How To Reduce Your Carbon Footprint Video

Here's a link to some good tips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7zwrzEyzkA&feature=fvw. Just click on the black screen.

Carbon Footprint

Have you heard about carbon footprints? Have people asked you what your individual carbon footprint is?

Carbon is a significant contributor to global warming through the greenhouse effect. An individual’s carbon footprint is defined by looking at how much of what we do in our lives contributes even a small amount to global warming. It is the amount of carbon dioxide that we each create and use with all the things we do in our lives.

We have been reducing our individual carbon footprint through our recent awareness and efforts here at Commerce and at home - by using CFL lighting and energy efficient appliances, adding insulation, turning off lights and appliances when not in use, walking or biking rather than driving, all the things we have worked on through our monthly campaigns.

Carbon Calculator: There is a cool website where you can calculate your carbon footprint and measure it against the average person in the U.S. Go to http://www.employeegateway.utah.gov/, login with your regular LAN password, click on the “Energy” tab at the top right, scroll down to the “Energy Information and Resources” section on the right column, and click on the first bullet - the “carbon calculator”. Those who complete the calculation and send me and email with their calculations (and how they compare to others) from the page titled “Your Carbon Footprint Result” will have their name in the March drawing of prizes, and THE FIRST TEN people to do this will get a little BONUS.

46 Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint - I found this great article from the Chicago Tribune, which lists a whole lot of things we can do in our daily routine. We already know a lot of it through our campaigns, but I found some really good ideas that I had not thought of, like did you know that using the microwave to cook and heat meals rather than the oven will reduce cooking energy by 80%? Did you know that heating the water for a washing machine uses up 90% of the energy needed to run the machine, while the other 10% goes to power the motor - so just switching to a cold wash saves more than $400 each year. Go to this site for the complete article: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/home/stories/DN-nhg_wire50greentips_0418liv.ART.State.Edition1.3442c4.html.

Recycling the Unique - thanks to Rick at DTS for giving me a link to this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/10/proper-waste-disposal-pho_n_491672.html. I think you will enjoy it. Make sure to scroll through the various pictures as each one has more ideas and links. Lots of information for the avid recycler, and we do seem to have some of those folks in our Dept!

Battery Recycling Here at Commerce - thanks to Maxine McBurnett at Corporations who has been the recycler of batteries for her group at Corporations. Maxine has a box in her cubicle for all who bring their dead batteries, and she takes them to a local recycler when the box is full. I started taking my batteries to her, and she is kind enough to agree to take yours too. Now that we know Maxine is collecting batteries, I am sure we will all think twice before throwing a battery in the trash.

Okay, get those carbon footprints done and send me a note - hope you are one of the first ten to send me an email and get the bonus. If you are not one of the first ten, no worries, you will still be eligible for our end of the month drawing.

Happy calculating!

Learn To Ride Day - Friday, February 12

Governor Herbert, joined by mayors from across the Wasatch Front are asking Utahns to take the "Clean Air Challenge," doing things like using public transit or carpooling, reducing idling of our vehicles, installing more energy efficient appliances, and saving energy at work and home.


UTA came on board recently to offer a Learn to Ride Day when Utahns can ride buses, trax or Frontrunner for free and can determine whether use of public transit will work for them. See http://www.rideuta.com/mediaRoom/pressReleases.aspx?pressReleaseID=1029
and http://www.utah.gov/governor/news_media/article.html?article=2954.


Please take advantage of this the Learn to Ride Day, and give an alternate mode of transportation a try!

Recycling Ideas, Links, Quiz Answers and More

Recycling Used Oil
(Thanks for this info, Van!)

Are you a Do It Yourself (DIY) mechanic? Do you change your own car motor oil? What do you do with the used motor oil? I recycle mine at the local auto parts store.

The Used Oil Management Act under the Utah Environmental Quality Code imposes a recycling fee on sales of oil in Utah, $.04 per quart or $.16 per gallon. This fee is used to support and encourage used oil collection centers. Collection centers then transport collections to a used oil processor, rerefiner, or burner, or they may dispose of the oil as authorized by the Solid and Hazardous Waste Board.

Auto part stores and some auto garages have become collection centers for DIY mechanics, thus making it easy for all DIY to recycle used oil. All a DIY has to do is take a few minutes and collect the oil in a container, then take it to any collection center and deposit it into their collection bin. Remember there is no fee at the collection center; you paid the fee when you bought the oil. The collection center may ask for your name, address and amount of used oil deposited.


Recycling Links - Here are some great links that can answer your many recycling questions:

Why Recycle? https://utahrecycles.org/whyrecycle.php

Recycling Statistics - how much do Americans throw away: https://utahrecycles.org/facts.php

2008 Salt Lake Valley Recycling Guide, recycling the usual and unusual items: http://www.recycle.slco.org/pdf/recyclingGuide.pdf

Salt Lake City's Official Site on Recycling http://slcgov.com/slcgreen/recycle/todo.htm, includes many great links and ideas, like how to reduce personal and business junk mail http://www.globalstewards.org/junkmail.htm (Thanks Chip for providing me these links!)

The Inconvenient Truth Excerpt:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxi-OlkmxZ4&feature=related

Top 10 Things You Can Do to Reduce Global Warming: http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS352&q=top+10+things+you+can+do+to+reduce+global+warming&aq=0&aqi=g1&oq=top+10+things+you+can+do+t

Quiz Answers:

1. False. Plastic bags can be recycled into lumber (TREX), trash can liners and other plastic bags. The good news: Many grocery stores collect clean, dry platic bags for recycling and offer canvas tote bags for sale and reuse.

2. True. All parts of a newspaper can be recycled, including all inserts and newsprint grade periodicals.

3. False. You can recycle aluminum food and beverage containers, including aluminum foil and pie tins, if there is no food residue on them. You dont' have to wash your recyclables in a dishwasher. Just make sure they're clean, empty and dry. Dirty products are a waste of time.

4. True. The majority of cardboard boxes end their lives in an alley behind a store somewhere - clean and in one place - ready to transport to a paper mill. About 70 percent of newspapers now get recycled - usually into more newspapers.

5. True. Metals get great return rates. That's why thieves have put their own twist on the ECO trend - ripping copper out of old buildings and reselling it for hundreds of dollars to scrap yards. Almost 55 million cans are recycled in the US each year, equal to 15 million barrels of foreign crude oil.

6. False. SL County accepts empty aerosol cans.

7. True. Be sure to remove the caps before recycling. They must be recycled separately at the recycling plants in Salt Lake County, so it is easier if you separate them.

8. False. It is necessary to remove tape from cardboard boxes. Tape cannot be recycled and contaminates recycled materials.

9. False. Most communities in Salt Lake County accept #1 - #7 plastics.

10. True. Allow air into your compost pile by occasional turning. Do not add meat, fish, dairy products, or fat.

11. False. Who would work there! Cigarette butts also fall into this category. Remember the clean and dry rules.

12. True. In a landfill, glass will last one million years! There are seven drop off locations for glass in SL County. (Plastic bags will last 500-1000 years, aluminum cans 80-500 years, and an apple core 1-2 months).

13. True. Check out: www.sanitation.slco.org/html/recycle.html.

Recycling Fed Ex & UPS Tyvek Envelopes

I was recently asked about whether we can recycle the nylon type Tyvek envelopes that we get from Fed Ex and UPS. The answer is yes, we can. Interestingly, Tyvek envelopes are actually plastic. See this informative site: http://fakeplasticfish.com/2007/10/recycling-tyvek-another-small-way-to/. However, even though they are plastic, Columbus Secure Shredding wants us to put them in our regular blue bins rather than our plastic specific bins.

If you have addresses on the envelopes that need to be shredded due to privacy concerns, put them in the gray bins.

Finally, if you are creative, the link above indicates that these Tyvek envelopes would make a great shopping tote bag. I might have to give it a try.

Thanks for your question, Maxine!

Broken CFL - Mercury Cleanup

I was recently asked how to deal with a CFL that has broken and is leaking mercury.

Here is a really good website with great links for mercury cleanup and a search by zip code for where to recycle CFLs (most Home Depots will take them): http://www.deq.utah.gov/Pollution_Prevention/CFLs.htm.

Thanks for your question, Barbara!

January Campaign - Recycling

Recycling Cans and Bottles - In addition to the paper recycling bins in each Division, there are now boxes/bins labeled for cans and plastic bottles in the common areas (break rooms) of DOPL 4th floor, CORP 2nd floor, DRE, DCP, Admin, DPU, and DS. There are also bins/boxes on the 4th floor by the elevators nearest DPU, on the 2nd floor break area, and on the first floor docking garage. I am looking into getting some can crushers.

Soda tabs - Please take a second and separate the tabs from the cans so that we can donate the tabs to the Ronald McDonald House. In 1987, McDonald's began collecting pop tabs as a way to help defray operating costs. Ronald McDonald houses are inexpensive family lodging located near hospitals. Families of sick children stay there so as to be close to their hospitalized child. In the last year, pop tabs taken to local recycling companies brought the Utah Ronald McDonald House $8,000. For more information about Ronald McDonald Houses: http://www.rmhcslc.org/.

Drawing - How do you qualify for this month's drawing? Contact me if you are willing to help with the recycling of cans and plastic bottles; implement other recycling ideas in your Division; and/or attend this month's brown bag. This month's Brown Bag will be held on Thu, January 14th at 11:45 in the 2nd floor lunch room. Fun recycling quiz and more recycling information.

Columbus Recycling Gray & Blue Bins - Here are detailed lists of what you can and cannot place in the gray and blue recycling bins:

Gray Bins
-All paper
-carbonless (NCR)
-thermal fax
-envelopes
-direct mailings
-fax, brochures, advertising
-file folders
-credit cards
-ID cards
-computer discs and CDs
(staples, paperclips, binder clips, and sticky notes are all okay)

Blue Bins
-All paper
-carbonless (NCR)
-thermal fax
-envelopes
-direct mailings
-fax, brochures, advertising
-file folders
-newspapers
-magazines
-catalogs
-phone books
-tv guides
(staples, paperclips, binder clips, and sticky notes are all okay)
-cardboard (IF flattened), tablet backing

Items below CANNOT be placed in either blue or gray bins:
*stickers (full sheets)
*wax or plastic coated papers
*carbon
*food wrappings
*paper towels/TRASH
*cups, plates, forks, spoons, etc
*rubber gloves
*medical supplies or devices

***We can use a blue Columbus bin for plastic bottles in bins that are marked for plastic bottles - there is only one like that in Commerce that I am aware of - it's on the 4th floor by the vending machines. (Separate the bottle lids from the plastic bottles, it is easier for recycling companies to separate them for recycling).

For more information as to recyling in Utah, go to this link: www.utahrecycles.org