7 WAYS … TO AVOID BUYING NEW STUFF

Buying something new requires the extraction and destruction of a lot of resources, not to mention the destruction of our environment in extracting, hauling, manufacturing, packaging and shipping the item.

So if we want to avoid buying new things, what should we do if we need something? After all, there are always times when we feel we need something — not just want or desire, but need it for a real purpose. We might need new clothes, or books, or a bike so we can cut back on using a car.

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Putting Compassion in Fashion

It’s time to start wading through that wardrobe, gathering up your once-loved fashion items, donating them to an organization who gives to those who need it. 2010 is the year of compassionate fashion.

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Creativity Calls: The Art of Green

The art of going green is as simple as rethinking the every day things we do (often without thinking). While many have the recycling basics down to a fine art, now it’s all about taking it to the next level for the sake of the environment and your wallet.

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7 WAYS … TO HEAL THE EARTH

1.    Start with you. While scientists once believed we were separate from everything else on earth, we now know that couldn’t be further from the truth. We human beings are made up of the same stuff that makes up the stars we gaze at, the grass we walk on and the very food we eat. Spiritual teacher Deepak Chopra says it best: “At some point in our lives, the realization dawns upon us that freedom does not come from external situations or circumstance. All of creation, everything that exists in the physical world, is the result of the unmanifest transforming itself into the manifest. Everything that we behold comes from the unknown. Our physical body, the physical universe — anything and everything that we can perceive through our senses — is the transformation of the unmanifest, unknown and invisible into the manifest, known and visible. The physical universe is nothing other than the self curving back within itself as spirit, mind and physical matter.” Read more

Turning Old Into New

Reusing commonly tossed items is not only a great way to save on cash, it’s a great way to be green.

Reuse can help reduce waste disposal and handling costs, because it avoids the costs of recycling, municipal composting, land filling, and combustion. The Environmental Protection Agency also officially gives reuse the thumbs up.

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First Sofa Recycling Partnership Program Launched

Friday (June 5) marked the 37th annual World Environment Day, a day originally established by the UN General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. This year’s theme was “Your Planet Needs You–UNite to Combat Climate Change,” and emphasized the urgency for nations to unite.

To commemorate the event in Los Angeles, Environment Furniture (www.environment-furniture.com) and Goodwill Industries (www.goodwill.org) partnered to launch the Exchange for Change Project (EFC).  With recycling as a core business principle for both companies, the project encourages consumers to donate their old sofa to Goodwill and in return receive a 25% discount on a new, sustainable Environment sofa made with reclaimed canvas or natural linen. Normal tax-deductions also apply.

Upon its success in Los Angeles, the EFC project may roll out nationwide in the near future.  Find out more at Environment Furniture, 8126 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90048. Tel: 323-782-0296, Mon-Sat 10-7; Sun 11-6.

Yes, You Can Recycle Your Mattress

How can I recycle my old mattress if the place I buy a new one from doesn’t take it? What do mattress companies do with old mattresses when they do take them? Do they recycle any of the material? – J. Belli, Bridgeport, CT, USA

A typical mattress is a 23 cubic foot assembly of steel, wood, cotton and polyurethane foam. Given this wide range of materials, mattresses have typically been difficult to recycle—and still most municipal recycling facilities won’t offer to do it for you. But along with increasing public concerns about the environment—and a greater desire to recycle everything we can—has come a handful of private companies and nonprofit groups that want to make sure your old bed doesn’t end up in a landfill.

In the United States, the Lane County, Oregon chapter of the charity St. Vincent de Paul Society, for example, has spearheaded one of the nation’s most successful mattress recycling initiatives via its DR3 (“Divert, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”) program. “Keeping [mattresses] out of landfills is a matter of efficiently recycling them so their core materials can be reincarnated into any number of new products,” reports the group, which opened a large mattress recycling center in Oakland, California in 2001. (Why hundreds of miles away in Oakland? To “go where the mattresses are,” says Chance Fitzpatrick of the group.) The facility has been processing upwards of 300 mattresses and box springs per week ever since.

During the recycling process, each mattress or box spring is pushed onto a conveyor belt, where specially designed saws cut away soft materials on the top and bottom, separating the polyurethane foam and cotton fiber from the framework. The metal pieces are magnetically removed, and the remaining fiber materials are then shredded and baled. The whole process takes one worker just three to four minutes per mattress.

On a slow day, the DR3 facility recycles some 1,500 pounds of polyurethane foam, which totals a half million or more pounds over the course of a year. “A well-oiled recycling factory can reuse 90 percent of the mattress,” reports Josh Peterson of Discovery’s Planet Green website. “The cotton and cloth get turned into clothes. The springs and the foam get recycled, and the wood gets turned into chips.”

While the DR3 facility only takes mattresses from a small group of waste haulers and individuals around the San Francisco Bay Area, other mattress recyclers are popping up around the U.S. and beyond. Some examples include Nine Lives Mattress Recycling in Pamplico, South Carolina; Conigliaro Industries in Framingham, Massachusetts; MattCanada in Montreal, Québec; and Dreamsafe in Moorabbin, Australia. To find a mattress recycler near you, consult the free online database at Earth911.org.

Those who aren’t near a recycling facility might consider giving their old mattress away. But many health departments prohibit donating mattresses to charities like the Salvation Army or Goodwill. So what’s an upgraded sleeper with a perfectly good old mattress to do? The web-based Freecycle Network allows people to post stuff to give away to anyone willing to come pick it up; likewise, chances are your local version of Craigslist also has a “free” section where you can post that it as available.

CONTACTS: DR3 Mattress Recycling, www.svdp.us/dr3-mattress-recycling.php5; Nine Lives Mattress Recycling, www.geocities.com/ninelives29577; Conigliaro Industries, www.conigliaro.com; MattCanada, www.mattcanada.com; Dreamsafe, www.dreamsafe.com.au; Freecycle Network, www.freecycle.org.

EarthTalkTM
From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine
SEND YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTIONS TO: EarthTalk, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; earthtalk@emagazine.com. 

Patti Penn, Reiki Master

They say one good deed leads to another. The Dove Project is a series of questions, passed on, by each interviewee, to the person they believe is doing their part to ensure a greener, healthier future, through action and inspiration. Join us as we share earth-loving information courtesy of those who have taken it upon themselves to believe, through action and leading by example, that one person can truly make a difference. Tree by Nick Radford

Name: Patti Penn
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Profession: Reiki Master
Website: www.reiki-eft.com

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From Votes to Totes

Who said print is dead? Greenwithenvy.com is recycling and making a statement with Obama newspaper totes.

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