Greenversations

As the end of summer approaches, I find myself not basking out in the sun, but preparing for the school year. While most of the nation’s children head back to school in September, in our neck of the woods school starts in August. With four school age kids in our household, the list of needed school items is quite extensive. This year I decided to get ahead of the game. With some careful planning, we are greening our way back to school.

As with previous years, the girls will be wearing hand-me-down uniforms. I usually buy one new uniform a year for one of my daughters and the rest are traded with a colleague whose daughter goes to the same school. A pair of shoes will be refurbished for one of the girls.

This year I decided to look first for the required school supplies at home instead of hitting the mall. So far, my eldest daughter’s backpack will be reused and our youngest daughter will use her older sister’s rolling backpack from the year before last. One quick cleaning was all it took to make it look brand new. Pens, pencils, rulers, staplers and binders, among others are being reused from last year. I was surprised to learn that six billion pens are thrown away every year!

Since books are another big ticket item in the “back to school” budget, I buy them from online retailers that specialize in used books. Only updated editions of specific books and workbooks are being bought new.

Furthermore, I have decided that all new items we purchase this season will be made from recycled or sustainable sources.

Here are some brief pointers to make your back to school a green one:

• Take inventory before going to the stores–this will save you time and money and it will be good to our Earth.
• Buy quality materials when available, (i.e. backpacks, shoes, etc.) to ensure durability.
• Refillable pens and pencils are a small change with a large impact. Fourteen billion pencils are manufactured every year, some from ancient trees.
• Reuse everything that remains in good condition. Limit disposable supplies.
• Make your kids a greener, waste-free lunch.
• Use recycled paper to protect our trees and cut down on waste.

About the author: Brenda Reyes Tomassini joined EPA in 2002. She is a public affairs specialist in the San Juan, Puerto Rico office and also handles community relations for the Caribbean Environmental Protection Division.

Ya se acerca el fin del verano y en vez de estar disfrutando el tiempo que me queda, me estoy preparando para el regreso a clases. Aunque en Estados Unidos muchos niños regresan a la escuela en septiembre, acá en Puerto Rico nuestros chicos comienzan clases en agosto. Con cuatro niños en edad escolar asistiendo a una escuela privada, no es difícil imaginar que nuestra lista de materiales escolares es extensa. Sin embargo este año decidí organizarme para hacer de este un regreso a la escuela más verde.

Como en años anteriores las niñas utilizarán uniformes usados. Generalmente les compro un uniforme nuevo y el resto los intercambio con una colega cuya hija asiste a la misma escuela. Un par de zapatos recibirá suelas nuevas, evitando así la compra de un par nuevo para mi hija mayor.

En vez de salir a comprar los útiles escolares comencé revisando las cosas que tenía en casa. Mi hija menor reutilizará el bulto que su hermana mayor no utiliza desde el año antepasado y la mayor el que le compré el año pasado. Con una lavada ambos lucen nuevos. Algunos lápices, bolígrafos, grapadoras y carpetas del año anterior se volverán a usar. Me sorprende saber que en el mundo 6 mil millones de bolígrafos terminan en la basura cada año!

Los libros son los artículos de mayor valor en nuestro presupuesto de vuelta a clases por tal razón los decidí adquirir, en su gran mayoría, de varios sitios electrónicos que se especializan en libros usados. Sólo adquirí nuevos aquellos de nueva edición y los cuadernos de trabajo.

Los artículos nuevos que me faltan por adquirir para este año escolar serán reciclados o de fuentes sustentables.

Adjunto una breve lista para hacer de su vuelta a clases una más verde:

• Tome inventario antes de salir a compara–esto le ahorrará no solo tiempo y dinero, sino que ayudará al Planeta
• Compre la mejor calidad que pueda para asegurarse que los artículos le duren (zapatos, bultos, uniformes)
• Los lápices y bolígrafos con reemplazo son un cambio pequeño de gran impacto. En el mundo se manufacturan 14 mil millones de lápices, algunos de árboles centenarios
• Reutilice todo lo que este en buen estado. Limite los útiles desechables.
• Prepare a sus niños una merienda verde, libre de envases desechables.
• Utilice papel reciclado para evitar desperdicios y proteger árboles

Sobre la autor: Brenda Reyes Tomassini se unió a la EPA en el 2002. Labora como especialista de relaciones públicas en la oficina de EPA en San Juan, Puerto Rico donde también maneja asuntos comunitarios para la División de Protección Ambiental del Caribe.

For years we have heard about recycling our plastics, aluminum cans, paper and used electronics – but what else can we recycle? I recently found out that my old running shoes can be recycled and remanufactured to make athletic surfaces. During the manufacturing process, my old shoes are cut into three slices which are then fed through a grinder and then purified. The purified material is then used to produce many different types of surfaces such as playground surfaces, tennis courts and outdoor tracks. Check out this recycling process! I don’t know of any other programs like it, but hopefully it will catch on. It is a cool process that will save energy and resources. And, like many other recycling processes – we also help the environment by reducing excess waste when we recycle our old shoes. Instead of piling our old shoes on top of a local landfill, we can put them to use in our parks and athletic centers. What other products in our home can we recycle? Let’s help prevent waste and conserve resources and energy through recycling in our homes and communities. Be sure to let us know what great ideas you have.

About the author: Michelle Gugger graduated from Rutgers University in 2008. She is currently spending a year of service at EPA’s Region 3 Office in Philadelphia, PA as an AmeriCorps VISTA.

Sobre la autor: Brenda Reyes Tomassini se unió a la EPA en el 2002. Labora como especialista de relaciones públicas en la oficina de EPA en San Juan, Puerto Rico donde también maneja asuntos comunitarios para la División de Protección Ambiental del Caribe.

La goma protege mis huesos y ligamentos mientras corro en el parque de mi urbanización. Sin embargo, si la goma no es apropiadamente reciclada puede ser más dañina que beneficiosa. En Puerto Rico 4.7 millones de llantas son dispuestas cada año y en Estados Unidos 300 millones. Aun cuando hay un mercado para el reciclaje y uso productivo de los neumáticos, como la superficie en la que me ejercito, anualmente una cuarta parte de las llantas terminan en un relleno sanitario o vertedero ilegal.

Aún cuando las reglamentaciones varían de estado a estado las llantas no son consideradas desperdicios peligrosas. Estas representan un peligro a la salud humana y el medioambiente, y pueden ser criadero de ratas y mosquitos como el Aedes aegypti. Los fuegos por acumulación de llantas son difíciles de extinguir y liberan gases peligrosos, metales pesados y aceites que contaminan el aire y el suelo.

Las llantas pueden utilizarse en aplicaciones seguras para el medioambiente como goma para superficie, asfalto modificado con goma, en aplicaciones para áreas de juegos infantiles y cobertura de césped. En Estados Unidos hay 56 millones de llantas son recicladas para usos de ingeniería civil y cerca 16.5 son recauchadas.

A pesar de todos estos usos beneficiosos y esfuerzos de educación que llevan a cabo agencias federales, estatales y leyes municipales contra su disposición inadecuada muchas llantas terminan en nuestras playas y cuerpos de agua impactando adversamente habitats y ecosistemas. Durante el último viaje de la embarcación OSV Bold al Caribe encontré neumáticos flotando en aguas de las costas Atlántico.

Para ayudar a los gobiernos locales y estatales a reducir el impacto económico y los riesgos ambientales asociados con las montañas de gomas usadas, la Región 5 de la EPA ha creado La Guía de Limpieza de Neumáticos. Esta guía provee el insumo y experiencia de docenas de profesionales para asistir a los oficiales del gobierno a reducir el problema de la disposición inadecuada de llantas y crear programas de prevención.

Como ciudadano hay muchas cosas que usted puede hacer para prevenir que las llantas terminen en un lugar inadecuado y sean visualmente desagradable. Si tiene llantas sin usar en su casa, puede llevarlas a un detallista de llantas o a una facilidad de reciclaje. Compre neumáticos duraderos y verifique que se encuentren inflados en la presión correcta. Conduzca cuidadosamente y lleve sus gomas a rotar y balancear para mantener la alineación adecuada. Por último,y no menos importante, apoye el mercado de productos reciclados.

About the Author: Michelle Gugger graduated from Rutgers University in 2008. She is currently spending a year of service at EPA’s Region 3 Office in Philadelphia, PA as an AmeriCorps VISTA.

This bag is made from recycled juice containers and sewn together to make a tote bag. I was given this bag as a gift, but I’m sure you could find one you like by doing a search on the internet for “recycled juice bags” or some similar search term. You could also probably easily make this on your own if you’re good at sewing.

I wore this bag a lot last summer and so many people would stop me on the street and ask me about it. If you know of anyone who likes wearing things that stand out, this tote bag would be a perfect present for them. But more importantly than wearing this for fashion reasons, this bag is a great way to reduce waste through reuse. Think of all the waste that you and your friends create at lunch with your juice containers. Also, think of all the bags that you could be saving by using this tote bag to go shopping. These recycled juice bags come in different styles and they even make recycled juice pencil containers and back packs as well. I was hesitant at first about wearing something like this because it looks so different from what everyone else is wearing. What would you think about wearing something like this?

About the author: Lina Younes has been working for EPA since 2002 and chairs EPA’s Multilingual Communications Task Force. Prior to joining EPA, she was the Washington bureau chief for two Puerto Rican newspapers and she has worked for several government agencies.

The other day I was running some errands with my 7 year old daughter. As we approached the car, she noticed some litter scattered around and said spontaneously “Littering is bad because it’s mean to the Earth. We should protect it.” I was speechless. I was impressed with her insight, but at the same time sad that we are being “mean” to Planet Earth with the senseless things we often do-like generating so much trash in the first place.

While in my family, we try our best to live by the three R’s —reduce, reuse and recycle—I must confess that the hardest R seems to be reducing waste from the outset of any activity. In our daily lives, there are so many things that generate waste like excessive packaging, fast food wrappings, disposable products, to name a few. With some planning, we can reduce the trash even before it’s created.

Here are some suggestions:

• Buy in bulk to reduce packaging
• Choose reusable products like utensils, tableware, cloth napkins instead of disposable ones
• Prepare a waste free lunch at home and take it to work— It saves money, too!

There are numerous possibilities if we put our mind to it. These are just some consumer tips that can be easily used at home for waste prevention. I also highly recommend my colleague’s blog with an extensive list of habit-changing tips.

If our children can take care of Mother Earth at an early age, why can’t we?

Sobre la autor: Lina M. F. Younes ha trabajado en la EPA desde el 2002 y está a cargo del Grupo de Trabajo sobre Comunicaciones Multilingües. Como periodista, dirigió la oficina en Washington de dos periódicos puertorriqueños y ha laborado en varias agencias gubernamentales.

El otro día estaba haciendo varias diligencias con mi hija de siete años. Cuando nos acercamos al auto, ella notó que había basura regada en el suelo y dijo espontáneamente <<el echar basura es malo para el Planeta Tierra. Debemos protegerlo>>. Me dejó atónita. Me impresionó su sensibilidad, pero a la misma vez me entristeció por lo “malos” que estamos siendo con nuestro Planeta Tierra debido a las cosas que hacemos frecuentemente sin pensar—como la generación desmedida de tanta basura.

Aunque yo y mi familia tratamos de vivir bajo los principios de las tres R’s —reducción, reutilización y reciclaje—confieso que la “R” más difícil de implementar es el de reducir la basura antes de emprender una actividad. En nuestras vidas cotidianas, hay tantas cosas que generan desechos como el embalaje excesivo, las envolturas de comida rápida, los productos desechables, por ejemplo. Si planificamos con antelación, podríamos reducir la basura aún antes de crearla.

He aquí algunas sugerencias:

• Compre en envases de gran tamaño para reducir la envoltura
• Escoja productos que pueda volver a utilizar como utensilios, mantelería, servilletas de tela en lugar de las desechables
• Prepare su almuerzo y lléveselo al trabajo en envases reutilizables para reducir los desechos. ¡Esto le ahorra dinero también!

Hay numerosas posibilidades si se lo propone. Incluyo también algunos consejos para el consumidor que son fáciles de seguir en el hogar para la prevención de basura. También les invito que consulten el blog de mi amiga Brenda que delinea una extensa lista de consejos para cambiar los hábitos a favor de la protección ambiental.

Si los niños se preocupan por nuestro planeta a temprana edad, ¿Por qué no lo hacemos nosotros también?

About the author: Jeffrey Levy joined EPA in 1993 to help protect the ozone layer. He is now the National Web Content Manager.

A few months ago, my wife and I bought a house slightly bigger than our current home, but organized inside in pretty strange ways. Since we plan to spend the next 30-40 years there, we decided to renovate it. We want to do it in the greenest way possible. That means reduce, reuse, and recycle through the renovation.

“Reduce” starts with choosing where to live. Both our current house and the new one are about ½ mile from Metro, the DC-area subway; I walk and ride in. We also accepted smaller houses than what was available much further out.

The environment gains from these choices in a few ways: less fuel to commute and less energy used to heat and cool our house. But our quality of life is also better, because my short commute leaves me more time at home, and I’m relaxed on the train instead of driving in rush hour. Not everyone can choose where to live, but I think not enough people put living close to work on their “wants” list when house hunting.

Reducing also means:

• choosing sustainable, low-emitting cabinets and flooring (THAT decision is a whole blog post by itself
• insulating well
• replacing drafty windows with efficient ones, and
• finding efficient plumbing (2-mode flushing toilets, anyone?)

It also meant asking the contractor to seal the basement so the heater isn’t running nonstop to keep the pipes from freezing.

“Reuse” comes in several forms. First, we’re keeping the existing appliances. I haven’t done the math, but it’s hard for me to believe that on a life cycle basis, even more efficient appliances are better than getting the full life out of existing ones. It just takes so many resources to create a new item. We also had the contractors keep trim work so they can reinstall it. Old kitchen cabinets will go in the basement. And what we’re not reusing ourselves, we’ll donate.

“Recycle” in this context includes scrap wood, metal, and bricks. We’ve been searching the web for help with that. It also includes recycling stuff we no longer want and won’t move with us (need an old computer power supply?).

Since it’s Radon Action Month, I should also mention we tested the house before we bought it, and it’s fine.

What are your favorite tips and tricks for renovating in a green way? Remember we don’t allow advertising in our comments, so please stick to generic product descriptions instead of specific companies.

Each week we ask a question related to the environment. Please let us know your thoughts as comments. Feel free to respond to earlier comments or post new ideas. Previous questions.

During the holiday season we shop, decorate, entertain, and travel more than usual. But all these activities can affect the environment, for example, with more energy used for lighting, or increased recycling.

How are you going green for the holidays?

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En español: Cada semana hacemos una pregunta relacionada al medio ambiente. Por favor comparta con nosotros sus pensamientos y comentarios. Siéntase en libertad de responder a comentarios anteriores o plantear nuevas ideas. Preguntas previas.

Durante las fiestas normalmente compramos, decoramos, agasajamos y viajamos más de lo habitual. Sin embargo, estas actividades afectan el medio ambiente, por ejemplo, al utilizar más energía para el alumbrado o aumentar el reciclaje.

¿Cómo piensa adoptar prácticas verdes durante las fiestas?

About the author: Jeff Maurer manages Web content and does communications work for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. He has been with EPA since 2005

We had a question of the week a little while ago about what type of bags people use at the grocery store. There were a lot of interesting answers, and a lot of creative ideas about how to reuse plastic grocery bags (dog owners, for obvious reasons, seem to be enthusiastic re-users of plastic bags). Our intern counted up the comments responding to the grocery bag question of the week, and posted the final numbers in a followup. Now, I realize that readers of this blog aren’t a random sample of the population, but I think we can still conclude: canvas grocery bags have gone mainstream.

This is great news. We’ve recommended reusable grocery bags on our list of environmental shopping tips for years. I started using canvas bags a couple years ago, and they’re becoming ever more common at my grocery store. For those of you who haven’t yet made the switch, let me share a few things about canvas bags that you might want to know:

Canvas bags hold a lot of stuff. As many of the commenters in the Q&A noted, canvas bags are sturdier than paper bags and hold more than plastic. As a member of a warehouse shopping club, this is a priority for me: a 10-pound tub of gummi bears will decimate your average paper or plastic bag. My canvas bags have a long strap that you can throw over your shoulder, and I’ve also got an insulated one that helps keep cold things cold.

The people working at the store are used to canvas bags. There was a time, long ago, when presenting a bagger with your own bag would unleash utter confusion. When you did manage to explain what you were doing and why, you were viewed as some sort of fringe naturalist, the type of person who lives in a cabin with no plumbing and makes their own clothes out of hemp. Those days are over; plop your canvas bags next to the register nowadays, and everyone knows what to do. Also – and this is in response to something my wife once wondered out loud – it is okay to use bags bearing a certain store’s logo at another store. The 16-year-old kid bagging groceries isn’t getting paid enough to bag groceries AND be the brand identity police.

Canvas bags save money. More and more places are charging a small fee for plastic bags. A couple of stores do it, and a few cities are considering it as well. All of Ireland does it. The charge isn’t much, but neither is a canvas bag: I bought mine for a dollar each. Considering that I’ll probably use them for several decades, it won’t take me long to recoup that investment.