I never knew how much of a problem it would be if I put the wrong thing in my recycling bin. I always figured, "hey, I'll test it out. If the recycling guys pick it up, then I can recycle it. If they don't take it, then I'll know for next time." Well...I guess that's the wrong approach. Check out this article from Earth911. It gives great suggestions for what you shouldn't be putting in your recycling bin. Thought I'd pass this one along!
Recently I found out about a local organization in Charlotte that promotes a community for women artists. (Thanks for the info mom!) Being a designer myself, I was very interested! The organization is called Women Centered Art. The organization is new (just founded in 2010), but from what I've read, they have a passion for their purpose and a mission to grow the connections between women creatives. I'm looking forward to attending an event soon, learning more and hopefully getting involved.
As I looked through their website, I came across their wish list, which listed items of need for the organization. When I saw art supplies on the list - I knew that was going to be my first order of business - cleaning out my baskets and bins of old art supplies at home to donate.
When I pulled out all of my old supplies at home, I hit the jackpot! I had a little bit of everything: spray mount, stickers, paper, paint, pens, tape, bookbinding supplies and more. Most of the items were things that I thought I would use at some point, but I had not used ANY of it since we moved to Charlotte a year and a half ago. I figured that if I hadn't used it yet, I wasn't going to use it. I also figured that since it was for a good cause, what better reason to gain some storage space by purging all of my old supplies? I like the slogan of Goodwill: Don't Dump. Donate!
Since I work with a team of graphic designers and we are right next to the industrial design department, I spread the word here at our office. I put a clear tote outside my cube wall for anyone to drop in their old supplies. I'm hoping to get at least one full bin - if not more!
In an interview, Brooke, one of the co-founders of Women Centered Art, talked about the inspiration for the organization:
"Honestly, WCAC evolved from a place of evaluating whether or not to make this city my home after living between Charlotte and NYC for the past three years. For me, this is about a commitment to building what you want for your life, rather than leaving town for a city with more to offer. Shane and I have had many long talks about the fact that, as women, we “want it all”- great careers, chances to exhibit our work, inspiring workshops to attend, and a supportive community of friends and family to share it all with at the end of the day. It goes beyond the idea of becoming a professional artist, into the realm of living an art-full life...How can we stay inspired in the day to day grind? How do we reconnect with our natural, inherent creativity? Those questions intrigue me and I plan to continue that work through WCAC."
(Does that make you want to learn more or what? Count me in!!)
Here at Rubbermaid, this Earth Day has been really exciting! Fellow blogger Shannon Joyner is heading up a new group of people here that are passionate about the planet... We call ourselves the Green Team! Obviously, this is a big day for us, and we are celebrating in several ways:
We're hosting a Chuck the Cup Day
Don't be caught with a disposable cup! We're encouraging everyone here to use their own coffee mug or Rubbermaid water bottle instead of a disposable cup. Reducing waste is a pretty snazzy way to celebrate Earth Day, eh?
(If this poster looks familiar, its because Brianna M., accomplished Industrial Designer, was so inspired by the Starbucks signage that she borrowed the look from it, to create the interoffice poster for the Chuck the Cup event (once again, Starbucks not only provides good coffee, but inspiring design!)
Today also, prizes are being randomly awarded for being caught in a Green Act (recycling or using a water bottle or coffee mug instead of the disposable cups... the Green Team is on the move.. they are everywhere... look out!)
We are having a Sustainability Video viewing (helping communicate the idea of sustainability and how everyone can be do small things to make a big impact)
Today is the premier of Battery Recycling receptacles in our building (which ROCKS, because those babies have a crazy long life after you toss them, and our normal recycling centers do not take them. Now we will have an easy way to recycle batteries)
AND we created new signage that we posted around the building! (Gooooo Design!) These communications promote recycling, communicate green messages and encourage everyone do their part. Obviously, this step is the closest to my heart, since I worked on them :). As a designer, I strongly believe in the power of design to provoke change. Hopefully, this is a good start as our Green Team grows and continues to help make this world a better place for all of us.
Happy Earth Day from all of us at Rubbermaid!
This guest post was written by Aleigh, @GoodwillSP, from Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont.
Spring is almost here (the official start to the season is March 20)—and with it comes the perfect excuse to freshen up your home. Spring cleaning isn’t just about cleaning, though; it’s also about organizing and de-cluttering, so that when the weather gets warm, you can spend your days enjoying the sunshine, instead of indoors getting your house in order!
Once you’ve scanned your home for that extra stuff you no longer need, don’t head for the trash can—instead, gather up those gently-used items you no longer want, and help them land in the hands of someone who will use them. That’s where we come in. When you donate to Goodwill, you keep items with lots more use in them out of the landfill, to be sold in our stores for amazingly affordable prices. And the best part is that the proceeds from the sales in our stores fund our job training and employment programs that help thousands of people go back to work each year. Not sure where your closest Goodwill is? There’s a handy locator on the web at http://locator.goodwill.org/.
Here are some easy ways to pull together a donation that will help the environment and your community at the same time.
DO: Wash or dry clean clothing. (Goodwill doesn’t accept donations of broken or soiled items.)
DON’T: Leave your donations unattended outside a collection center; they can be stolen or damaged by bad weather.
DO: Test electronics equipment to be sure it’s in working order.
DON’T: Donate building materials, food, live plants or animals, mattresses, newspapers or magazines, pianos, or used auto parts.
DO: Donate household items, furniture, and sports equipment. We even take electronics equipment and used cars!
DON’T: Forget to ask for a receipt—your donations to Goodwill are tax-deductible. We’ll even help you decide how much to declare; click here (http://www.goodwillsp.org/priceguide.html) for a price list for items sold in our stores to use as a guide.
And the biggest DO of all:
DO: Think before you donate. Cities across the United States are seeing a sudden appearance of unattended collection bins in parking lots and roadside. Donations placed in those boxes don’t benefit licensed charitable organizations and don’t qualify for tax deductions—plus, they’re often left open to weather damage and theft. It’s important to make an informed choice and know to whom you’re giving.
I'd like to raise a toast to the good old 68L (18 Gallon) Roughneck Storage Tote. This little tank is the strongest storage box on the market and has served me well in the many posts I deploy it.
Yes I work for the company but before you write me off as a shameless self-promoter....let me remind you that I'm also a consumer. A consumer who's used this tote in -30 degree Celcius (-22 Fahrenheit) weather as a staging post for my recycling.
Let me explain.
My downtown Toronto home does not have the luxury of an attached garage that most of you probably enjoy. As a result I don't have a quick dumping ground for my recyclables. Instead I have a detached garage that I have to go outside to get to.
I'm not going to venture out every time I have an empty milk carton or a drained can of tomatoes. However, I also don't want to drown my cozy living space with piles of "to-be recycled" stuff. The answer is the 68L or 18G Roughneck storage box. I have it positioned on a small landing just outside the door that leads down my back outside stairs. Now I simply open the door (that's conveniently close to my kitchen) and chuck all my recyclables as I go. Then, every few days, I take the tote down to the city-provided recycling receptacle in my garage.
Clever system but what's amazing is that the tote has survived three years out there! Through 33 C / 100 F degree summer days (yes we have a handful if you count the humidity) and -30 C / -22 F winter days. Through it all my Roughneck never shrinks from the challenge.
If your storage job is light duty you know you have plenty of options. But if your storage need involves, a lot of weight, impact, moisture and/or temperature swings.....get the Roughneck.
Cheers.
And if you don't believe me....check out the consumer reviews....they have no conflict of interest.
So, how do people at Rubbermaid recycle? I was curious, so I asked around.
At my house, we used to put all the empty recycling items on the edge of the island as we were finished with them. I became frustrated with the recycling clutter that continually gathered on the island in our kitchen. It would sometimes sit there for days at a time before we took it out to the garage where our recycling bins are. Recently, we put a small trash bin under our sink for all recyclables.
Now, we end up only making a couple of trips out to the garage during the week and it really helps keep our island free of clutter. Also, when we have people over, we put the recycling bin out in the open so our friends can throw their cans in one bin and their garbage in the other. We don’t have to spend as much time cleaning up after them, keeps our island clean, and helps our friends recycle too. (Plus, since my husband is in charge of normal trash duty, and all of the recyclables are in a trash can, it’s his job to take the can out to the garage! I love it!)
I asked Erin, our friendly blogger extraordinaire, how she recycles at home. She and her roommates use paper bags from Trader Joes or Harris Teeter and keep them in the pantry. They wash the recyclable items, throw them in the bag, then take the bag out to the garage when it is full. Her roommate likes using the paper bags because if anything spills, they don’t have to clean a trash can, but can just toss the bag.
I also asked Rob, one of our industrial designers, what his recycling is like at home. Of course he jerry-rigged part of his recycling so it’s all creative! He puts paper in one can.
Then he set up this clear tote above his garbage can. Putting his recycling bin right near his trash can has helped him recycle more since it’s in such a convenient location.
When his tote gets full, he throws everything out into his large 45 gallon can for the recycling truck to pick up.
It seems like people around here have found some interesting ways to recycle at home. Have you found a solution for recycling that works for you?
If you would like to get more information about recycling in your area, this page from the National Recycling Coalition is a great resource.
I recently stumbled upon a blog I found really cool on using Rubbermaid containers for takeout. It is an idea we have heard a lot from our consumers as a way to reduce the waste caused by disposable containers. However, really enjoyed Jason's "social experiment" and also the reference to soup Nazi since I am a Seinfeld fan.
I commend Jason on his diligence to using durable reusable containers to encourage others to change behavior step by step. Please continue to share any stories you have on reducing waste!
A little while ago @cprmom tweeted me asking where she could find the Rubbermaid 14g Stacking Recycle Bin. I was glad I could help her out by directing her to @acehardware. In return she offered to do a quick guest post on our blog. Below is her post.
Here are my new Rubbermaid recycling totes! I’m excited to have them. Prior to these I used a sad collection of other damaged totes to store my recyclables. I still have one left, the green Rubbermaid container on the far left of the picture still holds my cardboard. We don’t have curbside recycling and I needed something that I can put outside as well as in the back of my minivan that won’t spill its contents all over the place as well as keeping the elements out of my recycling. These will happily do just that! I can pop just one or several in the back of my van and take them to our recycling center. No more spilled recyclables all over the floor or worrying that the kids will get into them. The only suggestion for improvement would be making the little green flap more weather resistant. However I am thinking that the Rubbermaid storage shed for trash cans will be the perfect compliment to these so that I can move them outside.
Thanks to @rubbermaid on Twitter for guiding me to Ace Hardware (@acehardware) to find these! I did have to order them, but had them in about 5 days.
Gail, aka @cprmom
After a brief and inexcusable absence…your Canadian Rubbermaid Blogger from Toronto is back.
Recently, my wife and I befriended an American couple who had moved to our fair city from Chicago. When I asked them to name the things they found the “strangest” they, without hesitation listed two: the rigorous rules on sorting trash/recycling and the bagged milk (a topic too vast to be properly dealt with in a 500-word blog).
As for the recycling….Canadians have always been and are becoming more and more conscious of protecting the environment. As a result of that cities and municipalities are working to have people sort their trash at home so that it can be easily recycled downstream thereby diverting the amount of waste sent to landfills. Even within recycling we are asked to divide our “wet garbage” (organic refuse…like food scraps) and our “dry recycling” (of the normal paper/plastic variety).
The city of Toronto then arms us with a green recycling bin (picture 1) for the curb as well as a small kitchen container to throw the wet waste in at the source and on the fly (picture 2). A normal operating procedure would have residents fill up their trusty kitchen container until it fills and then loading it into the green container that’s collected once a week. Local stores even sell bio-degradable plastic bags so that the whole package is recyclable. It all sounds like a flawless little operation.
Except one thing….. by definition wet garbage stinks. And while the kitchen container has a small clasp, it’s not air tight and after a few weeks of use, fails to work at all (i.e. smelly kitchens). To correct this I recently purchased two Rubbermaid Flex & Seal Canisters. I’ve gotten rid of the Government Issue kitchen container and placed one Rubbermaid Canister under my sink (picture 3) and another in overhead cupboard on stand by (picture 4).
The containers can hold about a week’s worth of wet waste (at my home anyway) and the famous flex & seal air tight lid locks in all of the odours. With the two canisters I can easily dump the waste and then throw it into the dishwasher with my clean canister ready to go. A friend of mine has three….if I had a house full of kids I would probably employ an army of at least six.
This little tip is perfect for Torontonians, people who live in other jurisdictions that collect organic waste and even those that compost on their own. If you want to know where to buy one of these canisters…just go to the product link and hit the “find a store” option. You’re then just a postal code (or zip code) away from locating a store near you that sells the product.
Being environmentally conscious often necessitates some habit changes but it should never require a smelly kitchen.
Hopefully I’ve helped my American friends see the light……is this useful to anyone else?
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