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A Recycling Bonanza
Getting rid of the mercury just got a little easier.
No, I'm not talking about the award-winning newspaper which employs me. That would be silly.
I'm talking about the mercury contained in the compact fluorescent bulbs I blogged about last month.
According to a New York Times, which you can access here, (yes folks I did it! thanks to step-by-step instruction from our savvy Web editor, Eileen Faust, this old dog has learened the new trick of putting those cool hyper-text links in without that fuddy-duddy method of posting the whole Web address) Home Depot has just announced that all its 1,973 stores will now accept used CFLs for recycling.
That's not nothing, seeing as Home Depot is the nation's second-largest retailer (after the mighty Wal-Mart, no doubt) and sales of compact fluorescent climbed to 75 million last year for the company.
As I wrote May 7, CFLs use up to 75 percent less electricity than incandescent bulbs, but the small amount of mercury they contain has given many homeowners second thoughts about using them. The Times reported that their recycling rate has, until now, been a paltry 2 percent.
In response to that blog, I received an e-mail from a fellow named Nathan Nunez, who is the director of marketing and advertising for an East Windsor, CT company named NLR, Inc., which now stands for Next Level in Recycling.
His company (watch folks, I'm going to do it again!) Web site shows that you can recycle all types of things there, including CFLs.
For about $19, they will send you a "mini-COM-PAK" which is a package that holds up to 12 small CFLs or six to eight medium to large ones. The price includes the cost of a Fed-Ex return and recycling charges.
You just fill it up and mail it back to NLR, which recycles it on site.
A larger package is also available for businesses, schools or other locations which use many CFLs.
For $149, you can recycling up to 180 bulbs. But enough about NLR. I'll let Nathan sell you on any of the rest of their services.
Also in the category of people who have responded to the blog, I'd also like to share with everyone information I received from a fellow named Joseph Rotondo.
He was responding to a blog I posted on May 21 titled "Buy the Right Thing" which dealt with shopping to make the world a better (greener) place.
Mr. Rotondo works for a company called Sun & Earth based right here in King of Prussia.
As I wrote him in an e-mail, my wife and I had been buying their laundry detergent and dish soap for years assuming (without reading the contents and knowing for sure) that it would not hurt the Schuylkill River where everything that goes down our drain eventually ends up.
When the Giant in Pottstown began carrying Seventh Generation products, we switched because they had a reputation (and prominent labeling) indicating they were non-harmful to the environment.
But Mr. Rotondo's note (see how a blog helps you network with the world!) allowed me to query him on our recent decision to switch back after we realized Sun & Earth is a local company and, we hoped, therefore did not have to ship its products very far to reach us.
He confirmed this, as well as re-assuring me (and now you) that his company's products are made from "100 percent all-natural ingredients."
Seventh Generation is based in Burlington, VT, but their Web site indicates their products are manufactured all over the country.
For all we know, their dish soap and laundry detergent may be made around the corner, but for now, we plan on sticking with the one we know is made locally.
Supporting local businesses are one of the little things we can do that can add up to big changes.
The innovations small companies made to give themselves an adge, particularly in making more green products, are often what force the bigger companies to change their practices to keep up.
Let's face it folks, we're a consumer nation. Since we exercise our buying power far in excess of our voting power, we might as well use it to point things in a green direction.
Don't kid yourselves, Home Depot (which is to be commended to leading the charge on this) wouldn't be taking this step if not for companies like NLR.
No, I'm not talking about the award-winning newspaper which employs me. That would be silly.
I'm talking about the mercury contained in the compact fluorescent bulbs I blogged about last month.
According to a New York Times, which you can access here, (yes folks I did it! thanks to step-by-step instruction from our savvy Web editor, Eileen Faust, this old dog has learened the new trick of putting those cool hyper-text links in without that fuddy-duddy method of posting the whole Web address) Home Depot has just announced that all its 1,973 stores will now accept used CFLs for recycling.
That's not nothing, seeing as Home Depot is the nation's second-largest retailer (after the mighty Wal-Mart, no doubt) and sales of compact fluorescent climbed to 75 million last year for the company.
As I wrote May 7, CFLs use up to 75 percent less electricity than incandescent bulbs, but the small amount of mercury they contain has given many homeowners second thoughts about using them. The Times reported that their recycling rate has, until now, been a paltry 2 percent.
In response to that blog, I received an e-mail from a fellow named Nathan Nunez, who is the director of marketing and advertising for an East Windsor, CT company named NLR, Inc., which now stands for Next Level in Recycling.
His company (watch folks, I'm going to do it again!) Web site shows that you can recycle all types of things there, including CFLs.
For about $19, they will send you a "mini-COM-PAK" which is a package that holds up to 12 small CFLs or six to eight medium to large ones. The price includes the cost of a Fed-Ex return and recycling charges.
You just fill it up and mail it back to NLR, which recycles it on site.
A larger package is also available for businesses, schools or other locations which use many CFLs.
For $149, you can recycling up to 180 bulbs. But enough about NLR. I'll let Nathan sell you on any of the rest of their services.
Also in the category of people who have responded to the blog, I'd also like to share with everyone information I received from a fellow named Joseph Rotondo.
He was responding to a blog I posted on May 21 titled "Buy the Right Thing" which dealt with shopping to make the world a better (greener) place.
Mr. Rotondo works for a company called Sun & Earth based right here in King of Prussia.
As I wrote him in an e-mail, my wife and I had been buying their laundry detergent and dish soap for years assuming (without reading the contents and knowing for sure) that it would not hurt the Schuylkill River where everything that goes down our drain eventually ends up.
When the Giant in Pottstown began carrying Seventh Generation products, we switched because they had a reputation (and prominent labeling) indicating they were non-harmful to the environment.
But Mr. Rotondo's note (see how a blog helps you network with the world!) allowed me to query him on our recent decision to switch back after we realized Sun & Earth is a local company and, we hoped, therefore did not have to ship its products very far to reach us.
He confirmed this, as well as re-assuring me (and now you) that his company's products are made from "100 percent all-natural ingredients."
Seventh Generation is based in Burlington, VT, but their Web site indicates their products are manufactured all over the country.
For all we know, their dish soap and laundry detergent may be made around the corner, but for now, we plan on sticking with the one we know is made locally.
Supporting local businesses are one of the little things we can do that can add up to big changes.
The innovations small companies made to give themselves an adge, particularly in making more green products, are often what force the bigger companies to change their practices to keep up.
Let's face it folks, we're a consumer nation. Since we exercise our buying power far in excess of our voting power, we might as well use it to point things in a green direction.
Don't kid yourselves, Home Depot (which is to be commended to leading the charge on this) wouldn't be taking this step if not for companies like NLR.
Labels: Home Depot, New York Times, NLR, Seventh Generation, Sun and Earth
posted by Evan Brandt at
12:11 PM
2 Comments:
I'm really glad Home Depot is doing this...hopefully the environmentally right thing to do is becoming something permanent in business culture. Who knows, maybe one day in the not too distant future I'll be able to find an inexpensive tumbling composter at a Home Depot. I think I'd faint. Regarding the cleaners, in the past I was torn between Seventh Generation and Sun & Earth as well. I knew Sun & Earth were local (they used to be right in Norristown) but I ultimately decided exclusively on Seventh Generation for one important reason - they use post-consumer recycled plastics for most (or all, perhaps) of their plastic bottle packaging. Short of having a deposit system, this is the best we can do. At least in purchasing their products, I can also help increase the demand for recyclables. If it's not being specified by the companies, it's harder to close the loop with recyclables. Seventh Generation and Burt's Bees are the only two "natural" companies that I know of which use recycled content for almost all of their packaging.
Evan,
I think that it is great that companies can make a profit off green ideas. We both know that the next generation of electron storing devices are real toxic toward the environment.
More nuke plants would lead toward cheap power for plug ins that have lead acid stuff. Lead acid stuff can be recycled. Countless people state about nuke waste. They never took a physics course. The used fuel can be reproccesed to mnake more nuke fuel.
I still think diesel will be a part of the energy short term solution. It is cheaper to refine from crude, and has more BTU's in it = better milage. Just my opinion.
Tom
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