Electronic Waste: What’s Our National Policy?

Did you know that Americans discard about 200,000 computers every day? And that only about 30% of our discarded electronic waste is accounted for?

Did you know that we are apparently sending a lot of this toxic waste into other parts of the world? Places like China, India, and more recently Latin America and Africa?

That’s according to Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist and specialist on waste management at the National Resources Defense Council, as reported in the Epoch Times earlier this week. Hershkowtiz also pointed out that, unlike the European Union, the U.S. has no national regulations governing the proper disposal of electronic waste. “We need it,” he says.

Of course computers are only one part of the problem: there are also printers, televisions, flat screens and mobile phones–in 2012 alone, 140 million of our cellphones, which we replace on average every 18 months, will end up in landfills.

This is not good: the toxic materials  these electronic components are made of–lead, cadmium, nickel, and lithium–will leech out and can contaminate soil as well as drinking water. It’s bad for our health, and for the health of our planet.

Americans have actually gotten much better about recycling electronic waste in recent years: the percentage of discarded computers that are recycled has gone from roughly 11 percent in 1998 to about 38 percent now (though the rate for recycling cellphones is much lower, around 8 percent).  The problem is, as Casey Harrell of Greenpeace said in the Epoch Times article, “We need to have the infrastructure to collect e-waste effectively.” For recycling to really work, he says, it has to be “free, convenient, and easy.”

That means that for this national problem, there needs to be a national policy,  leading to a national solution.

The Responsible Electronics Recycling Act of 2011 has been filed with bi-partisan sponsorship in both the House and Senate. This bill would make it illegal to send toxic e-waste to developing nations. That’s a start, and an effort worth supporting.

But we’re a long way from dealing with the toxic waste in our own backyard as well. So until electronics recycling has been made as convenient and easy as other recycling has been made in much of the country, we’re stuck with patching together our own local solutions as best we can.

That’s not as good as having an effective national plan in place–but it’s no less important.

Janet Hulstrand is a writer/editor,  writing coach , travel blogger, and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.

A few sources of information on electronic recycling and waste management:

http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/ecycling/manage.htm

http://www.scjohnson.com/en/green-choices/Reduce-and-Recycle/Articles/Article-Details.aspx?date=12-02-15&title=Statistics-That-Will-Make-You-Want-To-Recycle-Your-Cell-Phone

http://earth911.com/news/2010/12/20/everything-there-is-to-know-about-batteries/

Opportunity or Stumbling Block?

Some people look at getting rid of clutter as an opportunity: a chance, if not to change direction, then at least to clean up their path a bit. Other people see the need to get organized as a stumbling block, something that trips them up at every turn.

Are the people who see decluttering as an opportunity too optimistic? Are their rose-colored glasses a little too rosy? After all, life’s problems will be there whether their drawers are neatly arranged or not. And are the people who focus on the stumbling blocks too pessimistic? Are they using their reluctance to declutter as an excuse to not get moving in other areas of their life?

Perhaps the task of getting rid of clutter presents a combination of both opportunity and stumbling block – just like so many other things in life. And maybe we need to find a middle ground, some realistic and doable place between unbridled optimism and self-defeating pessimism that allows us to move forward with the “stuff” in our lives.

Here are some tips I’ve gleaned from talking to others who have been through the process of decluttering.

Just start. Don’t wait for someone else. Don’t ask for permission. Be your own source of power. And don’t worry about the “right” place to start. Just start.

Set a deadline. It may help you to focus. But as you keep expanding the parameters of the job, remember to reset the goal.

Do a little, often. Don’t wait until you have a free day; use those two hours you have. Don’t wait for a two-hour block; use the twenty minutes you have each day to accomplish one small task.

Celebrate your progress. Don’t wait for what may seem like an elusive end product but find delight and satisfaction in one clean shelf, one accessible drawer, one bag of clothing donated. Take before and after pictures to remind you of how much you have accomplished.

Ask for help if you need it. Don’t despair if the job seems too daunting. Ask family and friends to help in ways small and large.

Whether you see cleaning up your clutter as an opportunity or a stumbling block, you may have tips to share that will help others. What works for you?

≈Linda Hetzer is an editor and author of books on home design, crafts, and food, and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home. 

Give Your Stuff Away

When I came across Never Liked It Anyway, a site where the recently divorced as well as runaway brides can sell their wedding items, giving once loved things a second chance, my first thought was that I would like to start a site called always-liked-it-but-have-to-get-rid-of-it-and-want-to-find-it-a-good-home-where-it-will-be-appreciated-dot-com because most of the stuff I struggle with are things that have meaning for me, or at least whose meaning is something I would like to share with others.

After giving it some thought, I will probably not be creating that website – at least not anyway soon – so what can I do, what can all of us do?

Give your stuff away.

Saturday May 12 is Give Your Stuff Away Day

Mike Morone has created what he hopes will be the largest recycling event where you can put your stuff out on the curb for others to take. You can join in with people around the nation to make this the day you clean out the closet, junk drawer, basement, or garage and put the items out on the curb.

Donate for good.

Check out the AARP Recycling Guide where you can learn about organizations that recycle everything from batteries to blue jeans or Parade Magazine’s Places That Help Your Clutter Do Good for places that will put your stuff to good use.

Don’t buy gifts.

That may sound extreme but you can let your loved ones know that you are decluttering and suggest alternative gifts like a massage, dinner out, or theater tickets. As Jane Brody suggests in “Making Progress Against Clutter” you can even ask them for services like helping you box up clothes or books to give away.

Or give to a charity or nonprofit organization as a gift. Shift My Gift helps you set up a page where friends can donate to your favorite charity in your honor.

Tell your stories.

It’s been shown that the more we share the stories about our stuff, the easier it is to let the stuff go.

At the recent PEN World Voices Festival, author Margaret Atwood said she was once asked by a moderator “Why write?” Atwood said that the real question is “Why tell stories?” And her answer is “Because we are human.”

Whether we are a recent bride selling the wedding dress, a participant in Give Your Stuff Away Day, or someone donating in place of gifting, we are all human beings telling our stories – and helping to keep our stuff out of the landfill.

≈Linda Hetzer is an editor and author of books on home design, crafts, and food, and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home. 

Help for Hoarders: Out of the Closet and Into the Light?

I’m not a fan of  “Hoarders” or any of the other reality TV shows that shine a very public light on the private and painful world of people who suffer from hoarding disorders, and their families. To me it smacks a bit too much of the kind of public humiliation I wish had gone the way of pillories and stocks in the village square.

Still,  I have to admit there may be a good side to the phenomenon: for these shows have drawn attention to a problem that is more common than many people may have realized; and one fringe benefit of all the attention seems to be that nowadays there is more help available for people with cluttering or hoarding problems–and a more open, public dialogue about the problem which can only be healthy.

Take, for example, an essay columnist Jane Brody wrote late last year. In “It’s Time to Say Goodbye to All That Stuff,” Brody was refreshingly, I would even say courageously, candid about her own tendency to “accumulate too much of nearly everything and my seeming inability to throw out anything that I considered potentially useful to me or someone else sometime in the future.” Very matter-of-factly Brody describes how she faced the fact that she was both buying and keeping too much stuff, and how she went about changing her ways.  And just the other day she published a “progress report” on the continuing process of decluttering her home.

The “Caring and Coping” series on the New York Times New Old Age blog is another source of help and advice for people who struggle with this problem and their families: for example, Cristina Sorrentino, of the Boston University School of Social Work, has prepared a PDF of guidelines for “How to Talk to Someone With Hoarding: Do’s and Don’ts” that is posted there.

Last week  the 14th Annual International Conference on Hoarding and Cluttering was held in California, the speakers  including Dr. Randy Frost, one of the world’s foremost experts on hoarding. Among topics of conversation at the Conference was talk that hoarding may soon get its own category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSMMD), the “bible” of American psychiatry. (In the past hoarding has been considered a form of obsessive/compulsive disorder, but according to some experts, it’s not a precise fit. )

Perhaps defining hoarding behavior as the symptom of a very specific illness can be helpful in both treatment of the condition and understanding of its true nature. Hopefully it will also lead to a more compassionate attitude toward the  people who suffer from it, and more effective help for them in confronting their problem.

Janet Hulstrand is a writer/editor,  writing coach , travel blogger, and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.

For more on last week’s Conference in San Francisco, and a social worker’s perspective on the problem of hoarding:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/04/25/BANU1O950D.DTL#ixzz1tleecLXT

http://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/051711p14.shtml

April 22-28 Is #PreservationWeek!

This week marks the third annual celebration of  Preservation Week, a week when libraries across the country “present events, activities, and resources that highlight what we can do, both individually and together, to preserve our personal and shared collections. “

Founded by a coalition including the American Library Association, the Library of Congress, and the Society of American Archivists among other professional organizations,  this week offers a wealth of opportunities for ordinary Americans to learn about ways to preserve everything from old quilts to comic books, from old family photographs and letters to old home movies–just the kinds of things you may be finding in your basements, attics, and garages–and not knowing how to properly care for them.

If you’ve already missed some of the events, you may still be able to find valuable information online (or from your local librarians) that will be helpful to you as you go through things in your home and find ways to ensure they are not destroyed by the most common destroyers of precious items: heat, light, moisture, dust, dirt, insects and other pests–but also dirty hands and rough handling. (So BE CAREFUL as you approach those precious family treasures you’re finding in closets, trunks, and under beds! You wouldn’t want what had been preserved for 100 years to be damaged by you, now, through careless handling.)

 

Janet Hulstrand is a writer/editor,  writing coach , travel blogger, and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.

April 22 is Earth Day

Source: act.earthday.org

The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970, celebrated across the country by people concerned with environmental issues. The date was chosen because April 22 is the first day of spring in the Northern hemisphere and the first day of fall in the Southern hemisphere .

What can you do to honor the day?

Here are some suggestions from Earth Day Network.

-       Attend an Earth Day event

-       Organize a Day of Service

-       Pledge an Act of Green

You can share a photo of the day. Join Flickr and  upload your photos taken any time during the 24-hour period of April 22 to State of the Environment Group.

You can recycle, of course!

Here are some organizations to help you find recycling locations in your area.

TerraCycle

http://www.terracycle.com/en-US/

A company whose byword is “Outsmart Waste” is dedicated to eliminating of the idea of waste. It converts previously non-recyclable or hard-to-recycle waste into many products in over 20 countries.

Earth911

http://earth911.com/

Recycle something you no longer need. List a material or item and your zip code to find a location that recycles the material you have.

Call 2 Recycle

http://www.call2recycle.org/

This company is the only free rechargeable battery and cell phone collection program in North America. Their slogan is “Make every day Earth Day.”

AARP Recycling Guide

http://www.aarp.org/politics-society/environment/recycling-guide/

Select an item from their list to find an organization that recycles it, from batteries to golf balls to wheelchairs.

Better World Books

http://www.betterworldbooks.com

This organization has re-used, donated, or recycled over 73 million books. That’s 99 million pounds of materials that stayed out of the landfill. Great for the planet. Donate your books, then buy other books from them.

As Call 2 Recycle says, let’s make every day Earth Day.

≈Linda Hetzer is an editor and author of books on home design, crafts, and food, and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home. 

Reading Recycled Books

Alice Ozma grew up poor but experienced untold riches when her father, an elementary-school librarian, read to her every night for over 3,000 consecutive nights. Her father built his home library mostly from books bought at yard sales and flea markets (as well as at the yearly book club sale at his school).

In her warmly told memoir, The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared, Ozma describes her father’s love of literature and his love of reading aloud to her and to his students, a habit made possible by his ability to purchase used books.

Her father’s love of literature inspired him to name his daughter after two favorite heroines, Alice from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Ozma from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz series. His love of books led him to continue to share his library of used books by volunteering to read to older folks after he retired from his job as a school librarian.

In honor of National Library Week, we can all build a personal library of used books.

≈Linda Hetzer is an editor and author of books on home design, crafts, and food,

and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home. 

Whatever Happened to National Recycling Month?

So, last year there was a National Recycling Month. We wrote about it here.

But when we tried to find a press release with information about this year’s planned activities, the first two things that came up on our search were…well, our own posts. And we couldn’t find a central source of information for this year’s National Recycling Month. (If we’ve missed it somehow, we hope someone will tell us where it is! Hopefully in a way that doesn’t make us feel too stupid.)

So, what happened to National Recycling Month, anyway?

Here’s the  story: in 1989 President George Herbert Walker Bush officially declared April  National Recycling Month.

And in the meantime, everyone has kind of lost interest in the topic? Surely not.

We haven’t, and we know that millions of other people haven’t either. So we propose to carry on celebrating National Recycling Month just as if it were being officially sponsored.

April really is a perfect time for a National Recycling Month, what with spring cleaning,  and Earth Day coming up on April 22, don’t you think?

There are some national recycling activities  going on this year. Here’s a story about Evanston, Illinois participating in a nationwide contest sponsored by the Cans for Cash program, which rewards municipalities for increasing their aluminum recycling.

We invite you to join us in keeping both the spirit and the actions of National Recycling Month alive, in whatever ways you can. And if you know of other nationwide celebrations of National Recycling Month, please let us know!

Here are a few posts from our archives that we hope will help you find new ways to keep our trash out of the landfills, making the earth a healthier place for us, for our children, and their children.

Janet Hulstrand is a writer/editor,  writing coach , travel blogger, and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.

Five Good Reasons to #Recycle

Are you ready for  National Recycling Month?

To help put you in the right frame of mind, here are a just a few (of many!) good reasons to recycle:

1. If every American recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we would save about 25,000,000 trees a year.

2. Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year.

3.  Motor oil never wears out, it just gets dirty. Oil can be recycled, re-refined and used again, reducing our reliance on imported oil. A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water.

4. The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle can run a 100-watt light bulb for four hours or a compact fluorescent bulb for 20 hours. It also causes 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than when a new bottle is made from raw materials.

5. The U.S. is the #1 trash-producing country in the world at 1,609 pounds per person per year. This means that 5% of the world’s people generate 40% of the world’s waste.

I don’t know about you, but that’s enough to make me think twice before tossing things into the nearest landfill.

Janet Hulstrand is a writer/editor,  writing coach , travel blogger, and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.

(Thanks to: http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-facts.html for these amazing facts. If you still need convincing, there are more on their site.)

April is National Recycling Month – for Clothing, too!

April is National Recycling Month and yet clothing is probably far from the first item that comes to mind when we think about recycling.

But according to Clothes4Souls, more than 85 percent of all clothing purchased in the U.S. ends up in landfills. Every American discards over 68 pounds of clothing per year.

Can we do better than that? We can certainly try.

We can start by finding new homes for our gently used clothing and shoes by donating the items to a charity that will distribute them to those in need or to a company that will recycle them.

Check out the following sites to find out where you can drop off clothing (many have drop-off location finders) or how to schedule a pick up.

 

All clothing

Clothes4Souls http://www.clothes4souls.org/

Goodwill  http://www.goodwill.org

Mid-Atlantic Clothing Recycling (MAC) http://www.mac-recycling.com/

Military Order of the Purple Heart http://zc.purpleheartpickup.org/

The Red Cross http://www.carecycleinc.com/wecollect/

The Salvation Army http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/

Vietnam Veterans of America  http://www.clothingdonations.org/

 

Woman’s clothes

Dress for Success http://www.dressforsuccess.org/

The Woman’s Alliance  http://www.thewomensalliance.org/

 

Men’s clothes

Career Gear www.careergear.org

 

Prom dresses

www.glassslipperproject.org (Chicago)

Fairygodmotherproject@yahoo.com (Boston)

http://www.operationfairydust.org/  (New York)

www.fairygodmothersinc.org (Philadelphia)

www.princessproject.org (San Francisco)

www.thecinderellaproject.com (Canada)

 

Wedding dresses

Brides Against Breast Cancer http://bridesagainstbreastcancer.org/

 

Shoes

Soles4Souls http://www.soles4souls.org/

Donate Your Old Shoes  http://donateyouroldshoes.org/

Share Your Soles http://shareyoursoles.org/

Nike Reuse-A-Shoe http://www.nikereuseashoe.com/

Recycled Runners http://www.recycledrunners.com/

 

Scheduling a pick up

Donationtown http://www.donationtown.org/news/donate-clothes.html

PickUpPlease http://www.pickupplease.org/

 

Getting rid of the rest

Freecycle http://www.freecycle.org/

FreeSharing http://freesharing.org/

Craigslist http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites

 

Where do you donate your clothing? Share your favorite places with us.

 

≈Linda Hetzer is an editor and author of books on home design, crafts, and food,

and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.