Pathmark (recycling and reusable bags)

We dropped by a local Pathmark supermarket near our house and I found a plastic bag recycling bin in the store. Pathmark stores are in the Northeastern side of the United States and most of their stores are in the states of New York, New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Here is what the plastic bag recycling bin looks like. It's similar to what I found in Staples and Lowe's.
Pathmark also offers reusable bags for 99 cents each and they have several designs as shown below. I found their reusable bags sturdy as compared to other reusable bags. It also appeals to nature lovers since the designs have plants and animals on them.

Anatomy of a Starbucks Coffee Cup

Around 8:30am at the office.

Zzzzzz..... head dozing off early in the morning. The cup of coffee I took before leaving home is not kicking in my system.

Coffee... I need COFFEE!!!!

So, I head down the cafeteria and grabbed a cup of Starbucks coffee. After a few sips, WOO HOO!!! I'm feeling the caffeine flowing through my veins and now I'm refreshed and energized.

I then noticed something on the coffee sleeve. It said "Starbucks is committed to reducing our environmental impact through increased use of post-consumer recycled materials. Help us help the planet." Also written are the following:

60% post-consumer fiber sleeve
First-ever 10% post-consumer fiber cup

I then looked at the cup and I found the information about the recycled part. Also, the lid that they are using are recyclable. Below are the pictures that I took to show the details of the recycled/recyclable parts.

Starbucks coffee sleeve.

Fiber cup (10% post-consumer shown at the bottom)

A closer look of the cup
(apologies... blurred picture. I took this using my cell phone)

Lid of the cup

This is a good thing and I hope the other coffee cup makers and coffee shops will follow Starbucks lead on this.

I just found information regarding the Cup Recycling program at Starbucks by Global Green USA at sustainablog.org. There are lot of very interesting information written by Cindy Tickle. Please visit this link for the full article.

But if you really want to help the environment, a better choice is to use a reusable mug (similar to the pictures shown below) to drink your coffee, tea or other beverage of your choice. You will not produce any waste and you can reuse the mug everytime you want a refreshing drink... just don't forget to clean it after each use. :)

Reusable Mug

Reusable Mug available at the office

CNN Video: Recycling, Energy Efficiency

The CNN video below shows information about recycling, energy saving and innovation here in the U.S. and in the Philippines.

The 1st part of the video is about billboards. One billboard uses the sun to show that the sea level is rising. Then it shows how the Philippines is recycling billboards to bags. I was in the Philippines last June 2008 and I saw a lot of billboards along EDSA (Epifanio de los Santos Avenue) and C-5 (Circumferential Road 5). The billboards are huge and there are several of them on different roads around Metro Manila. From what I heard, the billboards are changed frequently and with the Philippine presidential election coming in 2010, there will be more billboards to be put up.

The video also shows Terracycle. A few months ago, I wrote that Terracycle is recycling Caprisun pouches into bags and other products. You can view my previous post using this link.

The next parts of the video are about energy efficiency and innovations. It features T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, VA. where they recycle rain water and shows that their school building have solar panels and energy efficient roof and windows.

The Empire State Building's plan for energy consumption is also featured. The plan is to install energy efficient lighting, upgrade the windows and install new heating and cooling systems. These activities will provide around 38% reduction in energy consumption for the one of the most known building in the world.

A.I. duPont Hospital for Children

We brought our son last month at A.I. duPont Hospital for Children for a follow-up on his eye checkup. I have noticed something different when we got there. I saw recycling bins around the hospital (see pictures below). The bins are big and green and has a sign at the top for cans and bottles. At the bottom part of the bin, there is a big art work that encourages recycling.

It is a great idea to put the big art work as it attracts attention. Also, the hospital's patients are children and the art work helps to instill the idea of recycling to the young minds.

We were there on the first week of June for the initial eye checkup and I did not see these bins back then. I'm pretty sure that they were not there because my eyes are really trained now for finding anything about recycling or recyclables.

30% Recycled Paper

I have been to the Photocopy room at my office and I noticed something different. My company changed the brand of our copy paper to the Staples brand. I happened to notice that we are now using a 30% recycled paper (see below).

Several Staples copy papers stacked.

I checked the Staples package further and found the 30% recycled mentioned everywhere.

(front)

At the back of the packaging, there are several choices of papers and I found that there are 4 choices for recycled papers:

1. Copy Paper - 30% recycled PCW (Post-Consumer Waste)
2. Copy Paper - 100% recycled PCW
3. Multipurpose Paper - 50% recycled PCW
4. Multipurpose Paper - 100% recycled PCW

Another good thing that they mention is that the package that they use is recyclable (see bottom right below).

(back - types of paper)

Also at the back of the Staples brand paper are some recycling information. It mentions that "The average American uses more than 655 pounds of paper every year." It also has a table that shows how recycled papers help the environment.

(back - recycled content info)

Here's what the table above says:
30% recycled paper
- 30% fewer trees used
- 13% less energy used
- 11% fewer greenhouse gas emissions
- 14% less water used

50% recycled paper
- 50% fewer trees used
- 19% less energy used
- 19% fewer greenhouse gas emissions
- 23% less water used

100% recycled paper
- 100% fewer trees used
- 42% less energy used
- 37% fewer greenhouse gas emissions
- 46% less water used

I never knew that my office use recycled paper since I only go to the Photocopy room occasionally and I don't print out a lot of documents. I also haven't noticed that the previous brand (Hammermill) that we were using was also a recycled paper (see below).

(front)

As you can see, even though there is a big recycling sign at the middle of the packaging, the 30% PCW can only be found at the bottom right and the sign is also small. Unlike the Staples brand, 'recycled paper' is not mentioned anywhere on the packaging. Some people might interpret the big recycling sign on the Hammermill brand as 'it can be recycled' instead of 'recycled paper.'

The Hammermill brand also shows its environment friendly side by giving a tip at the back of its packaging. It says "Planting a tree on Arbor Day helps ensure trees will be around for generations."

(back)

Should you decide to go recycled on your paper, look up the PCW percentage on the packaging. Also, when printing or photocopying, use both sides of the paper. It minimize waste and will also save you some money.

Eco-friendly DVD case

I got a copy of the Watchmen DVD last Friday and noticed something different with it's case when I removed the DVD (see below).
The DVD case is called an Eco-box because as you can see, the case is made with less plastic. The white area that you see on the recycle logo and the DVD holder is actually the back of the paper used for the DVD design/details.

I remember seeing this Eco-box before from my Incredible Hulk DVD. I was thinking of writing up something back then but I got busy and forgot all about it. Thanks to the Watchmen DVD and I remembered this Earth friendly DVD case.

The Incredible Hulk DVD Case

ECO-BOX name.

I just wish that the DVD manufacturers will start using eco-friendly case just like this Eco-box case.

IBM eco-friendly USB thumb drive

I got a gift from IBM a couple of weeks ago. It is an eco-friendly USB thumb drive. The casing is made from bamboo instead of the usual plastic case. The design is very simple but it's very well crafted.

I remember attending a virtual conference last February and the theme is about "Green IT". This might be one of the giveaways for that virtual conference or maybe I just got lucky.

Here's the USB thumb drive

Cap removed

The letter I got from IBM.