By Miriam Wilcox-Barsalou,on October 12th,2010% Workplaces are starting to pay attention to sustainability and want to develop a “green”workplace. While many are addressing this by reducing paper output and encouraging reuse of coffee mugs,many are putting recycling programs in place. How do we increase the rate at which employees actually use these office recycling bins? Here are a few ideas I have,comment below if you have any ideas I have missed. Label recycling bins clearly with what may be placed in the bin. Many office recycling programs accept different materials than the surrounding communities curbside pickups. Eliminate confusion, . . . →Read More:Increase the Success of Your Office Recycling Program By Miriam Wilcox-Barsalou,on October 2nd,2010%  Recycling bins are available in more and more locations. However there is no standard signs for recycling. Every time an individual encounters a recycling bin they must first recognize that it is a location for recycling and then determine what can be recycled at that location. This may cause confusion that leads to a reduced recycling rate. As reported on Treehugger yesterday,Recycle Across America is trying to encourage standardized labeling for recycling. They hope that by providing standard labels an increase in consistency will be seen in schools,malls,workplaces,public buildings and homes. Free PDFs are . . . →Read More:Standardized Recycling Signs to Reduce Confusion By Miriam Wilcox-Barsalou,on August 17th,2010% This is the third post in a series to explain the plastics represented by recycling symbols. The first was for #1 – PET. Last week we covered #2 –HDPE. This post focuses on the other commonly recycled polyethylene,LDPE. Recycling Symbol #4 – LDPE source:4 –by mag3737 Full Name:Low Density Polyethylene Type:Semi-crystalline branched thermoplastic History:Polyethylene accidentally synthesized in 1898,first industrially prepared in 1933 Family:Polyethylene The biggest difference between HDPE and LDPE is that LDPE is generally more flexible and transparent than LDPE. Despite newly released plastics LDPE . . . →Read More:Recycling Symbol #4 –LDPE By Miriam Wilcox-Barsalou,on August 16th,2010% I originally posted this post on Greenwala on August 1st,2010. By now you should have heard of the 3 Rs,Reduce,Reuse and Recycle. If you have not,you either live under a rock or I hope your community generates only organic waste. It is a simple concept,school children can grasp it. It is easy to apply in every day life. But it seems that our society enjoys having things new and shiny. Unfortunately recycling almost allows us to feel absolved of our disposable ways. In our cycle of environmental responsibility . . . →Read More:An Order of Operations –Reduce,Reuse,Recycle By Miriam Wilcox-Barsalou,on August 10th,2010% This is the second post in a series to explain the plastics represented by recycling symbols. The first was for #1 –PET. This post focuses on the other very common container plastic,HDPE. Recycling Symbol #2 – HDPE Full Name:High Density Polyethylene Other abbreviations:PEHD (polyethylene high density) Type:Semi-crystalline branched thermoplastic History:Polyethylene accidentally synthesized in 1898,first industrially prepared in 1933 Family:Polyethylene The polyethylene family has many important members and is used in many useful and important applications. The two best known are common packaging products in HDPE and LDPE. But . . . →Read More:Recycling Symbol #2 – HDPE By Miriam Wilcox-Barsalou,on July 27th,2010% This is the first of a series to introduce some of the household plastics with recycling symbols on them. We start with a plastic that has been featured a lot recently both in the Plastiki article and in issues relating to plastic water bottles. Recycling Symbol #1 –PET -Water bottlefaungg Full Name:Polyethylene Terephthalate Other abbreviations:PETE,PETP (obsolete) Type:Amorphous or Semicrystalline Thermopolymer (depending on processing) Patented:1941 Family:Polyester (linear) Plastics have common abbreviations. Can you imagine asking “can this polyethylene terephthalate container go in the recycling bin?”. Never mind . . . →Read More:Recycling Symbol #1 –PET By Miriam Wilcox-Barsalou,on April 13th,2010% People will often approach a plastics engineer with a very simple question:“What is this made of?”. The plastics engineer will furrow his or her brow. He or she will fondle the object,sniff it,scratch at it and maybe even lick it. With a satisfied look on their face the plastics engineer will proudly exclaim:“I’m pretty sure it’s made of plastic”. Of course the questioner then elaborates that they need to know what kind of plastic makes up the object’s composition. Which is a much more complex question. The plastics engineer will probably be . . . →Read More:What do the Recycling Numbers Mean? | CreditsBlog design elements by Kate HadfieldUsed as non-profit generating blog TOU |
