Daily Loaf

Seeing as this Sunday is America Recycles Day, I’ve been in the recycling mood and racking my brain for different ways to do so. Then I stumbled upon something wonderful: cash (or swag) for recycling! We could all probably use some extra dough these days, and just for the act of recycling you can make a profit.

RecycleBank is a website where you can register to earn points toward gift certificates for food and other goods just by taking out your recycling every week. After registering, you receive a chip to be placed on your recycling bin. That chip is then scanned when the recycling is picked up and your items are weighed. The information then gets transmitted back to RecycleBank and you receive 2.5 points for every pound of items you recycled. You can earn up to 450 points per week and 5,400 per month. Those points can then be used to get certificates for items from over 1,500 participating businesses, like CVS, Chick-fil-a, Kraft, Kashi, Foot Locker, and Kohl’s. Points can even be redeemed for passes to museums and can be donated to organizations and charities like the Ocean Conservancy.
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We are told that we must recycle. So we put our cans, glass and plastics in our curbside bins. Or we collect our bits and drive them to the nearest recycling station. Maybe we even take old electronics to swap shops to keep the chemicals from leeching into the ground.

But what about the less obvious stuff? What about recycling our own hair?

Think about it. We’re always shedding it, and our heads always (sometimes) replenish it. If it doesn’t get tossed in the waste bin, it gets washed down the shower drain where it creates an icky clog that the eeeevil commercials tell us we need to use chemicals to unclog. So save your hair (and your drain pipes) and try some fun ways to keep using it.

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This Sunday marks the 12th anniversary of America Recycles Day, a nationally recognized day dedicated to recycling and purchasing recycled and repurposed items.

America Recycles Day is working in partnership with Keep America Beautiful and the National Recycling Coalition to support local communities and raises awareness by educating citizens about the benefits of recycling. The ARC website states: “The purpose of America Recycles Day is to continue to promote the social, environmental and economic benefits of recycling and encourage more people to join the movement toward creating a better natural environment.”

What can you do? First of all, if you don’t already recycle on a regular basis, this Sunday would be a great day to start doing so. Maybe you could make every Sunday your official recycling day (if you don’t receive the pick up service in your neighborhood).
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The local elections will be decided Tuesday night, but voting for the City of Largo Recycled Innovations Contest has just begun.  This online contest encouraged innovators of all ages to make a use-able items with the contents of their trash can.

Eligible recycled innovations range from kitty litter box hanging gardens to baby food container space savers and more. The innovators went beyond traditional recycling and re-purposed their trash into items that may be reused for daily activities.

Contestants will vie for innovative prizes such a solar/wind powered charges for cell phones, MP3 players and other electronics, environmental board games, and learning toys to name a few.  Prizes will be awarded to the greatest innovators in various age categories: Junior Innovators, Tween Innovators, and MacGyvers.
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Nestlé Waters North America announced it has teamed up with Keep America Beautiful to provide $10,000 “Recycle On The Go” grants to 12 Keep America Beautiful affiliates, including Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful. These efforts are being done in hopes of encouraging and empowering local communities, like Hillsborough County, to make away-from-home recycling more convenient.

Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful was selected from over 55 other KAB affiliates for its “innovative proposal to tackle public space recycling at four major Hillsborough County park facilities. Between tournaments, sports leagues, and every day use, these locations each see approximately 75,000 residents and visitors per year. The sites chosen to start this campaign are Northdale Park, Shimberg Park, Ed Raddice Sports Complex and Lake Park. The bins, provided by Conex Recycling, collect plastics 1-7, aluminum and tin.”
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Halloween has and always will be one of my favorite holidays. It is the one day of the year that you can actually walk out of your house wearing just about anything and you get a ‘free pass’ on weird or strange looks from neighbors. Hey, anything goes on this day, right?  Not to mention the candy – oh, the candy.

So how can one ‘green‘ up the holiday a bit and teach the neighborhood kids a good lesson about recycling and reducing trash? The famous candy aspect that the kids know and love is a start. Realistically, it is hard to give out any fresh made organic goodies as it has long been taboo to do such a thing with rumors of poisoned candy and the like that has been circling for generations. So, instead, hand out pre-packaged organic candy like the ones found at endangered species chocolate.  Then use a pillow case to hand out the candy, it looks funky and scary and limits the use of the regular plastic containers. The kids will happily be surprised to try something new and tasty that is also better for the environment.
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The non-profit organization Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful has been recognized for their green efforts by the national nonprofit organization Keep America Beautiful, Inc. as part of a nationwide effort sponsored by Waste Management that encourages local solutions to improving community environments.

KHCB received a $10,000 cash grant for being one of 15 winners nationwide (out of 575 entries from other KAB affiliates) in a competition to present proposals for ambitious projects representing a wide array of stewardship, community outreach and educational projects.
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Eco-adventurer David de Rothschild plans to sail 11,000 miles from San Francisco to Sydney by way of the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch on his 60-foot catamaran called the Plastiki.  That in itself is a big deal, however the amazing thing is that the catamaran is made of used two-liter plastic bottles!  “Our philosophy of throwing everything away has to change,” says de Rothschild. “I want to use the Plastiki as a platform to help people think of waste as a resource.” Read the rest of this entry »

What’s the buzz on the latest issues in the Green Community? Check out what you may have missed this last week:

St. Petersburg College’s new Natural Science, Mathematics and College of Education building is certified LEED® Gold- St. Petersburg College recently announced that for the second time in as many months, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has awarded LEED Gold certification for one of its new campus buildings.

Best of the Bay of the Day: Best organic smoothie- Believe it or not, algae and bee pollen add up to a delicious drink called the Spirulina Power Buzz. Read this to find out where to get one.

Tips to improve gas mileage (and save some green)- Do you have a lead foot or drive an inefficient automobile?  Here are a few simple tips to improve gas mileage and save a bunch of green!

Living Sustainably in Tampa Bay: Darren Brinkley, owner of REAL Building- Brinkley is the owner of REAL Building and home that he built for his family in St. Petersburg is the first home in Florida to achieve the LEED for Homes Gold Rating.
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This column is the second in a series of profiles of people who do their part to live more sustainably in Tampa Bay.

Darren Brinkley doesn’t pretend to be the most environmentally responsible person in the world or the Tampa Bay area. He just feels that he is trying to do his part to preserve the world around him.

Brinkley is the owner of REAL Building, which stands for ‘Responsible, Efficient, Attainable, and Livable Building’. REAL Building only builds green homes, unlike many other companies that will build green only if the client dictates it. 

“We don’t build anything that isn’t green,” Brinkley proclaimed. “We have now mandated some form of rainwater and/or greywater and solar water heaters on all our residential projects.”

“We are constantly searching for new and innovative ideas and going the extra mile to bring them to our market, even if it means rocking the boat with a few building officials along the way,” added Brinkley. 
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What’s the buzz on the latest issues in the Green Community? Check out what you may have missed this last week:

Celebrating Independence Day or creating environmental disaster? – Kelly Rothwell looks at the littered aftermath of Fourth of July celebrations and wonder why, instead of giving back in celebration of their freedom, people decide to light off fireworks, leaving mass amounts of debris in the water and on the beach.

Local Food: Dinner in, and from, the garden at Gateway Organic Farm – Chef Gui Alinat gives information about Gateway Organic Farm’s next “Dinner in the Garden” event, an incredible local foods experience featuring nine Bay area chefs.

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Consider the thousands of events that take place in the Tampa Bay area, from the smallest to the largest, from the neighborhood Tupperware party to the Super Bowl. If there is a somewhat forgotten landscape for green, event management could be it.

Furthermore, the impact that could be gained locally would be enormous (of course depending upon how many people are engaged) and to take steps toward sustainable event management, whether it is your occupation or your hobby, is very easy if given the right direction.
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What the heck is “green lodging”? That might be the first question someone asks when clicking on this post. In a nutshell, green lodging are hotels that are making a conscious effort to lower their water and energy uses, reducing waste and promoting various other green efforts that work specifically for their hotel. Some of the ways of doing this include introducing and encouraging recycling programs of traditional items (plastic, paper, etc.) and of towels and sheets, installing energy efficient lightning, and promoting contributions back to their local communities.

The Florida Green Lodging program, established in 2004, has set forth a set of guidelines for hotels that are interested in becoming more eco-friendly. On their website, they give eight steps to becoming a designated property with their organization, like creating a “green team” with employees at the property and creating a leader to oversee all of the changes that the hotel will make. They find it especially important to educate the staff about the importance of conservation. Read the rest of this entry »

With cell phone providers trying to one-up each other anyway they can these days, it seems Sprint has taken a higher road of one upping by launching a new green line of products and also an additional green website in conjunction with their traditional website. (All jokes aside, Sprint has been promoting cell phone recycling for eight years now.)

So what kind of funky new gadgets can we be expecting? One of the highly anticipated products that is generating buzz in the green scene is the new Sprint Solio Mono Hybrid charger which allows a user to recharge a battery from solar energy as well as through a wall unit. Read the rest of this entry »

St. Petersburg, charming and picturesque as the city is, has suffered one consistant complaint from its residents: the lack of a city curbside recycling program. I’ve even made this complaint from myself, finding it odd that North Pinellas would have curbside recycling, while a more progressive and environmentally aware area of the same county would not.

Under the watch of Mayor Rick Baker, St. Petersburg became the first “green city” in Florida, and once the example was set, many other Sunshine State cities followed (often encouraged by Mayor Baker himself). The Mayor even drives a hybrid car, so the lack of curbside recycling is not through a lack of consideration for the environment, inconsistent as that seems at the surface.

I knew there had to be a logical explanation for it, though. Surely Mayor Baker must have a reason for not implementing such a program, especially with so many voter’s voices in favor of it, so when I had a chance to talk to the man, it was one of the first questions I asked him.

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Ok, I’ve been really, really good.  I’ve played the fatty food deprivation game, I’ve exercised four times a week, drank a gallon of water a day — the whole nine. I’ve even displayed my loyalty to the Green club at the gym by bringing the same plastic bottle of frozen water every day instead of buying a new one. And just as I lay my hand outstretched awaiting the issuance of my Green card, I discovered how toxic water bottles can be.

Who really knows what those symbols on the bottom of our water bottles really mean? I didn’t know, I didn’t want to know- until a considerate e-mail from my mom-in-law informed me of how important it is to keep an eye out for the following numbers:

A possible carcinogen.  Found in cooking bottles and clear food packaging, number 3 plastics may release toxins into your food and drinks.  The risk is heightened when these containers are put through the dishwater, heated up, or frozen.

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Hewlett Packard is joining the green race even a step further by offering hard earned cash for all of your old computer products including monitors, keyboards, and even printers and smartphones. To entice consumers even further, they offer a buyback quote directly on their website to see how much green you will actually get back in return for your aging products instead of calling around or emailing the company, i.e. wasting your time.

Discouraged that your ten year old broken keyboard isn’t worth a dime anymore? Don’t worry! HP also offers free recycling for HP and Compaq products. For other non-HP and Compaq products, there is only a small fee. There is still hope for that old keyboard yet!

Still have a few more questions? Check out the frequently asked questions section of their website and get your free quote today! Why not make a little extra money for something that you planned on getting rid of anyways? It is smart for the environment and for your wallet. What could be better than that?

The Tampa Bay Derby Darlins have always been known for their super athleticism, rough and tough exterior, and bringing fun to the sport of skating in Tampa. Even though you don’t want to necessarily meet these girls in a dark alley, you can better believe when it comes to taking care of the environment, they are just as passionate as when they are on the rink.

With the onset of the new Green Committee established in the league by members Lunch Lady and Ninja Monkey, the girls are grouping together to bring recycling bins to their home games, planting trees to offset their travel cost emissions, and obtaining volunteers for green efforts such as the Great American Clean Up in Tampa. They are setting a good example for local sports leagues across the nation to do their part for the environment with a few fun and simple ideas. All of the girls are very excited to participate in the national effort to save the environment and hope that their example will stick with a few of their fans and fellow sports leagues alike. Read the rest of this entry »

We already know recycling helps reduce waste and prevents good materials from ending up in a landfill. It’s what we don’t know that can make recycling frustrating, inefficient, and more costly. Let’s make it easier and make recycling more viable in the process.

To all the recyclers out there, I applaud your efforts. You already take an extra bit of time to separate your paper, plastic, metal, and glass refuse from the rest of the trash so it can be reclaimed and reused as something else. But beyond the water bottles and soda cans, remembering what else gets recycled and in what condition your recycling facility expects it can get a little overwhelming. Plastics can be especially dubious due to the wide variety of plastic types. Even if you get that sorted out, you might be left wondering what to do with the unmarked bottle caps. Cardboard is a paper product, right? Can it go in the recycling bin?

Here’s how you can make it easier for yourself (and anyone else you’d encourage to recycle). The internet is a wonderful tool for finding the specifics of your local recycling services, everything from costs, pick-up times, and most importantly, what goes in the bin!  Residents of Tampa should already have curbside recycling at their residence.  Luckily, the recycling business has gotten a lot better at handling all the materials since I first started recycling, so there’s no need to sort by material any more. You can just toss all your recyclables into your blue bin and place it on the curb where the recycling truck driver will be able to see it. And, thanks to someone thoughtful at the Department of Solid Waste, they’ve gone ahead and created a PDF you can print out and hang near your recycling container inside. For most items you can look at the print-out and know what goes in and what doesn’t. For any lingering questions, there’s a page of FAQs with the details.

Some quick recycling tips for Tampa residents to remember: Read the rest of this entry »

People know all about recycling everyday items, right? Glass bottles, aluminum cans, newspaper, steel cans (where accepted), plastic bottles — these are pretty simple things to keep track of. How about those items you use every day but don’t really think about chucking until they’re dead? Television sets, DVD players and computers are all items we pretty much use on a daily basis, but when they stop working or you’re hankering for an upgrade, what should you do with them?

No matter what, do not throw them in the regular trash. Many of those circuit boards probably have lead or cadmium on them. (Sure, it could be zinc, copper, or something else less nasty, but do you really want to risk it?) When such elements aren’t disposed of properly or reused in a safe way, they can leach into the ground and cause all sorts of problems to the soil and water table. When life depends on water and a clean aquifer, this resonates with everyone who lives in Florida.

But fear not, intrepid recyclers! There are spots throughout the Tampa Bay area just itching to take in your old electronics, grind them up into their separate components, and redistribute the metals and chemicals as they can: Read the rest of this entry »

Alex Pickett’s latest report on the St. Pete City Council got me thinking. If the city’s so worried about panhandlers and emissions caused by recycling trucks, why not lobby the state legislature for a bottle bill?

The town I spent the bulk of my college days in, East Lansing, also has a sizable homeless population — but panhandling never really seemed to be an issue there. Why? Because, in Michigan, you get ten cents back for every bottle or can you drop off at a recycling center. College students tend to throw away a shitload of alcohol containers, so that leads to a nice little symbiotic arrangement: Instead of having to beg for change, the homeless can earn it by taking care of a largely unwanted chore. Quid pro quo. Read the rest of this entry »