This is a story for everyone who says that recycling and reuse cost too much and aren’t worth the effort, and for everyone who has to deal with those folks.
Newton is a suburban city, population about 85,000, less than ten miles from downtown Boston. When the City opened a new high school in August 2010, it reused and donated locally as much furniture as possible from the old school, but was still left with more than 4,000 items of surplus furniture and equipment that needed to go away. Most...

Weird Waste Collections and Electronics Amnesty: Simple & Successful
Electronics Amnesties are a different take on Weird Waste. Used electronics are a liability. They contain information you don’t want to escape. They contain hazardous substances. Many of them, particularly CRT and flat-screen monitors, TVs, laptops, and anything with a rechargeable battery, are regulated wastes. And like dust mites or cockroaches, they’re everywhere – you just can’t see them. Hiding in closets,...

Some ancients will remember Evel Knievel and the Snake River Canyon. Evel tried to jump the canyon and ended up in the drink. There was no way across.

There's a Snake River Canyon in electronics recycling. On one side are deals to buy old computer and monitors or take them away for free. On the other side are recyclers who charge to recycle old electronic equipment. The gap between the two sides starts at about twenty-five cents a pound and gets wider from there. And there's...

When Is Trash Not Trash?


Q: When Is Trash Not Trash? A: When It’s Recyclable Mixed Debris.

I just returned from a few days of site visits on college and corporate campuses. I found a very common situation: open top roll-off containers that were being used for the mixed debris from on-site construction and cleanup projects. When I complimented their mixed debris recycling, I got the same response almost every time. “The roll-off is trash, not ...

My Dad was one of the smartest people I know. It took me a long time to figure that out.

I recycle stuff for a living. And my Dad always said, “That’s the wrong word. What you’re doing is reclamation. Reclaiming raw materials.” He was right on the money. The raw materials that come from recycling are the most important raw materials on earth.
We’ve all seen the pictures of Earth taken from the Apollo moon trips: a small blue...