Regional Renewable Energy Conferences Returning In March

A pair of regional renewable energy conferences announced their return for 2009.

The Sustainability and Energy EXP09: Building a Better Community will be held March 6-7 at the Tucson Convention Center in Tucson, Ariz. The event is expected to attract 60 exhibitors offering solar power, solar thermal and biofuel solutions. The event is a continuation of the 2007 Alternative Energy Expo, which drew 4,000 attendees. The Pima Association of Governments, a nonprofit metropolitan planning organization, will sponsor the 2009 event. For more information, go to www.pagnet.org

The week after the Tuscon event, another renewable energy conference will be held in Boston. The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association is hosting BuildingEnergy09 at Boston’s Seaport World Trade Center. This event will focus on the construction and design aspect of renewable energy, with exhibitors coming from the solar, wind and geothermal sectors of the industry. For more information, go to www.buildingenergy.nesea.org

SOURCES: Pima Association of Governments, Northeast Sustainable Energy Association

Recycle your grease into biodiesel

The day after Thanksgiving
Friday, November 28, 9 a.m. to 1p.m.

Recycle your grease into biodiesel.
Recycle your used cooking oil.
All cooking grease accepted!
Get maps and info at Grecycle.com

Grease collection sites:
• Pima County Operations Division,
3390 N. Richey Blvd.
• O’Reilly Chevrolet, 6160 E. Broadway Blvd.
• Pima County Industrial Wastewater Control, 5025 W. Ina Rd.
• El Hogar de la Paz Alternative Learning Center,
450 E. Wetmore Rd. across from Wal-Mart
• Tucson Water Plant #2, 1102 W. Irvington Rd. Located
west of I-19 on the north side of Irvington Road
• Shell Super Stop in Sahuarita, 795 W. Via Rancho
Sahuarita. Located east of I-19 at Exit 75.

Seven Misconceptions about Plastic and Plastic Recycling

Misconception # 1: Plastics that go into a curbside recycling bin get recycled. Not necessarily. Collecting plastic containers at curbside fosters the belief that, like aluminum and glass, the recovered material is converted into new containers. In fact, none of the recovered plastic containers from Berkeley are being made into containers again but into new secondary products such as textiles, parking lot bumpers, or plastic lumber – all unrecyclable products. This does not reduce the use of virgin materials in plastic packaging. "Recycled" in this case merely means "collected," not reprocessed or converted into useful products.

Misconception # 2: Curbside collection will reduce the amount of plastic landfilled. Not necessarily. If establishing collection makes plastic packages seem more environmentally friendly, people may feel comfortable buying more. Curbside plastic collection programs, intended to reduce municipal plastic waste, might backfire if total use rises faster than collection. Since only a fraction of certain types of plastic could realistically be captured by a curbside program, the net impact of initiating curbside collection could be an increase in the amount of plastic landfilled. The Berkeley pilot program showed no reduction of plastic being sent to the landfill in the areas where the curbside collection was in operation. Furthermore, since most plastic reprocessing leads to secondary products that are not themselves recycled, this material is only temporarily diverted from landfills.

Misconception # 3: A chasing arrows symbol means a plastic container is recyclable. The arrows are meaningless. Every plastic container is marked with the chasing arrows symbol. The only information in the symbol is the number inside the arrows, which indicates the general class of resin used to make the container. The attorneys general of 11 states objected to false and misleading claims about plastic recyclability. The recent settlement that they reached with the American Plastics Council paves the way for a first-ever definition of what claims can or cannot be made about plastic recycling and recyclability.

Misconception # 4: Packaging resins are made from petroleum refineries’ waste. Plastic resins are made from non-renewable natural resources that could be used for a variety of other applications or conserved. Most packaging plastics are made from the same natural gas used in homes to heat water and cook.

Misconception # 5: Plastics recyclers pay to promote plastics’ recyclability. No; virgin resin producers pay for the bulk of these ads. Most such ads are placed by virgin plastic manufacturers whose goal is to promote plastic sales. These advertisements are aimed at removing or diminishing virgin plastic’s greatest challenge to market expansion: negative public conception of plastic as unrecyclable, environmentally harmful, and a major component of wastes that must be landfilled or burned.

Misconception # 6: Using plastic containers conserves energy. When the equation includes the energy used to synthesize the plastic resin, making plastic containers uses as much energy as making glass containers from virgin materials, and much more than making glass containers from recycled materials. Using refillables is the most energy conservative.

Misconception # 7: Our choice is limited to recycling or wasting. Source reduction is preferable for many types of plastic and isn’t difficult. Opportunities include using refillable containers, buying in bulk, buying things that don’t need much packaging, and buying things in recyclable and recycled packages

Plastic packaging has economic, health, and environmental costs and benefits. While offering advantages such as flexibility and light weight, it creates problems including: consumption of fossil resources; pollution; high energy use in manufacturing; accumulation of wasted plastic in the environment; and migration of polymers and additives into foods.

Plastic container producers do not use any recycled plastic in their packaging. Recycled content laws could reduce the use of virgin resin for packaging. Unfortunately, the virgin&endash;plastics industry has resisted such cooperation by strongly opposing recycled -content legislation, and has defeated or weakened consumer efforts to institute stronger laws. Plastic manufacturers recently decided that they will not add post consumer materials to their resins used in the USA.

There is a likelihood that establishing plastics collection might increase consumption by making plastic appear more ecologically friendly both to consumers and retailers. Collecting plastics at curbside could legitimize the production and marketing of packaging made from virgin plastic. Studies of garbage truck loads during the recent plastic pick-up pilot program showed no reduction of "recyclable" plastic containers being thrown away in the pilot areas (in fact, there was a slight increase). Due in part to increased plastic use, glass container plants around the country have been closing, including Anchor Glass Container Corporation in Antioch, putting 300 people out of work

Plastic recycling costs much and does little to achieve recycling goals. Our cost/benefit analysis for implementing curbside plastics collection in Berkeley shows that curbside collection of discarded plastics: involves expensive processing; has limited benefits in reducing environmental impacts; and has limited benefits in diverting resources from waste.

Processing used plastics often costs more than virgin plastic. As plastic producers increase production and reduce prices on virgin plastics, the markets for used plastic are diminishing. PET recyclers cannot compete with the virgin resin flooding the market.

Increasing the capture rates of glass, paper or yard debris in Berkeley could divert more resources from landfills than collecting plastics at curbside. The "recyclable" plastic to be collected in Berkeley at most would only amount to 0.3% of the waste stream.

Five Strategies to Reduce the Environmental Impact of Plastics

1. Reduce the use
Source reduction Retailers and consumers can select products that use little or no packaging. Select packaging materials that are recycled into new packaging - such as glass and paper. If people refuse plastic as a packaging material, the industry will decrease production for that purpose, and the associated problems such as energy use, pollution, and adverse health effects will diminish.

2. Reuse containers
Since refillable plastic containers can be reused about 25 times, container reuse can lead to a substantial reduction in the demand for disposable plastic, and reduced use of materials and energy, with the consequent reduced environmental impacts. Container designers will take into account the fate of the container beyond the point of sale and consider the service the container provides. "Design for service" differs sharply from "design for disposal".

3. Require producers to take back resins
Get plastic manufacturers directly involved with plastic disposal and closing the material loop, which can stimulate them to consider the product’s life cycle from cradle to grave. Make reprocessing easier by limiting the number of container types and shapes, using only one type of resin in each container, making collapsible containers, eliminating pigments, using water-dispersible adhesives for labels, and phasing out associated metals such as aluminum seals. Container and resin makers can help develop the reprocessing infrastructure by taking back plastic from consumers.

4. Legislatively require recycled content
Requiring that all containers be composed of a percentage of post-consumer material reduces the amount of virgin material consumed.

5. Standardize labeling and inform the public
The chasing arrows symbol on plastics is an example of an ambiguous and misleading label. Significantly different standardized labels for "recycled," "recyclable," and "made of plastic type X" must be developed.

Ecology Center
2530 San Pablo Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94702
Phone: (510) 548-2220 x233
email: erc@ecologycenter.org

http://www.ecologycenter.org/ptf/misconceptions.html

Pima County Sheriff's Department safe Halloween event for kids

According to a news release from the Pima County Sheriff's Department;

Join the department's 16th annual "Safe Nights for Kids" from 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday at Tucson Electric Park, 2500 E. Ajo Way.

Admission is free. Pizza, soda, games, contests, a haunted house, puppet show and lots of candy will be on hand.

For more information, contact Sgt. James Odgen at 351-4679, Sgt. George Reis at 351-6979 or Sgt. Gerard Moretz at 351-6164.

Save money by turning off home / office electronics

Heard a quick story on the radio this morning, and did a little research on the internet. Did you know 3/4 of the power used by home and office electronics are used when the devices are turned off? Here is some information we collected from Wikipedia and the U.S. Department of Energy website

Heard a quick story on the radio this morning, and did a little research on the internet. Did you know 3/4 of the power used by home and office electronics are used when the devices are turned off? Here is some information we collected from Wikipedia and the U.S. Department of Energy website

In the U.S., nearly 4.2 million people worked from home in 2000, up from 3.4 million in 1990. Working from home saves energy and time by cutting out the commute, but it may increase your home energy bills a lot unless you use energy-saving office equipment

Many appliances continue to draw a small amount of power when they are switched off. These "phantom" loads occur in most appliances that use electricity, such as VCRs, televisions, stereos, computers, and kitchen appliances. In the average home, 75% of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off. This can be avoided by unplugging the appliance or using a power strip and using the switch on the power strip to cut all power to the appliance.

There are a few simple methods to reduce standby power. The easiest way to do that is to simply unplug the unused devices. Replacing battery powered devices, such as cordless phones or rechargeable razors with corded alternatives not only cuts down on the standby power required to charge the battery, but also reduces energy lost in battery charging and discharging inefficiencies.To switch off several devices that are often used together such as a PC, a monitor and a printer it is advisable to use a switchable power bar or surge protector with multiple sockets.Timers can be used to turn off standby power to devices that are unused on a regular automated schedule.

Unplug battery chargers when the batteries are fully charged or the chargers are not in use.

There is a common misconception that screen savers reduce energy use by monitors; they do not. Automatic switching to sleep mode or manually turning monitors off is always the better energy-saving strategy.

Common misconceptions sometimes account for the failure to turn off equipment. Many people believe that equipment lasts longer if it is never turned off. This incorrect perception carries over from the days of older mainframe computers.

Consider buying a laptop for your next computer upgrade; they use much less energy than desktop computers.

http://www.free-pc-help.com/Articles.php?action=detail&g=content1224678566

Home and Garden Show

Brought to you by the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association

October 10, 11 & 12, 2008
10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday
10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday
Admission tickets are $8 and half price for 50 and over on Friday. Military discounts will be available all days. Children 12 and under are free. For under 50 on Friday and for admission Saturday and Sunday, $2 off admission coupons are available at sahbahomeshow.com and all local Circle K Stores.


The Southern Arizona Home Builders Association (SAHBA) welcomes you to visit Arizona’s largest home show. With over 350,000 square feet of exhibit space and 450 merchants under ONE roof at the Tucson Convention Center, 260 South Church Avenue, you’ll discover thousands of exciting ideas for your home! And because this is your local, home town home show, you have the confidence of knowing that the business will be here to deliver the services and products.

New Residential Trash and Recycling Schedule

Effective November 10, 2008, Environmental Services (ES) will be implementing a new collection schedule. The new schedule will affect residential and commercial customers with plastic container service for trash and/or recycling service, including shared alley containers. The schedule is being changed in order to maximize the efficient use of collection equipment and staff. Trash and recycling will no longer be collected on Saturdays, except during holiday weeks. ES expects the new schedule will result in increased quality of service. Due to the schedule change, customers with plastic containers may see a change in their collection time. To ensure service, containers should be placed at the curb by 6 a.m. on collection day.

If you have questions, please contact Customer Service at (520) 791-3171.

New Residential Trash and Recycling Schedule
http://www.tucsonaz.gov/esd/newcollect.html