San Francisco Recycling Best in Nation

The city of San Francisco managed to divert 72 percent of all recyclable material from the landfill, claiming the highest recycling rate of any city in the country, according to office of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. The percentage inches closer to the city’s goal of 75 percent landfill diversion by 2010 and zero waste by 2020.

Watch the video and

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Prom Dress Recycling

Times are tough and, in many families, money is tight. But no matter what the state of the economy is, girls want a beautiful gown for the prom. There are programs throughout the country that allow folks to donate their used formal wear, jewelry, and shoes so that everyone can go to their prom.

Watch  antother video
http://cnettv.cnet.com/recycling-prom-dresses/9742-1_53-50023313.html

Website - donate my dress:
http://www.donatemydress.org/

Another Website:
http://princessproject.org/

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Good Sports Always Recycle

The Giants are in the World Series, sports miracles abound!!

The next time you attend a sporting event take a look at how the garbage is handled and consider getting involved to promote recycling.  After the crowds abandon their seats, it’s unbelievable to see how much waste has accumulated over a few hours.

Here is a success story we can all use as a model. For the past 17 years, the Good Sports Always Recycle™ program has not only encouraged University of Tennessee fans to recycle their plastic bottles and cups at every UT athletic home game, but also sparked competition among Tennessee schools.

Each year, the top 10 schools win $500 to improve their recycling program, a plaque, and a trip to a University of Tennessee football game. At the game, representatives from the winning schools will participate in a one-of-a-kind tailgate party with numerous special guests and will be honored on the field during the game.

Since the start of the program, 160 schools have been recognized for their recycling and environmental programs, and previous winners’ programs represent every aspect of recycling – from everyday paper and plastics to computer parts and cell phones.During that time they have achieved quite a recycling feat — 8 million plastic cups!

If Tennessee can do it - so can you. Visit their website to learn about the program. Talk to the other "soccer moms and dads" and mobilize your community. Who knows, maybe your school will be recognized and you can all go to a Giants game.

Read entire article:
http://www.blounttoday.com/news/2010/sep/06/good-sports-always-recycle-program-educates-challe/

GSAR website: http://www.eastman.com/GSAR/Pages/Home.aspx

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The Sharing LifeStyle and How to Legally Define it

This good idea is a "twofer":
1. sharing instead of owning to make your $$ and energy go farther

2. supporting a type of law that helps facilitate cooperation instead of promote contention.

I strongly recommend you read the entire article instead of just reviewing my summary. This is  big one.

The author, Janelle Orsi calls this sharing law which would help people like Lynne:

• Lynne lives in an urban cohousing community and shares ownership of a car with two neighbors. Every day, she fluidly shares, borrows, and lends (rather than owns) many household goods, tools, electronics, and other items.

• She is a member of a cooperative grocery, through which she receives significant discounts in exchange for putting in a few monthly work hours. She grows vegetables on an empty lot and sometimes sells the veggies to neighbors.

• She has a successful rooftop landscaping business, which she launched using 20 microloans and investments from friends and family. She often barters, doing odd jobs in exchange for goods and services.

• She also owns a 5 percent share of a hot springs retreat center outside of town, which she acquired through sweat equity.

To learn more about this lifestyle and the legal challenges that will arise as more of un embrace this concept read the full article:
http://shareable.net/blog/birth-of-sharing-law

Janelle has also written a book on the subject, you could purchase it, or try and get it thru the paperback book exchange (an earlier post).
http://www.nolo.com/products/the-sharing-solution-SHAR.html

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Fur Coats Recycled into Animal Nests

If you have a fur coat gathering dust in your closet, the Humane Society suggests recycling it by putting it on the backs of other animals.

The Coats for Cubs program by the Humane Society of the United States helps orphaned, injured or sick wildlife by gathering fur coats and using them for nests, bedding or cuddly replacements for mom and dad. In 2009, 2,687 fur items were donated.

"We use the discarded furs as bedding to give the animals comfort and reduce stress," said Michael Markarian, the agency's chief operating officer in Washington, D.C. "The fur garments act as a surrogate mother. It is a warm and furry substitute."

The coats go to wildlife rehabilitation centers that take in baby raccoons, chipmunks, squirrels, coyotes, skunks and other animals, and has helped thousands of animals since it began in 2005 with the Fund for Animals.

Markarian said many of the coats are donated by people who find fur to be inhumane - whether the animals are trapped in steel-jawed traps or raised on factory farms. For those who have fur and no longer want to wear it, "This is a great way for them to give back to the animals," he said.

OK folks look in your closet, i have a ratty mink left to me by my grandmother. Mail it off to the Humane Society or if you live by a Buffalo Exchange, you can drop off the fur at their store.

Read Complete Article:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/accent/pets/fur-coats-become-animal-nests-in-recycling-bid-211698.html

Humane Society of the United States:
http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/fur_fashion/donate_old_fur.html

Buffalo Exchange Locations:
http://www.buffaloexchange.com/index.php?pg=4

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Nationwide Paperback Swap

This website allows you to post books you are willing to give away. Once someone requests your book, you mail it to them (you pay shipping).

Then you receive a credit you can use to request a book for yourself. The book is shipped at no cost to you.

You can do this all from home, post your books, pick out new ones, and print the mailing labels from your home computer.

Great for college students on a budget or anyone who is a "bookie".

The have almost 5 million books at the site.

Watch video that explains the process:
http://www.paperbackswap.com/help/how_to_swap_books.php

Visit the Website:
http://www.paperbackswap.com/

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Recycled Pacemakers Save Lives

Two doctors from the University of Michigan  Cardiovascular Center took a look at the legality and practicality of collecting pacemakers, after a patient has died,  sterilizing them and reusing them. The  devices are used wth patients who live in a country where the price of a pacemaker is prohibitive.

Kim A. Eagle, MD, a cardiologist and a director of the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center, explained that “establishing a validated pacemaker reutilization program could transform a currently wasted resource into an opportunity for a new life for many citizens in the world.”

Eagle notes that small humanitarian efforts have demonstrated that the risk of infection when using recycled pacemakers is the same—less than 2 percent—as implanting a new device. Patients also live as long and have as good a quality of life with a recycled pacemaker as patients who receive a new one.

Even though the cost of new pacemakers is as low as $800 in some foreign markets, this amount is “often more than the annual income of the average worker in underdeveloped nations,” noted Eagle. Cardiovascular disease continues to be an epidemic in these countries and others around the world.

Bill Daem has been doing this without the approval of the medical establishment since the mid 90s. During that time he has sent between 1,400 and 1,600 pacemakers overseas. Many of them were given to children. This new study may help Bill's organization Heart Too Heart expand it's efforts.


Read about the Michigan Study
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101019171900.htm

Bill Daem's recommendations for recycling pacemakers, hearing aides, eyeglasses, etc...
http://www.mywhatever.com/cifwriter/content/19/abcd1675.html

University of Michigan's Project site:
http://www.myheartyourheart.org

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Recycling Plastic into Oil

A Japanese company called Blest created a small, very safe and easy to use machine that can convert several types of plastic back into oil.

You put in plastic bags, styrofoam containers and bottle caps and out comes gasoline, diesel, or propane. I hope that someday soon plastic bottles and styrofoam containers will be eliminated, but until that day we have to do something with them. Recycling them would be so cool.

I want one of these machines....

Here is the video and article.  Watch the movie and be amazed. the article is pretty long, but worth your time. http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/plastic-to-oil-fantastic/

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Recycled Sneakers Help Kids in Need

Greg Woodburn, a sophomore at the USC cleans used sneakers and shares them with underprivileged children in the United States and 20 other countries. I'm going to look in my closet right now, surely there is an old sneaker waiting for a new life.

Read his story online at the Reader's Digest
http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/recycled-sneakers-fit-for-sharing/article167335.html

Learn more about his non profit -  Woodburn's Share Our Soles (S.O.S.)
http://www.shareoursoles.org/

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