I Recycled My Homework to Save the Environment

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Environmental issues are serious and effect everyone of us including future generations. I take my environmental concerns to heart but I also like to have a little fun at the same time. Being Earth Friendly most of the Earth Tribe Gallery is full of bold and original environmental, animal and nature designs.

There are a few humorous designs such as this I Recycled My Homework to Save the Environment. It’s perfect for earth loving, recycling students who want to promote recycling with a touch of humor! This design is available on a wide variety of shirts as well as stickers(great for school binders and locker doors!), buttons, mouse pads, cards, reusable bags and more!

Through an innovative school recycling program, earth friendly company, Terracycle creates a tote bag made of recycled drink pouches from schools:

Ever thought of starting a recycling program in your school? Well, here are some great tips from treehugger.com to make it happen!

Find out who else in your school is passionate about recycling and is willing to help!
Decide what can be recycled in your school district. Items such as paper, plastic, printer cartridges, batteries or clothing are all fair game.
Form a recycling club to be responsible for the program.
Determine who will get the recyclables to the transfer station. Some potential candidates include custodians, parents, volunteers or in many areas the trash company or town itself.
Decide where to store your schools recyclables until transport.
Find out how many classroom, lounge and cafeteria recycling containers will be needed, and then raise money for their purchase.
Have committee or club members make presentations to each classroom about the importance of recycling.
Weigh and measure recyclables and post this information for the entire school to see to encourage more recycling.
Hold contests and competitions between grade levels or classrooms to see who can recycle the most.
Find fun things to do with the funds raised by collecting bottle-return money.

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eartheasy.com has some great tips for helping the environment through recycling

paper & cardboard – newspapers should be saved in its own bin, as this material goes directly back into newsprint recycling. Recycling a four-foot stack of newspapers saves the equivalent of one 40-foot fir tree. – magazines, glossy printed flyers or newspaper inserts, phone books, envelopes, computer paper, old letters, and paper packaging can be saved together in one bin. – Staples in paper are acceptable, but remove rubber bands or plastic wrap. – Do not include the following in your paper recycling: carbon paper, stickers, cardboard, laminated paper, laminated cardboard. – plastic-lined paper drink cartons are recyclable. Most recycling centers now accept these items; ask locally. – Discard fast food wrappers made from plastic, dirty or food-stained paper tissues or napkins. – corrugated cardboard is a highly valued recyclable. Most curbside collectors ask you to bale the cardboard together and tie it with string. Check to see if there are size and weight limits to how much you are allowed to bale together. The most important thing to remember is to keep it dry. Plastic or waxy coated, and wet or greasy cardboard, such as pizza boxes, cannot be recycled because it clogs sorting machines.

plastic Plastic does not break down in landfill, and since It can be recycled to make many diverse products, effort should be made to recycle all plastic waste. Recycling centers vary in the types of plastic they accept. Check with your local recycling center, and take care to buy plastic goods which are recyclable. – plastic goods are assigned different numbers to grade them for recycling: #1 (PET) and #2 (HDPE) for containers, #4 (LDPE) for bags, #7 for mixed plastics such as poly carbonates that are not recyclable. Almost all recycling centers accept plastics #1 and 2. – plastic bottles are usually made of #1 PET plastic, a valuable recyclable material. Among many other items, this plastic can be “spun’ into fleece fabric. Tops should be removed before recycling, and put in with your general plastic items. Polycarbonate baby bottles (#7 plastic) are not recycle-able. – because it is difficult to clean PET plastic without releasing harmful chemicals, bottles made of PET should not be reused. – plastic grocery bags – most grocery bags are made of high density polyethylene, a Type 2 recyclable plastic. Most grocery stores have bins outside so customers can drop off used plastic bags for recycling. – polystyrene (#6) (cups, food trays, egg cartons, etc) does not biodegrade. Ask if your recycling center accepts polystyrene for recycling; many now accept this material. Try to reduce your use of this material.

glass – glass is recycled according to color: clear, green and brown. Recycling centers prefer it when glass is separated this way. Collectively, these types of glass are referred to as “container” glass, and widely accepted for recycling. – paper labels can be left on the glass. – store light bulbs, sheet glass, mirrors and pyrex separately from bottles, since they have a different composition and melting points, and not accepted by many recycling centers. – compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) may be recycled at your local IKEA store.

aluminum, steel & copper – food cans should be rinsed and have lids and labels removed. It helps if they are flattened, although many new cans are difficult to flatten; they should still be recycled. – aluminum cans are very valuable as recyclable items. Many recycling centers request they be not crushed flat. Check locally. – aluminum foil and foil packaging are also important to recycle; they are reprocessed into aluminum mechanical components, such as engine parts. – paint cans, aerosol cans are recyclable, but are considered hazardous waste and need to be kept separate from other metals. It is important to leave labels on these cans, as recyclers need to know the former contents. Try to return the lids along with empty paint cans. – copper is one of the most recycled and recyclable of metals. In fact, copper is 100 percent recyclable, as are all its alloys, such as bronze and brass. The recycling of copper requires only 15% of the total energy otherwise consumed in mining, milling, smelting and refining.

home recycling tips – visit your local recycling center and find out what materials they accept for recycling. Then set up your bins accordingly.To find the recycling center nearest you, call: 1 800-CLEANUP – put storage bins in place – The key to a successful home recycling program is the storage bin setup. Once you learn which materials your local recycling center accepts, set up a corresponding storage bin system. The garage is a good place to locate the bins; if using an open car port the lids will need to be covered to secure the contents from pests and wind. Once your system is set up, recycling is easy! – use plastic bags or totes to store materials for recycling. Paper bags can be leaky, and rip easily. Try to use smaller containers, as they will be easier to lift when full. – label recycling bins to ensure materials are separated correctly. – choose products with the highest percentage of “post-consumer” recycled content Two types of recycled materials are used in manufacturing products and packaging: pre-consumer – often referred to as mill scraps recycled internally at manufacturing plants. post-consumer – returned by consumers, through recycling programs, to the manufacturing process. – clean bottles and tins before putting in the recycling bin. This prevents flies both at home and the recycling station. – put a ‘no junk mail’ sticker on your letter box. You’ll be amazed at how much this reduces your rubbish. – join the Freecycle™ movement – the idea is simple: you give away for free what you have and don’t need and you receive for free what you need, but don’t have. This ‘free cycle’ of goods keeps lots of useful stuff out of landfill sites and is about thinking globally and recycling locally.