Green Recycling Products Blog

Camping is the number one outdoor vacation activity in America, according to the Travel Industry Association trade group. They also report that one-third of adults in the U.S. have gone on camping trips in the past five years. Camping continues to be a strong and viable vacation option even in this uncertain economy. Many retirees opt for camping in their golden years, rather than staying in their homes. Families are also going tent and RV camping more frequently these days.

Most of us take the time to recycle at home. But when you are visiting different campgrounds, it is not as easy to recycle when the option is not made available to you. Surprisingly, many campgrounds do not recycle.

If a campground doesn't provide recycling receptacles for their visitors, the limited space in an RV can fill quickly while the visitor stores recyclables to be offloaded once they've left the park. Campgrounds need to make recycling containers available to the growing number of campers.

Recycling opportunities for campers and picnickers exist at all five full-facility Broward County, Florida campgrounds.  Broward County has been utilizing the Profile 6 Recycling containers to make it more convenient for campers to maintain their recycling programs when out in the wilderness, thus reducing their carbon footprint while visiting the beauty of nature.

The Profile line of containers, manufactured by the Fibrex Group, are very attractive in appearance and easy to use. Made from quality fiberglass with a high gloss gelcoat finish, these containers need little maintenance and will perform beautifully year after year.

It seems logical that campgrounds would be one of the most obvious places to be green and close the loop.  If you would like more information on how you can implement a recycling program at your state park, campground or picnic area contact the Fibrex Group.

If you recycle just two gallons of used oil it can generate enough electricity to run the average household for almost 24 hours!

Cars are an indispensable fact of life for most of us. So, too, are abundant and clean supplies of drinking water. What we do with the used oil from our cars plays an important role in balancing our desire for convenient transportation with our desire for a clean and healthy environment today and for future generations.

We are all familiar with recycling newspapers, aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles, but you may not be aware of the efforts to promote used motor oil recycling: providing convenient collection sites for the purpose of keeping used motor oil out of our waterways and ground water supplies and getting used oil into the recycling system.

Motor oil has value even after it has been drained from an engine. The oil you take to a collection center to be recycled saves energy. It can be reprocessed and used in furnaces for heat or in power plants to generate electricity for homes, schools, and businesses. It can also be sent to a refinery that specializes in processing used oil and re-refined into lubricating base oils that can be used to formulate engine oils.

Used motor oil that is collected by "do-it-yourselfers" is critical to the used oil recycling system. Collecting used oil from the Do-It-Yourself oil changers is easy with the Profile Oil Containers. Conveniently located used oil drop-off sites equipped with attractive and user-friendly tanks are an essential element for any successful used oil program. The Profile Oil Container is specially designed to accept used oil from the public. This attractive unit is very user friendly which improves program participation and aids in keeping the collection site clean.   

The Profile Oil Container combines the unique feature of a steel inner tank surrounded by a rust resistant fiberglass secondary containment. Other features include a large disposal funnel, rain resistant lockable lid, level gauge, instruction decals and a 2” service coupling for pumping out the used oil.

The City of Raleigh makes it easy for residents living in apartments, condominiums and townhouses to participate in the Raleigh Recycling program. The program provides collection centers in convenient locations in multi-family communities.  The Fibrex Profile 6 Compartment Recycling Container has been an integral part of increasing the recycling rate in Raleigh.

The Profile line of recycle containers  are very attractive in appearance and easy to use. Made from quality fiberglass with a high gloss gelcoat finish, these containers need little maintenance and will perform beautifully year after year.

High participation in the Raleigh Recycling Program shows that residents care about their environment and are willing to do their part to help reduce the amount of solid waste put in the landfill.  The management at each complex distributes city provided educational materials to their residents and are responsible for keeping the recycling containers and the collection area neat and clean between weekly collection visits.  

Raleigh Recycling collects thirteen different materials for recycling which include:
•   glass food and beverage containers
•   food and beverage cans
•   aluminum foil and trays
•   plastic bottles
•   plastic beverage rings
•   milk, juice and laundry softener gable top cartons
•   aseptic drink boxes
•   newspaper and all inserts
•   magazines and catalogs
•   white paper, including junk mail
•   paperboard, chipboard and paper tubes

“I think we truly have a success story with our program,” says Linda Leighton, the Waste Reduction Specialist for The City of Raleigh.  “It’s been a long, long, long road with lots of bumps due to budget restraints.  We are getting closer and closer to having recycling containers at all of our multi-family communities, despite the small funding and creative ideas we’ve had to deal with in the past.  With the economy the way it is and the whole growth of ‘green’ everywhere you look, the property managers are beginning to get pressure from their residents to recycle in their communities.  We have 480 multi-family communities participating to date (67%), and the participating units include 50,606 which is a 79% inclusion!”  

If you are a property owner interested in recycle containers, Fibrex Group can help you determine the best, most efficient and most economical recycle bins for your multi-family property. For more information contact us today.

Funding for recycling containers was recently awarded for the “Play Green” project.

The grant funding allows the city to furnish additional permanent recycling containers for the parks, as well as purchase more portable recycling containers for the city’s special events as well as educational and promotional materials.

“The containers are primarily for water bottles, cans and that sort of thing,” said Cristal Rollins, community programs coordinator for Coppell. “Those are the things found most often out on the parks and trails. Park goers can now recycle more while they are using the parks, fields, facilities and trails with the new recycling containers in place.

The containers were provided by a Solid Waste Implementation Project grant from the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) and Texas Commission on Environmental Equality (TCEQ).

Rollins wrote the grant for just under $15,000 and that money provided 17 new recycling containers in the parks and on the trails located in Coppell.

The recycling containers have been placed at Andy Brown East and West parks, the Kid Country playground and the trail system. Each recycling container is marked with “Coppell Recycles Bottles and Cans” signage and has a special opening at the top to minimize contamination. The recycling receptacles are placed next to trash cans in all locations, Rollins said.

“The recycling containers are in the parks and we are using some of the portable containers we purchased at some of the recent city events,” she said. “We also purchased some promotional items to give out to encourage people to recycle.”

Recycling in the parks was first initiated in 2006. The first recycling containers were placed at the soccer and baseball fields at Wagon Wheel and MacArthur parks through “Run, Refresh, Recycle.”

The “Run, Refresh, Recycle” project was also funded through a Solid Waste Implementation Project grant.

The “Play Green” project funds have given the city the opportunity to enhance the park recycling program, increase the diversion rate and create less waste that ends up in a landfill, and gives park users more chances to play green, Rollins said.

Original article written by Jim Kilpatrick – Coppell Gazette

To any school, college, business, or event, the economic benefits of recycling are simple and substantial. Colleges, schools, businesses and those hosting large events pay hefty fees for the collection, transportation and disposal of garbage and trash. Often, it contains more recyclable materials than actual garbage or trash. Beverage containers, food service containers and documents make up the majority of “the trash” that is transported to already full landfills.
 
Trash or waste audits can be performed that will provide a reasonable estimate of just how much trash volume and expense can be reduced when you strategically place recycling containers throughout a campus, school, business, or event. At schools and colleges, cafeterias and libraries are ideal locations for recycling containers.
 
School administrators in particular, may not fully understand the extent of their trash expense. In Seattle, Virginia Mason Hospital recently reduced their garbage expense by $170,000 a year after increasing the use of recycling containers. In addition, the amount of garbage they contributed to landfills was reduced by 80%. Certainly, colleges or large institutions could use that kind of savings.

The Fibrex Group has recycling containers designed for durability and easy cleaning which are also attractive. Recycling bins can have the college or school mascot on them, or they can be color-coordinated with the event or business logo. Our recycling containers are clearly labeled and are made from numerous materials, in many sizes and shapes, to fit nearly every need or decor.

By installing and promoting the use of recycling containers, colleges, schools, businesses and municipalities can significantly reduce their trash expenses and their carbon footprint. School board officials, community leaders and investors will see this as positive indicators of your success and innovative thinking. Additionally, the community will see your business or event as a responsible neighbor, rather than a disruption or intrusion. The successful use of recycling containers will improve your reputation and social performance and keep more cash in the bank.

This blog post centers upon the little known fact that partially filled plastic containers can ruin the recycling process.  We discussed this subject with our kids the other day.  Our youngest suggested we “put it in our new blog”.  How can we argue with that?
   
We have a curbside recycle bin and recently discovered a three-quarters-full plastic soda bottle.  You might be surprised how this seemingly benign circumstance can have a dramatic effect on the recycling process.

Consider these facts:

• Machines that handle the sorting of the materials can become damaged, which means that precious time, energy and money will be needed to repair the machines.

• Liquids and solids left in recyclable materials makes the job far more difficult and inefficient for workers sorting the material by hand.

• Certain biodegradable materials actually inhibit the materials in the bin from turning into the highest quality materials possible

• In extreme cases, foreign matter in the recycling containers can result in the entire bin content being sent directly to the landfill.

Now back to those kids.  I know that they are much more concerned about “Mother Earth” than they are about wasting Mom and Dad’s hard-earned money.  While I don’t expect to see any more half-full soda bottles in our recycle bin,  I am a realist and know their concern for Mother Earth will not  resolve their natural calling to open 12-ounce drinks to satisfy their two-ounce thirst. I suppose they will devise some creative (and comical) covert product disposal methods all in the name of protecting the environment.