with reusable shopping bags!) Check the Go GREEN page at brykerwoodspta.org for ideas from last year's newsletter on reducing waste, such as opting out of junk mail, packing litter free lunches, buying in bulk, breaking the bottled water habit and shopping for less packaging. Go to austinrecycles.com to learn even MORE about what can be recycled and where.
* One of the biggest impacts on our waste stream comes from composting at home. If you have a yard and would consider composting, join us at a monthly compost demonstration or host your own demonstration with the help of Master Composter Tim Mateer (457-8515). If you want to compost in your apartment, worm composting is a great, odor-free, way to do that.
Green Tip: Green Your Local Economy
Did you know:For every $100 in customer spending at a national chain, the total local economic impact is only $13. The same amount spent with a local merchant yields $45, more than three times the local economic impact. Local retailers spend more of their revenue to pay Austinites to run their businesses, and spend/invest more of their profits in Austin’s economy.
What you can do this holiday season:
1. Start an online “alternative gift registry” for yourself and your children, to offer family members who want gift ideas. For instance, you could suggest a donation to your favorite charity in your name, a cooking class, a sweater you saw at a local store. Create free registries at alternativegiftregistry.org
2. Consider buying (or making!) gifts that have have less packaging* AND help our local economy. Some ideas:
· Shop at locally-owned stores, especially ones that support our school and advertise in our directory. Search the directory at ibuyaustin.com to find out who’s local.
· Purchases from our Scholastic Book Fair (Dec. 1-5) not only fund HALF the budget for our school library, they also support an environmentally responsible publisher.**
· Shop for original gifts made by local artists and craftspeople at fairs:
--Blue Genie Arts Bazaar (Dec. 3-24)
--Wheatsville Arts Festival (Dec. 5-6)
-- new! Etsy Austin’s Craft Riot (Dec. 5-6)
--Cherrywood Arts Festival (Dec. 12-13)
· Shop Local ONLINE
-- If you are used to downloading music from iTunes or giving iTunes gift cards for music, you can now support our local Waterloo Records by shopping their digital music store at www.waterloorecords.com
-- Etsy.com is an online marketplace for independent artists/craftspeople. Just type TeamEtsyAustin in the search field to “localize” your search for everything from jewelry to candy to housewares to “geekery.”
* Americans throw away 25% more trash during the Thanksgiving to New Year's holiday period than any other time of year.
**"Scholastic's green publishing policy is truly industry-leading and will do much to continue advancing positive transformations in the book sector," --Tyson Miller, Director, Green Press Initiative.
(Dec. 2008)
Green Tip: Yard Care for Clean Air
Did you know? Leaf blowers can generate as much tailpipe emissions from theirengines (two-stroke) in one hour as a newer automobile does in driving over 350 miles. A 2001 Swedish study concluded, “Air pollution from cutting grass for an hour with a gasoline powered lawn mower is about the same as that from a 100-mile automobile ride.” Meanwhile, the 54 million Americans mowing their lawns each weekend with gas-powered mowers may be contributing as much as five percent of the nation’s air pollution, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). While a car will emit that pollution over a long stretch of road, the lawn equipment may concentrate it all in one neighborhood.
What you can do:
· * Let your lawn grow tall before mowing. Consider using a people-powered or electric-powered lawn mower. The CLEAN AIR Force operates an incentive program to encourage citizens to trade gas-powered lawnmowers for new electric models. Contact the CLEAN AIR Force at 512-343-SMOG for details on upcoming trade-in events.
· * Retire your leaf blower and ask your or your neighbor’s older kids to rake your lawn. (Kids are often looking for ways to make money, and this chore has the added bonus of a workout!)
· * Consider replacing all or part of your lawn with xeriscaping or a vegetable garden.
· * If you hire professional lawn care service, patronize one that keeps your air cleaner, such as BioGardener.
Recycle Food Waste
Did you know? Yard trimmings and food residuals together constitute 24 percent of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream. That's a lot of waste to send to landfills when it could become useful compost instead! All around the country, landfills are filling up, garbage incineration is becoming increasingly unpopular, and other waste disposal options are becoming ever harder to find. According to Jonathan Bloom at wastedfood.com, the food rotting in landfills creates millions of tons of methane gas, which scientists say is 20 times as harmful to our atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Landfills are the largest human-related source of methane.
What you can do: Start a compost pile or a worm bin to transform your fruit and veggie scraps into something useful for your plants and lawn. By addressing the solid waste issue, composting provides a way of instilling in children a sense of environmental stewardship. With composting, children can do more than just sending cans or newspapers off for recycling -- they can see the entire cycle, from "yucky" food scraps or other organic wastes... to something that is pleasant to handle and is good for the soil. Contrary to the "out of sight, out of mind" philosophy, children who compost become aware of organic wastes as potential resources rather than just as something "gross" to be thrown away and forgotten. They learn through direct experience that they personally can make a difference and have a positive effect on the environment.
Reduce Junk Mail
Did you know: Junk mail is more than an annoyance. More than 100 million trees of bulk mail arrive in American mail boxes each year – that’s the equivalent of deforesting the entire Rocky Mountain National Park every four months. In 2005, 5.8 million tons of catalogs and other direct mailings ended up in the U.S. municipal solid waste stream – enough to fill over 450,000 garbage trucks. Less than 36% of this ad mail was recycled. The production and disposal of direct mail consumes more energy than 3 million cars.
What you can do: Opt out of receiving junk mail! Several websites make it easy for you. The most well known is the FREE service ProQuo. www.proquo.com
Or you could pay $41 for someone else to do the work for you and help fund a paperless campaign at www.newdream.org/junkmail/
If you want to opt out of receiving phone books, visit www.paperlesspetition.org
If you still want to get one phone book, not 10 at a time. Call the individual titles directly. Tell them how many books you want a year and to stop unloading duplicates on your front porch. Yellow Book: 1-800-YB-YELLOW, and SBC Global/ATT: 1-800-792-2665
Recycling Paper to help BW & the environment
Did you know? More than 40% of garbage that Americans dump annually is paper. High-grade printing, copying and writing paper is the largest single component in a landfill. Fortunately, in Austin and at Bryker Woods Elementary, recycling just keeps getting easier! It also earns money for our school. The 6th grade students are responsible for emptying recycling bins from every classroom once a week. Our paper recycling goes to the Abitibi bin by the staff parking lot (south side of school). We also earn cash from ink jet cartridges and cell phones dropped off in the recycling bin in the front hallway. At schoolwide events, such as the picnic, parent volunteers recycle cans and plastic bottles. Our school will also be adding small recycle bins for cans and bottles in each classroom.
What you can do: You too can place all your newspapers, junk mail, magazines, etc (paper only) in the Abitibi bin by the staff parking lot. That effort helps us meet Abitibi goals during the year to earn larger bonuses - $400 last spring! Drop off used in jet cartridges and cell phones in the bin in the front hallway. And if recycling cans and bottles is your passion, please email Sally Brackett at sallydb@grandecom.net for volunteer opportunities.
Go Green with your holiday gifts!
Did you know? Americans throw away 25% more trash during the Thanksgiving to New Year's holiday period than any other time of year. The extra waste amounts to 25 million tons of garbage, or about 1 million extra tons per week.
What you can do:
1. Consider buying or making gifts that have less packaging and that reflect your own "green" values. Some ideas:
Books purchased from our Scholastic Book Fair not only support our school library but also support an environmentally responsible publisher.*
Original gifts made by local artists and craftsmen at art fairs, like Blue Genie Arts Bazaar, Cherrywood Arts Festival, Wheatsville Arts Festival, and the website Etsy.com. And a great new store carries locally made gifts that promote conscientious consumption and recycling is Greater Austin Garbage Art (GAGA) at 2214 South 1st Street. Open Tues-Sun, 12-6. 373-4242. (GAGA is a sponsor for our Spring Clothing Swap-O-Rama Rama! and vendor for our after-school Reduce Re-Use, Recycle! Craft Class.)
Gift cards for local services, stores, and restaurants, especially ones who support Bryker Woods and can be found in the directory;
Donations to charities in honor of that person;
Experiential gifts, such as an art class, a horseback riding lesson, a trip to the rock climbing gym!
2. Consider your wrapping materials. Some ideas:
Use cards and wrapping paper made from recycled paper;
Re-use old holiday cards by turning them into gift tags and wrapping decorations;
Recycle used gift wrap. Gift wrap is recyclable, unless it's laminated, metallic, or has a bunch of tape stuck to it. As for packaging remember, the City now accepts cardboard and paperboard, and any plastics #1-#7 in its Single Stream Recycling cans.
*"Scholastic's green publishing policy is truly industry-leading and will do much to continue advancing positive transformations in the book sector," --Tyson Miller, Director, Green Press Initiative.
Break the Bottled Water Habit
Did you know? Everything we consume has a climate impact, but manufacturing and trucking water bottles to homes with clean tap water seems particularly wasteful. Making bottles to meet Americans’ demand for bottled water requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel some 100,000 cars for a year. (NY Times) To put it another way, the entire energy costs of the lifecycle of a bottle of water is equivalent, on average, to filling up a quarter of each bottle with oil. (Pacific Institute)
Trucking around all those heavy bottles emits even more greenhouse gases. Beyond the climate impact there’s the massive waste – 86% of water bottles aren’t recycled -- and water bottling is also, ironically, a very water-intensive endeavor. The Pacific Institute tells us that it takes three liters of water to produce one liter of bottled water!
And despite the fact that it costs up to 5,000 times more than tap water, bottled water standards continue to be less than tap water.
What you can do: Break the bottled water habit! Bring a reusable water bottle to the Fall Carnival this Saturday and get FREE filtered water, courtesy of Greater Texas Water Company!
Remember to take reusable water bottles from home wherever you go. Most affordable are plastic sports bottles – No. 2 and No. 5 considered by one plastics expert to be among the safest plastics.* Both are used for margarine tubs and yogurt containers, for example. Prices increase when you consider high-grade stainless steel bottles (such as Klean Kanteen), recyclable aluminum bottles with a non-toxic inner liner (such as SIGG) and bottles with built-in filter (such as the Wellness H2.O Water Bottle). Like taking reusable shopping bags into a store, it’s a habit that will take time but is worth the effort.
* from “The (Possible) Perils of Being Thirsty While Being Green” NYTimes 1/5/08
Pack Waste-Free Lunches: Tip #1
Did you know? It is estimated that a school-age child using a disposable lunch generates 67 pounds of waste per school year, on average. That equates to 9.3 tons of lunch waste for just one average-size elementary school. And as for us takeout fans, we generate an estimated 1.8 million tons of garbage each year in takeout bags and containers.
What you can do: On days when you or your child packs a lunch, make it a litter-free lunch! It is another way children learn to care for the planet through Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle! Besides, it’s just… well,… nicer to eat from a container than from a baggie. with real silverware instead of a spork, and with a cloth napkin instead of a paper one that often gets tossed without ever being used! As for takeout food, try making time to dine-in or pack your own litter-free lunch. If your takeout containers are not recyclable or compostable, ask your server “why not?”
Pack Waste-Free Lunches: Tip #2
Did you know? Packaging materials make up more than 30 percent of all consumer waste in the US, according to the EPA, and up to one out of every $11 you spend at the store pays for packaging.
What you can do: Buying in bulk is one way to reduce the amount of packaging you consume, and is both lighter on the landfill and your wallet. And if you buy 15% of groceries in bulk you can save 1,355 lbs. of carbon a year that otherwise would be spent creating, transporting and disposing of excess packaging. A litter-free lunch is a great place to start because the extra time you take to pack a lunch yields a healthier lunch. By saying “no” to pre-packaged, processed foods, you are more likely to pack the GO foods and SLOW foods such as fresh fruit and veggies, baked chips, whole-grain bread and nuts. Our kids are already learning about these through the CATCH program at school, so now is a great time to reinforce those healthy food choices. If you buy individually-packaged baby carrots, yogurt, string cheese, or applesauce, consider buying these in bulk and investing in some leak-proof containers. You will earn the money back in no time with the savings from buying in bulk. (Have I mentioned the savings from NOT buying throwaway plastic baggies? Don’t get me started! I love it!)