Recylcemania 2012 Results May 11, 2012

Recylcemania 2012 held its 12th annual competition, had 605 schools participate for 8 weeks this spring.

Stats for this years contest:

• 92 million lbs. of recyclables and organic materials were recovered
• prevented the release of nearly 150,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2E).
• this reduction in greenhouse gases =
  • annual emissions from more than 25,840 passenger cars
  • electricity use of more than nearly 16,406 homes
  • the burning of nearly 705 railcars’ worth of coal.
•  average recycling rate for participating schools increased from 27.61%to 28.49%  over the course of the tournament

The Winners:

• “Grand Champion” (determined by the percentage of overall waste recycled): American University- (85.16 percent) – Washington, D.C.
•  “Per Capita Classic” (determined by total pounds of recyclables collected per person): Union College- (61.79 lbs.) – Schenectady, N.Y.
• “Waste Minimization” (determined by the lowest overall amount of recyclables and trash per person): Valencia College – (2.79 lbs.) – Orlando, Fla.

They also hosted the 2nd annual video contest with the theme “The Spirit of Recycling, ”  where the public was invited to vote for their favorite  videos posted to YouTube, the student submission from Florida State University garnered the most “likes” to win first prize followed by East Tennessee State University. Clemson University’s video received the Judges’ Award.

CFL bulb myths February 26, 2011

Recently this email was sent around my library that started out like this … ” I turned it on the other day and then smelled smoke after a few minutes. Four inch flames were spewing out of the side of the ballast like a blow torch! I immediately turned off the lights. But I’m sure it would have caused a fire if I was not right there. Imagine if the kids had left the lights on as usual when they were not in the room. ….” As a librarian I know it is important to check your sources so I asked our university Sustainability Coordinator about these emails.  First, the email is false – it’s listed verbatim and debunked on Snopes.com (a great place to go to check out these type of email/urban myths). But he also shared some other information about CFLs:

“If one looks at the lifecycle analysis of CFLs versus incandescents, one sees that incandescents cause more mercury (almost 4X more) to be emitted into the environment over their lives than CFLs.  This is due to the mercury emitted during the electricity-generation process. (check out this Frequently Asked Questions Information on Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs) and Mercury pdf  from November 2010 for more information).  This doesn’t address what happens in a discrete (home) environment, however.  CFLs can be finicky – they should definitely not be used with dimmers unless they are SPECIFICALLY LABELED DIMMER-CAPABLE.  I’ve read mixed results about CFLs in can lights – if the temperature around the CFL is too high, it can burn out prematurely.”

And dealing with burned out CFL bulbs, find proper recycling and disposal location(EPA suggestions or search locally pm Earth911).  Home Depot stores offer receptacles for CFLs as often do Lowes. Some campuses now collect them as well.

 

- Thanks Trey for your advice and expertise!

Cool Recycling Center Idea July 26, 2010

Ohio University Libraries has this cool new recycle bin option in their library for users to recycle batteries, cell phones, printer ink cartridges and CFL bulbs. Have an old file cabinet lying around? Perhaps you can create one too?

-from OU Libraries Go Green! blog

Ways to use old books March 10, 2010

This web site from Online Colleges lists 80 awesomely,  creative ideas for reusing – instead of just discarding – old books. Ideas are categorize into:  around the house (yoga block or a book safe – cut hole in center), at work/school (pen holder or book shelf), decorating (a lamp or decoupage tabletop), reusing the pages (wrapping paper, mulch, kitty litter), for crafts (make a gift bag or greeting cards), for kids (leaf press or paper mache), for clothing/jewelry  (make a handbag or brooch) and more.

Thanks Alliance Library System’s Going Green Blog for their post that brought this site to my attention!

Recyclemania Winners July 17, 2009

Winners of 2009 Recyclemania have been announced. This year over 510 schools from all 50 states, DC and Canada participated and collectively recycled or composted over 69.4 million pounds of waste during the 10 week period. The top winners:

• Grand Champion: California State University, San Marcos
• Waste Minimization: North Lake College
• Stephen K Gaski Per Capita Classic: McNeese State University
• Gorilla Prize: Rutgers University
• Paper: Stephens College
• Corrugated Cardboard: McNeese State University
• Bottles & Cans: Kalamazoo College
• Food Service Organics:Bard College

What is recyclemania? A 10 week competition for schools and colleges ranking  the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita, or have the highest recycling rate.

Interested in joining for 2010? email alecc@nrc-recycle.org and type this in your subject heading: “2010 RecycleMania Updates – {your institution or organization name}”.  more information on planning, tools, ideas, etc can be found on their Web site.

Recycle books into furniture April 14, 2009

From inhabitat.com

Book shelf made from old books:

Old phone book coffee table:

Recycled Paper March 18, 2009

As we try and switch over to recycled paper in the library, many questions and issues arise. The cost – why is it more than virgin paper? What type of recycled paper do we want to buy?  And some people say that the recycled paper jams their printers.

Here are some answers I found exploring this recycled paper topic:

High cost? think economies of scale: virgin paper mills are well established while recycled paper mills are still developing on a smaller scale.  Also,  the gathering, refining, treating (in the most e-friendly way) to produce recycled paper costs more than just creating virgin paper. And recycled paper incorporates all its costs into the product (such as alternative to disposal) and is not rewarded fiscally for its significantly lower energy and water use. Virgin paper costs receive generous government timber, energy, and water subsidies and do not incorporate responsibility or costs for the product’s eventual disposal. And the consumerism factor – if more people buy it and there is more a market for the product, more competition in the market, and companies realize this is what people want (to pay for what they value) costs will eventually go down but in the end, you get what you pay for.

• Here is a good summary from Greening Princeton about their switch to recycled paper.
• Conservatree has some good guides to getting the right paper for your needs.
• The Green Office is a great place to look for greener office supplies like paper.
• HP even has a good article on using recycled paper.
• Another good article ” how well do you know recycled paper.”

Recycled paper jamming a problem? Some reasons why: a bad batch of paper, poor maintenance of copier machine, improper storage of paper (allowing moisture to affect sheets), improper handling of paper (not fanning paper out, not loading paper according to grain, not allowing paper to warm up (or cool down) to match the temperature of the copier room), the user must be sure to orient the curl of the paper in the correct direction; too much dust in a copier room can be a killer, etc.  (Info from the Federal Network of Sustainability)  Here are some other articles on this topic:  Recycled Paper The Best Choice | National Assoc of Paper Merchants | Green Purchasing at Yale

Recycled Book Art December 3, 2008

Before you get rid of an old childrens book try this idea and create a Literary Clock. The Instructables web site offers easy to follow steps with clear photos. Could be a fun holiday art project.

More Recycling… June 27, 2008

This blog I subscribe to How Can I Recycle This? is a great place to check out recycling ideas of all kinds: from gadgets (How can I reuse or recycle broken digital cameras & MP3 players? ) to art (How can I make a notebook out of recycled materials?) Have something odd at your library you want to discard – why not search their site and see what is suggested as a way to reuse or recycle it or add your own ideas.  If nothing else, it’s fun to see how creative people are!

Recycled Paper February 24, 2008

Check with your supplier to find out if you library is purchasing recycled office paper. (or, encourage your institution to find a more earth friendly paper supplier.)  Look for at least 30% of higher post-consumer when buying recycled paper. This means the original paper wasn’t recycled scrap from the mill but was actually used for something first and is now being recycled. Also check to make sure chlorine wasnt used in the process and that the original wood fiber was manufactured from sustainable growth.

New Leaf Paper is a company to check out for recycled office paper.