Consumption and the Environment webinar series (first webinar is Tues. Feb. 1)

The EPA's West Coast Climate and Materials Management Forum is offering a free year-long webinar series exploring ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help create more sustainable patterns of consumption in communities. The first webinar is this Tuesday, Feb. 1, at 11:30 a.m. CST, so sign up for it soon. Here're details:

When: February 1, 2011, 9:30am PST (12:30pm EST)
Speaker: Erik Assadourian, Senior Fellow at the Worldwatch Institute
Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/928518465

Webinar Summary
Erik Assadourian will be presenting on consumer culture. As director of the 2010 State of the World: Transforming Cultures project, he argues that in today’s culture, flying planes, owning many cars and living in a huge house are not conspicuously decadent choices but, oftentimes, the cultural norm. Consumer culture “leads people to find meaning, contentment, and acceptance through the consumption of goods and services,” because they have been raised to believe so, even though it does not improve quality of life and in fact destroys the environment. Instead of this system, Mr. Assadourian advocates for a shift to a new cultural paradigm based on sustainability. Here, what is “natural” and easy is also what is best for the planet. In his talk, he will take us through the current patterns of consumption, define “culture,” explain how consumerism has invaded cultures worldwide, and present his recommendations for creating a culture shift.

And here's the list of future topics (I know it's hard to read, so it's probably better to just click on the link):

Linden Hills Natural Home store, then and now

Linden Hills Natural Home used to be housed across the street from the Linden Hills Co-op in a small house, but after the Co-op moved to its new location, the home store became part of the main store. The variety of products is really good, and even though it looks like everything's compressed into a smaller space, the amount of shelf space is about the same, I was told. Here are pics from the old location and the new one. I apologize for the lack of wide-angle shots of the old location; when I took these in August my intent was to take close-ups of the products, so I don't have many shots of the store.


Old site:
Cleaning products
Plates and utensils, bags and sponges
These are so nifty I'd buy them for myself except that I don't usually pack a cold lunch.

Glass containers
Kids' stuff
I love these Wood from the Hood chopping boards.

Baby stuff
Kitchen items like colanders, pans and rugs
Jars, dishes and compost bins


New site:


As you can see, they have a great selection.

Low-VOC paint

Organics videos for your viewing pleasure

For work, I compiled a list of good videos showing how to gather compostables in your home, so I thought I'd share them with you. I found them quite interesting and fun. Some of them deal with residential recycling and commercial composting. Enjoy!

Recology San Mateo County, CA

Stockport, England

Merton, England

West Dorset, England click here for a second one.

Los Altos, CA click here for a second one.

Cedar Grove Compost (Everett, WA)

Linden Hills Power & Light

Pretty good video from Monkeysee Videos

Vancouver, B.C. Don’t trash your food click here for a second one.

City of Nanaimo, B.C. (The Green Bin Program)

San Francisco
also here -- look for Multi Media in the blue box on the right side.

evening compost collection in San Francisco's Chinatown

Allied Waste’s composting facility (Corvalis, OR)

Residential recycling in San Diego

Commercial composting in Scotland

More on recycling in the Bay Area

OK, so now I'm on a Bay Area kick ...

You must read this thorough and fascinating blog post (with lots of good links, too) on Streetsblog San Francisco about garbage and recycling in the City by the Bay, as well as this one from A World of Words on taking a tour of the San Francisco transfer station. There's much more to these posts than what I've revealed here; check them out!




I really like Recology's blog, too. Lots of good posts.

Massive new composting program rolls out in the Bay Area

On the peninsula just south of the San Francisco International Airport, in San Mateo County, Recology just began curbside organics collection for 92,000 households and more than 10,000 businesses. Yeah, you read those numbers right. A huge new program, that is of course seeing some glitches but that aims to divert 25 to 35 percent more organics and recyclables from the landfill.

Some other staggering numbers: Organics collection is offered to all 403,000 (!) households in Alameda County, fueled by StopWaste.org's promotional and outreach efforts. In San Francisco, 225,000 households and 4,000 businesses have curbside collection, including 8,500 apartment buildings (typically very difficult to reach because of the transient nature of the residents). Read the full BioCycle article here.

Anyway, back to San Mateo County: With new weekly organics and recycling collection (recycling used to be every other week, and the curbside organics is brand-new), rates are going up, so I can foresee about 800 million angry phone calls. But hopefully the people who feel as my friend does will also speak up and contact Recology with words of support and praise.


Here's what my friend Yvonne, who lives in Foster City, said Friday: "They were working out their routes today, missed streets, etc, but the kids loved seeing the new trucks around all day! The higher cost is totally worth it. We have one bag of diapers and not even half a grocery bag of other trash." (Thanks for the pics, guys!)

And look at all the plastics they can recycle curbside, too.

Plastic (no bags or black plastics)

• Coffee cup lids
• Plastic bottles and caps, tubs and lids and containers, including clamshells, numbered 1-7
• Plastic buckets

Below are some news stories:

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From the Daily Journal of San Mateo County, 1/8/11:

Officials hope to work out garbage glitches

January 08, 2011, 02:38 AM By Caitilin McAdoo Bay City News Service

A switch to a new garbage and recycling service provider that began Monday in parts of San Mateo County has seen some glitches, but officials have said they are confident the problems will be worked out. Recology San Mateo County is providing the new service to 92,000 residential customers and more than 10,000 commercial customers in Belmont, Burlingame, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Menlo Park, Redwood City, San Carlos, San Mateo, Atherton, Hillsborough, the West Bay Sanitary District and parts of unincorporated San Mateo County. Recology took over the service from Allied Waste after being awarded a 10-year contract with a $51 million base compensation for the first year, according to Monica Devincenzi, recycling outreach and sustainability manager for the South Bayside Waste Management Authority, a joint powers authority known as RethinkWaste. The new automated service offers improved recycling services, including weekly pickup of recycling and green waste. It also offers expanded green waste recycling that includes food waste and even pizza boxes. With the new system, customers no longer have to separate recyclables such as bottles, cans and paper by type and can instead throw them all into a single bin that can be wheeled out to the curb. “Overall the service has been going pretty well,” Devincenzi said. She noted that Recology has received numerous complaints from customers, mainly for missed pickups, but said that the company has been proactive about responding to those complaints. One issue customers have had is that when they call to report a problem, they can’t get through to anyone. Recology has brought in 15 additional customer service representatives over the past few days, and Thursday, the company put 11 additional trucks on the street to pick up garbage that had been missed, Devincenzi said. Hold times for customer service are now less than a minute, Devincenzi said, and she expects the additional trucks to be back out on the streets today picking up waste that was missed. Gina Simi, spokeswoman for Recology, said that some customers had experienced missed pickups the week before Recology began its service, which accounts for some of the complaints. Some elderly people and people with disabilities who previously had backyard pickup with Allied Waste did not get backyard pickup this week, Devincenzi said. Recology is working on updating their system for special pickup instructions and is asking people who wish to have backyard pickup services provided to call the company to update their information, Devincenzi said. The new system is expected to greatly reduce the amount of garbage customers send to the landfill. Simi said the company is estimating a 25 percent to 35 percent increase in composting and recycling in the service area. In the first three days of the new service, there was a 78 percent increase of compost and green waste and a 31 percent increase in recycled materials, Devincenzi said. “For a rollout of this size ... there are bound to be some problems and glitches,” said Redwood City spokesman Malcolm Smith. He said he has received numerous complaints from residents reporting missed service, but a handful of people have also contacted him to say that the switch went smoothly for them. “I have a great deal of confidence that they will work out the bugs,” Smith said. Despite the complaints, Simi said that 97 percent of customers experienced no problems with the new service. She also noted that the week after Christmas is traditionally the heaviest garbage week of the year, and this year the amount of garbage collected was double what was collected last year. Devincenzi said she wanted to remind customers that the new pickup times and routes are different from what people have been used to. Officials are asking customers to wait until 6 p.m. before reporting a missed pickup. In another change from the previous collector, Recology trucks will go down one side of a street picking up trash with their mechanical arms and then return at a later time to pick up trash on the other side of the street. For safety reasons, the new routes require the trucks to make mainly right turns. The new three-cart system, known as CartSMART, also means that three different trucks will collect the contents from the three types of bins at different times, Devincenzi said. The new service, however, also means rate increases for most customers. Member agencies, which each set their own rates, are in the process of recalculating rates. Overall, customers can expect an average rate increase of between 15 percent and 30 percent with a maximum increase of 38 percent, Devincenzi said.

From Waste & Recycling News, 1/7/11:

Record volumes of material were collected by Recology during the company’s initial days of service in San Mateo County, Calif., through a new contract.

The company saw a 78% increase in the daily average of organic materials collected and a 31% increase in the daily average of recyclable materials collected during its first three days of service this week, Recology said.

Recology, formerly known as Norcal Waste Systems, began servicing 92,000 homes in San Mateo County this week.

Recology is providing service to members of the South Bayside Waste Management Authority, also known as RethinkWaste, in the county.

The 12 members of RethinkWaste are Atherton, Belmont, Burlingame, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Hillsborough, Menlo Park, Redwood City, San Carlos, San Mateo, the county of San Mateo, and the West Bay Sanitary District.

"We are very excited about the increased recycling volumes we are seeing," said Kevin McCarthy, executive director of RethinkWaste. "The success in recycling experienced thus far exceeds our expectations."

From the San Francisco Examiner, 1/5/11:

Peninsula residents in 10 cities and parts of unincorporated San Mateo County should brace for higher garbage rates this year as a San Francisco firm becomes their first new trash collector in almost three decades.

Prices for some customers are projected to increase by nearly 40 percent after Recology took over service for 92,000 households and 10,000 businesses between Burlingame and East Palo Alto, which officials say is one of the largest garbage-service areas in the country.

The biggest change — and a major reason for the higher costs — is a new weekly schedule for recycling and compost, which had been picked up every other week under previous collector Allied Waste. Allied was passed over in favor of Recology for a 10-year contract serving the joint agency South Bayside Waste Management Authority, which was recently renamed RethinkWaste.

“There’s no more wondering if it’s their week or not, so that’s going to be much easier for everybody,” said Gina Simi, a spokeswoman for Recology, which delivered 440,000 new color-coded carts for garbage, recycling and compost to customers.

Besides more-frequent collection, residents can now put all types of recyclables in a single blue bin and toss food scraps into their green yard-clippings container.

But those upgrades — along with 127 new automated collection trucks, a $47 million rebuild of the authority’s San Carlos processing facility and paying outstanding debts to Allied — are expected to trigger significant rate hikes.

Recology’s service is projected to cost $86.9 million in 2011, compared to an estimated $80.4 million for Allied last year, which means RethinkWaste collectively needs to raise rates by about 15.6 percent.

Each agency approves its garbage rates independently, and the increases could be higher or lower depending on an agency’s reserves and rate history, RethinkWaste spokeswoman Monica Devincenzi said.

In San Mateo, officials are proposing to hike quarterly garbage bills by 23.3 percent, or $9.15, to $48.43 for a typical residential customer with a 32-gallon cart.

The biggest projected hike is in Atherton at 38.5 percent, followed by Hillsborough at 32.1 percent and Foster City at 25.5 percent. Menlo Park, by contrast, has projected an 8.9 percent increase.

The transition to Recology culminates a more than five-year process that put the RethinkWaste contract out to bid for the first time since the agency formed in 1982.

Allied also lost its job running RethinkWaste’s Shoreway facility in San Carlos, which will now be managed by South Bay Recycling.

Tag hanging

You may remember that in April I wrote about hanging tags on garbage and organics carts in the Linden Hills neighborhood to try to increase participation and thank those who are already participating. Well, I did that again a few weeks ago, this time as part of a pilot program in parts of the Seward/Hiawatha/Longfellow/Phillips neighborhoods. But THIS time, it was December, and the temperature was 7 degrees. We started at 6:30 a.m. I gained a new appreciation for the crews that pick up our trash and organics every day out in the elements starting at the crack of dawn when it's most cold. And I'm sure all our snow this month has made their job a lot more difficult.

Still dark out when we started. We had to start this time of day because we were following the trash and organics trucks, attaching our hangers only after the carts had been emptied.

You can see why they need super-bright lights at this time of day.

Trash carts got an "It's so easy to be green" hanger.

The crews leave a tag if they find non-organics in the cart, or if something else needs tweaking.

Participants got a "You're making a difference" tag.

If the carts are full, Rose and Lloyd hook the carts onto the truck to be tipped, otherwise they just reach into the cart and grab the bag or two in there. (Check out the contrast between how Rose is dressed in this picture with how she was dressed in April)

Tools of the trade: Cart hangers and a stapler, so the hangers don't blow away or fall off. The stapling was a good idea because a lot of the hangers we put on carts in Linden Hills blew away or fell into the garbage trucks.

It's early in the pilot, but this organics load shows encouraging participation.

A tag for excess garbage hung by the city crews, paired with the hanger to join the organics program that I hung.

We saw many garbage carts overflowing with trash. I hope those eligible for the pilot take advantage of the free program because it would make a huge difference. Want to read more about the organics pilots and the city of Minneapolis' efforts? Click here and here.

Recycle your rags

Most people know you can donate used clothing and other goods, but what about the pair of jeans torn beyond repair or the threadbare sweatshirt full of holes? There are two companies in the Twin Cities that recycle rags. Wipers Recycling makes them into what they call wiping rags, which they sell in 10- and 25-lb boxes, or granular absorbents. They have drop-off locations in Maplewood and St. Paul Park.

There's also USAgain (Use Again), a national company with a location in Roseville, which processes clothes and rags from almost 1,000 collection bins.

All rags must be clean and dry.

Recycle your holiday lights

From Linden Hills Power & Light:

So you finally untangled that clump of holiday lights, plugged them in and ta-da...nothing!

Don't get mad, get even! Replace those frustrating suckers with nice new, energy-efficient LEDs, and kick the old ones to the curb of 43rd and Upton at Bayers Hardware (Minneapolis), where a nice recycling bin stands ready and waiting for them.

Every part including the glass and copper will be recycled. By one estimate, recycling copper takes about 10 percent of the energy it takes to extract it. It's very energy intensive to create new copper, so this is a big deal. According to estimates by the Clean Energy Resource Teams, recycling 50,000 pounds of lights in Minnesota would save about 530,000 kilowatt hours, or about 960,000 pounds of carbon dioxide. That's assuming 20,000 pounds of lights are replaced by LEDs and that homeowners with lights use them for about six hours a day from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day. Last year Minnesota recycled 100,000 pounds and this year's goal is 200,000 pounds.

For locations all over the state for recycling your lights, click here.

Amazon recycled paint

Amazon recycled paint, made in Fridley, MN! From its website:

Amazon uses leftover latex paint to manufacture recycled content paint that is comparable in quality to virgin paint sold by national manufacturers. Amazon Select® recycled content paint is available in 12 pre-mixed colors, is environmentally preferable to virgin paints, and carries both the Green Seal and Master Painters Institute stamp of approval.
Any leftover paint we can’t use is manufactured into an alternative raw material used in the manufacture of cement. Using these processes, Amazon is able to beneficially recycle virtually 100% of the leftover paint received.

Foam trays recycled! In North Carolina!

I recycled my polystyrene (aka Styrofoam) trays in North Carolina. I know it sounds insane, but it's not as crazy as it sounds! Here's why: We were going from Asheboro, N.C., to Greensboro, N.C., which took us right through Randleman, N.C., which is where one of the Dart Container polystyrene drop-off facilities is. So I packed as many trays (uniform shape) into my suitcase and backpack as I could. And recycled them in N.C.! Now if only I could recycle the 13 other bags of cups, plates, trays and clamshells (those take-out containers that open and shut like a clam shell) in our garage...

This place was not easy to find, so this sight was sweet.

My mom gets the honor of recycling the foam trays!

The bins were full, so it's not just me making the trek to recycle.

Green Gifts Fair is Saturday

Kick off your holiday shopping with the Green Gifts Fair on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Midtown Global Market. From the website:


Do It Green! Minnesota offers our annual Green Gifts Fair right before Thanksgiving. The event is meant to introduce green gift options and low impact ideas to celebrate the holidays from Thanksgiving to Hanukkah to Kwanzaa to Winter Solstice, New Year's and everything in between! Come begin your holiday celebrations with us on November 20th!

SHOP 70+ local retailers and artists for green, recycled, fair trade and organic gifts. Visit the full list of vendors by clicking the link above in Quick Links.
LEARN about green holiday decorating, wrapping, food & party ideas, and homemade gifts.
EAT lunch or dinner at many of the restaurants at the market and sample low carbon holiday foods with local chef demos.
CELEBRATE the new 2011 Do It Green! Magazine focusing on the last few decades of the environmental movement in MN (great gift idea!).
ATTEND the eco fashion show, low carbon food cook off, or listen to local musicians on our main stage.
REDUCE bring your own cloth shopping bags, reusable coffee mug for $1 coffee at Mapps Coffee & Tea in the market, and silverware and cloth napkins to reduce waste if you eat in the market (they only serve styrofoam and plastic!).
RECYCLE your holiday lights at the fair. For every holiday light string recycled receive one raffle ticket to win $50 in Green Gifts Fair bucks.
COME CAR-LESS Come by bike, bus, walking or carpool and get a gift! Download a Metro Transit Go Green Pass to travel for FREE. Or there is free parking for up to three hours in the parking ramp off of 10th St.

A tour of the HERC

I got to tour the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC) this week, and it was fascinating. The amount of trash was staggering, but I'm glad it wasn't going to a landfill and that it was generating energy to heat downtown buildings and put some electricity onto the grid.

This diagram that we went over beforehand was very helpful because then we knew what we were going to be looking at. Click here for a virtual tour.

Trucks are constantly coming and going, dumping their loads of trash.

The grapple (I call it The Claw) picks up the trash and tosses it like a salad as the operator works to get the right mix of wet and dry for a good burn. Are you seeing this massive amount of trash?!!

The grapple drops giant clawfuls of trash into two big hoppers on the upper right. Trash slowly drops down the chutes into the two burners, which run 24 hours a day 365 days a year (except a few times a year for maintenance).

It looks like something out of a sci-fi flick, doesn't it?

Look at the size of it.

Sometimes a big hunk of metal like an appliance will get through, and when the operator spots it, he plucks it out of the trash pile.

The plant's processes are constantly monitored with sensors, and deep in the bowels of the facility, Covanta operators go through their paces, using all of their senses (except taste!) to gauge whether things are working right. They can also tell by how the flames look whether things are burning well or not. This was just after our big snow storm Saturday, and as one guy put it, "snow doesn't burn well."

I was mesmerized by the fire.

The control room operator works 12-hour shifts in front of a bank of computer screens, monitoring everything in the building and constantly tweaking the flow of air and steam, rate of combustion, the speed of the trash in the furnace. The HERC produces steam, which drives a turbine to produce electricity. To read more about the process, click here.

Here's what you see from the outside.