Apple's New Recycling Program is OK, But Its Clean Energy Program Deserves Headlines

Solar panels at an Apple data center in NC

Other than giving the world a better gadget, Apple icon Steve Jobs never had much interest in improving conditions for humans or our habitat. But this week, Apple is finally rolling out an Apple product recycling program. The question is, will it do much good that isn't being done already?

I was getting rid of an iPod Touch last year and found there are already plenty of trade-in and buyback programs through places like Amazon and Best Buy, and I got significantly more than either of those offered by wiping the data and selling it myself on Craigslist. It's good Apple is giving folks another option, but I'm assuming Apple plans to refurbish & resell what they're taking back from customers at a tidy profit.

Apple deserves much more credit for what it's doing on clean energy. A recent Greenpeace report gave Apple the top score on powering the internet with clean energy, edging out Amazon and Facebook. Meanwhile, Amazon and Twitter flunked for their heavy reliance on dirty coal and fracked natural gas.

Recycling Saves Money. Recycling More Saves More Money.

Here in Fairhaven, the town has to pay a company to collect trash and recycling. But while the town then has to pay $50 a ton to get rid of the trash, the company takes care of the recycling for free.

So what's the problem? Only 14% of the town recycles and many households still use those iconic, tiny blue bins. As Ariel Wittenberg reports, now Fairhaven is looking to invest in bigger recycling bins to encourage bigger savings:

Department of Public Works Superintendent Vincent Furtado said that his office recently came to an agreement with ABC Disposal to start using larger trash and recycling carts, much like those now being used in New Bedford.

Residents will be able to throw any recyclables, be they paper, plastic or something else, into the carts, which hold 96 gallons. The recycling carts are a third bigger than the 64-gallon trash carts, something Furtado said is meant to encourage more recycling in town.

"We will only pick up what fits in those containers," Furtado said. "The hope is that will make people think about what they put in each of them." [...]

"What's the difference between throwing a milk carton in one container or the other? Well, in one it costs the town money and in the other it won't," he said. "When the town saves money, the taxpayers save money."

Yes, recycling conserves precious resources like wood, metal, oil (plastic is made from petroleum), energy and water. Yes, recycling conserves space in our increasingly-crowded (and sometimes dangerous) landfills.

But even if you're some selfish jerk who doesn't care about any of that, recycle because it saves you money.

Ask The Green Miles: Mattress Disposal

Here's a question that cuts to the core of me, Baxter:

Do you have any ideas on mattress disposal?

You see, I recently bought a new mattress when I didn't really need to ... and trying to get rid of the old one made me wish I'd held onto it a little longer.

Goodwill & similar organizations won't accept used bedding for fear of bedbugs. Putting it on Craigslist only got me emails from scammers. I spent a week looking for a way to keep it out of the incinerator with no luck.

"There are some awesome mattress recycling facilities ... but unfortunately not in this area," says Allison Lohrenz, the solid waste programs coordinator here in Falls Church. "Cross your fingers that one will be here soon!"

Right now, mattress recycling is limited to local efforts & special events (and special events aren't so great for people who live in apartments & don't have a basement to stick their old mattress in until the next recycling event comes around). Grist's Ask Umbra points to some hope for mattresses in Massachusetts:

Massachusetts is home to one of the nation’s few mattress recyclers, and another outfit is venturing into New England soon. It’s amazing what happens to your mattress: the wood is chipped for energy, the steel springs recycled, the cotton and foam used for insulation or other textile needs.

You should email your local elected officials & recycling coordinator and ask them to support bringing a mattress recycling program to your area ... but in the short term, your mattress is most likely heading for the landfill or an incinerator.

Got a cool mattress recycling program in your area (or an alternate idea for what to do with your old mattress)? Let us know in the comments section.

One Small Recycling Event Keeps 30,632 Pounds of Electronics Out of Landfills

I was really impressed by Saturday's Fall Recycling Extravaganza here in Falls Church. There were plenty of staff, the event was well-organized, there was no line, and in no time I'd dropped off about 50 pounds of old electronics (most of that a computer & its monitor).

How much electronic equipment, potentially laden with hazardous material, was kept out of the landfill? Here's a tally from Barbara Gordon, Falls Church director of communications:

A total of 30,632 pounds or 15.3 tons of electronics and computer equipment were collected at the City of Falls Church’s fall Recycling Extravaganza on Sept. 10. Total weight of items collected and therefore kept out of the waste stream and the land fill were:

• 19,472 pounds of electronics
• 136 TVs, estimated at 6,120 pounds
• 144 computer monitors, estimated at 5,040 pounds
• Combined total 11,160 pounds of cathode ray tubes

And that's just in a Little City of 12,332. If your community isn't holding a similar event, it's not because there isn't demand.

Fall's Local Recycling Events Start This Weekend

Got an old computer you want to dispose of safely? Eyeglasses with an outdated prescription? Communities in our region are holding their fall recycling events, collecting a lot more than what they pick up curbside:

• Arlington: E-CARE, Saturday October 15th, 8:30am-3pm, Thomas Jefferson Middle School, 125 S. Old Glebe Rd.
• DC: Holds Household Hazardous Waste/E-cycling/Document Shredding events on the first Saturday of the month (except holidays), 8am-3pm, Ft. Totten Transfer Station, 4900 John F. McCormack Road NE
• Fairfax: Household Hazardous Waste Event, Saturday September 10th, 9am-2pm, McLean Governmental Center1437 Balls Hill Road, McLean, VA
• Falls Church: Semi-Annual Recycling Extravaganza, Saturday September 10th, 9am-2pm, Falls Church Recycling Center, 217 Gordon Road

You can Google to find out if your community offers electronics recycling events, or see more options at the Environmental Protection Agency's eCycling.

Green Milestone: In-Room Hotel Recycling

The Green Miles has spent years keeping an eye on green hotels as I've traveled, mostly chronicling disappointment. But for once, I'm happy to report progress!

The first in-room recycling bin I've seen, courtesy of Seattle's Hotel Max:

My only suggestion would be to make the recycling side of the bin blue to differentiate it from the trash side, would let guests know this isn't an ordinary waste bin.

Best Way To Make Positive Change: Ask.

Having grown up in Boston, one of my favorite shows is NPR's Car Talk. Nothing gets Tom & Ray madder than when people call with a critical problem that they've been driving around with for six months. "You've waited six months - and even then you don't take it to a mechanic, you call us? You're lucky you're not lying in a ditch somewhere after your wheel flew off!"

I have a similar issue when people relate their green problems to me. The first thing I say when people tell me about their problems is, "Have you asked your landlord/boss/whoever to address it?" Invariably, they haven't. (Also, I keep trying to get people to write their problems on the back of a $20 bill and send them to The Green Miles Plaza with no luck.)

Roosevelt Towers, my new apartment building in East Falls Church, had a trash bin but not a recycling bin in the mail room. Every day the trash bin would be overflowing with junk mail. So I emailed the leasing office to see if they'd consider adding a recycling bin, a small step that would keep hundreds of pounds of paper out of the landfill every month.

Roosevelt Towers wrote back right away:

Great suggestion. One has been placed in mailroom as of today.

And here it is:

From the apartment building's point of view, if a $2 plastic bin makes me that much more likely to keep paying five figures annually to live here, it's a slam dunk. I suspect that little blue basket won't be able to handle the days those big, annoying Washington Post advertising circulars hit our mailboxes. But partial solutions tend to lead to full solutions - if the recycling bin is overflowing, they'll replace it with a bigger one.

The best, most effective way to address environmental issues is through personal action. In the big picture, government intervention often becomes necessary, but it should be the last resort. Your landlord wants you to be happy with where you live. Your boss wants you to be happy with where you work. Your hotel wants you to come back & stay there again. If you don't think they're operating as sustainably as they could, ask nicely if they've considered changing. You might be pleasantly surprised at the results.

Falls Church Tops in Virginia Recycling Rates

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has issued its annual recycling report (PDF). Virginia had a 38.6% recycling rate statewide in calendar year 2009, just barely higher than the year before. But as the Roanoke Times points out, it marked a milestone as every jurisdiction in Virginia met its minimum "required" goal of 15% (considering the DEQ has never fined a locality for failing to meet the minimum, it's not much of a requirement).

Elsewhere locally, Fairfax City also ranked highly with a 49.9% recycling rate. Arlington came in at 40%, barely topping the state average. The Virginia General Assembly, aligning itself with waste haulers, has repeatedly blocked Arlington's efforts to toughen its recycling programs. Fairfax County was just behind with 39.4%, while Alexandria badly trails the state average at just 28.6%.

And if all that wasn't enough to get you excited about recycling, check out this Environmental Protection Agency video:

Recycling vs. Trash: Time to Swap Sizes?

Five years ago, I had a standard-sized garbage bin in my kitchen and put recycling in paper grocery bags.

Two years ago, I switched to a smaller garbage bin and not only needed more recycling space, my old system didn't work because I've gone exclusively to reusable grocery bags. So I started using a big clear plastic bin for recycling bottles & cans (and just clap your hands) and used a reusable bag to collect the paper.

Today, my new apartment building does single-stream recycling, so I just use one bin for containers, paper & cardboard. My problem is that I now recycle or compost much more waste than I send to the landfill. I end up having to take out the recycling a couple of times a week, while my trash only needs to get taken out every few weeks. The composting helps get rid of most of what could be unpleasant after a few weeks, but long-term, it's not the optimal set-up.

Maybe it's time to use the bigger bin for recycling & the smaller bin for landfill?

The Most Common Recycling Center Fail

Whenever I go to a recycling center, be it municipal or in an apartment complex, I always see all kinds of odd items that don't belong there. Yesterday, sitting on top of the container bin was an old messenger bag. Does that count as a bottle or a can?

But the most common recycling center fail that I see comes when people drop off their empty bottles and cans in brand-new trash bags.

There's the obvious monetary cost of buying the new trash bags. And from an environmental perspective, putting your recycling in new trash bags wipes out a lot of the benefit of recycling in the first place.

Most garbage bags are made from new (not recycled) plastic. (The biggest trash bag manufacturers, Glad and Hefty, have barely dipped their toes in the water of making bags from recycled material.) Then the bags just get torn open and trashed at the recycling center.

If you visit a recycling center, take your recyclables there in a reusable bin or bag. It'll save you money in the long run and the planet (and your recycling center) will thank you for it.

Make Sure to Rinse Out the Fake Blood First

From The Green Girfriend:

In the season premiere of HBO's True Blood, Bill has a new vampire that is staying with him and he tells her his rules for his house which include recycling. The pic below is a screencap of the show where he explains that bottles of "true blood" go in the blue bin and paper goes in the white bin. Woohoo!

Cinco de Mayo Green Dilemma: The Lime in Your Beer Bottle

Grist's "Ask Umbra" says don't sweat the citrus ...

A Nice Touch at the Polls from Arlington Democrats

UPDATE: Here's my review of the overall experience at Arlington Central Library this morning.

The Green Miles is volunteering for Arlington Democrats today, greeting voters at Arlington Central Library! I'm stationed at the front door of the still-closed library making sure voters find their way to the hour-long line snaking around from the library's back door. Most people seem to know the drill, but seem to appreciate having a friendly face to reassure them they're heading the right way.

In any case, it gave me an excuse to bust out the laptop and get this picture up:

Will recycling sample ballots save the planet? Of course not. But it shows they're thinking about the little things. And The Green Miles subscribes to a variation on the broken windows theory when it comes to environmentalism -- if you're not sweating the small stuff, it makes me wonder if you're getting the big stuff. Good to see Arlington Democrats paying attention to this detail.

From Trashable to Recyclable in 60 Seconds

Sometimes it only takes a few seconds to keep an item (or most of it) out of a landfill.

Just as I was about to toss an old dry erase board in the trash, I realized its core was cardboard, so I thought I'd see if I could salvage the recyclable part. Sure enough, it was easy to pry off the plastic frame and the plastic front wasn't even glued on.

Three cardboard pieces that made up the backing -- 95 percent of the weight of the board -- ready for the recycling bin ...

Ask The Green Miles: Computer Recycling

Here's a question for Ask The Green Miles:

Hi Green Miles... so what do I do with my old iMac computer once I get the data off of it?? I have no idea!!
Help me.

Sincerely,
It's Not Easy Being Green

Good question, bad pseudonym. It is easy to be green. The people who made your computer say so right on their website.

Apple offers free recycling of old computers. All you have to do is register on their website and take your packaged computer to the nearest FedEx location. Most other computer manufacturers will help you recycle your computer as well.

You can also donate your computer to the National Cristina Foundation. It will then match your donation to charities, schools and public agencies.

In case neither of those options work for you, the National Recycling Coalition can help connect you with your local government's recycling program. In DC, DPW offers a free, weekly Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) and electronic recycling (e-cycling) drop-off service at the Benning Road Trash Transfer Station, 3200 Benning Road, NE, each Saturday from 8am to 3pm. The weekly dropoffs started recently after the bi-annual e-cycling event turned into an epic fail.

Why do you need to recycle your computer and other household electronics? A study by the New Jersey Institute of Technology found consumer electronics account for only 1 percent of the total content of landfills by volume, but contribute up to 70 percent of their toxic content. Inform has more details. Grist's Ask Umbra is also a great resource for this and other issues.

Got an environmental question? Ask The Green Miles!

It's Not Illegal Dumping If It's At The Recycling Center, Right?

I've seen piles of non-recyclables left next to the trash at the recycling center, but this takes the cake. Someone left what looks to be most of a home or office at the recycling center on N. Quincy between Wilson and Glebe: It wouldn't be nearly so comical if it wasn't so carefully constructed. I can almost picture the late great Johnnie Cochran making his Chewbacca Defense-style closing argument now:

Note that the items on the right are meticulously leaned up against the trash can -- because as everyone knows, it's not illegal dumping if it's in contact with the trash can. That giant chair is no different than the gum wrapper at the bottom of the can!

And then since everything else is in physical contact with the first items in a chain, everything counts as trash! Clearly not illegal dumping! Am I right, people? Who's with me? Here, look at the monkey. Look at the silly monkey!

To learn more about proper recycling, visit the site of Arlington County's recycling programs.

One Worker's Battle to Turn Borders Green

Got this comment in response to my complaints about Seattle's Best Coffee's reusable mug aversion and thought it deserved its own post:

I work in Rockford, IL at Borders. I was originally a cashier, and about eight months ago I transferred to the cafe. We serve Seattle's Best Coffee and constantly promote the use of our ceramic mugs. Common regulars always use them, but it is difficult persuading new customers. I've noticed that when we remind them mugs keep the coffee much warmer people are more willing to use them. There's also a trend factor involved. If several people are using mugs, several more will inquire about them.

Our entire store (cafe AND bookstore) only recycles cardboard. It's really a sad, sad thing. We have bins for paper, and when I asked about the recycling I was told "we just don't do that." Keep in mind that this is not a matter of personal choice, I'm sure our employees would be willing to jump on the green bandwagon.

We do offer a whole ten cent discount if you bring a travel mug in, and never advertise it. I worked for several months before I even heard of the offer. I know the discount is better than nothing at all, yet cannot shake the fact that the sales tax on a cup of coffee is slightly double that! A ten cent discount is hardly effective and therefore motivates no one.

I can speak on behalf of the cafe and the eight baristas. We are attempting to become a green cafe and have taken matters into our own hands, mine particularly. No one knows how to organize a recycling program, and we're also clueless as to how we can make this an easy task.

As of right now, we've attempted to do this for one week and even the baristas who opposed it are caving in and helping. The downfall of all this is that I, alone, am trying to coordinate a way to transport all this material. I've spent the last three hours (which is how I came about this site) trying to find ONE drop-off recycling center that is open during the week. I've found two possible options, but still must contact them.

I've become more frustrated with each minute - not so much at the fact that a city of 150,000 won't mandate recycling - or that a simple option of printing a receipt on our registers would save the majority of our paper waste - or that the websites I've come across are vague.

I should have a defeated attitude, but I'm stubbornly motivated to succeed. I feel as though I have one option and that is to make a fuss over this. I think that's the only way anything is going to come about and hopefully I won't lose my job in the process.

It's hard being the first to do anything. Even The Green Miles has found something as simple as switching to reusables to be often demoralizing.

But your reward is knowing that you've blazed a trail. In fact, a study just this week showed your role modeling of positive behavior can have a ripple effect through your social network and beyond.

Keep fighting the good fight!

Demand Overwhelms Local Recycling Events

I never got within three blocks of Arlington E-CARE.

Traffic was backed up down 2nd Street South, out to Glebe Road, and all the way up to the north side of Route 50. It took me 10 minutes just to turn around and get out of the backup.

So I wasn't surprised to see the Environmental Collection and Recycling event was a record-breaker. And as it turns out, DC had an even more overwhelming demand:

The District's spring Household Hazardous Waste and E-Cycling collection turned 16th Street NW into a parking lot most of yesterday. Cars were idling for hours as people waited to drop off paint, solvents, batteries and old electronic goods at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre parking lot.

Some people eventually ditched their cars and carried cans of paint, gasoline, even TVs, walking for blocks to the site, part of Rock Creek Park, where they still faced long waits. One put a 26-inch television into a baby stroller and wheeled it in. And some just gave up.

The inconvenient truth: The D.C. government wasn't prepared for the demand to get rid of junk in an environmentally safe way. With people more aware of the need to save the planet, having a twice-a-year drop-off day no longer cuts it.

Fortunately, Arlington is way ahead of DC. We already have a Household HazMat Program that allows residents to drop off materials Saturdays from 9am-3pm. When I abandoned E-CARE, I just kept my old anti-freeze and electronics in my car and headed to Fern & South Glebe (near Potomac Yards Mall) the following Saturday.

At first when I drove onto the lot, I was confused about where to go. Turns out I'd blown right past the security guard, an older man who was just shuffling out of the booth as I circled back.

He meticulously recorded my name and license plate number, then I turned to leave. I said, "Where do I go now?"

He turned back and, without saying a word, slowly and dramatically raised his pen in the direction of the drop-off site. High comedy.

The drop-off site was doing a brisk business and there were a few other cars unloading as I pulled up. I hauled my old PlayStation 2 out of my trunk and an attendant excitedly said, "Oh, great! We have a guy who fixes those and gives them to kids."

Hopefully DC will follow Arlington's lead and introduce a similar drop-off program. Really, what have they been waiting for? I guess sometimes it takes a train-wreck like Saturday's to demonstrate how woefully inadequate something is.

Saturday: Clean Out the Garage at Arlington E-CARE

Tomorrow from 8:30am-3pm at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Arlington County will be hosting its spring E-CARE! The Arlington Environmental Collection and Recycling Event gives you a chance to recycle items not picked up curbside or at county recycling centers.

E-CARE gives you a chance to safely dispose of potentially hazardous items like CFLs, car fluids and electronics. The Green Miles plans to drop off some old anti-freeze and a PlayStation 2 that kicked the bucket a couple of years back.

It's also a rare chance to recycle items like shoes, eyeglasses and bikes that may not be of use to you anymore, but could find a second life in a developing country. Come to think of it, it may be time to recycle my embarrassingly huge, not in style now, not in style then, not in style ever high school glasses.

Check out the E-CARE website for a full list of what you can drop off and handling instructions. My favorite line: "Smoking is not allowed at the drop-off site." I couldn't help but be reminded of the chemical toilet from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (sorta NSFW).

Ask The Green Miles: Can You Recycle Corks?

From reader VA Breeze:

Do you know anywhere in Southeastern VA that recycles cork-Thanks!

Generally my reply would go something like this: Don't sweat the small stuff. I'd much rather you spend the time it takes to recycle corks (or other small hard-to-recycle items like yogurt cups) doing something much more effective, like planting trees or telling your member of Congress to support climate action.

But thanks to The Green Girlfriend, I have an actual, non-obtuse answer to this question! For Christmas, she got me the Living Green Page-a-Day Calendar. It reveals that Yemm & Hart, a company that finds innovative uses for recycled products, is soliciting wine bottle corks. The corks are being converted into coasters, clipboards, and flooring, with cork contributors eligible for discounts on the finished products. All the details are on the Yemm & Hart website!

Got an environmental question? Ask The Green Miles!