Tag Archives: Recycling

A Week’s Worth of New Years Resolutions for a Lifetime of Change

From The Daily Green:

The New Year’s resolutions you keep are those that become new habits. How do you create new habits? One of the best ways is to break down your larger goals – whether that’s bettering your health, as it so often is after holiday binging, bettering yourself or bettering the world at large – into bite-sized mantras and rules.

The larger goal has to be meaningful – you have to really want it – and the stepwise goals have to be specific and achievable. (I will lose weight by eating a healthier diet … by swapping my afternoon cookie habit for the habit of an afternoon carrot.)

It can be hard to tackle many goals at once, but here’s one strategy: Identify one thing to focus on each day of the week, and before long the devotion to each day’s goal will infuse the whole week’s activities. Here are some of our favorite ideas:

Meatless Mondays
You’re convinced that a vegetarian diet – or at least a diet with more vegetables than the one you eat today – is healthier for you and the planet, but despite the evidence, you can’t get on board with such a big change in your diet. So just go meatless on Mondays. It’s a growing nationwide trend with its own organization and Website. Eating vegetarian one day a week will give you the space you need to get comfortable with new vegetarian recipes, and before you know it, you’ll be eating more vegetarian meals throughout the week.

Need some help? Try one of these, our picks for the best sustainable cookbooks and food books of 2010.

Continue reading: A Week’s Worth of New Years Resolutions for a Lifetime of Change

Fairbanks borough could begin recycling program by January

From The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Monday, December 28, 2010:

The Fairbanks North Star Borough is negotiating to launch a pilot recycling program at three transfer sites and the landfill next month, according to borough mayor Luke Hopkins.

If the deal with K & K Recycling Inc. is inked, bins would be put out at the landfill, the transfer site in North Pole and two transfer sites on Farmers Loop for collecting paper, glass, plastic, aluminum and tin.

The pilot program likely would last three years. If it is successful, Mayor Hopkins said residents could see recycling bins at more transfer sites, the trash drop-off locations for people who don’t have trash collection at home.

Fire destroys K&K Recycling warehouse

From The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Friday, December 17, 2010:

A Friday morning fire at K&K Recycling destroyed a warehouse after cardboard bales inside the building ignited.

The fire at the 50-by-100 foot temporary steel building was discovered by employees arriving at work about 7:15 a.m. The blaze had fully engulfed the building by the time firefighters arrived soon afterward.

North Star Chief Jeff Tucker said firefighters remained on hand throughout the day to keep the blaze from spreading outside the warehouse, but firefighters and K&K officials decided not to make an active effort to hose it down in frigid conditions.

“We could put it out, but you’d have one giant frozen mess,” Tucker said. “The decision was made just to let it burn down.”

Tucker said it’s unlikely the origin of the fire will be determined because of extensive damage to the building. He said the blaze isn’t considered suspicious.

‘The Story of Stuff’ 2.0: An E-Waste Sequel

From The New York Times, Wednesday, November 10, 2010:

Just a few weeks ago, I was despairing over how difficult it is to recycle e-waste in New York City even though nearly every computer and MP3 player package today has a cute little green admonition to “please recycle.” This week I see a bit of light on the horizon.

Annie Leonard, who brought you the viral video “The Story of Stuff,” has a new film out this week called the “The Story of Electronics: Why Designed for the Dump is Toxic for People and the Planet.” Take a look. Do I see a consumer movement for greener electronics in the making?

Continue reading: ‘The Story of Stuff’ 2.0: An E-Waste Sequel

How to Set Up a Recycling System

From Real Simple:

1. Do Your Homework

Check with your local collection center, and find out what it accepts and rejects. Residents in some areas face fines for not recycling. (New York City residents, for example, face up to a $500 ticket.) To find out what your municipality recycles, call 800-CLEANUP or visit recyclingcenters.org.

2. Study Your Trash

What you use most will determine the type and size of the containers you’ll require. If your family drinks a lot of juices and soda, you’ll want a larger bin for cans and bottles.

3. Create Convenience

Ideally, your home recycling center will be a two-part system one part for everyday disposal and the other for storing. The everyday part should be where you generate the most waste―for many, the kitchen. The spot should be as accessible as the trash can, perhaps right next to it. If you are short on space, consider hanging sturdy shopping bags on the inside of a pantry door. Sorting is a tiresome truth of recycling, so why do it twice? Get a divided container that lets you separate as you dispose. (Try the compartmentalized wicker bin from Waste-Not-Baskets; 16-inch basket, $79, waste-not-basket.com.)

4. Pick a Storage Space

When your kitchen bins fill up, move their contents to a storage spot (separate from the household stamping grounds) until it’s time to drop off at the curb or a center. Consider the garage, laundry room, mudroom, or utility closet. Containers should be easy to transport, so look for ones with wheels. If your community has return deposits on cans and bottles, separate them, too, for returns.

5. Post Recycling Guidelines

Learn how you should recycle phone books, metals, makeup, mirrors, and more. It’s a good reminder for your family, and the quick reference makes recycling easier. Use a Magic Marker to write what goes where.

Glass, Plastic Recycling Now Accepted in Fairbanks

Interior Alaska Green Star is pleased to let you all know about some NEW RECYCLING OPTIONS for the Fairbanks area!

K&K Recycling is now accepting all of the following materials for recycling:

  • Glass Bottles – All colors
  • All Plastics #1-7 (check number on bottom of container)
  • Cardboard and Paper
  • Aluminum
  • Tin

Location: 2040 Richardson Highway ( 9 mile ) between Fairbanks & North Pole

Hours: Monday – Saturday: 8 am – 5 pm

Some tips for preparing your materials for recycling

  • Please rinse all bottles and cans and remove labels
  • Please rinse all plastic containers
  • Please NO containers with food waste

In addition, K&K asks that you help by doing the following:

  • Monitor the recycling transfer site by only placing the proper material into the receptacles
  • Tell a friend or co-worker about the importance of recycling & available locations
  • Let them know if you’d like to be kept informed of upcoming locations or events by emailing philchenapower@gmail.com
  • You can find more information on the K&K Recycling website: http://www.kandkrecycling.us/

 Below is a statement from K&K Recycling about their new recycling programs:

 Since 1984, K&K Recycling Inc. has been recycling in the interior of Alaska. In August, Fort Wainwright and K&K Recycling Inc. began a source separation recycling program to eliminate the waste stream by realizing it’s a resource stream of raw new materials waiting to be utilized by making new industry, product and local jobs.

As of October 3rd, UAF has also partnered with K&K Recycling Inc. by delivering their first load, over the upcoming weeks working agreements are expected to be finalized with Eielson AFB, Fort Greely and discussion with the FNSB Recycling Commission is ongoing.

Agency Seeks to Tighten Rules for ‘Green’ Labeling

From The New York Times, Wednesday, October 6, 2010:

Manufacturers of products that claim to be environmentally friendly will face tighter rules on how they are advertised to consumers under changes proposed Wednesday by the Federal Trade Commission.

The commission’s revised “Green Guides,” last updated in 1998, warn marketers against using labels that make broad claims that cannot be substantiated, like “eco-friendly.” Marketers must qualify their claims on the product packaging and limit them to a specific benefit, such as how much of the product is recycled.

“This is really about trying to cut through the confusion that consumers have when they are buying a product and that businesses have when they are selling a product,” said Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the commission.

Continue reading: Agency Seeks to Tighten Rules for ‘Green’ Labeling

Tableware Grown from "Food," Saving the Planet One Cup at a Time

From National Geographic’s Green Guide, Thursday, July 29, 2010:

In the near future, maybe everything we need will be assembled on the spot in machines like Star Trek‘s replicators, but for now, we’ll have to settle for growing cups, plates, and packing material from food.

A few inventors are working on products that use mushrooms, rice husks, and even agar to create new versions of single-use disposable items. They’re less harmful to the environment and break down into nothing.

Ecovative’s rice-and-mushroom packaging, for example, is intended to replace Styrofoam and uses an eighth of the energy required to make a similar amount of the petroleum-based stuff. And product design consultancy The Way We See The World is working to bring edible drinking glasses made of flavored agar–similar to gelatin–to the consumer market.

Continue reading: Tableware Grown from “Food,” Saving the Planet One Cup at a Time