Archive for Styrofoam
New Eco-friendly Hospitals Are Doing The Time Warp
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“It’s astounding, time is fleeting
Madness takes its toll
But listen closely, not for very much longer
I’ve got to keep control
It’s just a Styrofoam cup to the left
And then a plastic lid to the right
Look all around there is no recycling bin in sight,
Let’s do the Time Warp again!”
The first decade of the new millennium is coming to a close and yet when it comes to environmental policy and practices today’s hospitals seems to be stuck in the early 50’s. Although they have redone their lobbies and concourses to have modern food courts and it is quite impressive with many new eco-friendly sectioned recycling bins for plastic, paper, glass and Styrofoam. However, that impressive showing of the latest in new eco-friendly products does not reach beyond the lobby.
As a recent patient in hospital, everything I was given was either plastic or Styrofoam. Not to mention that everything from a sandwich to a tart was wrapped at least 3 times over in shrink-wrap. On top of this is the 8-9 times a day someone brings you ice water in a Styrofoam cup with a plastic lid and straw, and you never even asked of for the drink to begin with. It would seem that new eco-friendly products like paper cups are beyond their comprehension.
Tags: cling wrap, Eco Friendly, eco-friendly climate, eco-friendly hospital, eco-friendly products, Green Cleaning, green movement, hospitals, new eco-friendly, planet forward, plastic, Purell, Purell dispensers, PVC, Recycling, recycling bins, shrink-wrap, Styrofoam, sustainable choicesGreen Tip Of The Week – Pack Waste-Free Lunches
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This green tip of the week simply involves packing a waste-free lunch for your kids or for your day at work. Did you know that the average American school-age child throws away 67 pounds of packaging a year? This includes plastic water bottles, sandwich baggies, and juice boxes. With the population of kids in the US alone accounting for over 70 million, that’s over 4.6 TRILLION pounds of packaging.
Here’s some other lunch waste facts courtesy of globalstewards.org:
Plastic Bottles: U.S. citizens discard 2.5 million plastic bottles EVERY HOUR
Aluminum Foil: More than 20 million Hershey’s kisses are wrapped with 133 square miles of foil every day
Aluminum and Tin Cans: In the time it takes you to read this sentence, more than 50,000 12-oz. aluminum cans were made
Juice Boxes: Most inorganic trash retains its weight, volume, and form for at least four decades
Paper Bags and Napkins: It is estimated that 17 trees are cut down for every ton of non-recycled paper
Styrofoam: U.S. citizens throw away 25 billion Styrofoam cups EVERY YEAR
It’s time to cut down on lunchtime environmental impact and pack waste-free lunches. Here’s the uncomplicated part, it’s as easy as these 5 steps:
Tags: aluminum, BPA-free, BPA-free bottle, disposables, EPA, green tip, green tip of the week, Hershey, Neoprene lunch bag, planet forward, plastic bottle reduction, plastic bottles, plastic reduction, reduce waste, reusable bags, reusable bottles, reusable container, reusable lunch bag, reusable lunch tote, stainless steel bottles, stainless steel water bottles, Styrofoam, sustainable lifestyle, US Environmental Protection Agency, waste-free lunch, waste-free lunches, zero-waste lunchThink Outside the (blue) Box for Ways To Recycle
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In a way, recycling has been around for thousands of years. Ancient cultures began making metal products (pots, swords) that they could melt into new ones. During World War I and II, collective efforts were made to ensure people participated in paper drives and metal drives. The scarcity of resources placed huge importance on recycling key materials to better help the war effort. This “waste not, want not” mentality really formed the basis of what has become our modern ways to recycle. It’s a shame we didn’t continue what those more difficult times had taught us. When did we start thinking that these resources would be infinite again?
During the 1940 and 1950’s recycling became less popular as landfilling was a cheap way to get rid of trash. Luckily, modern recycling of glass, paper, cans, etc became popular in the 1970′s with drop-off recycling centers, and in the late 1980′s and 1990′s with curbside collection. Nowadays, recycling is readily available in most areas and has grown to include plastics and Styrofoam in some cases. Along with the expansion of the actual items that can be recycled, the concept itself has expanded as well.
If you’re looking for more creative ways to recycle, you may want to consider:
Tags: e-cycle, ecycle, freecycle, Freecycle Network, Michael Braungart, paper drives, planet forward, precycle, recycle, Recycling, recycling centers, recycling history, reduce, reusable, reuse, reusing, Styrofoam, sustainable, wartime conservation, William McDonough
