News Bit: Austin Passes Bag Restriction Law

For those of you who picked up your free usable bag last week at the Union, you’re in good shape if you decide to move to Austin!

“Austin, Texas, has passed a law restricting plastic and paper retail carryout bags. The law, which will take effect March 1, 2013, allows for three options: paper or plastic bag of thicker construction with handles, or reusable linen or woven bags, says Bob Gedert, director of Austin Resource Recovery, in an interview. Because of the replacement options, the city is characterizing it as a bag regulation, not ban.

The new law differs from what Austin City Council proposed in December, which involved a 52-cent interim fee for single-use bags. Gedert says administrative challenges, retail relationship to challenges and being accountable to the public made that “too difficult a path to take.”

Read more about this interesting and controversial step, HERE.

Source:  Waste360.com 

RecycleMania Results: Week 3

Here’s the results for Week 3 – we’re improving in our waste minimization efforts!

And here’s some of the items posted on the “Pledges to Save the Planet” wall at the Union last week:

  • Educate others on how to live simply & sustainably!
  • I will bring my recyclable grocery bag in the store when I shop.
  • Bike instead of drive!
  • Refilling my water bottle instead of buying new.
  • Using reusable bags, making “greener” choices when purchasing food, and car pooling more often.
  • Eat ogranic and buy loal. No plastic and natural products.
  • Educating myself on important environmental issue and following through with solutions.
  • Riding the bus more and reducing my meat consumption.
  • Volunteering for sustainable causes, planting trees, reusing, reducing and spreading the word.
  • Dedicating mindful effort constantly to reduce my negative impact & to encourage health, growth & education.
     

Schedule of Events: RecycleMania Week

RECYCLEMANIA WEEK!

Pick up your FREE Reusable Bag (limited quantity available)

When:  February 27 – March 2

Where: Cloud Commons, University Union

What:

  • All Week
    Reusable Bag Giveway – 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
    Pledge wall – make a pledge, be entered to win a bike!
    Information & Displays
  • Monday, February 27
    Sustainable Rides Information – 10 a.m. – 1:30 p.m
  • Tuesday, February 28 
    Featured Recycling Activity – 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
  • Wednesday, February 29
    Sustainable Rides Information – 10 a.m. – 1:30 p.m
    Featured Recycling Activity – 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
    Food Vendor Booths – free samples! – 11 a.m – 1 p.m.
  • Thursday, March 1
     Featured Recycling Activity – 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
  • Friday, March 2
    Sustainable Rides Information – 10 a.m. – 1:30 p.m
    Featured Recycling Activity – 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Check it out! Get a free reusable bag, try a craft, stack some caps, make a pledge, and recycle more!

RecycleMania Results: Week 1

RecycleMania Week 1 Results
This year, UW – Green Bay is participating in three different categories of the ‘competitive’ division of RecycleMania:  Grand Champion, Per Capita Classic, and Waste Minimization. 

  • The Grand Champion category combines trash and each of the core recyclable materials to determine a school’s recycling rate as a percentage of its overall waste generation. To be ranked in this category, schools must provide their trash, paper, cardboard, cans and bottles weight. The winner will have the highest recycling rate, which means that they not only have reduced trash disposal through waste prevention, but also have a strong recycling program for the acceptable materials.
  • The Per Capita Classic is the original and most recognized RecycleMania competition format. In this category schools compete to see which can callect the largest combined amount of paper, cardboard and bottles and cans on a per person basis. Results are calculated by dividing recyclng weight figures with the full-time equivalent (FTE) student and staff population of the school.
  • In the Waste Minimizationcategory schools compete to see which produces the least amount of both recyclables and trash on a per person basis. Where other categories recognize school efforts to collect the recyclables generated on campus, this competition focuses on thier efforts to reduce the amount of waste generated, including recyclables. Results are calculated by combining the core recyclable materials (paper, cardboard, cans, bottles) and with the total trash weights for a campus and dividing this number with the campus’s population figure. Schools are recognized based on the lowest overall per person quantity.

 

 

 

To sort and view rankings for yourself, visit www.recyclemania.org .

News Bit: Hershey Achieves Zero Waste to Landfill at 3 Plants

The Hershey Co. said three of its manufacturing facilities achieved zero waste-to-landfill (ZWL) status.

The Hershey, PA based candy retailer said in a news release that two plants in Hershey and another in Hazelton, PA, recycle about 90 percent of operational waste generated. The remainder of the waste goes to nearby Pennsylvania waste-to-energy incinerators in Bainbridge and Harrisburg.

“We achieved ZWL at these facilities through a rigorous process of eliminating waste, recycling and convertings waste to energy,” said Terence O’Day, senior vice president of global operations for Hershey.

The company’s Hazleton plant achieved ZWL status this month. Its West Hershey plant became a ZWL facility in October 2011. In addition, an ongoing $200 million to $225 million expansion of the facility is a ZWL project. The company’s Reese plant, located in Hershey, achieved ZWL status in 2010.

Hershey said it aims to continue improving its recycling and energy efficiency progrmas at all of its U.S. facilities.

Source:  waste360.com

SPECIAL NOTE: Hershey Kiss wrappers are recyclable!

Become a RecycleManiac!

Recyclemania is here!! Get ready for some friendly competition with other colleges and universities in North America and Canada (513 to be exact), as we all work to see who can do the best job reducing, reusing and recycling. During the eight weeks of February 5 – March 31, we’ll be having our waste hauler record the amount of waste and recycling removed from our campus. That volume is converted to weights and entered in the RecycleMania database for all to see … and compare our progress against other schools!

In Wisconsin, the following schools are competing in RecycleMania: College of the Menominee Nation, Madison Area Technical College, Saint Norbert College, UW – Eau Claire, UW – LaCrosse, UW – Milwuakee, UW – Oshkosh, UW – Plattville, UW – River Falls, UW – Stevens Point, UW – Stout, UW – Whitewater, and Western Technical College. How will UWGB fare against this competition?

The goal, of course, is to both reduce the amount of ‘stuff’ we throw out in the trash by thinking before we buy AND if we do need to discard something AND it is recyclable, to put it in the appropriate recycling bin.

Stay tuned for events happening the week of February 27th and check back here for updates on our progress and status.

Friday Factoids

  • In WISCONSIN, we generate 4.6 million tons of trash and recyclables each year. That’s enough to fill a typical city street over 4 feet deep with trash (curb to curb) for 575 miles! If you remove the recyclables, only 357 miles would be filled with trash.
  • In the UNITED STATES, we generate enough trash and recyclables each DAY to fill 72,450 garbage trucks that hold 9 tons of trash each (which means 26,444,250 garbage trucks in a YEAR). Recyclables would fill 27,531 garbage truck each DAY.
  • The average person in WISCONSIN generates 4.7 pounds of trash (residential and their share of commercial trash) each day and recycles 1.9 pound of that trach per day.
  • The average person in the UNITED STATES generates 4.7 pounds of trash each day and recycles 1.4 pounds of that trash per day.