Visitors to four of Santa Maria's most popular parks will see several new additions in the form of 95-gallon plastic recycling bins.

“These parks have special containers that are there to promote recycling," said Jeff Clarin, Utilities Manager/Deputy Director for the City of Santa Maria.

The City of Santa Maria formally launched a new recycling program. With several city officials on hand, joined by several members of the community organization CAUSE, it was announced recycling will once again be an option at city parks.

"We had recycling back in the early 90's. There was a lot of contamination and it was not worth it to pick it up as recycling," said Clarin.

Now, visitors at these Parks will have the opportunity to place recyclables in the specially marked blue-colored containers.

"It is very important to put the right items into the recycling bin," said Clarin. "The more contamination you put into the recycling bin, the less value it has where we can actually recover as recycling."

The program has actually been in operation since March, when it was launched during a test period. The City says park visitors were so successful at placing the right items in the right bins, the program has now been officially rolled out.

The lids have pictures on them so you can see what you can and cannot recycle. It's very simple, you look at the pictures and see what you can recycle; what's not in the picture, you put in the trash.

The City has been assisted with its new recycling program by the CAUSE Youth Committee, which includes several area teenagers.

In its short run, the public service announcement has already played a vital role in spreading awareness regarding the new campaign.

"It's been received well." "We have it on English and Spanish channels and we've had it shared thousands of times on Facebook."

For the teens who helped produce the clip, they feel like it's another way for older community members to understand the positive impact the younger generation is making in the area.

With the containers in place at the four City parks, Santa Maria officials are now looking to the future and hoping to bring more containers to other parks later this year.

Just like trash at City parks, the new recycling containers will be also collected by the City's Utilities Department.

For more information on park recycling programs and outdoor commercial recycling containers, contact The Fibrex Group.

keyt.com

Most of us are by now very much aware of the increasing urgency required to reduce our energy consumption and to try and protect the earth’s potentially dwindling resources. While we all need to assume some collective responsibility, we can also make a difference by assuming a degree of individual responsibility by attempting to reduce our own carbon footprint.

Here are three easy ways that you can make your contribution and lower your carbon footprint.

Recycle
There are many ways that we can look to recycle our waste and actively pursuing this goal can make a difference to your pocket at the same time too.

Reusable bags
Get into the habit of taking a reusable bag every time that you go shopping. Most supermarket bags at the checkout are made of plastic and unless they are 100% pure they are not able to be recycled efficiently and therefore could end up in landfill. Some shops already charge for bags so get a reusable bag and save money as well as protecting the environment.

Use more than once
Try to get more than one use out of as many items as possible. Glass, paper and textiles have all used energy to be created in the first place so it makes sense to find another use for an item to reduce your carbon footprint. Consider turning an old jumper that you were going to throw out into a cleaning cloth and re-use containers for other items once you have consumed or used the original contents.

Paper
Try to find another use for paper such as shredding paper for animal bedding which will also save you money and try to buy recycled toilet paper whenever you can.

Check out www.FibrexGroup.com to find the most budget-friendly, sustainable solutions for your office, home or park area. Providing attractive green design recycling receptacles, site furnishings & amenities in public spaces promotes good environmental stewardship while reducing waste and increasing recycling awareness.

Reduce your energy consumption
There are so many quick and easy ways that you can reduce your energy consumption and it makes a lot of sense when you consider that you are not only reducing your carbon footprint but also saving money on your household bills at the same time.

Low energy bulbs
The cost of the bulbs is coming down all the time as they become more commonplace and you should consider replacing all your old-fashioned bulbs with low energy versions, which will cost considerably less to run and also generally last a lot longer.

Water usage
Try to wash up by hand rather than use the dishwasher and consider fitting a new cistern for your toilet if your current one is more than 10 years old. The new dual-flush versions are much more efficient and will greatly reduce your water consumption.

Standby
Many electrical items are often left on standby mode such as TV’s and laptops and phone chargers are another common item that are left plugged in even when they are not being used. This can account for as much as 25% of your energy consumption in a typical house so switch them off and save money as well as energy.

Use local goods and services
Transportation costs are a big contributor to environmental and resource usage and if you can source goods or services locally you will be benefiting your local economy, generally eating fresher food and also reducing your carbon footprint.

Buy in season
We are so used to seeing the same food items all year round in supermarkets that it has almost been forgotten that a lot of produce is seasonal. Fresh Strawberries in the summer are a real treat but if you are buying them in the winter months, then they will have been transported from another part of the world at a considerable environmental expense before they end up in your bowl.

Grow your own vegetables
Many vegetables are quite easy to grow and don’t require a lot of space, but the benefits are that you get some tasty fresh food that you have grown yourself which is quite satisfying and you are not contributing to transportation costs that weigh so heavily on the environment.

These are just a few ideas and themes to consider but if we all make an effort in our own small way, then the overall effect will surely be a positive one on the environment and our carbon footprint.

*Originally posted on Ways2GoGreenBlog.com – By Clay Miller & Yogesh Mankani

Environmental experts and scientists from all sorts of disciplines have been loudly pushing for an increased focus on sustainability in the business world. Due to some extreme weather occurrences over the past few years the government is also finally getting seriously involved, demanding that corporations toe the line and start making it a priority. Leaders of industry and political pundits have been lukewarm about the whole thing, often pointing to the fact that environmental issues could have a wide range of causes, and the impact of sustainability efforts are hard to measure. But thanks to a study recently released through a joint effort of the Boston Consulting Group and MIT’s Sloan Management Review the debate may be coming to an end. According to their research, sustainability as a cornerstone of business practices is rewarding people on a number of levels, and well over half of all companies they polled have now shifted their entire model to take best advantage.

The bottom line is that sustainability is now not only a core philosophy for businesses, but also one of the major drivers of profit and innovations. The study culled this information from questionnaires given to over 2,600 international companies. Finally, it is clear that the business world is paying attention to what science has been saying for years. But is the answer to mankind’s environmental and resource problems just this simple? As with most things in life, the answer is a resounding “no”.

There are a lot of positives to be taken from the results. First off, it is clear that today’s business leaders are looking at sustainability efforts as a driver of innovation. Limitations and rules often lead to new thinking, as innovators must come up with ways to accomplish their goals that fit inside stricter parameters. That makes sustainability an advantage as much as it is a detriment to the corporate bottom line. The challenge businesses now face is how to differentiate themselves from other companies that focus on sustainability.

The study also found that these initiatives stick and make the largest impact when the most senior management at the company focus their attention on these efforts. More than 60% of the companies that changed business models did so because their management targeted sustainability as a profit generator. Even so, companies still struggle with showing the tangible results of this refocus to their investors and shareholders. It may be that sustainability is something of a branding buzzword. Everyone is on board with the idea that it’s a difference-maker, even though most people can’t quite say what that difference will finally be.

Ready to green up your workplace? Check out www.fibrexgroup.com to find the most innovative and budget-friendly recycling receptacles to assist your company. Or give us a call at 1.800.346.4458. Work. Play. Recycle.

Ways2GoGreenBlog – February 19, 2015

Recycling plastics, glass, cans and all kinds of paper will be much simpler for Roanoke residents soon, when the city converts to “single-stream” recycling.

That’s a process in which all recyclables are collected in a single batch and sorted by machinery later. It will mean an end to sorting in your garage or basement and trying to remember which week to put out paper and which week cans and bottles are picked up.

About 34,000 Roanoke households will receive new wheeled recycling receptacles, according to Roanoke Solid Waste Manager Skip Decker. The recycling cans will be similar to the dark blue trash totes city residents already use, but will be in a lighter shade of blue. Most will be the large, 96-gallon variety, but some will be 64 gallons to accommodate tighter spaces.

Residents can put all of their recycled materials into that recycling container, which will be picked up every other week. The city will return to an “A” week and “B” week pickup schedule, with one week for trash and recycling and the other for trash only.

The target date for using the new cans is Oct. 5, but that will depend on getting the new cans distributed in time. Roanoke will be only the second locality in the region to take on single-stream recycling.

Decker said he expects recycling in the city to double from about 250 tons per month to 500 tons, with a goal of 700 tons — the amount for which the city is paying Recycling Disposal Solutions whether it processes that much or not.

The city will pay Roanoke-based RDS to provide and distribute the cans and process the materials at a cost of $200,000 a year. But with savings in temporary labor costs and spending less on tipping fees for garbage, because less material will be going to the landfill, the program should operate at a small deficit for a few years and then begin breaking even in 2019, according to figures Decker showed the council.

As part of the change, trucks will begin picking up both bulk and brush items on a weekly basis.

For more information on recycling containers and programs, contact The Fibrex Group.

Roanoke.com