Recycling an Ipod

Since we could no longer return this broken Ipod, we decided to recycle it (and its many cables). I first went to Gazelle to recycle it for cash, but I waited too long and now the Ipod isn't worth anything! But Gazelle and BuyMyTronics will reuse (and pay you money for) cell phones, laptops, desktops, LCD monitors, mp3 players, GPS, movies, gaming consoles, camcorders, calculators, and so on. After Gazelle rejected me, I went to Apple, which very helpfully emailed me a postage-paid mailing label (see photo), so I just place my envelope in the nearest USPS mailbox or USPS Post Office, or leave it for my daily mail pickup. So easy!

Battery, Cork, Brita Water Filter Recycling on the Hill

On my recycling travels around the Hill, I stopped by Hill's Kitchen to collect a couple of Brita water filters. Leah at Hill's Kitchen says that people are now hearing about the filter recycling there, which is great. Then I saw the manager of Radio Shack, and he said that he had batteries to collect. Finally, Hayden's Liquor gave me a HUGE bag of corks. So, keep dropping off things to recycle!

Buy Recycled Envelopes

The Stuart-Hobson Middle School on the Hill makes envelopes around of old wall calendars (Recyclelopes), which they sell for $5 per set at Riverby Books (419 East Capitol St SE). 100% of the funds goes to support the school. I'm going to have to go and take a look at these recyclelopes to actually report on them!

Holiday Recycling

What to do with your holiday cards? Recycle them! St. Jude's Ranch for Children in Nevada takes all used greeting cards and turns them into "new" cards. Their Recycled Card Program has received over one million cards, and you can buy cards through their website. They are Christian and thus deal with such holidays, but they also collect and sell birthday and thank you cards.

The DC government is collecting trees, wreaths, and other greenery to compost. Residents should place the greenery in curbside tree boxes from Friday to Jan. 10th. Residents can also drop off trees at the Ford Totten Transfer Station from Saturday to January 9th.

Yoga mat update

The Washington Humane Society also takes used yoga mats (see #14 in the General DC Recycling Info column to the right)!

Airport Recycling Competition

Let's just put it simply. In the DC area, the far-and-away leader in recycling is BWI Airport. BWI recycling went from less than 5% of waste in 2004 to 28% in 2006, which is extraordinary since only one or two US airports have over 25% and the percentage of total waste that is recycled in the United States is 32.5%. The BWI recycling program saves approximately $15,000 per year. According to GreenMiles in fall 2007, "Until recently, National didn't have any recycling at all." More info soon.

The House Office Buildings (and soon the Senate) compost

The House Office buildings have implemented some great practices that should be replicated in other government and commercial spaces in the DC area:
* Switching to primarily fresh, organic, locally grown food sources (within 150 miles of the Capitol, wherever possible), thereby reducing packaging waste and fuel burdens for delivery.
* Banning Plastics and Styrofoam from use in kitchen and cafeteria. All Styrofoam® and plastic food service items have been replaced with fully compostable, American-made plates, utensils, cups, water bottles and glasses.
* Sending all food waste and biodegradable food service containers to commercial composting facilities. The House Office buildings use Bates Trucking to haul the compostable materials to Recycled Green Industries, a composting facility in Maryland and within cost effective hauling range of Capitol Hill.
* Instituting a Pulping Practice to extract water from the food service waste stream, reducing the weight of the waste by up to 50% and thus the fuel used to transport it, and making the waste ready for composting.

Since initiation of this program, more than 660 tons of landfill waste has been diverted to regional composting companies in 2008. Do you know of a restaurant or other location that should compost? Let them know about Bates Trucking, Recycled Green Industries, and EnviRelation.

Yoga mat recycling

Yoga charities all across the United States desperately need your donated yoga mat. Donate your gently used yoga mat to The Bolder Mat Company, and they will refurbish it and donate it to yoga charities. Your mat will then be used to teach at risk populations about the benefits of yoga. The Bolder Mat Company also sells yoga mats and eco-friendly yoga mat bags made from T-shirt scraps.

Cork recycling clarified

Cathy gave over 10 pounds of corks to an artist in town last week. We usually ship our corks to Yemm and Hart, which now pays for corks and turns them into tiles. Terracycle (and the local artist) also collect plastic corks. So, there are many people that want your wine corks! Relatedly, World Wildlife Fund has asked everyone to buy wine with natural corks.

“Cork harvesting is an environmentally-friendly process during which not a single tree is cut down. Synthetic and screw top closures are more harmful to the environment because they use more energy in production and are oil-based products” World Wildlife Fund, May 15, 2006. Did you know that the Cork Montados, the cork oak savannahs, are the continuation of an ancient practice and multi-dimensional use of land around the Mediterranean Sea? The Cork Montados actually protect the biodiversity and certain wildlife that is endangered or on the brink of extinction and are a hedge against desertification caused by global warming as the Sahara creeps into Europe. Real cork is sustainable, synthetic and screw caps are not.

Andrew very intelligently asked, doesn't recycling corks undermine cork agriculture? My answer is that 1) recycling keeps cork and other materials out of landfills, 2) recycling cork through Yemm and Hart helps to build a new market with sustainable materials but does not infringe on the wine cork market, and 3) the amount of cork we are recycling is so small comparatively. So, buy wine with natural corks and recycle all corks. Don't toss your corks because many groups want them.

Whole Foods on P St recycles Brita water filters and more

Whole Foods on P St recycles Brita water filters, batteries, cell phones, and clothing. They also compost! Thank you, Whole Foods!

Capitol Hill Radio Shack now recycles batteries!

Yes, the Radio Shack right next to the Eastern Market Metro (717 D St SE) is now collecting regular and rechargeable batteries for recycling. Just give your used batteries to the sales associates, and they will collect them. Of course, you can always recycle your batteries through DC government e-recycling, but this means driving to the Fort Totten Trash Transfer Station. Now you can just walk by our local Radio Shack. The DC Recycler will be regularly picking up the batteries for recycling. If you want your local Radio Shack or hardware store to collect batteries, just ask them! They may want to recycle them themselves or you can pick them up on a regular basis and recycle them yourself. It's an easy way to help keep batteries out of landfills. Thank you, Capitol Hill Radio Shack!

DC Recycler is thankful for the DC government's recycling program

While the DC government could do so much more, it is doing a great job collecting and composting leaves this year. This project alone keeps thousands of pounds of material out of landfills and reuses this usual "waste" for gardening, etc. According to the DPW website, DC residents may pick up mulch March through November at New Jersey Avenue and K Street, SE, from 7am to 3pm, Monday through Saturday. Residents are allowed to take up to three 30-gallon bags (large trash bags). The mulch is free, but residents must bag it themselves. Interestingly, through its Helping Hand Program, the DPW will even provide mulch and tools for large-scale neighborhood beautification projects, who knew? Of course, the DC government is getting us to do its dirty work, but, if you want to get something done, sometimes you have to do it yourself. In any case, thanks to the DC recycling program for composting and recycling. Let's work towards expanding recycling in the District.

My personal recycling center

Some might think that collecting recycling at holiday parties veers too close to collecting garbage. However, with this very attractive "personal recycling center" on my shoulder, I will discretely collect wine corks, Brita water filters, and batteries that my friends and neighbors bring to holiday parties. It's easy and oh so "chic."

Holiday Recycling

Holiday gatherings are a great opportunity to collect items for recycling. For example, our block is having a progressive cocktail party, where we move as a group from house to house. I'll be collecting Brita water filters, non-plastic wine corks, and batteries for our group. As part of the DC Recycler recycling circle, Kim collects the filters, Cathy collects the batteries, and I collect the wine corks. See the July 25th posting below about starting your own recycling circle. It's easy and interesting.

Great Fair Trade Chocolates as Gifts

Well, this isn't about recycling, but it is about a great chocolate company that is located in DC. Divine Chocolates is a company owned by farmers in Ghana. Their farmers' cooperative, Kuapa Kokoo, is truly amazing. The chocolates are fair trade, are delicious, and would make very nice gifts, in my opinion. Kuapa Kokoo has invested its Fair Trade income in building schools, sinking wells for clean drinking water to villages, providing mobile medical clinics for farmers in remote growing regions, and fostering women’s income generation projects to help women earn additional income for their families when the cocoa season is over. Most chocolate companies have horrible labor records, but Divine Chocolates seeks to provide an alternative to this. AND Divine Chocolates is located in DC!

Washington City Paper exposes commercial recycler failure

Washington City Paper did an amazing job reporting on the failure of many commercial recyclers, condos, apartment buildings, and businesses to recycle. Some commercial haulers mix recycling with garbage and delivered it all to the dump and other non-recycling locations. Since business waste represents 75% of all DC waste (residences make up 25%), this is really serious. If you see recycling being mixed with trash, please call DC's Department of Public Works (202-673-6833), or email them: dpw@dc.gov. Only by complaining will we force the city to enforce its own laws. As I mentioned before, when I worked for NY state government, we wanted the public complain, so that we could get the resources to do our jobs and deal with public demands. At the same time, as far as I know, DC does recycle residential recycling, so don't stop recycling!

Recycled Printer Cartridges!

You can now buy recycled printer cartridges that are 100% guaranteed from Castle Ink. They have ink refill kits, inkjet cartridges, laser toner cartridges for a huge variety of printers (Dell, HP, Epson, Lexmark, Brother, and so on). AND they are cheaper than new cartridges. Even more impressive is that they PAY up to $4 for your old cartridges. So, why are we buying new cartridges and toner??

Sign up for wind power

While this isn't about recycling, you can switch to 100% wind power and stop encouraging new coal plants. Clean Currents provides this option for DC and Maryland residents. It's easy to sign up.

Anything that goes in a landfill doesn't decay

I heard this long ago, but was uncertain whether it was true. The DC Office of Recycling reassured me that, yes, anything that goes in a landfill does not decay. So, don't think that your biodegradable bags or corn cups will decompose in the landfill. They do not want ANYTHING to decompose there (since it would produce awful run-off, etc), so they don't provide the conditions for this to happen. Therefore, biodegradable items have to be composted. And you can't compost them in your backyard because most items require special conditions to compost. Therefore, you need to have a great workplace that uses a commercial composter (e.g., the House Office buildings, the National Geographic Society, On the Fly) or you have to find a commercial composter yourself.

Sometimes you just have to do it yourself

At the end of the Green Festival, I happened to meet a few members of the inspiring Boonsboro Recycling Task Force. Ten residents of Boonsboro, MD decided that they would just have to organize recycling themselves. What they did can be done by anyone interested in expanding recycling. The Boonsboro crew saw immediately that the DC Recycler had the same goals.

1) Figure out ways to collect recycling that the city doesn't yet recycle. While those in Boonsboro had to organize a recycling dumpster, here in DC you could work with neighbors to find a business that could collect for you. Hill's Kitchen collects Brita water filters for us, which we pick up and send away for recycling.
2) Get the schools recycling. The Task Force started environmental clubs in their high school and middle school. According to DC government, the DC schools are way behind on recycling. If you have a daughter or son in the DC schools and interested in recycling, you can contact the Office of the Chancellor to join the program to start a recycling program in their school.
3) Ask the government to expand recycling. From my experience in government, we always wanted residents to complain and demand better service. If you don't demand, the government officials have no leverage in starting or expanding programs. Just call 311. You can let them know what kind of recycling DC should have, request a recycling bin, ask them recycling questions, report recycling violations (for example, at restaurants), etc.
4) Provide information about what can be recycled and where. The Boonsboro group created a recycling how-to information sheet that was mailed with the residents’ town utility bills. Let your neighbors and friends know about regular DC recycling and new recycling possibilities. Also let the DC Recycler know and we'll post it to the blog!

The Boonsboro group even organized their own Green Festival last year with a recycling collection zone, a kids zone, a clothing swap, and 80 vendors. The Boonsboro group also saw that DC has only 31 recycling cans in public spaces, when little Boonsboro already has more than that! Get some friends/neighbors together and change your world.