Talking Trash

Give Your Old “Specs” a Second Look

Give Your Old “Specs” a Second Look

Have an old pair of eyeglasses you no longer wear hanging around in a drawer somewhere? Donate them! There are several programs that collect old glasses for reuse by those who need them. According to OneSight, a nonprofit “committed to eradicating the global...

What exactly is a Circular Economy?

What exactly is a Circular Economy?

If you are connected to solid waste management in any way, “circular economy” is a buzz phrase that appears often. We want to move away from our “linear economy” toward the “circular,” but what exactly is in the circle we seek? The Ellen MacArthur Foundation offered a...

Relax, Recharge, and Recycle

Relax, Recharge, and Recycle

You pick up the remote, but no matter how hard you press the buttons, it won’t work. It’s time for new batteries. Once you find the new batteries you need, what should you do with the old ones? So much to do and think about when all you wanted was to sit down and...

“Look, Smell, Taste, Don’t Waste”

“Look, Smell, Taste, Don’t Waste”

While recently with family, someone suggested that the chicken salad I was eating had been around too long and I should stop eating it. “Why?”, I asked. “It smells and tastes fine and I have suffered no ill effects.” The reply was that five days was too long to keep...

Grind Down the Coffee Waste Habit

Grind Down the Coffee Waste Habit

Thanks to our friends at the City of Burbank Public Works for sharing these great tips. This is adapted from an article which appeared in the Winter 2021 edition of Reduce, Reuse, Rethink, a publication produced by Eco Partners, Inc. for the Burbank Recycle...

Global e-waste reaches 59 million tons in 2019

Global e-waste reaches 59 million tons in 2019

In summer of 2020, the United Nations released a report, “The Global E-Waste Monitor 2020,” highlighting how much electronic waste (e-waste) the world creates and where it goes. This report found that 53.6 million metric tons (Mt) of e-waste was generated in 2019, a...

Ken Butler’s Melodious Bones

Ken Butler’s Melodious Bones

It’s trash day. Those passing by homes and buildings glimpse unwanted items peeking out of trash carts and dumpsters: a rusty snow shovel, an old golf club, and a broken store mannequin. Most of us see worthless junk. But a gifted few see this everyday discarded trash...

From Rags to Riches

From Rags to Riches

Paper looks at fastest growing waste stream — textiles Last summer, Resource Recycling Systems (RRS) released a white paper, “Textile Recovery in the U.S.: A Roadmap to Circularity,” to describe the textile waste stream and provide recommendations to best reduce,...

Owning Less to Enjoy More!

Owning Less to Enjoy More!

“Mess and clutter stand in the way of our productivity, stress us out and keep us stuck. Our stuff stands in the way of the lives we dream about,” writes Lindsay Miles. “When I think about why I was hoarding stuff in the first place, there were a couple of reasons....