5 Holiday Recycling Tips

The holidays are a time of joy and celebration - But they can also be a time of waste. People often throw all kinds of things away during the holidays and create all kinds of trash that ends up in the landfills. A lot of this waste can be avoided.

Here are five tips to help improve your recycling this holiday season, and reduce your environmental impact - which is a great gift to the planet!

Tip #1: Recycle Your Batteries

Batteries. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Don't throw away batteries. Batteries contain chemicals that pollute landfills and poison land. Yet most people simply chuck their batteries in the garbage can when they're done. Worse yet, a lot of the toys and gifts exchanged during the holidays have batteries in them, so more batteries are used this time of year than any other. Luckily there are more options available every day for responsibly disposing of used batteries.

How do you recycle your batteries? Simple. Collect them and take them to RadioShack or Home Depot. That's right - They'll recycle your batteries for you, for free.

Tip #2: Recycle Your Catalogs

Holiday season is also catalog season. Chances are you're going to get a whole slew of catalogs in the mail, even if you never asked for them.

Don't throw them away. Instead, collect all of them and recycle them. Do this for all the papers, mailers and various scraps that'll come your way in the holiday season. This includes greeting cards that you don't plan on keeping.

Tip #3: Shipping Materials

If you're shipping presents to other people, pack your boxes with newspaper. It works just as well as Styrofoam, but is easier on the environment. Not only is Styrofoam made of toxic chemicals that clog up landfills, the process to make them is toxic as well.

If you're receiving gifts in the mail, make sure you recycle all the shipping materials. Recycle your cardboard boxes and any packaging you can.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tip #4: Buy Recyclable Gift Wrap

Not all gift wrap is recyclable. When you're shopping for wrapping, look for the recyclable symbol. The more people who buy recyclable gift wraps, the more likely stores are to stock them in the future.

Don't be shy about telling people you give gifts to that the gift wrap can be recycled. A lot of people just won't know.

Tip #5: Reuse, Reuse, Reuse

Reusing something is far better than recycling something. When you recycle something, be it plastic or paper, only a fraction of what you throw out can actually be reused. Recycling is also an energy intensive process. When you reuse something, you skip all of that.

Reuse your boxes. Re-gift presents that you don't like. Store your artificial Christmas tree for next year instead of throwing it out. Look for creative ways to reuse things instead of just tossing it in the trash or recycle bin.

These five tips will help you stay eco-friendly this holiday season. Get in the habit of asking yourself: "Can I recycle or reuse this?"

Does Recycling Really Matter?

Recycling is all the rage these days. Green this and green that. Think about the environment. No more chemicals. Recycled materials for everything from what things are packaged in, to what our homes are made up of. The symbol for recycling can be found on so many different things and yet here we are, still dealing with global warming and climate change. So does recycling really make a difference? Or is it all just the latest fad? Let's take a look at what recycling really does for the environment:

International Recycling Symbol  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to keep a 100-watt light bulb burning for up to four hours or could even run your television for up to three hours. The energy it takes to create one aluminum can with new materials could create 20 aluminum cans from recycled materials. In almost all cases, it takes more resources and energy to make something new.

2. There are social benefits to recycling. Many non-profit organizations have drives to raise money for various causes. Habitat for Humanity for example has a program called Cans for Humanity which raises money to help Habitat for Humanity make quality affordable housing for low-income families. They have locations all around the nation for people to drop off cans.

3. Glass is the easiest and most frequently recycled material. For every 20 glass bottles recycled you will save two pounds of carbon emissions. For every ton of glass recycled that's 700 pounds of saved carbon emissions, or the equivalent of line drying your laundry for six months.

4. The energy savings we see from recycling reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, which in turn affect climate change. If we save 18 million tons of CO2 by recycling in a year, that would be the equivalent of taking five million cars off the road.

Comparison of greenhouse gas emissions for municipal solid waste disposal methods. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

5. On average an eco-conscious person recycles up to 1.5 pounds of municipal solid waste (MSW) a day. That's a savings of over 2.5 pounds of carbon emissions from one person a day. For every ton of MSW waste recycled, that's 2.27 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

6. If we were to recycle about 50 percent of our waste per day (or just over two pounds), then on average per family we would save 2400 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

7. Everything you recycle instead of dump in the dumpster saves room in landfills. Large amounts of methane gas are produced at landfills. And these areas can become hazardous, not to mention unsightly.

Recycling definitely has its benefits for the environment - even though it seems like such a small thing! However, it's not all we should be doing. We also need to be much more conscientious consumers. This includes buying products which save energy, and buying products made from recycled materials. Buy green power for your home. Be aware of what you're doing when you travel and think about how you're traveling. Eat healthy, whole, sustainably grown foods - and grow your own organic garden. 

Doing all of this will reduce your carbon footprint even more, but recycling is a great start to a life of being green and helping to save the planet for future generations.

8 Tips for Recycling at Work

There was a time when recycling just wasn't a priority for most people. But with increased awareness of its environmental benefits and greater access to recycling facilities, many households are making it a point to recycle anything they can. This has made a huge impact on usage of energy and natural resources.

Businesses, on the other hand, have not taken to recycling like individual consumers have. Manufacturing operations often recycle scraps in order to save money, but they often fail to recycle things that they themselves can't reuse. And other businesses frequently do not recycle anything at all.

Recycling Bins. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Businesses may be reluctant to start recycling programs because they do not want to use company resources to administer them. It's often up to employees to suggest recycling, and they may even have to volunteer to oversee it. If you're interested in starting a recycling program at your workplace, here are some tips to help make it a reality.

1. Schedule a meeting with your boss. If you just mention recycling in passing, there's a good chance you'll be ignored. But if you set up a meeting and make a convincing presentation, your boss is more likely to take you seriously. If you can get some co-workers to help you out, that's even better.

2. Point out the benefits for the company. Recycling can save your company money, and it can enhance its image as a responsible corporate citizen. These are the types of arguments that those in charge are most likely to listen to.

3. Prepare a plan for recycling. Research recycling service providers, and come up with some ideas about how to operate the program. Your boss will have the final say, but if you do some of the legwork for him, he is more likely to give his approval.

4. Volunteer to help get things rolling. If you're willing to aid in setting up a recycling program, that's one less thing your boss has to deal with.

Once you've gotten approval, you'll need to spread awareness and make sure that as much waste as possible is recycled. Here are some suggestions that will help.

Recycling bin sign. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

6. Make sure employees understand what can and cannot be recycled. Have a meeting to discuss this and answer any questions if possible. If not, send out an email with guidelines and make yourself available to those with questions.

7. Post recycling rules in a conspicuous place. It's easy to forget what is and isn't recyclable. Making that information readily available will increase participation rates.

8. Place recycling containers in convenient places, and mark them clearly. Those who can recycle without giving it much thought are more likely to do so than those who have to seek out containers.

Recycling at work is good for the environment and your company. It may, however, take some convincing to get the approval of the higher-ups. But if you make a solid case and do everything you can to help get a recycling program going, it will be hard for them to say no.