Happy holidays

As the holidays draw near, we are wishing you joy.

The season in all its glamor is also a chance to trim back the pomp/circumstance and focus on the things that really matter. A day off to hike, cook, raise a glass, light candles, hibernate(?) Maybe an evening with friends; a go-cart race; a trip to Enchanted Rock(?) Dancing! To set the mood, here are a few tips for a greener holiday.

Top of the list is to wrap gifts in old maps and comic pages. Don't know about you but that really takes me back...

And if that weren't enough, fans of re-use at Stanford tell us that "If every American family wrapped just 3 presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields." No elves have been dispatched to test this, but it is Stanford.

So here's to your holiday being bright. To things that cost nothing but mean the most. And to all you do to make the world a better place.

TX Recycles Day

On a beautiful fall San Anto day, scores of people came out to learn about recycling in the city and pick up hints from Helioise, the keynote speaker.

At our table, kids--and no small number of adults--loved the puzzles/games on recycling and the Top Ten Reasons to Recycle. And many people signed up to get involved in community activism.

If you had the chance to come out, thank you! If not, here are a few links to online resources for kids:

Puzzle by TeacherVision

Wordsearches by Euless

and the latest Facts and Figures on Municipal Solid Waste in the US (EPA)

And an open question: What do you think are the best ways to teach recycling?

Texas Recycles Day this Saturday

This year, the city of San Antonio will once again host Texas Recycles Day to raise awareness about the benefits of recycling.

We'll be there - just look for the Sierra Club Alamo Chapter, Recycling Committee booth - hope you'll stop by and say hello!

The event will take place at 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 14 at Woodlawn Lake Park, 1103 Cincinnati.

Classes: You can take a class on composting and pick up information on grasscycling (people say that's a real word), water recycling, and cutting down on plastic bags.

Recycling and donating food items: Also, you can recycle gently used old sofas, mattresses, household appliances and electronic materials at this event--this is particularly a chance for apartment residents who don't have recycling options to drop off these items. And the San Antonio Food Bank will be on hand to collect non-perishable food items.

There'll be music and concessions through the day.

Check it out. For more info see the press release or visit www.sanantonio.gov/swmd.

Welcome

A Few Great Events coming up in October - Join us!
Oct. 2: First Friday tabling - look for us out front of the now-opening Friendly Spot icehouse (former location of King Willie's on South Alamo)

Oct 10th: CPS Livegreenfest - sharing a booth with the fabulous Cove Restaurant - NOTE: this event is postponed due to rain - we'll keep you posted on new dates.

A Few Quick Tips for Promoting Recycling in San Anto:
Each day, you, me and everyone we meet can take a simple, everyday step to make our city a better place. We can all reduce, reuse, and recycle to keep our bills down and keep useful material out of landfills.

If you already have curbside recycling at your house: you can make the most of it by recycling not only the usual glass bottles and jars, but also paper of almost all types, plastics (labled #1 - #7) and metal. For questions: call "311."

If you live in an apartment or are a business owner and don't yet have recycling, you can help us secure recycling options by signing and circulating this petition. If you're a tenant, you can also ask your property manager what plans are underway to set up recycling.

Meanwhile, on this blog you'll find a raft of resources to help, brought to you by the Alamo Group of the Sierra Club.

We hope to hear from you: You can post your stories and suggestions here!

City of Austin mulls over more recycling, but cost in these lean times, an issue

We hear from an article by Sarah Coppola in the Austin American Statesman that the City of Austin is considering a requirement that more offices, businesses and smaller apartment complexes recycle—but some have raised concerns about the practicality and cost.

Right now, Austin requires apartments and complexes with 100 or more units and businesses with 100 or more employees to make recycling containers available onsite and pay private haulers to pick them up. The city program covers single-family homes, some small businesses, duplexes, and fourplexes. But, the article reports, according to Rick Cofer, head of a City Council-appointed committee on the issue “The city must broaden its 11-year-old rules if it wants to meet its recently adopted "zero waste" goal of diverting 90 percent of trash from landfills by 2040.”

Austin, like other cities in the region is struggling to do the right thing in a tough economy and weak commodities market. Today’s return on useful trash is just not what it once was. But also, the city shells out substantial funds to have recycling hauled to…you guessed it…San Antonio!

Upshot…SA-town has a local plant but no recycling ordinance for apartments or businesses yet on the books. If we want to achieve serious waste reduction, what about skipping the partial-solution and building the capacity for city-wide participation? Your thoughts?

What people are saying

Some people say San Antonio won't recycle. But then there are those who say...

“I live in an apartment and I have to bring all of my stuff to work to recycle…”

“Please help us make a difference with recycling at apartments.”

“Recycling should be available to all citizens of San Antonio.”

“Living in the apt community now has simply disappointed me because they do not offer recycling. I pay for trash and i would happily pay for recycling. Seeing the 10 dumpsters overflowing with waste, and being picked up 3x a week is outrageous. We are so far behind and our children have a great lesson to learn in recycling. Please help”

“I'm a college student and I was recently given an assignment for a class I was taking to estimate the amount of stuff being thrown into the dumpsters in my surrounding neighborhood that could have otherwise been recycled. Well, after a month all I can say is that seeing is truly believing. My God, it truly is a shame that San Antonio doesn't offer recycling services to more of its residents. About 60% of the junk tossed was recyclable.”

“I spent an hour driving around trying to find a place to recycle my cardboard boxes, and I ended up throwing them in the dumpster because I could not find a place to take them. If given the chance or the incentive, people will recycle.”

What do you think?

Ease of recycling important to reduce waste stream

Hey San Antonio! Recent research published in the Journal of Evolutionary Economics by E. Brouillat, demonstrated that improvement in recycling is necessary but not sufficient to solve the issue of increased waste. Increasing the ease of recycling and extending product life will also be necessary to slow the waste stream.

Increasing the ease of recycling:
This finding underscores the importance of providing more locations for San Antonians to recycle. Just think, how much more would be recycled if the locations to do so were readily available? Help us in the support of this cause by signing our petition.

Here are 2 ways you can extend product life:
- Buy reusable drinking containers – safe plastics have the numbers 2, 4, & 5 inside the chasing arrows, Voss sells glass containers at some HEB’s, Kleen Kanteen also has drinking containers made out of stainless steel
- Buy refurbished computers from vendors in San Antonio:
Allgen Computer Warehouse - http://www.allgen.com/
All Systems Go Software http://www.asg-sa.com/