Happy Thanksgiving!

‘Tis the season of consumption. But there are ways to enjoy the kick-off to the holiday season and also be green.

Give thanks and try these ten ways to give back this Thanksgiving:

Stay home – Tell your aunt Sally that you can’t fly out to see her or drive to grandmother’s house. Your relatives will understand that traveling takes its toll on the environment – won’t they?

Carpool or use mass transit – If you really must leave your house, travel with a group in one car or take public transportation, if possible.

Buy natural and local – Buy free range turkey and organic produce for your Thanksgiving feast and get your fixings from local suppliers, like a farmer’s market.

Waste not – Roast your turkey in a reusable roasting pan. If you must use a foil pan, be sure to recycle it.

Light candles – It sets an intimate mood for your meal and saves electricity. Use beeswax or soy-based candles, rather than paraffin candles, which are made from petroleum.

Bring out the china and good silver – Even though the last thing you want to do after a food-induced coma is wash dishes, avoid using paper plates and plastic cutlery. Also, use cloth napkins instead of paper.

Get creative – Play a game with the family by awarding an extra piece of pumpkin pie to the relative who comes up with the best ways to be green this holiday season.

Recycle – Toss all cans and bottles used during dinner into the recycling bin.

Compost – Don’t throw the scraps in the trash – compost them!

Re-use – The best part of Thanksgiving are the days after. Use those leftovers again and again to save on trips to the grocery store.

This and all the Crush that Can episode may be viewed here: CrushthatCan.com. Crush that Can is a series of videos–short, humorous videos to demonstrate different ways to decrease the size of aluminum cans in order to prepare them for recycling in non-bottle bill states.

Happy Thanksgiving from ecycler.com!

Get ready for America Recycles Day!

America Recycles Day (ARD), November 15, is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to encouraging Americans to recycle and to buy recycled products. Celebrating its 14th year, it has grown to include millions of Americans pledging to increase their recycling habits at home and work. And to buy products made with recycled materials. Volunteer America Recycles Day coordinators are positioned throughout the country and work to organize recycling awareness events in their schools and communities, and in conjunction with their local municipalities.

On November 15 each year, millions of people become better informed about the importance of daily recycling and buying recycled products. One day to educate and motivate. One day to get our neighbors, friends and community leaders excited about what can be accomplished when we all work together. One day to make recycling bigger and better 365 days a year.

Check out the America Recycles Day website and Take the Pledge to Recycle!

Or, follow @recyclesday on twitter

Earth Hour: 8:30pm, Saturday, 26 March 2011.

In under four short years, Earth Hour has become the largest campaign in history for the planet. It has grown from one city, one country to over 128 countries and territories in 2010. Earth Hour — By The People, For The Planet.

Download the iCalendar reminder for Earth Hour 2011…

Switch off your lights for Earth Hour at 8:30pm, Saturday 26 March 2011 and celebrate your commitment to the planet with the people of the world!

History of Earth Hour

WWF started Earth Hour in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change. Only a year later and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating. Global landmarks such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, CN Tower in Toronto, Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Rome’s Colosseum, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour.

Visit EarthHour.org for more ideas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We all have a lot to celebrate–even with today’s economy. We, at ecycler, have put together ten ways to be green and giveback to the environment.

Don’t travel– Instead of driving or flying somewhere this Thanksgiving, stay close to home. Not only will forgoing travel save your sanity, it will also save some carbon.

Carpool or use mass transit – If you’re not hosting dinner and you have to get to someone else’s home, ride with friends or relatives or take public transportation.

Buy natural and local – Buy free range turkey and organic produce for your Thanksgiving feast. If you can buy ingredients from a farmer’s market or a turkey from a local farm, even better – the fewer miles products travel to your table, the better.

Cook green – Roast your turkey in a reusable roasting pan. If you must use a foil pan, be sure to recycle it.

Dine by candlelight – It sets an intimate mood for your meal and saves electricity. And you can even use beeswax or soy-based candles, rather than paraffin candles, which are made from petroleum.

Use the good china – As tempting as it may be to use paper plates and plastic cutlery in order to avoid doing dishes, Thanksgiving is the time to bring out the china. And use cloth napkins rather than paper.

Give thanks – While you’re going around the table discussing what you’re thankful for this holiday, have each family member mention what he or she can do to be green.

Recycle – Toss all cans and bottles used during dinner into the recycling bin. Then give them away on ecycler.com!

Compost – Don’t throw the scraps in the trash – compost them!

Re-use – Remember that the best part of Thanksgiving is the leftovers! Making turkey sandwiches and soup for the next few days saves on grocery bills and trips to the store.

This and all the Crush that Can episode may be viewed here: CrushthatCan.com. Crush that Can is a series of videos–short, humorous videos to demonstrate different ways to decrease the size of aluminum cans in order to prepare them for recycling in non-bottle bill states.

Happy Thanksgiving from ecycler.com!

Help us celebrate America Recycles Day!

Businesses have an opportunity to offer their customers more than just a product or service – by making green thinking part of their culture, their customers gain peace of mind knowing that concern for the environment is part of the product. Many large companies have sustainability programs that involve working only with suppliers that meet their environmental standards, reducing their carbon footprint by operating fully packed trucks and making fewer deliveries and using alternative sources of energy to fuel their plants. But there are much smaller, everyday ways that offices can reduce waste and involve all employees in making the workspace more environmentally friendly.

We, at ecycler offer these top-20 ways to make your business greener:

1. Make green thinking part of your corporate culture
2. Encourage your employees to recycle their beverage cans, newspapers, cardboard and other office waste using ecycler.com and set up recycling bins in your office or warehouse
3. Recycle other office products that you might not traditionally think can be recycled, such as electronics, batteries, scrap metal and phone books
4. Use hybrid or electric delivery trucks
5. Run diesel trucks on B100 or B10 biodiesel (100% biodiesel is referred to as B100)
6. Use high-efficiency light bulbs in your office (watch for LED bulbs in 2011)
7. Encourage employees to use alternative transportation to get to work, either by subsidizing bus or train passes; creating car pools or providing incentives for those who bike or walk to work
8. Eliminate or cut down on junk mail
9. Provide coffee cups that are re-useable; napkins and other kitchen products that are made with recycled items and that can be recycled
10. Install hand dryers in your restrooms instead of paper towels
11. Encourage employees not to print out e-mails, reports and other documents unless absolutely necessary
12. Install motion-detector lights in areas like the bathroom and kitchen, in order to save electricity
13. Host monthly clean-up days in which employees recycle items they no longer need in their workspace
14. Encourage employees to turn off their computers and other electronics before they leave the office for the evening
15. Provide a water cooler and discourage employees from bringing bottled water to work
16. Stock the printer and fax machine with recycled paper
17. Reorder office supplies only when needed rather than keeping extra pens, paper and other supplies on hand, as that encourages employees to take more items than they need
18. Install energy-efficient refrigerators and dish washers in the breakroom
19. Have employees deposit their extra change in a bowl and at the end of six months, donate the loose change to an environmental charity
20. Ask the cleaning crew to use non-toxic cleaning supplies

Doing any or all of these things will help businesses do their part to help the environment. Businesses and residents alike can use ecycler.com to handle many of their recycling needs.

Register as an ecycler discarder or collector today!

Thanks to http://www.elephantjournal.com for the use of their image.

America Recycles Day (ARD), November 15, is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to encouraging Americans to recycle and to buy recycled products. Celebrating its 13th year, it has grown to include millions of Americans pledging to increase their recycling habits at home and work and to buy products made with recycled materials. Through America Recycles Day, Keep America Beautiful, Inc. (KAB) and the National Recycling Coalition (NRC) support local communities and raises awareness by educating citizens about the benefits of recycling. Volunteer America Recycles Day coordinators are positioned throughout the country and work to organize recycling awareness events in their schools and communities, and in conjunction with their local municipalities.

On November 15 each year, millions of people become better informed about the importance of daily recycling and buying recycled products. The purpose of America Recycles Day is to continue to promote the social, environmental and economic benefits of recycling and encourage more people to join the movement toward creating a better natural environment.

Check out the America Recycles Day website and Take the Pledge to Recycle!

UPDATE

Radio host Kim Komando, whose weekly three-hour call-in talk show is heard on more than 470 stations, chose ecycler as a “Cool Site of the Day” on Nov. 15 in conjunction with America Recycles Day.

When you’re celebrating Halloween today, remember the three R’s: reduce, reuse and recycle.

Here are some tricks to making your Halloween a treat for the environment:

When you’re done enjoying your caramel apples and jack-o-lanterns, add the apple cores and pumpkins to your compost pile. Some cities will pick up pumpkins on yard waste collection days (check with yours to see if they compost). If you compost it yourself, remove candles before cutting up the pumpkin and mixing it into the pile.

Use a reusable shopping bag to collect your Halloween candy.

Get in the spirit of the night and reduce the amount of lights in your house, using candles or only minimal lighting.

Buy candy that comes in the least amount of packaging – or, instead of candy, give away items that are fully consumable, such as apples.

Remember to check labels to see if your candy wrappers can be recycled.

Pack up your decorations and reuse them again next year.

On 10/10/10, the planet is getting to work on climate change with 1600+ events in 135+ countries. Learn more about what’s happening!

350.org is an international campaign that’s building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis—the solutions that science and justice demand.

The theory of change is simple: if an international grassroots movement holds our leaders accountable to the latest climate science, we can start the global transformation we so desperately need.

ecycler will be out in full force collecting cans and other recyclables!

Check out their site… Find an event… Make a difference in our World!

It’s Recycle Glass Week (September 12 – 18, 2010)

For more information: http://www.gpi.org/recycle-glass-week/

Top Ten Reasons to Recycle Glass Bottles

10. Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for four hours or power a computer for 30 minutes. That’s just one glass bottle.

9. More recycled glass bottles are needed. Stat. Glass container manufacturers have set a goal to reach 50% recycled content in the manufacture of new glass bottles by 2013. They’re going to need a lot more.

8. Spare change. In 11 states with container deposit laws, you can get cash for recycling your empty glass bottles. Or, list them on ecycler.com and a collector will pick them up for free.

7. Conserve natural resources. Over a ton are saved for every ton of glass containers recycled.

6. Save energy. Costs for energy drop about 2-3% for every 10% recycled glass containers used in the manufacturing process. You see where this is going?

5. All this carbon footprint stuff, recycling glass bottles really does makes a difference. Using six tons of recycled container glass in the manufacturing process equals one ton of carbon dioxide reduced.

4. Karma. Glass is 100% and endlessly recyclable. A glass container can go from a recycling bin to a store shelf in as little as 30 days. It’s gonna come back to you.

3. Bars (we know you’re there) are a hotbed for glass recycling. Over 35% of beer and soft drink bottles were recycled in 2008. Is your corner bar recycling?

2. No dish washer required. Just rinse and recycle your glass bottles and jars. But keep out coffee cups, dishware, and Pyrex.

1. What? You’re not drinking out of an endlessly recyclable glass bottle? Start now. Glass is 100% pure taste—and no after taste.

Top-10 list borrowed from the Glass Packaging Institute website. Check it out for more information about recycling glass. Or, follow @chooseglass on twitter!

America Recycles Day (ARD), November 15, is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to encouraging Americans to recycle and to buy recycled products. Celebrating its 12th year, it has grown to include millions of Americans pledging to increase their recycling habits at home and work and to buy products made with recycled materials. Through America Recycles Day, Keep America Beautiful, Inc. (KAB) and the National Recycling Coalition (NRC) support local communities and raises awareness by educating citizens about the benefits of recycling. Volunteer America Recycles Day coordinators are positioned throughout the country and work to organize recycling awareness events in their schools and communities, and in conjunction with their local municipalities.

On November 15 each year, millions of people become better informed about the importance of daily recycling and buying recycled products. The purpose of America Recycles Day is to continue to promote the social, environmental and economic benefits of recycling and encourage more people to join the movement toward creating a better natural environment.

Check out the America Recycles Day website and Take the Pledge to Recycle!

UPDATE

There may be local ARD events in your area, check out americarecyclesday.org and take part in this important day!

UPDATE II

The Aluminum Can Council´s 12-week long “America Recycles Day Challenge” collected 105.7 million beverage cans.

The cans, which added up to 3 million pounds, raised $2.3 million for charities like Habitat for Humanity, the American Red Cross, Toys for Tots and other groups. If stacked together, the cans would have extended 8,026 miles, the council said.