Gonink – Design & Print

As if this couldn’t be a more timely article, I have found some information that Dracula is living in your house. No, not the fierce blood sucking devil-like creature that turns into a terrifying bat on a whim. What I’m talking about is an energy sucking problem that is costing you a nickel of every dollar’s worth of electricity that sleeps from your home’s outlets.

The IEA has a PDF that found almost 10% of household usage are those little electronic devices in “standby” or “sleep”mode. And by some accounts could rise to 20% by 2010. So in just a few short years an average household who spends approximately $120.00 a month on electricity will be wasting $24.00 worth on electronic charging alone. And it may not seem like wasting energy if you’re charging a cell phone or camera or your favorite MP3, but when consider all of the electronics that are in “standby” mode and using energy while not in use, the numbers are staggering.

Do you shut OFF your computer at night? Are you constantly charging an MP3 player or camera?

That’s a question I asked myself last weekend as I looked at the 6 different totes that sat before me waiting to go to the center. Unfortunately for me, I have a severe case of P.A.T.T. or better known as Procrastinate All The Time and never made it to the center. And although that’s the case I still wondered if I had divided up the paper, plastics and glass properly. I knew the only way I would find out would be to do some searching on the Internet. Low and behold I came across what I believe is the site for questions about recycling.

The National Recycling Coalition is a national non-profit advocacy group with members that span all aspects of waste reduction, reuse and recycling in North America. The Coalition represents advocates from every region of the country, in every sector of the waste reduction field.

And even though they’re more than just a resource for what you can recycle, they do offer a simple solution to find out what you can recycle dependent on your location.

From what I’ve researched it seems everything I’ve shoved away in the totes is recyclable and I need to get my butt to the center and turn it in because I’d like to know my contribution helps. On the NRC site they have a calculator that shows you different statistics and information on recycling.

So do you know what you can or cannot recycle? I’d like to know if you maybe live in an area where you’re limited and see if we can find a solution to get more things recycled in your area.

It’s been about 4 weeks since we really started hitting the recycle program here at gonink and at home. But as time has gone on a few things have occurred. First off my procrastination of actually loading up the totes and taking them to the recycle center. Secondly I’m not 100% confident that I’ve divided up my recycles according to my center. Some centers take a No.1 plastic, others only a No. 2 and still others might take both.

Your first step might be to search your county or city’s recycling Web site. You might have to start at the state level, but most municipalities now offer recycling programs. If you can’t find anything there, call your waste hauler and see if they have some suggestions or contact information.

The quickest and easiest way to find a center is by visiting Earth911.org and at the top of the home page is a search box to help you find the nearest recycling center.

So Saturday October 20th will actually be our first delivery of recyclable goods and hopefully a monthly event for years to come to help our future.