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

Meet the ReUse People of America

As their Mission Statement articulates, “The ReUse People of America reduces the solid waste stream and changes the way the built environment is renewed by salvaging building materials and distributing them for reuse.”  With headquarters in Oakland, CA, and a number of branches throughout the country, TRP is busy spreading the word about salvaging the overwhelming amount of materials from construction sites, in an effort to minimize waste flow to landfills.  Begun in the immediate aftermath of catastrophic floods in Tijuana, Mexico in April, 1993, with the help of San Diego and Tijana government and business leaders, the firm set out to provide over 400 tons of donated material to help rebuild devastated communities.  Once they acquire materials from construction sites, The ReUse People of America will then either sell them to customers at one of their facilities, or donate them to Goodwill or Habitat for Humanity.  The company also offers demolition services for homeowners, whereby one may acquire tax deductions based on the overall value of salvaged materials, and provides online inventories of available materials according to location at regional TRP warehouses.

Please visit The ReUse People of America for more information.

Ah, Le Mini Paris!

To most people, used cans, jars, cardboard boxes and other discarded household wares are just things to either be thrown in the trash or recycled.  To inspired Frenchman Gerard Brion, however, they are the brick and mortar with which he built a detailed 1/130th scale model of Paris, France over the past 15 years.  Located in his own backyard in the southern French town of Vaissac, 70 km north of Toulouse, Brion’s creation is open to the public, and even has a (human-size) cafe and various nearby attractions in case you get tired after an hour of strolling its mini streets.  It goes without saying that Brion’s work shows how a little creativity (and a LOT of dedication) can change the way we perceive of refuse, and perhaps even suggest the permanence of many of the things we think just “go away” when we throw them away.  Anyone interested in visiting should hurry, as the park will only be open through September 30th!

For more information please visit Le Petit - Paris

Closing the Loop on Plastic Bottle Recycling

For those of us frustrated by the lack of effective plastic recycling (and the notion of sending our waste overseas for someone else to worry about), we should turn our attention to a solution emanating from the U.K.  With the opening in June of their new recycling plant in Essex, England, Closed Loop Recycling has developed a method of capturing, processing and reconstituting otherwise landfill-bound plastic (PET and HDPE) bottles into food-grade material (”flake”), to be resold to manufacturers.  This is no small feat, given the lack of infrastructure and capacity many countries have, for capturing a high enough volume of waste before it gets lost to a landfill, not to mention the remaining lack of consciousness of the need for recycling in the first place.  As if this weren’t enough, Closed Loop Recycling also advises companies, organizations and municipalities on how best to utilize recyclable content within packaging products for future ease-of reuse, and offers services by which to educate people on the benefits of applying closed loop methodologies, from proper collection of waste to eventual reconstitution.

(All images courtesy of Closed Loop Recycling)

It seems that Closed Loop Recycling has come up with a viable closed loop system, so hopefully their example will make waves and spread its way around the world, and particularly to the U.S., a major consumer of bottled water.  Already, a number of U.S. cities have taken on the challenge of reducing and eliminating plastic water bottles, and although some consumers may be complaining, they will probably soon come to see that such efforts are only for their benefit.  As success from Closed Loop Recycling’s experiences become known in coming months, more companies will surely follow suit and start their own closed loop plants, including in the U.S.

For more on the topic of plastic bottles and waste, please visit the following links -

Closed Loop Recycling’s site pages on Technology and Case Studies

Bottlemania

The Great Garbage Patch

NRDC’s On Earth article Global plastic pollution: the scale of the problem

NRDC Bottled Water. Pure Drink or Pure Hype?

Wal-Mart Talks About Doing the Sustainability Thing

Released this past July, Wal-Mart offers some high standards to hold them to. We are looking forward to the positive changes and impacts that they will have in the coming years. Their push towards environmentally friendly products and energy efficiency is encouraging. We also hope they inject local economic and social sustainability into communities around the world that they affect.