Recycling E-waste in the Bay Area.

GreenCitizen serves the San Francisco and Silicon Valley areas. They help individuals and organizations recycle electronics responsibly. They do this by providing convenient, affordable and responsible solutions, making it effortless for anyone and everyone to help save the environment from harmful electronic waste.

Prior to GreenCitizen, de-manufacturing processes and their environmental soundness were difficult to track and verify. Many other e-recycling companies were able to validate what electronics they have recycled, what processes they have used and where toxic materials have ended up. GreenCitizen has a proprietary checks and balance program called, Total Accountability Management System (GTAMS). According to GreenCitizen, this system “uniquely tracks recycled items from pickup in a developed country through to the shipping and de-manufacturing process in a GreenCitizen facility located in a developing country. The system enables complete accountability of all items in the de-manufacturing process worldwide.”

They are developing one of the first e-waste recycling systems in the world, designed to keep all parties responsible. Through the standard, everyone involved in the process must provide documentation and actual contributions to proper electronics recycling. GreenCitizen is working day and night to set a new, global standard in the technology of e-recycling. All research and development efforts are being conducted through what is being called, their Sustainable Technology Applied Research, or STAR Lab.

For more information visit greencitizen.com

Red Caboose Motel in Strasburg Pennsylvania

Called a “caboose” in America and a “brake van” or “guard’s van” in the UK, the iconic train car has drastically declined in its use over the years with only small railroads using them at times. The first known appearance of a railroad caboose was around 1860 and its first use in the United States followed much later. The word is known to be derived from French, with 18th century records mentioning a “cambose” or “camboose”, describing the cabin on a ship’s deck where food was prepared. Some rail yards are reusing cabooses as maintenance cars, or as “survey trains” after natural disasters to inspect rail lines for damage. Others such as the Red Caboose Motel and Restaurant, are using the cars to create motels, inns and even diners. The Red Caboose was started in 1969 when a man by the name of Don Denlinger was dared to bid on 19 cabooses being auctioned by the Pennsylvania Rail Road. Although Don placed a bid well below the scrap value of the cabooses, he won with the highest bid and found himself at the end of the day with all of the train cars and no idea what to do with them. After mulling over his winnings for some time, he developed the concept of using the decommissioned cabooses to create a motel. Now owned by Larry Demarco, “what started off as a dare has grown into one of Lancaster County’s most unusual motel, with over 40 rooms made from fully restored 25-ton cabooses.”