Clean Rubber

The accumulation of tire piles has been an alarming source of concern to society's intent on living in a clean and healthy environment. Each household discards approximately one tire per year per person. Many get illegally dumped in woods, lakes, storage units and landfills.

Turn dirty tires into a clean rubber raw material.

Many recycling plants can process up to 25 thousand tons of scrap tires per year into clean rubber, creating no emissions of any kind, no smoke or gas of any kind, just 99.7% clean rubber.

It's in the bag

N.Y.C. accounts for 2.7% of the plastic waste stream in the country. In order to make a difference consumers need to know what kind of bags to recycle and where to return them. It's preferable to return clean and dry bags to a retailer location or drop off center. This way bags will not be contaminated by organic matter such as cans, bottles, beverage cartons and metal.

Here is a sample of bags that can and should be recycled:

• Newspaper bags
• Dry cleaning bags
• Bread bags
• Food storage wrap
• Electronic wrap
• Grocery bags
• All bags labeled #2 and #4.

We can all make a difference!

Tires and plastic bags are recycles into many different products, eliminating the threat of hazardous pollution.

Tires are composed of three components; steel line, fiber and rubber powder. They can create new tires, basketball courts and running tracks, new shoe products, rubber tile and asphalt to name a few.

Many plastic bags are recycled into composite lumber or post, consumer resin, pallets and crates, they can become stock for new bags,  containers, and pipes.

It can also create employment in your community for adults with disabilities, with the need for collecting and sorting plastic material.

Make it happen

I believe there should be mandatory recycling of tires and plastic bags in every community.

Nature conservationists have been concerned about the Yellow Pages for some time now. People have mentioned that the low-grade glues used in phone directories make them difficult to recycle. In fact, they are said to often clog the machinery at recycling centers. San Francisco's attempt to ban them has become somewhat famous.

One of the most interesting aspects of the debate is how long it took post-consumer content recycling to catch on. Only 27 percent of all solid waste in the USA was recycled in 1996. Communities have certainly instituted very comprehensive recycling programs, but these are understandably quite expensive. Indeed, recycling isn't viable in certain industry. Interestingly enough, recycling on behalf of industrial consumers is huge and old.

Producers of raw materials often gather up their surplus or defective wares and have them turned into something else. This was going on long before anyone implemented recycling programs that focused on individual consumers.

Paper recycling is naturally a large part of the industry. Much of the debate surrounding the Yellow Pages can easily be applied to newspapers. Newspapers take up a substantial amount of space in landfills. Recycling programs have long sought to collect newspapers, but it's always better to reduce consumption in the first place. Newspapers are an interesting topic in their own right.

Quite a few people have commented on the condition of newspapers in the Internet era. They claim that they are dieing. However, one could honestly make the case that newspapers have been on the decline since the rise of radio many decades ago. Radio technology allowed people to receive news freely in their homes without having to spend any additional money. Naturally, no one had to drive to listen to a radio. In some respects, radio reception was an early example of green technology. There's nothing stopping anyone from replacing his or her newspaper subscription with a local AM broadcaster after all.

Comments directed at the magazine industry are just as poignant. Though certain types of periodicals like comic books continue to enjoy wide appeal, the computer industry has certainly eaten into news journalism. Once again, however, one could say that earlier technologies were replacing it long before. It's hard to believe that one would suggest that a simple 12-watt AM/FM receiver isn't an example of the green electronics industry.

It's always nice to cut back on waste, and the paper used by the phone book industry does constitute a major source of waste. That being said, sustainable forestry practices can sometimes be create a carbon neutral or even carbon negative industry. That doesn't necessarily mean that people can't cut back on the Yellow Pages, however. In fact, advertising in the online Yellow Pages is an excellent way to increase business revenues among a particularly computer savvy demographic.

Many people who wouldn't otherwise call themselves computer fans are turning towards online Yellow Pages as well. This natural transition will help to encourage more people to use these digital alternatives to their old telephone books. Perhaps due to the prevalence of social media, commentators have forgotten the importance of traditional bookmarks. Consumers will often save a bookmark of a page in the Yellow Pages. This means they'll always be able to return and refresh their memories about a particular business.

When considering how to save paper, it might also be interesting to have a look at a species threatened by deforestation. The Brown Hairstreak isn't in the best of shape these days. The butterfly usually lives throughout parts of Asia and Europe. However, it's an endangered species these days. Deciduous forest habitats are extremely important, and preserving them should be a goal that everyone aspires to. When it finishes pupating, the Brown Hairstreak is only around for a short period of time. The butterfly soars around between August and October. However, the species itself may only be around for a short time longer in general.

Resource conservation is a complicated task. Fortunately, it's easy to take a few steps in the right direction. Switching to a more environmentally friendly type of phone directory is a great way to start out. The Yellow Pages might not seem like much, but they're changing as much as anything else.

I recently found out that those irritating, gigantic yellow books left on everyone's front door every year may become more of an option to deal with and store in our homes and less of an obligation. Personally, I feel we should have a choice whether or not to receive the yellow pages.

For those of us who have computers or cell phones that can access the information we need, it’s pointless to waste paper. We don't use the yellow page book anyway! For others, the yellow pages is the only way to get information and that’s O. K.

Is there a balance?

Think of how much paper we would salvage!  Unfortunately the thought of jobs lost has entered my mind as well. That is also in the equation. Is there a balance between new technology and letting your fingers do the walking? Which ironically applies to both the old and the new way of thinking.  I do believe there is enough of both schools to balance out in the end. It is a much brighter, greener and efficient way to access the plethora of information we have right at our finger tips, no paper wasted. What do you think?

Too much garbage!

I was living in an apartment complex when I was residing in Houston. One of the most obvious issues I noticed was the garbage dumpster. It was disgusting, garbage all around and outside as well. Smelly and attracting pests, including rats. When I moved to Tampa, the complex that I live in now is equipped with a trash compactor. Wow.. What a difference, clean and neat all the time. Good for environment and great on the nose and eyes.. A great idea for all apartment living complexes.