City to Vote today on Apartment Recycling

Get a sitter. Pull out the coat a tie. The City of San Antonio is scheduled to vote today to recycling plan for apartment complexes.

Here's a link to the City Council Agenda:

https://webapps1.sanantonio.gov/agendabuilder/printAgenda.aspx

Place: City Council Meeting, Municipal Plaza Building, City Hall Complex, 114 W. Commerce.

If you can't attend, consider contacting your City Council member today:

http://www.sanantonio.gov/council/

Here is a briefing document, presented by Solid Waste Management

An excerpt:

"Ensuring that San Antonio residents living in multi-family units have convenient access to recycling programs is a key component of the 10-Year Recycling and Resource Recovery Plan approved by City Council in June 2010. Multi-family property units represent approximately 30% of all housing units in San Antonio and generate between 100,000 and 150,000 tons of waste annually. According to the Environmental Protection Agency's estimates, over 50% of household waste is paper, plastic, metals, and glass. These items are generally accepted in a single-stream recycling program."

Here's an article by the San Antonio Express News

Why Moore is not More and Talk on Zero Waste Tomorrow Night

The people who made The Story of Stuff have now produced The Story of Electronics. In it, they note that Moore's law (that digital technology will improve at dramatic if not exponential rates) need not mean More stuff (that electronics must be designed for the lifespan of a fruit fly).

Want to learn more about how to reduce e-waste and take steps on the path toward zero waste? There's a gathering tomorrow night that might be just for you: Why Zero Waste and How to Get There!, convened by the Alamo Sierra Club

Tuesday, November 16, 2010 6:30 PM
Witte Museum, 3801 Broadway, San Antonio TX 78209
210-357-1900

More details:
Join the Alamo Group of the Sierra Club at its monthly general meeting to hear Robin Schneider, Executive Director of Texas Campaign for the Environment and member of Central Texas Zero Waste Alliance, talk about countries, states and cities that are setting goals to significantly reduce waste and create recycling for the 21st century. She will also discuss how the Alamo Area can join with other Central Texas communities to create jobs through sustainable production and consumption.

At the Witte Museum, 3801 Broadway, at 6:30 pm, socializing starts at 6.

Need to catch up on the coverage?

Spread the word. A vote on apartment recycling for the City of San Antonio could reach City Council as early as this winter.

Here's a quick roundup of recent news:

The City of San Antonio is preparing to require apartment complexes to start recycling programs. Story by Texas Public Radio

Vote postponed but still planned for December - Story by San Antonio Express News

Work on ordinance underway - Story by San Antonio Express News

Less is More: Pathway to Zero Waste Gains Ground

If you tune in to Texas Public Radio, you’ve likely heard the host of new broadcasts of late on sustainability in the city and the region.

This includes TPR's Living Green programming and podcasts, along with a set of new recycling resources.

An important link is to AACOG’s resource recovery page, where you can find out where to drop off no-longer-needed computers, televisions and other e-waste.

The timing is right, as the city moves forward on a pathway to zero waste initiative.

As it stands, an area study shows that despite the growth of Bexar County, only 18 percent of waste is being diverted to recycling programs. And a big portion of this is comprised of organic materials (“green waste”) that could be enriching our soils instead of languishing in our landfills.

Another big cache of waste comes from the cans, bottles and newspapers that wind up being trashed, merely for the lack of adequate apartment recycling options.

We can do something about this – and are likely to have the chance when a new proposal for apartment recycling is proposed this fall.

Keep an eye out for the proposal to City Council. It’s a chance for us, in an everyday way, to make our city a healthier, more sustainable place.

Earth Day Pledge/Hawaii

This just in.

The Sierra Club is calling for Earth Day Pledges and with your pledge you'll be entered into a drawing for a trip for two to Hawaii. Taking reusable bags to the supermarket instead of using paper/plastic is one of several pledges you can make. To find out more, make a pledge, or compare progress in TX to other states...

Home Wreckers and Water Savers

Habitat creates Home Wrecker Crew.

With leadership from Chris Martin at its Walzem Road Home Center, Habitat Humanity of San Antonio recently kicked off a new deconstruction program aimed at helping to salvage usable fixtures from houses slotted for renovation.

The project gives good, re-usable materials a second life; sparing them from the project dumpster and landfill and has the added benefit of reducing hauling costs for contractors and providing an itemized (tax deductable) donation receipt to owners.

To learn more or to volunteer, visit Wrecking Crew online or contact Chris Martin at 210.599.7109.

If you’re in the market for materials for your apartment, home or garden, it may be worth a visit to one of Habitat's Home Centers.

Home Centers sell new and used home improvement materials and proceeds fund Habitat for Humanity S.A. All this, and they’re helping to keep windows, tile, doors, cabinets, and light fixtures in use and out of local landfills.

Speaking of saving precious resources…
There are still a few days left (‘til April 1) to take part in SAWS Fix a Leak Program. While you’re at it, you’ll be earning a $5 credit for yourself and a $5 contribution to Texas Public Radio. To check out the water audit…

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Getting Real about Plastic

Paper v. Plastic? Tote bags win (again).
If you’ve been looking for more information on the paper v. plastic question, this occasional feature by the Washington Post may lend you a hand. The piece offers a quick, visual comparison of consumption, production, pollution of each material and considers how readily each biodegrades and can be recycled. The feature notes that while four in ten of us think that plastics will biodegrade over time, petroleum-based plastic resists degredation. Its strength, in other words, is its greatest weakness. For more information, visit the Washington Post online.

Decoding the Codes
What are those codes on the bottom of plastic containers? It turns out that they refer to the resin content of bottles and containers. For more on this, visit this chart from the American Chemistry Council.

Plastic clogging Our City’s Waterways – and Something You Can Do Did you know that plastic bags are the number one item pulled out of San Anto waterways during the Basura Bash cleanup? You can help reduce plastic waste by joining Basura Bash 2010 on Saturday, March 27th.

What is Basura Bash? Basura Bash is the biggest single-day waterway clean-up in Texas and, according to the organizers, the only event that collects recyclable waste products. Volunteers are needed to collect trash and recyclables from the banks of our local waterways, including the river at Brackenridge Park, Salado Creek at Martin Luther King Park, San Antonio River Mission Reach at Mission County Park, and a host of other locations. To get invovled...

For videos on the impact of plastic on oceans and marine life, see below. Note that the Marine Society (second video) doesn't stop at cleanups and surveys; it takes data on plastic trash back to product manufacturers to call on them to come up with solutions.