Recycle Now!

RECYCLENOW ACTIVIST TRAININGS

Help your neighborhood be clean and green! In partnership with RecycleBank, the company behind the Philadelphia Recycling Rewards program, RecycleNOW Philadelphia is now training community recycling activists to sign people up for the program so we can help more people recycle more material. You can help make a difference in your community by helping to sign-up your neighbors, co-workers, friends, family, church members, reading club, or anyone else! Attend a Community Activist Training in your neighborhood where recycling experts will answer commonly asked questions, and provide you all the information and materials you need to help sign up others.

A Green Conundrum at Christmas

I am a tree hugger and I have a real Christmas tree in my house. It didn’t occur to me that it might seem contradictory to some till my friend Peri called me out. She flipped when I told her we got a tree.

I thought she was offended because I am Jewish. Apparently it was my environmentalism that was in question. The truth is I never really thought about a fake tree versus a real one. My family had Christmas trees since I was a wee tot, and I love the pine smell and the warm and fuzzy feeling of Christmas — who doesn’t?

I explained that Christmas trees are raised on farms specifically for this purpose. When the holiday is over we will bring the tree to one of the city’s TreeCycling events. A number of neighborhood environmental groups all over the city are hosting TreeCycling events including GReenINChestnutHill (GRINCH).

Last year, residents of Mt Airy and Chestnut Hill brought over 150 trees, diverting them from landfills and turning them into mulch. An important goal of environmentalists is to reduce the amount of waste that goes into methane producing landfills. By taking your Christmas tree to a TreeCycling event in the city, the tree avoids the landfill and gas guzzling trash trucks.

GRINCH and the Mt Airy Business Assoc. are organizing this year’s TreeCycling event on Sunday Jan. 9th from 1-4pm at the corner of Mt Airy Ave and Chew Ave. For a $5 donation they will chip our tree (and your tree) which will be used for mulch. It’s like composting–win-win.

If I were a complete purist I would not get a tree at all. The truth is my very existence as a consuming human is not ideal for the health of the planet. So I am doing what I can, attempting to be thoughtful about my consumption, reduce my carbon footprint and consider future generations while enjoying the holidays. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

TreeCycling Event!!

The Mt Airy Business Assoc. and GRINCH are holding a TreeCycling event on Sunday Jan. 9th from 1-4pm at Mt Airy and Chew Ave.
Residents can bring their naked Christmas tree to be mulched for $5!!
No landfill for these trees! They will be chipped for ground cover.

Energy Works and YOUR home!

Last week, Mayor Michael Nutter and the Metropolitan Caucus joined together to announce their joint launch of EnergyWorks, a comprehensive energy efficiency program for home and business owners in the Greater Philadelphia region. The program offers professional energy analysis and design services, and brings together all available rebates, tax credits and low-interest loans to make energy saving projects affordable. EnergyWorks will help plan and finance the retrofit of thousands of homes and dozens of major commercial buildings across the region, and will help meet Philadelphia’s Greenworks goals of reducing energy consumption in buildings by 10 percent, making energy upgrades to 15 percent of buildings and creating green jobs.

Another successful Weird Waste Day!

Thank you to all who came out for Weird Waste Day yesterday and brought electronics for responsible recycling! We surpassed the last event collection of 11,000 pounds!!
The electronics will be reused, refurbished and/or dismantled by EForce Compliance. This company is located right here in Philly and is committed to responsible recycling.
GRINCH toured their facilities and spoke with the owner/operators last year to observe their process.
GRINCH will continue to organize and run this event twice a year. We are thrilled that so many people participated and by doing so help to divert toxic metals from landfills and polluting our soil.

Weird Waste Day!

Put Saturday November 13th on your calender for the next Weird Waste Day. GRINCH will be collecting your electronic waste for 40 cents p/pound from 1-4pm in the Valley Green Bank parking lot on Highland Ave. And now that GRINCH is an official non-profit your expense will be a tax deduction!

Here is a complete list of accepted items:
Desktop Computing:
PCs including desktops, mini-towers, laptops and handhelds, notebooks, tablets, hard drives.
Healthcare Equipment:
All non-biohazardous equipment: defibrillators, EKG machines, mobile carts/workstations, patient monitors.
Banking:
Currency counters, coin counters, transaction drawers, check encoders, check scanners, receipt printers, ATM machines.
Point-of-Sale:
POS systems/registers, barcode scanners, receipt printers, barcode printers, card readers, touch screen monitors.
Parts:
AC adapters, memory, motherboards, network, sound and video cards, CD/DVD drives.
Printers:
Laserjet, deskjet, thermal, dot matrix, line printers, plotters, paper trays.
Peripherals:
Keyboards, mice, power supplies, cables, speakers, external drives, etc.
Miscellaneous:
Laptop carry cases, modems, software, cables, cabinets, office furniture, cameras, KVM switches, generators.
Audio/Video Equipment:
TVs and displays, VCR/DVD players, projectors, video and audio conferencing systems, Smart/electronic white boards.
Monitors:
CRTs, LCDs, WYSE terminals, etc.
Data Center Equipment:
Mainframes, mid-range and servers, Power Conditioning/UPS systems, cabinets, relay racks.
Office Equipment:
Copiers, scanners, fax machines, typewriters.
Mobile Devices:
Cellular phones, Blackberry/PDAs, pagers.
Telecom Equipment:
Telephones, switches, PBX, voice mail and VoIP systems, voice stations, headsets.
Storage Equipment:
SAN, tape drives, hard drives, zip drives, data backup systems, disk arrays, thumb/flash drives.
Networking Equipment:
Hubs, routers, switches, bridges.

Solar Schools

PHILADELPHIA SCHOOLS GO GREEN

From installing solar panels to purchasing clean energy, area schools are joining in on the effort to step up Philadelphia’s green status. The Albert M. Greenfield School, located in Center City, recently became the first public school in Philadelphia to install a solar energy system on its roof. Greenfield’s roof hosts 26 solar panels, creating a system capable of producing an estimated 6,400 kilowatt hours (kWh) of clean energy each year. The solar system is just one phase of the “Greening Greenfield” sustainability program that the school is in the process of implementing. Area universities are also embracing renewable energy. Drexel University recently announced a commitment to purchase enough wind power credits to account for 100 percent of the power consumed by the school. Drexel’s purchase makes the university one of the 50 largest purchasers of wind power in the nation. And if that’s not enough, St. Joseph’s University was recently awarded a $1 million research grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to study switch grass and green roofs. St. Joe’s researchers will study how switch grass, a potential biofuel source, is affected by climate change. Their green roof study will evaluate stormwater retention, cooling ability, and other measures of effectiveness for green roofs in Southeastern Pennsylvania.