Tag Archives: Recycling

ZeroLandfill Harvest Days

20 Tuesday Aug 2013

Posted by in design, environment

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Every few months we set aside some time as a design team to go through our library and purge discontinued samples or ones we no longer use. We often donate our samples to area schools, but this time we loaded up the car and headed to Harvest Days.  Harvest Days is an event put on by ZeroLandfill Denver that allows design firms like Associates III, to donate their samples for the public to come and pick out what they would like for free. It’s a way to keep materials out of the landfill and upcycle them into something useful for your home, classroom, etc.  We love this idea and were happy we could help!

9 News even highlighted the upcoming Harvest Days: click here for their report.

The first Harvest Day is this Friday, August 23rd from 3:00-6:00. The second opportunity to obtain free items to use for projects is September 6th, from 3:00-6:00. The location is the Design Materials warehouse located at 10498 East 49thAvenue in Denver. Never know what you might find!

Samples!

— Michaela Jenkins

Conscious REVERBerations

03 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by in environment, inspiration

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Prompted by a recent email blast from Jason Mraz: songwriter, musician and environmental activist, I followed a link and discovered REVERB. This organization works with music tours to help promote recycling, waste reduction, and environmental education to fans and tour crew.

REVERB

On their site they say, “…being green is not all or nothing; many people doing some things will have more impact than some people doing everything. All of us can be active participants in protecting the environment and creating real, large-scale, and measurable change.”  You can also check out their recent tour partners. 

We can all spread the word in ways that touch us most.  For some, like us, we speak and act upon our environmental consciousness professionally through our interior finish and furniture selections; for others, like REVERB, it’s through songwriting and music.

Jason Mraz

What is it for you?

Every answer to that question is important so please continue to spread the word.

— Renee Keller

 

Happy America Recycles Day!

15 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by in environment, miscellaneous

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Did you know today is America Recycles Day?

I had never heard of this day before, so I did some research to look into the history of it.  Today marks the 13th year of America Recycles Day. Each year, Americans get together to make a pledge to increase their recycling habits. Interested in making a pledge this year? Take the pledge here!

On the America Recycles Day website you can check out events that are going on today or even start planning an event for next year! What I found most helpful was the Find Recycling tab at the top of their website. Here you can type in your zip code and figure out where you can recycle specific items. You can also find local recycling options on the Earth911 website.

If you can’t find where or how to recycle a certain item, a source that we’ve just been introduced to is RAFT (Resource Area For Teaching). It’s a place for teachers to find affordable classroom and art supplies.

Take a look and remember, everyday can be a recycle day!


—Michaela

The Three Rs

24 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by in environment

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I teach a lab section for an Introduction to Environmental Science course at UC Denver where we cover topics from water, food systems, and risk assessment to energy, climate change and personal consumption. This week’s topic is about waste in all its forms – landfill, recycle, compost, hazardous, electronic and sewage.

At the beginning of each semester I ask everyone to provide a personal historical narrative about their relationship with the environment. A common response from students is to write about their familiarity with recycling and the attitude their family has toward the act. If I were to consider my students from the past few years as a sample population of the world at large, recycling appears to have become the poster child of the environmentalist movement.

Which begs the question – when did the third “R” become the most recognized “R”? What happened to first REDUCING and then REUSING before RECYCLING?

According to greenwaste.com the average person generates 4.5 pounds of trash every day (or about 1.5 tons of solid waste annually). Although 75% of this waste is recyclable, the EPA estimates only 30% of this actually escapes the landfill. With these statistics in mind, it makes a lot of sense to reconsider our daily habits regarding what we use and throw away. After all, there is no such thing as “away” – just out of sight and, often, out of mind.

And if you ever wonder what happens within a recycling facility, I’ll leave you with this educational video from Boulder County Recycling Center about the single-stream recycling process:

 

— Amy DePierre