 Factoids
for our members to use in their newsletters and intra-office emails.
Links
Waste is one of the most fascinating things human beings create.
Our newsletter always carries some tidbit of twisted information
for your consideration in its Resource Factoid section. We will
endeavor to update this page periodically, so bookmark this and
come back often to check out the latest piece of information you
can use to start a committee meeting with or as a way to strike
up a conversation at a party.
Waste Not?
"The amount of waste generated to make a semiconductor chip
is over 100,000 times its weight; that of a laptop computer, close
to 4,000 times its weight. Two quarts of gasoline and a thousand
quarts of water are required to produce a quart of Florida orange
juice. One ton of paper requires the use of 98 tons of various resources."
Excerpt from: Natural
Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution, by
Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins
Paper
Americans make nearly 400 billion photocopies a year -- that's 750,000
copies every minute! (can you say, double-sided?) Source: Clean
Air Council
The average office worker generates nearly
one pound of recyclable office paper each day. Source: Philadelphia
Recycling Office
Americans throw away 4 million tons of paper a year, enough to build
a 12-foot-high wall of paper from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. Source:
EarthWorks Group. 1990. The Recycler’s Handbook.
Berkeley, CA: The EarthWorks Press. See also, BringRecycling
for more factoids.
1 ton of uncoated virgin (non-recycled) printing and office paper
uses 24 trees.
1 ton of coated, higher-end virgin magazine paper (used for magazines
like National Geographic and many others) uses a little more
than 15 trees.
1 ton of coated, lower-end virgin magazine paper (used for newsmagazines
and most catalogs) uses nearly 8 trees. Source: www.conservatree.com
Reuse
American businesses throw out 3 million tons of office furniture
annually. Besides the disposal costs, which are well over $100
million, the value of this furniture to reuse groups is incalculable.
Source: www.revestne.com
The Remanufacturing Industries Council International (RICI) estimates
that the U.S. remanufacturing industry contains 73,000 firms with
total annual sales of $53 billion, and employs 480,000 people.
Food and Beverage Containers
Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television
for three hours or to light a 100-watt bulb for three and a half
hours. Source: United States Environmental Protection Agency
The average employee consumes 2.5 cans of soda each day at work.
Source: The Aluminum Association; www.aluminum.org
Orphaned Waste
Between 1997 and 2007, nearly 500 million personal computers will
become obsolete — almost two computers for each person in the
United States. To conservatively calculate the value of this equipment,
multiply by $1,000. Source: National
Recycling Coalition
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Links
Links we like:
 Corporate
and Vendor Members of GPCRC
Advanced
Hydraulic Systems
Allied Waste Industries,
Inc. (BFI)
Blue
Mountain Recycling
BoxBundles.com
Four
Seasons Hotel
Oswald
Building Services, Inc.
Philadelphia
Eagles
Philadelphia
International Airport
Rapid Recycling,
Inc.
Windsor
Barrel Works
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Media
and Publications
JG
Press - Publisher of BioCycle and In Business
magazines
GreenBiz.com
- A business-driven on-line resource better than most providing
nearly everything you ever wanted to know about sustainable business
practices. Tools, resources, job listings, cutting edge articles,
you name it...an excellent portal into numerous dimensions!
Resource
Recycling Magazine - Carries a broad range of articles on markets,
government, institutional and commercial recycling programs. Publishes
E-Scrap News, Plastics Recycling Update, and a host of directories
and useful resource material.
WasteNews - an
industrial leader both in print and on-line. Get the most up to
date information daily or weekly with this respected and all-encompassing
publication.
ClimateBiz.com - published
by the same group that does GreenBiz.com, ClimateBiz.com is the
best resource out there for understanding how your company can be
a leader in protecting the global climate by reducing greenhouse
gas emissions.
Recycling
Today - a magazine and web site directed at recycling business
professionals with company profiles, articles on new technologies,
market developments and major policy issues and regulations that
affect the recycling industry.
Government
Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection - Recycling Works in
Pennsylvania
SE
Regional Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
- Waste Management Program
Pennsylvania
Markets Database - A great searchable database to find material
markets for
practically everything!
Use It Again,
PA! - Great source of information on reuse, repair, remanufacturing,
etc.
New Jersey
Department of Environmental Protection
Delaware
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
Delaware Solid Waste
Authority
US EPA
Office of Solid Waste
US
EPA Report on Municipal Solid Waste in the United States (2005 data)
US
EPA Global Warming Site - Climate Change and Waste
EPA
Universal Waste Rule
EPA,
Region III
Resource
Conservation Challenge - US EPA's new challenge to America.
If you want to see what
works, this is the place to come.
NERC's
Environmental Benefits Calculator - An on-line resource for
calculating waste related
solutions to global warming.
Recycling
Pays! Commercial/Institutional Section - Philadelphia Recycling
Office Web Site
Philadelphia
Streets Department
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Non-Profit
Sustainable
Business Network of Greater Philadelphia
Business
Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE)
FreeCycle - if you have
something that you don't want this is the group for you. Give stuff,
get stuff. Life is a gift.
 Worm
Digest
Professional
Recyclers of Pennsylvania (PROP)
Mid-Atlantic Consortium
of Recycling and Economic Development Officials (MACREDO)
Pennsylvania Resources
Council (PRC)
Pennsylvania
Clean Water Action
Recycling
Alliance of Philadelphia (RAP)
Pennsylvania
Clean Air Council
Citizens for
Pennsylvania's Future
Non-profit Technology
Resources - great resource for local computer reuse opportunities!
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Facilities
Management
Building Owners
and Managers Association -Philadelphia Chapter (BOMA)
International
Facility Management Association
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National
National Recycling
Coalition (NRC)
Zero
Waste
NRC-Waste
Reduction Forum
Reuse Development
Organization (ReDO) - national materials reuse network.
American
Forest & Paper Association - Environment & Recycling Page
(AF&PA)
OurEarth.org - comprehensive
environmental information site 
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Electronics Management and Recovery
End-of-Life
Computer and Electronics Recovery Options for the Mid-Atlantic States,
2nd Ed. - a MACREDO research and policy paper. Also, check out
MACREDO's other publications.
Computer Take-Back Campaign
- Extended Producer Responsibility advocates
Electronics
Recycling Initiative - Projects, procedures and programs lists
compiled by the National Recycling Coalition
Industry
Initiatives - Master list of industry programs from the National
Recycling Coalition
Silicon
Valley Toxics Coalition - One of the best sites on the Internet
to find out what's really going on
American
Retroworks, Inc. & GoodPoint Recycling - Boutique, Intelligent
Electronics Recycling Company
World Reuse, Repair and Recycling Association
(WR3A) - small non-profit dedicated to free trade recycling
Reclamere,
Inc. - a Pennsylvania-based company dedicated
to providing I.T. asset management services including data security,
responsible computer recycling, and data recovery.
Apple
Computer Recycling Program - everything from iPods to
Macs -- free recycling services with purchase of new Apple products.
Dell
Asset Recovery and Recycling Services - provides recycling
and other asset management services at no cost
Hewlett-Packard
Product Recycling Program - computers, printer cartridges,
and rechargeable batteries
Gateway
Trade-In and Recycling - numerous excellent non-consumer related
support options
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Friends
at GreenTreks
Links from our friends at GreenTreks:
EPA
Satellite Forum: Communities: Setting Trends in Waste Prevention
and Recycling
This program assists solid waste managers in establishing effective
waste reduction programs. A panel of waste managers is shown and
will share lessons learned about their own government programs for
waste prevention, and recycling.
DEP
Waste Reduction and Reuse Videoconference and Webcast
This webcast program will examine how waste reduction and reuse
strategies can impact recycling and waste management programs.
Hershey
Foods Strives to Eliminate Waste
In this video, see how a team of workers and managers at Hershey
Foods Corporation has reduced waste and costs through a comprehensive
recycling program. Listen to the pride of the Hershey workers involved
in this project.
A
Hanover Company that CAN Recycle
GreenWorks Environmental Tourist Gabrielle Mahler visits the Crown,
Cork and Seal Company, which manufactures cans for many food items
we all know. The company also recycles the scrap metal, plastics,
and cardboard it uses in the production process. Crown, Cork and
Seal's recycling efforts have been recognized by the 1999 Governor's
Award for Environmental Excellence.
Solid
Waste Gets a Higher Education:College/University Waste Reduction
Satellite Forum
The National Recycling Coalition's College and University Recycling
Council & WasteWise teamed up to broadcast information that will
support colleges and universities in establishment of effective
waste reduction programs.
Best
Practices: Community Based Recycling
The primary focus of the webcast's first segment is residential
recycling educational programs at the local goverment level. The
second segment involves presentations and discussions by a panel
of experts who have experience with recycling programs in commercial
and institutional settings.
Recycling
Links
Here are some various links from GreenWorks on recycling. Some are
webcasts, others are text-based and the rest are links to other
recycling organizations. Either way they speak the same message:
recycling is extremely important for our environment.
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