Tag Archives: Aluminum Cans


Recycling Tires

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Landfills are still home to countless pounds of waste. Our disposable society has taught us that we can throw anything away, wherever, whenever we want. Theories abound as to what will happen to all the garbage tossed aside—from causing global warming to Styrofoam cups still being around when the sun burns itself out—but the point of this article is just to say that huge piles of garbage stink, rot, and generally look ugly. While not in our lifetimes, eventually we will run out of space on this planet.

A look at a local landfill will reveal several common items: plastic bottles, glass jars, aluminum cans, tons and tons of paper products and tires. Orange County, California has a system in place to dispose of several items around the house that need to be disposed of in a proper way. These are items like batteries, household cleaners, cosmetics and medications. Orange County classifies them as “household hazardous waste” (HHW).

Items classified as HHW can’t simply be thrown away because if they end up in a landfill they could potentially contaminate groundwater with harmful ingredients. If those same HHWs end up in drains or sewers, from being poured into sinks or flushed down toilets, they could end up in the ocean in Orange County because the storm drains go directly to the ocean and the sewer systems contain beneficial bacteria that treat sewage, which some kinds of chemical household wastes could kill.

For instance, next time you change your oil here are some steps you can take. Remove and drain your oil filter for up to 24 hours. Place it in a plastic bag after it’s through draining. Drain the oil from your car into a plastic container. Secure these and take them to a certified used oil recycling center. Many auto or tire supply stores or service centers qualify to accept used motor oils and filters. In Orange County, call (714) 834-6752 or visit http://www.oclandfills.com/hhwcc.asp for more information.

Twenty-seven million tires end up in landfills every year, but that’s a lot less than could be. Still, 290 million tires are being deposed of each year in the country, so the other 263 million have to go somewhere! Usually, when you buy a new tire, the store takes your old one and recycles it. That rubber is ground up and used in a variety of applications, from synthetic turf fields to playground to gardening mulch.

Some things on the list of HHWs are kind of surprising: cosmetics, herbicides, glue, household cleaners, medicines, polishes and waxes. Many of us are probably guilty of throwing out some of these items. By making yourself more aware, perhaps fewer of these items can fill our landfills and take up valuable space.

Your House Can Be Earth Friendly

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Not long ago, I read something in the paper about some builders becoming earth friendly in how they put up buildings. Hence, going green is something we might all want to check out when we are at home. Also, I went to the coast recently and stayed at one of the Green Carmel hotels. I had thought about staying at one of the eco-friendly Carmel Inns. But either way, it caused me to start thinking more about the environment and what I can do. Few people can claim that they keep a ‘green’ dwelling. Actually, for a house to be totally eco friendly may take a significant outlay.

In terms of why we opt to go green, well, that will be dependent on people’s conditions. Since living green is based on a more naturally sourced lifestyle, it makes sense for families where anyone suffers from allergies. But living green can be a lot of hassle, so why do people continue to to do it? An eco friendly house can be an expensive option, so there is no economic profit in this. A good number of people go green because they are not keen about the thought that their dwelling has a great deal of chemical substances in it, more than houses used to. Poisonous gas emitted by vinyl linoleum is for sure not healthy or earth friendly. It is not simple to get linoleum by itself, which by itself does not release the gas. Toxic gas may be present in your home due to the way chemical substances are used to create items for the home. Try looking around, either in stores or online, for eco friendly goods to replace regular ones.

Of course, we can all recycle our rubbish and this is also beneficial to the environment. That’s things like bottles that are plastic, aluminum cans and newspapers. Based on where you live, there should be a lots of available resources on how to recycle your trash. Just buy a few containers to sort your aluminum, plastic and paper in and then throw them in recycling centres or with the special bags your council supplies you. It is possible to be more environmentally friendly if your dwelling needs to be dressed up. Some paints have volatile organic compounds, so you will want to look for ones that don’t contain VOCs. An eco friendly paint to use is latex paint as it doesn’t release any insidious chemicals.

If you would like to make your abode truly green, you’ll discover a good number of gadgets that can help you be more environmentally friendly. Mostly all of the large appliance manufacturers have some sort of earth friendly choice for you to choose from. With less water consumption, you can get an environmentally friendly dishwasher or automatic washer. We help the Earth and lower water costs in this fashion, and there is even the ability to do this with toilets also. Appliances including ovens can be made to work in a more green way. Star ratings suggest how earth friendly a household appliance is.

So while there may be some costs initially and inconvenience, the benefits of an eco friendly home can eventually be improved health and along with a healthier planet, your bills will begin to decline.

An Ocean Of Evidence That We Must Go Green

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Do you think about our one and only earth’s seas, plants and animals? Of course you do, and you are not alone. Anxious people far and wide concur we have an environmental debacle of epic proportions on our hands with the Gulf of Mexico. You may have heard word that the oil leak appears to be larger than formerly thought. Purdue University engineering teacher Steve Wereley, subsequent to evaluating BP’s congressionally required live video feed on the spill, estimates that around 100,000 barrels of oil are leaking from the floor of the sea each day. This conclusion adds to a laundry list of bad news about the worldwide environmental and economic front lately and it may be intimidating and down right infuriating to think about.

Hence what can we fix to assist? Many of us hold occupations and children we must adhere to. It’s not like we are able to presently dump everything and roll right down to the gulf to assist with a cleanup effort. Furthermore, many of us wouldn’t possess the first idea of how to assist with an oil leak clean up or possess the tools to create a huge impact. So how can we be an integral part of the solution?

We now have to stop thinking so big, and start small. It is modest options like riding our bike to the office and recycling our aluminum cans that’s what we ought to achieve to help. It stands for corporations also, massive stores like Whole Foods hand out recycled custom bags made of 85% recycled plastic water bottles, more businesses should learn from this example. For far too long our society has viewed issues such as recycling as “optional” and with total ignorance. We have an extremely short memory as a society. As outlined by Anne Casselman who wrote a piece concerning the Top 10 Largest Oil Spills in History at PopularMechanics.com, the Exxon Valdez leak in 1989 does not even make the list. Oil spills keep occurring everywhere in the earth frequently and we all pretend like it is a scarce occurrence and it’s not.

The reality is that oil will continue to be drilled as long as there is money to be made on it. Our culture’s viewpoint concerning alternative power and the green advance needs an instantaneous shift. But like I mentioned, we have got to begin small and easy! For instance, another intense eco subject is the large amounts of plastic which is being dispersed in the world, and this plastic is ending up in our oceans akin to the oil. You will be shocked if this is your initial time hearing about The enormous Pacific Garbage Patch, and as Oprah Winfrey documented last year, “it is estimated to be twice the scale of Texas.” While this huge rubbish pile consists of many types of floating trash and fragments, plastic is the biggest quandary as it never fully breaks down. So not only do we have oil leaks in to our oceans, we also have plastic and waste spills. As outlined by the Container Recycling Institute, 51.9 billion drink bottles have been used so far this year, as of late May. Eco friendly stainless steel water bottles are an ideal case in point of the sort of easy improvements we can make in our particular behavior and lifestyles to cut down on the large plastic bottle trash. Imagine the impact that may be made when the typical person chooses to use one stainless steel water bottle instead of a dozen plastic bottles, how much of a difference can that make alone? In the exact same method, we can avert environmental disasters through not driving gas guzzling inefficient vehicles and walking or taking public transportation instead, we as a nation can have a hold over demand by means of our personal choices.

We all care greatly concerning the vigor of our one and only environment, and at the moment we need to refocus our disgust for the tragedy in the Gulf into simple action and minor modifications in our life style. Whether it’s recycling your rubbish, bringing some eco friendly reusable bags with you to the grocery store or simply making your voice noticed when you catch sight of other people making harmful choices. Do not let the most recent news get you down, manifest a foresight for a healthy earth and do the correct thing, go green and be an eco friendly director in your area, minor improvements will boast a massive impact on Mother Earth.

Beer Cans From Beer Pong

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I have always loved to get together with friends, relax, and play some fun games. Recently, I had a couple roommates who are really big fans of the game of beer pong. Since I myself am also a big fan of the game, this was really exciting for me to hear. Our collective passion for the game has caused us to often go through hundreds and hundreds of beer cans per week, in what adds up to at least 2-3 tournaments. The game of beer pong is very simple. All you have to do is throw a ping pong from your side of a ping-pong table into one of the cups filled with beer on the opposite side. As soon as your opponent lands a ball into a cup on your side of the table, you have to drink the beer and remove the cup. You win if you make all the balls on your opponent’s side of the table before they make all the cup on your side. There are typically 6 or 10 cups. Not only is it a great game, as you can probably envision, you go through loads of beer, especially if you have lots of teams.

Probably due to the hassle and the upfront money necessary for kegs, most people who play beer pong get beer by the cans, typically in packs of 30. There is obviously a lot of “aluminum can consumption” involved with beer pong, which for a long time is something I had not considered enough. I always made an effort in my life to recycle aluminum cans, I remember going down to the local aluminum recycling company and getting paid cash for cans when I was a kid. But if I am to be really honest, I definitely missed out on some opportunities in recent years to make sure I am being eco friendly.

And so, it was refreshing and inspiring when I first saw my roommate’s Chris and John working so diligently on a daily and weekly basis to make sure that every single can used at our house is recycled. How many people do you know that go through hundreds of aluminum cans per week and recycle all of them? Furthermore, how many folks do you know that will proactively recycle on behalf of everyone else’s usage? I’ve seen Chris and John over at other people’s house’s making sure they are recycling, and if they are not, taking away their aluminum cans for them. There are sacrifices that come along with this habit, one being the gigantic pile of cans that accumulate in and around what once looked like a trash bin. Can crunching “sessions” can be pretty fun, especially if you round up some volunteers and put on some good tunes. The thing that really inspires me about my roommates is that they just don’t stop with cans. They honestly look to recycle everything they can possibly recycle in the house. Whether it be using rechargeable batteries or recycling glass and paper, they will find the most “green” way of doing something. Our community doesn’t really offer anything that makes it convenient or easy to recycle, but yet Chris and John make it a constant priority to “figure out a way”, regardless of circumstances.

My roommates are a great example of what it takes to live an Eco-Friendly lifestyle, and how people (like me) take notice and are inspired by their efforts to make a difference. In reality, it takes genuine efforts to be a true friend to this planet. This is not a game where you can sit in the stands and watch; you won’t make a difference if you merely “support” the green movement, it is not a spectator sport, you must take action. As an example, there’s the problem of moving the aluminum cans to the recycling center. And are we going to turn around and drive a fuel-inefficient vehicle there? Another thing to think about is the containers we use to transport the aluminum cans. If plastic bags or grocery bags are used in the process, we need to make sure we recycle these as well or else we might be negating our eco friendly progress. Things like recycled grocery bags, reusable water bottles and hybrid vehicles are remedies that will allow us to truly have an overall positive impact and not go “two steps forward, two steps back”.

The consistent, and deliberate action of real people like me and you is the only way the green movement will be able to sustain itself. To make positive and real changes in this world, it takes leaders like Chris and John who have the courage to actually live Green despite facing a wasteful and often careless society where “wasting” something that can be recycled becomes as common as apple pie. And we are talking about Beer Pong, which if you haven’t heard is an international phenomenon among the youth of the world, as is beer drinking in general. Young people notice what their friends are doing, and we all know how trendy young people can be. It is absolutely amazing to think about the amount of cans that we can save from being put into a landfill through recycling the cans used in beer pong!