Waste Rubber Recycling Technology

Waste Rubber Recycling Technology and Equipmen

Using thermolysis (heat decomposition), waste rubber such as tires can, with low environmental impact, be reduced to constituent, reusable elements. Technical or activated carbon and a fuel mix are the ultimate end products. The technology also is practical for recycling of other kinds of waste or scrap rubber, plastic/polyethylene packing, or other organic wastes. The process is fire- and blast-safe since it is run at low temperature.

Worn tires are chopped into 300- to 400-mm pieces and fed in batches to charge casks that are automatically conveyed to the charging chamber. The materials are then taken from the charging chamber to the thermolysis reactor, where they are exposed to heat for 90 minutes. At this stage, the rubber waste materials are thermally decomposed into gaseous and solid products. The gas products are sent from the thermolysis chamber to the separators to be cooled. Oil products of thermolysis are separated from water and supplied to the collector unit, and then poured to tanks. Ten percent of the collected oil is used to power the recycling plant; the noncondensable combustible gas is used to heat the reactor chamber.

India's drought turns to record floods

While the world's attention is focused on the disaster zones of Samoa and Sumatra, India has been gripped by the worst floods on record.

The Indian authorities are continuing relief efforts in the country's south where about 250 people have died as a result of the flooding.

Some areas have been hit by the highest water levels in more than 100 years.

The Krishna River has overflowed, leaving large parts of the southern Indian states of Karnataka and Andra Pradesh submerged.

In a dramatic and cruel turnaround, some of these areas had been enduring the worst drought in 40 years and now are experiencing the worst flood levels in more than a century so they have gone from one to another very, very quickly.

In a cruel twist of fate farmers who had been walking around in dusty fields, now face the prospect those fields have been pushed away by such a large volume of water coming through.

Whole villages are cut off, with authorities estimating between 1.5 million to 2.5 million people are displaced.

Particularly in the areas of Andhra Pradesh, where resources are limited, there is not a lot of help for such a large number of people who are now stranded in many remote parts of those states.

While both large cities and smaller villages have been affected, the biggest problems are in the rural areas because of the isolation and the quality of the buildings there.

A lot of those homes and farm buildings are of limited quality mud brick, so people have not been able to get up onto rooftops and seek shelter as others have in more established towns.

Officials are still at the stage of trying to assess the damage in some areas and trying to understand just how widespread the flooding is before being able to get help into many of the worst affected regions.

Television news services are showing members of the military and emergency services in some areas in boats trying to provide assistance.

But just the sheer scale of trying to find shelter for at least 1.5 million people is huge, as is trying to get food to people.

Some temporary rallying points and camps have been set up but the vast majority of people in many of the worst affected areas are battling on their own.

How is Paper Recycled?

According to the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), 55 percent of the paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered for recycling in 2007. This significant achievement was made possible by the millions of Americans who recycle at home, work, and school every day.
In fact, if measured by weight, more paper is recovered for recycling from municipal solid waste streams than all glass, plastic and aluminum combined. Additional good news: every ton of paper recovered for recycling saves 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space.

Paper Recycling Starts with Us
Paper recycling begins with you and me. The paper recycling process begins at any number of locations, including community curbside programs, drop-off centers, schools or offices. Regardless of where the recycling process starts, it is important to understand what materials can be recovered in your community and how to properly prepare them for recycling.

How Is Paper Recycled Once Collected?
After it is collected, recovered paper is transferred to a recycling center, or Material Recovery Facility (MRF), where it is sorted into its different grades and “contaminants” such as trash, glass, plastics and metals are removed. Once the recovered paper is properly sorted and free of contaminants, it is compacted into large bales and transported to a paper mill where the recycling process begins.
To begin the papermaking process using recovered fiber, the fiber is shredded and mixed with water to make a pulp. The pulp is washed, refined and cleaned, then turned to slush in a beater. The process of papermaking from that point forward is essentially the same whether or not recovered fiber is used.

Trash and Recycling

Trash and Recycling
The City of Temecula contracts with CR&R Inc. for trash and recycling services. CR&R provides the most cost effective method of trash collection with a state of the art recycling and green waste program. Automated collection is an efficient and safe process for collecting residential waste and recyclables. Through the use of a mechanical arm operated by the driver, trash is collected quickly and neatly. Each home is furnished with three special containers which residents roll out to the curb on collection day.

Trash Collection Tips:
Collection TimeBins should be placed at the curb or in the street by 6:00 am on your designated trash pick up day. Bins should be placed no more than 24 hours prior to normal collection time and removed within 12 hours after collection. Trash bins shall be stored out of public view.

Street Sweeping and Parking
All residential streets are swept by CR&R the day following the trash service day. If trash service is provided on Friday, the streets are swept on Monday. Please refrain from parking on the residential streets on both trash collection and street sweeping days in order allow CR&R to provide efficient trash collection and street sweeping services.


Holiday Schedule Trash Pick-up
This is a reminder that during the holidays your trash collection will be delayed one day. For example, if your normal trash day is Monday, your trash will be collected on Tuesday, etc. If your normal trash day is Friday, your trash will be collected on Saturday. Holidays will affect the street sweeping schedule, unless the holiday occurs on Saturday or Sunday. Holidays for the year are New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. If any of these holidays fall on a Saturday or Sunday, normal collection will be provided.

Recycled drinking water 'a tough sell'

Western Australia's Opposition says the Government is going to have a tough job convincing Perth residents to drink recycled water.

The Water Minister, Graham Jacobs, has released a strategy to address the rapid decline of water levels in the Gnangara system, which provides 60 per cent of Perth's water supply.

If the recommendations are adopted, the groundwater system will be recharged with recycled water.

Dr Jacobs says West Australians need to get used to the idea, despite the 'yuck' factor.

The Opposition's spokesman for water, Fran Logan, supports the strategy, but says he is concerned about the public response to the longer-term recommendation to source water directly from waste water treatment plants.

"With respect to taking waste water directly from a sewerage works and then putting them through a recycling plant and turning it into straight drinking water, I think the Minister is going to have a big job on his hands convincing West Australians that's fine and that's ok to drink," he said.

Mr Logan says more money needs to be spent expanding the aquifer.

"The Minister has allowed his portfolio to be slashed," he said.

"If he [Graham Jacobs] stood up for his portfolio, he might be able to get some of that critical money poured into the infrastructure that we need to manage the state's water resources and ensure our water security into the future, particularly as we go into increasingly drying years."

The draft strategy is open for public comment for two months.

ASME Encourages Water Recycling, Technology

Recognizing the need to identify and implement technology solutions to enable the sustainable use and reuse of water, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has initiated an organizational plan directed at effective water management.

The plan, outlined in the 39-page "Water Management Technology Vision and Roadmap," aims to guide the society in developing products and services that benefit engineers, the nation, and the global community at large. ASME’s strategic plan highlights training, technology research and development, standards development, advocacy and public awareness, and collaborations with national and international groups.

“ASME will bring diverse partners together to find multidisciplinary solutions to water management technology issues that protect public health and the environment, while conserving precious water supplies and the infrastructure for future generations,” the organization says in the report, which is drawn from the analysis and assessments of selected experts in science and engineering.

The roadmap identifies five trends and drivers that will guide the society’s activities over the next five years. The trends relate to the role of water in energy production, supply scarcity due to shifting populations, decreased water quality, the use of recycled or “gray” water in some industrial sectors, and the role of ASME members and other engineering professionals in educating policymakers and the general public.

Among the society’s R&D objectives in water management is to stimulate technology development and to promote best practices, including standards development, for the safety and reliability of engineering components and equipment. The roadmap also encourages industry to use non-potable “gray” water to meet water conservation imperatives.

“Utilities, manufacturers, and municipalities can replace the use of freshwater with reclaimed or recycled water,” says ASME. Part of the society’s roadmap is to address the political, economic, social, and technological hurdles “in order to tap into the considerable potential that recycling and reuse offer an industry seeking to keep costs low and a nation seeking to conserve potable water resources.”

In the area of education and outreach, ASME plans to create training seminars and workshops on water technology, new technical journals, an industry-sponsored award, and a Water Management Technology Affinity Group comprised of ASME volunteers.

Going forward, ASME will engage in collaborations and partnerships with organizations that have a long-standing involvement in water technology and management, including the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, American Water Works Association, U.S. Department of Energy, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The Glass Recycle Process

Processing: Producing glass cullet

After the sorting stage, the next stage in the glass recycle process involves crushing and grinding the waste glass into tiny pieces. This finely crushed glass pieces are referred to as cullet.

Processing: Removing contaminants

The next stage in the glass recycle process involves the removal of contaminants from the glass cullet.
The glass cullet is passed through a magnetic field, where metal contaminants like metal bottle caps are removed from the glass. Other contaminants like paper and plastic are picked up manually or through an automated process.
Ceramic contaminants are removed from the glass cullet via a process known as fine sizing. The finely ground glass cullet is passed through various screens, leaving behind ceramic residues.
If, however, ceramic contaminants do pass through the various screens together with the glass cullet, the quality of the recycled glass will be affected. Ceramic contaminants in glass can lead to structural defects.

Processing: Making recycled glass

The cullet is then melted.
This glass cullet can then be used in manufacturing recycled glass products like new glass containers, bottles .

Processing: Decolorizing and dyeing

To produce recycled glass of the desired glass, the recycled glass has to undergo glass decolorizing in the glass recycle process, followed by dyeing.
The first step in the decolorizing process includes oxidizing the melted glass cullet.
For green glass, the oxidation process turns the deep dark green color to yellow-green color. A chemical known as manganese oxide is then mixed with the glass cullet to it grey. The grey base is usually used as the primary color to which various other coloring dyes or agents are added to develop glass of various colors.
For brown or amber-colored glass, zinc oxide is added instead to oxidize the brown glass cullet to blue or green cullet, depending on the quantity of zinc oxide added and the richness of the brown or amber-colored glass being recycled.
If the clear recycled glass is required, erbium oxide and manganese oxide are added to the glass cullet to help clear all the colors from the glass cullet.
Some of the most commonly used coloring agents for dyeing of recycled glass include borax, potassium permanganate, zinc oxide, erbium oxide, cobalt carbonate, neodymium oxide, and titanium dioxide.


Processing: Making recycled glass products

In the last stage of the glass recycling process, the recycled glass, colored or clear, is then molded into the various products and sold in the markets.

Other facts about recycling glass

An interesting point about the glass recycling process is that glass can be recycled as many times as required, without any deterioration in quality.
What makes glass recycling even more important is that glass never decomposes. If disposed of in the landfills and incinerators, they will contribute substantially to pollution. Hence, it is particularly to send your unwanted glass ware for recycling.

Keep Your Toilet Running Efficiently

Water waste is one of the hugest green issues out there. There’s only so much water in the world, and much of it is continually being polluted or drained away without a second thought.

One very specific way to green your home is to conserve water being otherwise wasted by your toilet. Staying on top of these four toilet inefficiencies will help keep perfectly adequate water from slipping away unnoticed:

1. Watch for Water Leaks
You probably think it would be obvious if your toilet was leaking water, but that’s not necessarily so. Just because your not wading through water every time you enter the bathroom doesn’t mean there’s not a leak.

If your tank ball or overflow is worn, or if your toilet has a defective valve you might notice the sound of running water, but there’s a good chance your water leak will remain silent.

You can discover whether a leak exists by putting food coloring or dye tablets into the septic tank. If after a few minutes color is present in the toilet bowl, you do indeed have a leak.

2. Don't Discount Air Leaks
A leaky wax ring could be wasting gallons of water each year, and not because of water leaks, but because of air leaks. When air is leaking out of your wax ring, the siphon will not work properly, which will lead to extra flushes and clogged pipes. If you've increased the water level in your septic to account for your toilet's lack of gusto, that is also a big water-waster.

You probably have a leaky seal if your toilet isn't securely fastened to the floor. You also might notice that your toilet rocks or your toilet's hold-down bolts are corroded and/or loose.

If you're the least bit handy, you can probably replace your toilet's wax ring with a little bit of time and elbow-grease.

3. Replace Worn Parts
As with any fixture in your home, your toilet won't last forever. But before you start looking into toilet recycling centers, consider how old it actually is. Your toilet will probably work fine for decades (though more efficient models are likely to be designed before it stops working all together), but its parts will need to be maintained and even replaced while you keep it around.

Did you know, for example, that your flapper valve (also known as a 'flush valve ball' or 'tank stopper') should be replaced every three to five years? Keep on top of your toilet's parts, especially those that look worn or damaged, and you'll save money and water.

4. Displace Extra Water
At this point, you may be thinking that if your toilet has perfectly functioning parts and isn't leaking, it can't conserve water any more than it already is. Though toilets are better designed in today's world, the average fixture uses anywhere from 1.5 to 7 gallons of water per flush!

Your toilet may or may not be on the low end of this estimate, so a good way to find out is to employ the tank displacement water saving method. Displace water in your cistern and see how your toilet works for a few days.

If the flushes are still powerful enough to keep your bowl clean, then you've found yet another way to reduce your water usage.

How Far Would You Go to Save Water?

Water shortages across the US have prompted me to re-examine the water usage in my own home. My findings? While we are doing a lot of things right (low-flow showerhead, utilizing grey water, no lawn watering, etc.) there are still a lot of things that we could be doing to save water and money.

Of particular concern to me is the amount of water that our toilets are using. Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to cut that number (and I'm not just talking about the "if it's yellow, let it mellow" rule or the brick in the back of the toilet trick. Check out some of these modern solutions to the water waste problem:

• Low-Flow Toilet
Uses 1.6 gallons per flush instead of as many as 7
• Dual-Flush Toilet
Allows you to choose between a 1.6 gallon flush and a .8 gallon flush
• Flushless Toilet
Uses no water; waste is composted in a holding tank
• The Frugal Flush Flapper
Cuts the water use in high volume toilets (3.6 gallon and above) in half. Only costs $5
• Fill Cycle Diverter
Saves a half gallon per flush by ensuring that the tank and bowl fill at the same (or close to the same) rate

So, I have to ask, how far are you willing to go to save water and ultimately your hard earned dollars? Could you go flushless? Dual flush? Are you already using some of the technology that I mentioned? Share your answer!

Making every drop count

Recycling across Australia

Wastewater has been recycled and used in Australian towns and cities for decades, but usually for watering recreational facilities such as parks and golf courses.

However, a recent proposal for one drought-stricken Australian community to recycle sewage and use it to top up drinking supplies has left a lot of people with a bad taste in their mouths.

In a referendum, residents of the city of Toowoomba in south-east Queensland rejected a scheme to recycle sewage to top up drinking supplies.

The issue divided the small community and roused passions, but it also highlights a major issue facing all Australians. A drying climate due to global warming and a growing population has created the need to find and adopt innovative, sustainable methods to slake our thirst for water.

Overcoming the 'yuk factor'

Researchers and water authorities in Australia say there's no scientific or health reason that recycled wastewater can't be safely used as part of drinking water supplies if treated properly.

But there can be a formidable psychological reason. It's called the 'yuk factor' - based on the thinking that the water in the glass in your hand might have started off in someone's toilet bowl. But should we be worried?

Overseas, it's not unusual for treated wastewater to be part of drinking supplies. The city of London is located downstream from numerous wastewater recycling plants that discharge into the Thames river. Which is why there's a common saying that when you drink a glass of water in London, the water has already passed through several pairs of kidneys.

And recycled wastewater is successfully used to top up drinking water supplies in Namibia, the United States and Singapore.

Many informal 'taste and tell' surveys reveal that most people can't tell the difference between tap water, bottled water and recycled water. So why the fuss? Well, that's what some residents of Toowoomba, in south-east Queensland, and Goulburn, in New South Wales, are thinking.

A tale of two cities

Both Toowoomba and Goulburn were planning to introduce schemes to recycle sewage into drinking water supplies to help their communities overcome chronic water shortages due to drought and long-term, below-average rainfalls.

Toowoomba would have been the first city in Australia to use recycled sewage for drinking water, with its proposal for a new $68 million wastewater treatment plant to top up potable water supplies at Cooby Dam. The Goulburn proposal - which is still being considered - involves building a new wastewater plant as part of a $32 million project to recycle effluent and return it to the Sooley Dam catchment.

But recycling effluent for drinking is an emotive issue. In Toowoomba, a group of concerned citizens collected some 10,000 signatures for a petition opposing the project. That's despite advocates of the proposal saying their recycled wastewater will be so pure it could be used for hospital purposes such as kidney dialysis.

Backers of both proposals also point out recycling is part of much wider water saving strategies that are feasible, sustainable, and necessary - and that they can help drought-proof their communities for decades to come.

How to make wastewater drinkable

There are a number of ways in which to purify water - including sewage water, groundwater or seawater - to obtain drinking water. Methods include distillation, freezing, reverse osmosis, electrodialysis or ion exchange. Each method has advantages and disadvantages, and the method chosen depends on the scale, location, source of water, cost and available energy sources.

Treating wastewater to make it suitable to add to drinking supplies often involves the reverse osmosis process, along with other purification treatments.

In Toowoomba, for example, the wastewater would have been treated using ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, ultraviolet disinfection and oxidation processes to destroy microorganisms.

During reverse osmosis, water is forced under pressure through very fine membranes which allow water molecules to pass through, but not salts and other matter. The technology is already used around the world to provide water for industrial purposes and drinking water on ships, and there are plans to use it on spaceships.

Using a process called ‘indirect potable reuse’, the recycled wastewater would then top up existing drinking water supplies to be stored at the nearby dam and then undergo conventional water treatments. It would then become part of residents’ daily drinking supplies.

But there are two common concerns with such water purification projects. Firstly, they require considerable amounts of energy. Secondly, there are environmental concerns about what to do with the concentrated salty waste water that is made during the process.

The big picture

Residents of Toowoomba have voted against their wastewater scheme, but the issue is now being looked at on a much wider scale. The publicity involving the Toowoomba poll has helped put the spotlight on other Australia-wide initiatives to quench our growing thirst for water.

Australia is the driest inhabited continent and climate change resulting in below average rainfall and extensive droughts have prompted the search for new, innovative and sustainable water supplies, and ways to curb demand.

Growing demand from agriculture, industry and a growing population, have exacerbated the problem. According to national State of Environment reports, industry and householders are using increasing amounts of water.

As a result, there is a push for new sustainable water supplies taking place at all levels of government in every State. And it's easy to see why. Much of the sewage treated at Australian wastewater treatment plants is fed directly into the sea or rivers - in effect, it goes down the drain.

But water recycling is now set to play a much greater part in the water management cycle. Many states are committed to increasing water recycling targets in years to come.

Although there are differing views, researchers and health authorities say it's possible to recycle water to the relevant standard for whatever use the water is required, be it irrigation, horticulture, agriculture, household use - or drinking water.

What's important, they say, is defining what standards are required for particular uses, and then implementing relevant risk management, quality assurance, and monitoring programs to provide safe drinking water, or alternative uses that spare potable water.

And then there's one other vital issue to consider, which you can sum up with the adage: 'You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink'. Overcoming the yuk factor might turn out to be the most crucial part of the whole process.

Recycling Items Like Computers & TVs

With the way technology is out-doing themselves year after year with newer, better, bigger and improved products for computer users, you can just imagine the amount of waste that is generated when consumers upgrade along with the process. One household may have one or two computers to upgrade on a yearly basis but if you add to that computers and monitors from even a small business, the numbers add up very quickly.

What is the problem with throwing computers, their monitors, TVs and the like away with the rest of our trash? The main concern is that with CRTs and TVs they each contain approximately four pounds of lead per unit. Lead cannot be biologically broken down and if it were placed in a landfill there is the possibility of the landfill becoming contaminated with the toxins from lead. Lead poisoning has been associated with several health problems in children, including, learning disabilities and behavior issues and in some extreme cases, where high doses of the lead has been found, there have been reports of seizures, coma and even death. There is always the risk of lead toxins seeping into a water source if left in a landfill and any results of lead poisoning are made even more tragic because they are so easily preventable.

In addition to the lead in some household items like computer screens and TVs, the plastic parts of these items sometimes contain a component that is called, brominated flame-retardant that helps the item to be resistant to flames in case of a fire. Unfortunately, while the exact results of exposure to this additive are undocumented there is sure to be some kind of negative result that it's just better to steer clear of.

In an effort to keep these potentially hazardous materials out of landfills there are many other options for ridding your home of older, outdated technology. The first option should be to check with your community to see if there is a program set up to receive older CRTs and TVs for recycling. For instance, in Massachusetts, where I live, many cities and towns were given grant money for the specific purpose of setting up such a program.

If your town does not have such a program the next place to look would be at a local TV repair shop or even an electronics retailer because they may be able to reuse what you want to throw out. Some areas even have electronic recycling companies that will come to your residence or business and pick up such items and from there they are responsible for the recycling of the items. Even if a piece of electronic equipment can no longer be used for refurbishing an older model they can always be dissected and the individual components can be sold for their scrap value.

No matter what the item is that you want to recycle, there is a way to do it, all you need to do is make a phone call or two and you will have done your part to follow the recycling laws.

Recycling And Kids' Toys

One of the biggest mistakes parents make, especially in the time when their family is young, is to over spend and buy more toys than children can possibly play with before just feeling overwhelmed. Help Save the Environment in Easy Steps: resources, tips, secretsWhen children are in a play room, overflowing with toys, they often will retreat, feeling there are too many to choose from, and will not play with any of them. It is important to purchase toys that will last for a long time, too. Fewer well made toys will be a much greater gift than more toys that are made without lasting quality.

Children, who are already feeling that they don't have any control over their environment, will just become more frustrated when a toy breaks in their hands because it is poorly made. Always keep in mind the age and physical development of the child when buying a toy. There is nothing worse than a child picking up a toy that is out of their age-range and they end up breaking it because they're not developed enough to regulate their hand strength. Children are not capable of making the right choices for their own age group, so it is up to the adults to do that for them.

When buying gifts and toys for holidays and celebrations, remember to take a deep breath and know that what you end up buying will be played with, probably in a rough manner, , so you'll want it to last. What's the sense in spending money on something that is made so poorly it falls apart after the first time out of the box? (I guess you could always revert back to the box-idea and give them that to play with!) But the toys that last are usually the ones that are made from good, solid materials; like wood. Wood is such a great material to make things from and as long as it's FSC-certified, you won't have to worry about harmful toxins coming off when the child is teething and the bonus is that it could last for several generations (reinforcing that reuse idea, all the more).

You may even be able to get some of the original money set out for the product by selling it on Craigslist or eBay. If you're thinking of selling it at a yard sale, just know that you won't come close to getting the "value" of it because the yard-sale-mentality is to get what you can for as little as possible, but you still can get something monetary back if you do this.



Find toys that will last for a long time and can either be passed down through the generations or re-sold for a little pocket money. Keep in mind that when it comes to children and toys, more is not better and making informed purchases based on the child and the quality of how the toys are made, are in the hands of adults. Most toys and games come with an age range printed on the packaging and it is important to not buy gifts that a child will not be capable of playing with for a few years.

Arts, Crafts And Recycling

There are so many ways to integrate recycling with arts and crafts and still have hours of entertainment and maybe make a few holiday gifts.

One of my favorite crafts is to decopauge. The materials needed to do this are simply old magazines, a pair of scissors, some white glue and something to decorate. Help Save the Environment in Easy Steps: resources, tips, secretsI've seen people use this art medium on every kind of article from wooden boxes up to queen bed head boards.

Once you have the item (or items) you want to decorate you can put them aside and start flipping through the magazines for pictures and words that jump up at you or help convey something you want to say. The great thing about this craft is that there is no "wrong" way to do it. Some people will use an entire advertisement including the background in the ad and others may cut out the person or object from the background. The idea is to have a piece of a page to be layered upon the object to be decorated.

After you have enough pictures and words cut out you can start to decorate your object. The ideas and creativity, from this point on, are endless! Use all cut outs of flowers and birds to decorate your project, cut out every picture of a dog and see how many you can find and use all of them to decorate your recycled project!

Arrange your clippings onto the surface of whatever it is you're going to reuse or decorate and put a layer of glue over the entire project. Using white glue or Mod Podge will give you a clear coating over your art and when that layer is dry, coat it again, and so on. The coatings of glue will protect your artwork and if you use a gloss-finish, it will have a nice shine to it, too.

I started making "Blessings Boxes" for the Christmas gifts I would give to my children's teachers. I would reuse an old shoe box, and cover the entire outside of it with cut out pictures from magazines. The main objective was to cover up the shoe brand on the outside of the box with the pictures and words.

Help Save the Environment in Easy Steps: resources, tips, secretsThe idea behind the "Blessings Boxes" was that throughout the year, when there was a blessing in their life, maybe a ticket stub to a baseball game or a movie shared with a friend, birthday cards, get well cards, etc. they were to place these blessings into the box. The best part is that, during that year, when they had a day where they would feel blue or needed a smile, they knew they could always open their "Blessings Box" to be reminded of the beautiful things that have happened in their life.

These gifts were the talk of the elementary school the first year I made them and I will say that at the very beginning of every year after, my children's teachers would let me know how beautiful they thought my creations were and (wink, wink) they wouldn't mind getting one for themselves!

The best part is that I never spent extra money making one of those gifts! It was a success all due to being recycled materials.

Easy Ways to Recycle

When you think of recycling do you sigh and think that you just don't have the time or energy to do it? Do you see visions of hundreds of thousands of empty plastic bottles in some far-away factory getting ready to be melted down? Do you think that recycling is something that has to be hard; otherwise if it's not hard, then it doesn't count? I'm embarrassed to say that at one time, these were the thoughts that ran through my head and they justified my reasons for not recycling. Help Save the Environment in Easy Steps: resources, tips, secretsI'm here to tell you that I was mistaken; recycling isn't something difficult, or something you have to go out of your way to participate in and when it's easy, well, it's just easy; and it still counts toward recycling.

Here are some of the easy ways I have found to recycle:

I have a terrible habit of leaving lights on when I leave a room. I seem to be someone who, when doing any kind of work, whether it's writing or stripping wallpaper, I need a lot of light around to do it. The first two ways I found to conserve energy and count myself in as a "recycler" was to turn off lights as I left a room. Sounds easy, right? Well, that's because it is easy. The only thing I had to do was remind myself that I was no longer going to waste energy by leaving lights on in a room that no one was occupying.

Mind you, I've had 43 years of doing things the way I'd been doing them and the change didn't happen overnight, but it did happen. There hasn't been a doorway I've walked through in the past 6 months or so that I haven't given a quick
inventory before passing through the threshold and thinking, "Did I leave any lights on?" The great thing is, the times that I have left a light on, I'm given the final opportunity to stop and turn around and turn off the lights before leaving the room for good. Is this a difficult change? Like I said, it didn't happen as soon as I thought about my part in the effort to recycle, but it is something I have allowed myself to consider on a daily basis.



The other way I have found to easily adhere to this recycling thing is that I changed my lightbulbs. Yup, that simple act of replacing a burned-out bulb with one of the new, energy saving kind has really been a big help. The newer bulbs use up to 75% less energy when lighting a room and they will last up to ten times longer, too. How can you beat that? And there wasn't any effort on my part; all I did was replace the bulb with the new and improved bulb and have made quite the impact on my electric bill.

The good news is this; there are easy ways to stay on track with recycling, and you don't have to look very far to find them.