recycling
What Makes a Home a Green Home?
What Makes a Home a Green House?
One of the hottest topics today is about being environmentally friendly. There are many ways to become environmentally friendly about the home including water preservation and energy reduction. This not only helps with a positive action by reducing your impact on the environment, but will also save you money!
Lets take a look at what makes a home green.
Reduced Energy Use
Energy comes in many forms such as electricity, natural gas, oil, etc. The creation or use of this energy results in greenhouse gas emissions that affect our planet in a negative way.
Methods of Reducing Energy Usage
Insulation, One of the best things that you can do to make a green house is to ensure that the walls, windows, attic, and floors are all well insulated and draft free. The majority of the energy used in a home goes towards heating the house. Good insulation will prevent the air temperature from escaping the home and save you money on your utilities.
Energy Star Appliances When one of your appliances has reached it’s end of life, or when you areconstructing a new home, consider installing an appliance that meets energy star requirements. This will ensure that it will use over 30 percent less electricity or fuel than a typical appliance of that type.
Other options include advanced mechanical Systems On demand tankless water heaters, geothermal HVAC equipment, and even solar power is a great way to reduce the amount of energy that is wasted to run the plumbing, heat and air, and electrical systems in the home. While they can have a higher upfront cost than a typical unit of its kind, tax incentives from the government can offset a good deal of the extra cost and allow you to make the money back within a few years time.
Reduced Water Use
Water is another essential resource that can be preserved in our day to day use around the house.
Low Flow Fixtures Many low flow shower heads and toilets developed a bad reputation in the past because they could not live up to their less efficient counterparts. Fortunately, todays better engineered models and aerators allow you to experience the luxury and ease of use that you prefer, while additionally using a significantly lower amount of water.
Efficient Clothes Washers Many of the newer front loading clothes washers use as little as half of the water of a typical top loading washer. For families who are constantly putting in a new load of dirty clothes, this can lead to a significant savings in cost and water usage over time.
Use Rain Water For Irrigation For those who want to really cut down on water usage, storage tanks that collect rain water during a storm for latter use to water the garden and lawn can save thousands of gallons over the span of a summer.
These are just a few of the many ideas out there that will help ensure that your home is green. Environmentally friendly decisions in the home can lead to wallet friendly results over time and allow for the satisfaction of knowing you are reducing your negative impact on the planet.
At Be Seen Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.
WEEE Recycling: Data Destruction is Essential
Your organissations data may no longer be of value to you once you have done what you need to do with it, but it is gold dust to your competitors. That is why any media, from paper to Flash memory cards, that contains business data must be thoroughly destroyed before disposal.
The risks of disposal of media containing data that you may believe has been destroyed but has really just been lightly erased include putting yourself or your customers at risk for identity theft as well as making data available to unscrupulous competitors. Even recycling a computer to comply with WEEE recycling regulations does not include proper data destruction techniques.
These techniques include degaussing, in which magnetic patterns that conform to actual data are realigned so that the data is inaccessible and unrecoverable, shredding, which entails shredding media into very fine bits that cannot be reassembled, and software wiping, in which all HEX values on the entire volume of a disk are overwritten using special software. In the United kingdom, such software must meet Data protection Act standards to be considered effective for data destruction.
Laptops, including internal hard disk drives and other internal media storage devices, must be recycled according to WEEE regulations (EU). However, if data remains available on any part of the device before, during or after WEEE recycling procedures, it still poses a threat to your business security. Therefore, devices that hold data and are subject to WEEE recycling regulations must undergo a thorough process of data destruction before recycling should take place.
Hard drive destruction is absolutely imperative before WEEE recycling can start. This is because even when a disk drive is seemingly erased, the information on it can be recovered and made available without your knowledge. Ensuring that an expert with security cleared personnel destroys the hard drive by methods such as degaussing and shredding is the only way you can be sure that any data that was ever available on a drive that is slated for disposal can never be accessed again. Software wiping is recommended only for hard disk drives that will be reused after the data stored on them is fully destroyed.
Media tape drives are also easily accessible if they are not fully and professionally destroyed prior to disposal. Degaussing and shredding are the most recommended techniques for destruction of media tape drives.
Even CD’s and DVD’s which contain sensitive and confidential data should never be disposed of without making the data completely inaccessible. Complete physical destruction of the media through precision shredding that is offered by professional media disposal firms is the only way to ensure that data on a CD or DVD is fully inaccessible.
Flash memory cards, external memory sticks, and similar devices must also be subject to data destruction measures if they have ever held sensitive data. A specialist firm which handles data destruction should be consulted regarding such memory devices as their small size makes it very easy for them to end up in the wrong hands.
At Be Seen Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.
Taking Action on Waste
Glasgow recycling is all about how we need to be taking action on waste, which is essential for our continued sustainability.
We consume natural resources at an unsustainable rate and contribute unnecessarily to climate change. there are many facilities in and around Glasgow which can help you recycle your waste.
Failing to recycle means that most of our waste ends up in landfill, where biodegradable waste generates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. And much valuable energy is used up in making new products which are later disposed of, also contributing to climate change.
That people produce waste is a fact of life we cannot change. However, we can change how much we produce, how we manage it and what we do with it. Indeed, managing waste in a sustainable way, optimising recycling and re-use, as well as limiting production, forms a core part of Government policy to protect the environment.
Recycling is a way every individual can help the environment every day – and it is easier to do than it has ever been. Indeed, the latest figures show that in general we have not only met, but exceeded, our targets for recycling and composting household waste.
Moving to more sustainable waste management requires enormous changes: new facilities, new skills, new investment and new attitudes. As such, there are immense challenges ahead for Government, local authorities, and the public.
Although waste awareness initiatives are not a new concept, engaging the public remains a high priority; only then can we hope to encourage more householders to use more recycling facilities, more of the time.
At Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.
Waste Management| Made simple
Mention waste management to most individuals and they either do not have a clue what you might be talking about, or they really aren't interested! It just sounds a load of rubbish, what do you care what other individuals do with stuff they do not want? Nevertheless, once you start delving into what waste management is all about, then you realise there’s a whole cycle of events going on and it is quite an fascinating topic to discover about.
Waste management is essentially how rubbish and trash is disposed of without causing any harm to other people or the environment. You will find different aspects to waste management; these contain monitoring, collection, transportation, processing, and disposal or recycling. When carried out correctly, waste management is efficient and very environmentally friendly, and in today’s world is some thing every single conscientious organization really should take responsibility for.
You will find specialized environmental businesses that supply guidance and services for waste collection, not only for householders, but also for industries and companies. They're experienced in all areas of waste management solutions and will remove all of your waste efficiently and quickly, transporting it to be disposed of within the correct manner, or recycled.
Some of the waste services provided to industrial clients contain waste collection, recycling and disposal, hazardous waste management, emergency response, laboratory services, asbestos removal and re-Insulation.
Inside the initial instance the environment service is concerned with monitoring, this is to identify the sort of waste produced and in what quantity; they can then evaluate the processes they must put into place to reduce the amount of waste produced. Records are kept to see if techniques put into place are working and, if not, strategies might be changed and re-examined to make their implementation far more efficient.
Once the waste has been monitored and assessed it is time for the collection method. Skip bins and containers have to be emptied just before they become too full and prevention of overspill or produce to rot is very essential. Depending on the amount of waste produced will dictate the size and number of containers needed, and how frequently collections will be needed. You will find distinct containers for each sort of waste, some of these contain drums for hazardous liquid waste, tanks for acid or caustic waste, collection bins for e-waste and bulk bins and skip bins for construction site waste.
Next within the cycle is organizing the transportation of all waste products collected.Specially created waste vehicles make scheduled collections and are responsible for safely transporting it to the landfill, or treatment site where it'll be treated and then processed for Recycling. Vehicles have to meet safety standards and be licensed for this purpose, as waste might be a health hazard and even hazardous if not handled correctly, drivers and personnel connected with the transportation are needed to have the required training and experience to deal with any potential danger.
Once the waste has all been collected it needs to be processed. This involves separating the waste collected, treating and then packaging the raw materials and sending the parts that could be recycled to the different factories which are all component of the recycling procedure. Materials that can’t be recycled will be transported to a landfill, and liquid and hazardous wastes will be disposed of safely.
Improvements and new practices in waste management and environmental solutions are within the news all the time, thanks to analysis and development projects which are committed to discovering far more efficient and safe methods of disposing of waste. There are lots of things which are recyclable now that just several years ago would have been thrown into a rising landfill, everyday items including paper, glass, newspapers and plastic bags to printer cartridges, corks, mobile phones, even fluorescent lamps might be treated and re-used.
Society has experienced a large learning curve within the fact that if we do not take action now to make certain our waste is processed correctly; nature will gladly do it for us, and in methods which might be detrimental to our environment.
Increased fine for Company Charged with breaching waste regulations
A FIRM who broke waste dumping laws had their fine increased more than 11 times to £90,000 recently.
The Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh upheld a challenge brought by the Crown over the level of the sentence imposed on Doonin Plant.
They were originally fined just £8000 for breaking environmental laws as they dumped waste at Bardykes bing between Blantyre and Cambuslang, Lanarkshire.
Lord Clarke said the conduct of the company had involved “a blatant and complacent disregard” of its responsibilities.
The judges said they were satisfied that the original fine was unduly lenient.
(source Daily Record)
Could this be just the start of increased fines for companies flouting the environmental regulations?
New Plastic Recycling Discovery!
A new technique has been devised to recycle plastic which would normally end up in landfill.
At persent approximately 12% of plastic found in household plastic and packaging is currently processed.
Now, however, a process has been developbed by Warwick University which could mean 100% of this type is waste can be recycled.
Municipal plastic solid waste is often too time-consuming and labour intensive to separate and clean and ends up going straight to landfill rather than being recycled.
Engineers at the University have invented a process that can cope with every piece of plastic waste and can even break some polymers, such as polystyrene, back down to its original monomers.
The researchers have devised a unit which uses pyrolysis (using heat in the absence of oxygen to decompose of materials) in a ‘fluidised bed’ reactor.
Tests have shown that the researchers have been able to literally shovel in to such a reactor a wide range of mixed plastics, which can then be reduced down to useful products. Many of these products can then be retrieved by simple distillation.
The products the Warwick team have been able to reclaim from the plastic mix include: wax that can be then used a lubricant; original monomers such as styrene that can be used to make new polystyrene; terephthalic acid which can be reused in PET plastic products, methylmetacrylate that can be used to make acrylic sheets, carbon which can be used as Carbon Black in paint pigments and tyres, and even the char left at the end of some of the reactions can be sold to use as activated carbon at a value of at least £400 a tonne.
This research could have a significant impact on the budgets of local authorities and produce considerable environmental benefits.
The lead researcher on the project, University of Warwick Engineering Professor Jan Baeyens, said:
“We envisage a typical large scale plant having an average capacity of 10,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year.
“In a year tankers would take away from each plant over £5 million worth of recycled chemicals and each plant would save £500,000 a year in land fill taxes alone.
“As the expected energy costs for each large plant would only be in the region of £50,000 a year the system will be commercially very attractive and give a rapid payback on capital and running costs.”
The work will be of great interest to local authorities and waste disposal companies who could use the technology to create large scale reactor units at municipal tips which would produce tanker loads of reusable material.
At Be Seen Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.
Why Recycle?
Why Recycle?
We in the UK produced over 30.5 million tonnes of waste annually in the early part of this century, of which less than 20% was collected for recycling (source: defra.gov.uk). The figure today (2010) isn’t much better compared to some of our EU neighbours, some of which recycle well over 50% of their waste. Germany for example have 17 recycling bins, we have 3 or 4 if we are lucky!
There is still a great deal of waste which could be recycled that ends up in landfill sites which is harmful to the environment, the Zero Waste Scotland Plan aims to address this issue, it is estimated we only have 8-10 years of landfill left.
The Government intend to ban materials which can be recycled from going to landfill, also, all business, regardless of size, must have waste management records or face prosecution, and several other initiatives to help achieve their target of 5% to Landfill by 2025.
Did you know that:
- 1 recycled tin can would save enough energy to power a television for 3 hours.
- 1 recycled glass bottle would save enough energy to power a computer for 25 minutes.
- 1 recycled plastic bottle would save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for 3 hours.
- 70% less energy is required to recycle paper compared with making it from raw materials.
Some Interesting Facts
- Up to 60% of the rubbish that ends up in the dustbin could be recycled.
- The unreleased energy contained in the average dustbin each year could power a television for 5,000 hours.
- The largest lake in the Britain could be filled with rubbish from the UK in 8 months.
- On average, 16% of the money you spend on a product pays for the packaging, which ultimately ends up as rubbish.
- As much as 50% of waste in the average dustbin could be composted.
- Up to 80% of a vehicle can be recycled.
- 9 out of 10 people would recycle more if it were made easier.
- 24 million tonnes of aluminium is produced annually, 51,000 tonnes of which ends up as packaging in the UK.
- If all cans in the UK were recycled, we would need 14 million fewer dustbins.
- £36,000,000 worth of aluminium is thrown away each year.
- Aluminium cans can be recycled and ready to use in just 6 weeks.
- Each UK family uses an average of 500 glass bottles and jars annually.
- The largest glass furnace produces over 1 million glass bottles and jars per day.
- Glass is 100% recyclable and can be used again and again.
- Glass that is thrown away and ends up in landfills will never decompose.
- Recycled paper produces 73% less air pollution than if it was made from raw materials.
- 12.5 million tonnes of paper and cardboard are used annually in the UK.
- The average person in the UK gets through 38kg of newspapers per year.
- It takes 24 trees to make 1 ton of newspaper.
- 275,000 tonnes of plastic are used each year in the UK, that’s about 15 million bottles per day.
- Most families throw away about 40kg of plastic per year, which could otherwise be recycled.
- The use of plastic in Western Europe is growing about 4% each year.
- Plastic can take up to 500 years to decompose.
On advise regarding how to recycle, where to recycle and what to recycle, sometimes it is best to consult someone just so that you comply with the law. After all, you don’t want to be caught out and fined for recycling cardboard where you should recycle glass.
At Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.
5 Steps to Effective Waste Management
5 Paths to Efficient Waste Management
What is efficient waste management?
There is more to waste management than collecting rubbish and dumping it at landfill. Although this is a vital step in the process, there is a lot more to it!
Efficient Waste Management is a system : Monitoring, Collection, Transportation, Processing, Disposal / Recycle. Through these steps a company can effectively and responsibly manage waste output and their positive effect they have on the environment. Not to mention the potential to save/make money from waste sources.
Monitoring is identifying the waste management needs, identifying recycling opportunities and ways to minimize waste output, and reviewing how waste minimization is progressing. Through keeping records of the different waste streams, a customer can see the results of their efforts in becoming more environmentally friendly, and a more efficient business.
Collection involves the logistical organization to guarantee that bin containers will not overfill and waste sit time does not become too long. The correct bin container size and service frequency is a must to prevent overspill or excessive smell. The correct bins for different wastes must be available with sticker and bin colour identification. Locks, chains, lids and bars prevent public access and non-trained personnel putting rubbish in the incorrect bins.
Cooperation between the waste company and customer is vital. Bins must be accessible to the truck driver at the agreed times. Access to work premises outside work hours will cause an issue if unaddressed. Bin wheels can allow customers to move bins from convenient areas to serviceable locations.
Transportation is the organizing of waste transport vehicles with the authorization and ability to transport the specified wastes from a customer’s work residence to landfill or processing plant. A waste must be transported by the vehicle designed for it. For example, general waste requires a vehicle with thicker compacter walls, to that of a cardboard and paper waste transporting vehicle. Therefore, a customer may require a series of vehicles to meet their waste management needs.
Vehicles, drivers, and companies need licenses and approval to transport waste. EPA standards need to be upheld as well as General Public Safety. Safety standards are vital to the transportation of clinical and hazardous wastes. Drivers must undergo training for emergency circumstances that may arise.
Processing involves the separation of recyclables for treatment, and then after treatment are packaged as raw materials. These raw materials are sent to factories for production. Non-recyclable wastes by-pass this step and are delivered straight to landfill or processing plants. Liquid and hazardous wastes are delivered to treatment plants to become less hazardous to the public and environment.
Disposal / Recycling is the disposal of non recyclables into landfill. Landfill sites must be approved by legal authorities. Legal authorities guarantee that specific wastes are buried at the correct depth to avoid hazardous chemicals entering the soil, water tables, water systems, air, and pipe systems.
In this step the raw materials made from recyclables are produced and sold as products on the market. Companies can purchase such products to further sustain the environment and natural resources.
In conclusion, waste management is a science that addresses the logistics, environmental impact, social responsibility, and cost of an organization’s waste disposal. It is a detailed process that involves human resources, vehicles, government bodies, and natural resources.
Learn more about waste management by contacting Be Seen Go Green.
Why Recycle My Computer?
Electronic rubbish, and computer equipment in particular, is a rapidly expanding stream of UK waste. Low prices allow consumers to replace “gadgets” often, and rapid technological change means there are always newer, better, more powerful products on the market. The result is a burgeoning computer waste mountain. For example up to 30 million “obsolete” PCs are discarded annually in the USA alone.
Why is it important to recycle computer equipment?
Also known as e-waste, discarded computer equipment comprises monitors, printers, hard drives and circuit boards. Such items should on no account be thrown out with your household rubbish because they contain toxic substances, and are effectively hazardous waste. E-waste often ends up in the developing world, and the UN’s Environment Programme is alarmed by the amount of electronic goods which is improperly disposed of overseas. There is increasing concern about the pollution caused by hazardous chemicals and heavy metals in Africa, Asia and South America.
| What’s in my PC? | |
| Material | Proportion |
| Plastic Ferrous metals Non-ferrous metals Electronic boards Glass |
23% 32% 18% 12% 15% |
A single computer can contain up to 2kg of lead, and the complex mixture of materials make PCs very difficult to recycle.
This is why the WEEE regulations came in to being, imagine what would happen if we continued to send
the above to landfill?
At Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.