greenUPGRADER » Recycling Services

How One Atlanta Bar Cut Out a Dumpster’s Worth of Waste Per Week

Becky Striepe — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 12:00:25 +0000

Atlanta's historic bar, Manuel's Tavern, recently announced that its new recycling program has reduced their trash output by one dumpster per week.

Adding recycling to their waste disposal is helping them reduce their impact on the landfill and saving them money at the same time. Here in Atlanta, businesses pay based on how many dumpsters they need picked up each week, so by cutting back on trash, they're saving a buck.

Not only are they saving money, but those 52 dumpsters worth of trash per year reduces their landfill output by 468 cubic yards annually. Imagine the impact if every Atlanta bar and restaurant started recycling instead of trashing their recyclables in the dumpster!

On top of the recycling program, Manuel's switched from Styrofoam take-out containers to recyclable ones. The recyclable containers come with a higher price tag, but they're able to make up the difference because of the money they're saving on trash pickup. Who says being green has to cost more, right?

Recycling might seem like a no-brainer, but for businesses it can be a bit of a struggle. When you're hustling every day to run a bar, it might not be at the top of your to do list. High five to Manuel's for making this happen!

Image via Manuel's Tavern

Reader Question: Fabric Recycling Options

Becky Striepe — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:00:03 +0000

We recently got a question from a reader who manufactures upholstery and was looking for fabric recycling options for off cuts and other fabric scraps that they couldn't sell. It was a good question, and one that applies to crafters just as much as folks who work with fabric on a larger scale, so I thought I'd share a few resources here for fabric recycling and reuse.

When we talk about the 3 R's, there's usually a lot of focus on recycling, but reuse is actually a much better option, from a waste and energy standpoint. You can recycle fabric, but recycling should always be a last resort, which is why fabric recycling is at the end of this list.

Fabric Recycling and Reuse

Donate to your local Creative Reuse Center.
Donate to a school - kids can use these in all kinds of fun art projects!
Sell on eBay or Etsy - artists and crafters can use these in recycled sewing projects. Bundle your scraps and sell them for a few dollars each.
Donate to local Goodwill, Salvation Army, Value Village, etc - these stores sometimes sell fabric scrap bundles, and they can often recycle the fabric they're not able to sell.
Fabric Recycling - getting the scraps to someone who will reuse them is best, but if you can't, there are companies that recycle fabric. SMART is a great resource for finding textile recyclers in your area.

Are you stumped on how to reuse or recycle something that you can't bear to send to the landfill? Send an email through our contact page with your question!

Image Credit: Remixed Creative Commons photo by lovelihood

ThredUp: Online Swapping Just Keeps Growing

Becky Striepe — Fri, 27 May 2011 12:00:04 +0000

Don't you just love when a company that does good also does well?

ThredUp, the online clothing swap company, narrowed its focus last July to just swapping kids' clothes. Now, the the San Francisco company has raised $8.7 million to help expand its services to even more parents.

New parents need so much...stuff! From clothes and cloth diapers to furniture and books, a new addition to the family can be very expensive and wasteful. Rather than buy new, ThredUp encourages parents to swap kids' clothes and supplies for new ones as their little ones outgrow them. Think of it as an online version of hand-me-downs.

The new funds are going to allow ThredUp to expand even more and make it easier and easier for new parents to avoid buying new.

Parents can use the service to swap clothing, books, toys, and even maternity clothes and save some money and resources while they're at it. You can check out what's available at ThredUp, get your own account, and start swapping over on their website!

h/t: Venture Beat

Are We Burying Ourselves In A Mountain Of E-Waste?

Beth Buczynski — Thu, 26 May 2011 17:27:58 +0000

Electronics make life easier and connect us to information and people that we might have never known otherwise. But what happens when they wear out and it's time to upgrade?

Without the technological advances of the last few years, we wouldn't have in-car GPS to help when we're lost or laptops and tablets that let you read greenUGPRADER no matter where you are.

But as with so many things we depend on in life, it's important to think about the entire life cycle of our electronics, and not just the few years they spend in our possession. Electronics recycling is important and increasing, but we still have a long way to go.

Electronics contain hazardous materials that can damage water, soil, and air quality if not disposed of properly.

In the infographic below, WellHome puts our electronics addiction in perspective, and suggests ways we can dispose of it properly to minimize environmental damage.

Graphic Created By WellHome Energy Audits

Top Image Credit: Flickr -

Apartment Recycling When Your Apartment Doesn’t Recycle

Becky Striepe — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 12:00:18 +0000

Apartment living definitely has its upsides. A smaller space means you use less energy to heat and cool, and it also means less square footage to clean. The downside to an apartment is that you don't have a lot of control over certain aspects of your home. While curbside recycling is becoming the norm, many apartment buildings still don't offer recycling pickup.

This is something I experienced in my last apartment. After a couple of years of pressure from residents, the management company finally got us bins, but before that we were pretty much on our own. For those of you still dealing with a complex that doesn't recycle, here are some tips to help you take charge of your waste.

Mooch a Little

This is something I'd do occasionally, and I'm not 100% sure that this suggestion is totally on the up and up. Do you have any friends that own a home or live somewhere that offers recycling? Maybe they'd let you add your recyclables to their bin.

If you go this route, I'd suggest being discreet and also making sure to be extra courteous. Your friends are doing you a favor, so rinse and sort your recyclables before you get to their place. You want it to be as hassle-free as possible for them.

Find a Recycling Center

If you're not comfortable mooching off of a friend with a bin, find a recycling center in your area. Ideally, you'll be able to find a place that's near other errands you're running so you don't have to travel out of the way to drop your recycling. Earth 911 is a great place to start, if you're not sure where to find a recycling center in your area.

Team Up

Once you've found a recycling center, you might get a little bit sick of having to run out there every week or two. Here's a great chance to meet some neighbors and help divert even more waste from the landfill!

When I lived at that non-recycling complex, I just put a flier up by the mailboxes asking if anyone would be interested in doing a drop off rotation. A few residents emailed, and we sorted out a schedule that worked for us. Each weekend, our group met up in the parking lot to load our recycling into one person's car, and he or she took everything to the recycling center. By teaming up, we each were making one trip a month instead of each heading out individually every week.

The other thing we did was research recycling solutions for our building and offer ideas to management. Your apartment complex's owners won't know that recycling is important to their residents unless those residents speak up! We emailed and encouraged other residents we knew to ask, as well. After a while, the building set up a recycling program!

I'm sure there are other tips and tricks for apartment dwellers looking to recycle. Do any of you guys live in buildings that don't recycle? How do you handle it?

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by AGeekMom

Lessons on Waste from a DIY Toaster

Becky Striepe — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 09:30:01 +0000

Have you guys seen the TED talk yet by Thomas Thwaites, the fellow who built a toaster from scratch? He made everything himself - from mining the ore and smelting the metal to creating molds and assembling the final piece himself. The process is fascinating, entertaining, and I think there are some great lessons here about consumption.

Lessons from a Toaster

What really struck me about this video wasn't how hard it was for him to build a simple toaster, but how many materials it required from all over the world. And that's for a bargain bin toaster. What about more complicated electronics, like your computer or smart phone?

The other eye-opening part of this video was his final solution for getting his hands on plastic: "mining" at that recycling center. It sort of begs the question about how many useful materials we're landfilling every day. When our gadgets and gizmos break, more often than not we send them to the landfill. Meanwhile, they're full of useful components that are probably still in working order.

Recycle and Reduce

This talk really underscores the importance of recycling our electronics, whether we're talking about a simple toaster or a plasma TV. Not only does recycling these items keep hazardous waste out of the ecosystem, electronics recycling centers will reclaim usable parts or even refurbish broken electronics to give them another life.

Just like using less paper is the greenest office paper option, minimizing our consumption when it comes to electronics makes an even bigger difference than recycling when that product's short life is through. There's no carbon footprint associated with deciding that you don't need to replace your flat screen with a 3D TV. Of course, we're still going to buy TVs, cell phones, and toasters, but what if we looked for refurbished or second-hand items before hitting the big box store to buy new?

What did you guys think about this video? I'd love to hear what you took away from it in the comments!

Spotted: Free Small Electronics Recycling

Becky Striepe — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 09:30:59 +0000

In a time where your gadgets almost become outdated by the time you get them home, electronic waste (e-waste) is piling up in landfills. The problems with e-waste go beyond the actual bulk, though. All of those electronics have components made of toxic substances, like arsenic and mercury, that leach into groundwater and pollute the environment. Electronic waste is actually considered hazardous waste.

Those old remotes and cell phones don't have to head to the landfill, though. Many cities now offer one or two e-waste recycling days each year, but if you can't wait to purge small electronics from your life, it looks like Best Buy has launched a program to make it easy as pie to safely dispose of some of that e-waste.

I spotted this convenient little small electronics recycling center on a recent trip to Best Buy. I'm not sure what the situation is at other Best Buys, but at the one near me, you don't even have to go all the way into the store to recycle. The kiosk was located right at the entrance, and they take inkjet cartridges, rechargeable batteries, CDs/DVDs, and gift cards, among other small e-waste items. It can vary by state, so you might want to check yours on their recycling page.

Best Buy also offers e-cycling for larger electronics. You can trade in old electronics for Best Buy gift cards, which I think is pretty smart. They refurbish and re-sell your used item, and you get some cash to spend in their store.

Like many companies, they'll haul off your old electronics for recycling when you get a new item delivered, but they'll also pick up some electronics like TVs and appliances (for a fee).

While I'm not nuts about big box stores in general, you can't exactly make a cell phone yourself or knit a new TV. It's nice to see a company taking some responsibility for the waste its business helps create! You can get more details about their recycling programs over at Best Buy's recycling site.

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by stuartpilbrow