Or where they go? I have to say that I haven’t. Until today when this little newstory popped up in my email from our friends at Greenopolis:
An estimated 25 billion (BILLION!) “disposable” chopsticks are thrown out every year, which means that approximately 25 million trees and bamboo are harvested to make this little disposable items! So let’s make something out of them! I have used chopsticks as small plant stakes, but clearly there are higher and better uses for the 25 billion little pieces of wood and bamboo– Like baskets that fold flat for easy and cheap transport. I would buy many of these.
What could you do with a box full of sanitized chopsticks?
Back in April Pepsi Co., in partnership with Waste Management, debuted the PepsiCo. Dream Machine. So what makes this machine so…dreamy?
The Dream Machine is a new, interactive, device that offers incentives for on-site recycling, by offering point rewards for each can, or bottle recycled.
It works by pressing a touch screen to begin recycling and scanning the bar code on the bottle or can. The machine then recognizes the bottle as a PepsiCo. product and one slides the bottle into a slot on the top right of the machine. Once you place all the cans and bottles you have in the machine, the touch screen will let you know how many points you accumulated during that recycling trip. The Dream Machine will allow you to accumulate points, or receive a coupon or something similar on the spot.
Another great added benefit to the Dream Machine is that it will provide benefits to the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV). EBV offers free job and entrepreneurial training for post 9/11 veterans. So the more people use the Dream Machines, the more help PepsiCo can offer to EBV.
PepsiCo. plans to roll the Dream Machines, provided by GreenOps LLC, in over 50 locations in Southern California, and 150 locations in North Carolina Rite Aids. PespiCo. also has entered into a partnership with Keep America Beautiful for community development. The hope is that Dream Machines will become a mainstay in stores, parks, and sports venues. The Dream Machine is part of PepsiCo’s goal of increasing the beverages recycling rate 34-50% by 2018.
It is certainly refreshing (no pun intended) to see a company that uses literally tons of plastic and aluminum cans get active on the importance and value of recycling. The Dream Machine, combined with something like the BigBelly Solar Compacting and Recycling cans would be a terrific asset for large venues and communities struggling with litter and recycling issues–like the Fairfax County Park System!
Below is a short video on how the Dream Machine works:
How the DreamMachine Works
You’ve been admiring your neighbor’s composter and now you can have one yourself!
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Dump your coffee grounds, grass clippings, leaves, old lettuce, green beans, dryer lint, shredded junk mail (or bills!), discarded wool socks, cat fur, egg shells–pretty much anything that isn’t meat or dairy, and let nature make some lovely nutritious mulch for your garden.
If you’re interested in purchasing one of these recycled plastic, snap together in minutes composter, please email Clean Fairfax. We are hoping to get at least 25 orders which will bring the price to $65, a little more than half of what you’d pay for the same at a retail shop.
cfc (at) cleanfairfax (dot) org and we can send you a paypal invoice (where you can securely use your credit card), Request the order form by email and return it with a check.
Could we do it here, do you think?
From the Boston Globe:
More than 100 municipalities in the United States have sought to reduce consumption of bottled water. San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Miami, Chicago, and Chapel Hill, N.C., have banned government purchases of bottled water. Others, including Boston, Somerville, and Cambridge, have taken pledges to phase out city spending on bottled water.
Last year, merchants in the Australian town of Bundanoon agreed to a voluntary ban on bottled water, a move that was hailed at the time as a world first…
I’d like to see a plastic bag ban, or fee before a water bottle ban, but it would be nice to have the county, and the schools and FFX County business pledge to not buy disposable water for meetings and events… Last week at the FFX County Employee “earth” day event, the ART group gave out box lunches and (wait for it) Bottled Water! In a county where the water was determined to be one of the best municipal waters in the COUNTRY!
Please, tell me, What is UP with that?
Please file under the ever growing “We need this here” department–
http://www.bigbellysolar.com/products/recycle.html
The BigBelly® Solar Compactor with integrated recycling units is the world’s only system that provides on-site compaction of solid waste and separation of recyclable materials. The combination of recycling units with BigBelly® provides significant economic, environmental and educational benefits.
These would be perfect in the parks and the baseball/softball fields where there simply isn’t the staff to pick up after every game or event.
First stop–a mandate that special events (such as games, festivals etc) have to reclaim their bottles and cans and paper and dispose of it properly (ie., not in the trash) and then let’s figure out the best way to make it happen, in light of these trying economic times… This could be a good solution…
The Washington Post reports today that only 50% of households are recycling plastic and cans, and only 20% of us are recycling in public.
It is pretty easy to recycle. It takes just as much time to throw it in the trash, so why not just hit the bin instead?
What can we do about that? A few things.
1. Recycle at home. Set a good example for your kids, roommates, spouses, parents and grandparents!
2. Recycle when you’re out. Ask where the recycle bin is at cafes and shops. Let the business owner know you’d like a recycle bin.
3. Give your business to companies that recycle and reuse plastic and paper products! Give those who don’t the “walk on by.”
4. Be a good steward and recycle on vacation. Its not hard and makes for good photo ops!
This is how they do it in Hawaii, with containers at schools. The schools get to keep the money they raise from the effort. This one is on the North Shore of Oahu.
National Geographic reports the unfortunate find of a huge floating patch of garbage off the East Coast, in the Atlantic Ocean.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/03/100302-new-ocean-trash-garbage-patch/
What can you do? Start by not using plastic, and if you have to, make sure you recycle it after.
Did you know that the US Postal Service recycled than 200,000 tons of paper, cardboard, plastics and other waste in 2009, representing a decrease in its greenhouse gas emissions of approximately 1.67 million barrels of oil. And most of it is just from having recycle boxes available in the post office. How easy is that?
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