I guess they used to just expect you to throw away the paper and rubber band (committing a major sin against Mother Earth), but they have seen the light and are now reusing them.

Anyhoo, it’ll be good to see more and more business start finding ways to both help the environment AND save money. A hearty kudos to the Garner Southeast Library.

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I figured it’d be one of those gimmicky “Go Green!” products whose only claim to “greenness” is its actual color. Imagine, if you will, my surprise when I saw that 40% of its surface is made from recycled rubber. Now sure, that’s not 100%, but that’s almost half of the surface that’s made of recycled rubber! Crazy.

While it’s not quite as eco-friendly (or cheap) as buying a used basketball (or just finding one in a creek), it’s a good start. I hope to try one out soon; if it passes my reverse jam test, then it’s good enough for me.

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A little while ago, I had the good fortune to talk with Aaron Vronko, the CEO of RapidRepair, and ask him a few questions. For your 411, RapidRepair buys your broken small electronics and uses their parts to repair other people’s gadgets. A prime example of a business that helps the environment while also making money. But let’s get on with this here entrevista…

Joe (Me): So, what does your company repair?

Aaron Vronko: Ipods, iphones, zune, mp3 players, handheld game consoles.

J: I heard you guys do electronics recycling; do people send in or come in in person?
AV: We get lots of walk-in business, but mainly people send in what they need to be repaired.

J: How fast do you guys fix most things?
AV: Our diagnostic process is free. We average about 1 day for diagnostics, then 1 day for repairs, so even if you mail your device in, you can get it back that same week.

J: How long have you been doing electronics recycling?
AV: We started our repair business 5 years ago, but didn’t recycle then. We didn’t throw away old stuff, just kept it around since it was all small electronics that didn’t take up much space. Then about 3 years ago we started recycling old stuff that we couldn’t use.

J: How much of what people bring in can you actually use?
AV: Very damaged items get recycled. We’ve used a couple different recycling companies, and usually have to call them just once a year. We don’t get any money for plastics or aluminum or batteries, but we do get a very small amount for a pound of boards.

J: Do y’all have any plans on expanding and opening new stores?
AV: We’ve looked at it, but we’re pretty comfortable. Our operations are basically at the center of country [Kalamazoo, Michigan], so it’s pretty fast to mail stuff to and from us.

J: What’s the biggest way that your company saves material from landfills?
AV: We use old parts to repair electronics. We take in old damaged devices and use them to make refurbished devices. Last year we saved 10,000 pounds of small electronics waste saved from landfill. These were small electronics, so 10,000 pounds represents a lot of iPods and Zunes. We just added consoles this year so the amount of waste saved this year will go up dramatically.

J: Last question: how many iPods do you yourself own?
AV: I actually don’t own any. I have an iPhone, and sometimes use that to play music. But even if I didn’t have the iPhone, I wouldn’t have an iPod.

I hope you enjoyed that interview. I know I did. The only question I forgot to ask was if I could have a free iPod. Dang! Anyhoo, if you need your iPod or Zune repaired (or want to sell your old or broken one), check out RapidRepair.

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First, you gots to make your paper frame. Use some leftover wood and make a rectangle; whatever size this frame is is the size your homemade paper shall be.

Staple some old window screen across the frame, stretching it tightly. There, your frame be done. Now you’re ready to make you some homemade paper, hot dang!

First, get a bunch of scrap paper (some call it scratch paper, whatever floats your boat). Also, feel free to add some of the following:

• newspaper
• lint
• toilet paper (gently used)….. just kidding on that one!!
• paper bags

Remember, whatever you put in will affect the color and texture of your finished paper, so for the love of Pete, be careful in selecting your ingredients for your homemade paper.

Tear up the paper into lil’ pieces.

Put the torn-up paper into a blender, filling it about halfway. Fill the rest of the blender with warm water.

Blend the mess out of that paper, starting with short burts, and finishing with a 20-second blend that purees the paper into a pulpy soup.

Do this about three times, each time pouring the blended paper soup into a basin or tote.

Afterward, put in some more warm water, filling the basin about halfway. Add about two tablespoons of corn starch, too.

Stir the pulp around, then dip your wood frame into the pulp all the way to the bottom. Slowly raise it up, keeping it level. Your screen should be covered with pulp now.

Let it dry somewhere. Once the frame stops dripping, sort of peel the paper around the edges.

Next, gently peel the very wet paper away from the frame. Slap that bad boy on some felt. Fun fact: I got my felt for 20 cents, and it’s made from recycled plastic. Ta-dow.

Use a sponge and try to squish excess water out. Once you’ve done that, let it dry on the felt.

Let all the paper completely dry on the felt or some newspaper.

Voila, recycling old useless paper into new homemade paper is just that easy. If you want to get fancy (and these days, who doesn’t?), try embedding some crazy mess in your paper (feathers, leaves, pictures cut out of a newspaper). Your friends will be TOO jealous of your customized paper, maybe even jealous enough… to kill?

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But I digress. When these CFL bulbs eventually die, you can’t just throw them away, since they have some mercury in them. You have to take them to special CFL bulb collection places. I had to do this recently, and found these easy places to safely get rid o’ CFLs.

* Call your garbage service and ask them
* IKEA
* Home Depot
* If all those fail, check out Earth911, they should be able to help.

Good luck recycling them CFLs. Truly, you are on the path to being an eco-hero.

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Good ol’ Nike has set up a shoe recycling program, wherein you turn in your old shoes and they ship them to a processing plant. At the plant, they separate the old shoes into 3 different materials (rubber, foam, and plastic) and grind them up. They’ve recycled more than 21 million pairs of shoes since 1990!

Once they’re ground up, they can be turned into running tracks, new shoes, basketball courts, or even new clothes. That’s a lot better than just throwing away your old shoes to just sit in a landfill for centuries. So take a look around your house, find some old sneakers, find the nearest dropoff location, and recycle your old shoes.

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Dang, I just found out about a company in England called GreenWorks that sounds great. What happens is people or companies can donate old office or school furniture (desks, chairs, tables) and GreenWorks will fix them up.

Once the used-but-looking-like-new furniture is ready, it will either be sold (cheaply) to offices or charities (for a discount), or donated to an “orphanage in Romania and a range of NGO projects in Benin, Gambia and Ghana”.

So if you live in England and are thinking about getting rid of some used office furniture, por favor donate it to them. You’ll be happy knowing that your old furniture didn’t go to a landfill, and is being reused somewhere by some people who need it.

Also, does anyone know if something like GreenWorks exists in the U.S.? Dígame, because if not, I might have to start a company like this meself (since I am already an “expert” on recycling household junk into useful mess).

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But I digress. I now present to you, courtesy of Earthship.net, “Earthships 101″.

Earthships 101: Part One:

Earthships 101: Part Deux

:


Dang I want one.

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Anyhoo, last week, mi jefe wondered aloud why Cup A Joe uses styrofoam cups instead of paper. I was like dang, I don’t know. So I wrote them an email asking if they’d considered using paper cups, and asking how they could use styrofoam cups when they knew it made Captain Planet weep green tears. I got a quick reply which showed that they had indeed thought of “green” issues when making their business decisions:

Paper Cups Cause More Trash than Styrofoam Cups

It turns out that when Cup A Joe used paper cups, “almost 100% of [their] customers demand[ed] the added cardboard sleeve”, which the styrofoam cups do not require.

Also as well additionally, it turns out styrofoam is an excellent material for recycling. Here’s what Cup A Joe had to say: “We recycle a large percentage of the cups. Many customers return their used cups for that purpose. It is a small expense for us, but worth it.”

Paper Cups Don’t Biodegrade

Well, they do eventually (as does anything, eventually), but it takes much more time than I’d thought for a paper cup to biodegrade. The gubmint says, “Modern landfills are designed to inhibit degradation so that toxic wastes do not seep into the surrounding soil and groundwater. The paper cup will still be a paper cup 20 years from now.”

Paper Cups Use More Raw Materials and Energy Than Styrofoam (And Cost More)

This was a surprise to me.

“A study by Canadian scientist Martin Hocking shows that making a paper cup uses as much petroleum or natural gas as a polystyrene cup. Plus, the paper cup uses wood pulp. The Canadian study said, ‘The paper cup consumes 12 times as much steam, 36 times as much electricity, and twice as much cooling water as the plastic cup.’ And because the paper cup uses more raw materials and energy, it also costs 2.5 times more than the plastic cup.”

Reusable Cups Are Teh Way To Go

Final thoughts from Cup A Joe:

“Finally, we have always tried to provide an atmosphere and a level of service that sort of induces folks to sit down and enjoy their coffee in our shops. My guess is that we do more ‘eat-in’ business than all of the Starbucks in Raleigh put together. This sort of business means our people have to hustle to keep up with washing dishes, but also that neither paper, nor cardboard, not styro is needed to consume the coffee. Anyway, hope this helps. And thanks for asking. Frankly, we are surprised that more people don’t ask.”

There you have it. A good eco-friendly reason to (if you must use disposable cups) use styrofoam cups instead of paper cups. It sounded crazy to me at first, but after reading about it, I realized it was crazy like a fox.

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Kick an Extra Point with Online Invitations!

Instead of throwing a desperate Hail Mary of paper invitations to people to your Super Bowl party, throw a quick shovel pass of an online invitation (much higher completion rate), through email or Facebook or what have you. This will cut down on paper waste, as well as speed up how soon they receive your invitation.

Don’t Let Your Environment get Sacked by a Blitz of Trash!

• Don’t use disposable plates/cups/forks/chop sticks. Serve people with reusable plates and cups.
• Recycle any bottles or cans that there be. Make sure people know about this, so they don’t just automatically toss their can into the trash.
• Decorate with reusable decorations. That way you can use them each year to bring joy to people, instead of having them sit in a landfill.

Choose First-String Food!

The Super Bowl is for all the marbles; don’t let the benchwarmer food into this game!

• Serve local food. Check your local farmer’s market or local food store.
• Avoid food with way too much packaging. Go for the food that’s naked and ready!
• If you want, serve vegetarian food. It takes a lot less energy to get a pound of vegetables than a pound of meat. Plus, it’s healthier!

Warning: Green Super Bowl Tips for Eco Pro-Bowlers

• Don’t watch the Super Bowl on an energy-sucking TV; listen to it on a low-watt radio, or better yet, just ask people the next day who won.
• Don’t buy any food. Instead, at halftime, go outside to forage in your yard/woods for any edible roots or grubs.
• Power of imagination. Set your brain lose, and just imagine the entire Super Bowl. Anything can happen! Another “wardrobe malfunction”! A crazy 4th quarter comeback! Streakers running all over the field! That player you hate gets injured!

Hopefully, this playbook of how to have a green Super Bowl party has got you fired up and ready to give 110%. Remember, when it comes to helping out the environment (and saving you some money), EcoJoes is ready to take the handoff and score a touchdown! (or else fumble miserably as the crowd boos)

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