For years we’ve been told that we should recycle. It’s doing our part to make the world a greener place and so on and so forth…but…what happens to our goods AFTER we’ve left them on the curb or put them in the bins at our office buildings? Glad you asked!

We here at Eco-monkeys were curious about the recycling process as a whole. Where do the goods go? What happens to them? Is it all used? Is there any waste?

In order to begin to answer some of these questions, we contacted our friends at the Balcones Recycling Plant here in Austin, TX. Balcones handles over half of the paper waste that comes from commercial sources (office buildings, plants, retail) in the Austin area. The plant manager, Andy Andrasi, gave us a tour of the facility and explained to us, in layman’s terms, the general process.

Probably the most striking thing to learn is that (as far as paper goes) there’s very little being broken down, shredded, torn apart, burned, mulched or otherwise being made into some sort of raw material. Most of the actual reshaping of old product into new product happens at the paper mills, production houses, and manufacturers of paper products. So what the heck goes on in a paper recycling plant? Sorting. Lots and lots and lots of sorting.

When a truck full of waste paper comes into the plant, it is immediately sorted into different quality piles. Not all paper is created equally. Some has already been recycled many times and it becomes less and less useful each time because the actual wood fibers become shorter and shorter, leading to a lower quality product. Some of the paper is mixed with waxes or plastics and becomes a different quality because of it. Some is bleached. Some has already been shredded and well maintained. Some is from industrial sources and is extremely high quality.

Once the paper is sorted, it has to be cleaned. This usually involves a combination of human power, visually culling the paper to take out any glass, organics, trash, plastics or other pollutants that cannot be used in manufacture, and lots of conveyor belts and contraptions designed to sift the different sizes and qualities of paper many times to end up with a clean product.

Once these piles are sorted and cleaned, they are separated into huge compressed bails that are ready to ship to a mill for reprocessing. This mid-sized plant in Austin produces thousands of tons a week in recycled paper!

But what about waste? There has to be SOME junk that comes into the plant that can’t be used and ends up in the landfill, right?? Yes, but not nearly as much as you’d think. Andy estimates that less than 1% of the incoming product from the plant ends up in a landfill. Balcones Plant also ships away most of its waste product to a plant in Arkansas that can use most of the solid waste product as fuel.

So what can the average consumer do to help the recycling effort (besides recycling, obviously)? According to Andy, demand and BUY recycled products! The hard facts are that it costs corporations money to buy product from recycling plants to use in manufacturing. It also cost them tons of money to convert their plant to be able to use recycled paper at all! By buying recycled you are sending a message to big wigs that it can indeed be profitable to them to sell and push recycling. And money talks. Yes, you might be paying a premium for buying recycled, but by sending the message that recycled products are commercially viable, you give the big companies a reason to expand production, becoming more efficient and causing prices to go down. Right now it’s a standoff between the consumer and the producer, and somebody has to take the hit in their wallet first. And most likely it won’t be the producer. But isn’t it worth it?

Check back soon for video footage from our tour. Special thanks to Andy Andrasi and Sara Koeninger at Balcones Recycling for taking the time out to show us what you do!

Look for more posts on the recycling process including articles on restaurant recycling and composting and lots more coming soon!

I recently moved to a new neighborhood were there are hordes of children running the streets. Little darlings each and every one(though I’m pretty sure one of them stole my “Vegetarians Taste Better” magnetic bumper sticker). I haven’t had to worry about giving out Halloween candy before and I want to be sure that the candy I give out sends a message! An Eco-Message! I’ve been searching for the perfect candies to give out this year and it is not easy. There are a ton of options out there, but I am a monkey on a budget and I also understand the need for individually-wrapped treats. So here are my top picks of the more affordable choices:

Natural Candy Store - This store has everything from gummi candies to fair trade milk chocolate balls decorated for Halloween. Items here can be more expensive, but there are some candies that aren’t so pricey. For example, you can get about 35 green apple organic lollipops for $6.49. More expensive than safety suckers, I know, but I believe that it’s worth it. They do also have a bulk candy section that may be more in your price range.

Yummy Earth Organic Lollipops – Straight from the website: “Everything YummyEarth makes is USDA and EU certified organic, gluten-free, peanut-free and tree nut-free, and has no type of corn syrup, just fabulous award winning taste!” They are pretty affordable too. You can get a family pack of 60 lollipops for about $8. (*On a side note, I found these at Whole Foods the other day. You can buy them in bulk for $6.99 a pound or for $4.99 for a family pack – the pomegranate pucker is my current favorite!)

Green Halloween – This site has some great ideas of what to give out INSTEAD of candy. If you really want to give out candy, however, they also have some neat suggestions(some are expensive though!).

Fruitabu – I couldn’t help listing these guys. I love this stuff. Where I buy it, it can be fairly expensive, so I went looking to see if I could discover a cheaper way of getting this organic “Smooshed” fruit. Think fruit roll-up, but awesomer. They have fruit flats, fruit rolls, and fruit leathers. Some stores sell them for as much as $.75 a piece, but on their website, you can buy the fruit flats for $15.00 for 30, so there’s a little savings there. I hear that you can also get them cheaper at places like Costco if you have a membership.

Equal Exchange Mini Chocolates – This can also be a little pricey, but you get quite a bit for your money. This Co-op offers fair trade dark chocolate mini bars at $30 for 150 bars. If you search around the web a bit, you might be able to find them cheaper, but this price was taken directly from their site.

There are lots of other choices out there, but most I’ve found are either too expensive for my budget, or they don’t come in packaging that lends itself to handing out the treat to trick-or-treaters. I think one of the best options is to go to whatever store in your town sells the most eco-friendly stuff and see if they have a good offering for Halloween. You will probably be able to find some cheaper choices that way, but these websites will at least get you headed in the right direction!

I recently read plans for an “Eco Hotel” that is to be built in my area and I decided to do some research.  The term “Eco Hotel” seems pretty vague to me.  It turns out that it is!  There do not appear to be any standards in place for that a hotel needs to follow in order to be able to declare itself an “Eco Hotel”.  However, there are some standards you can use to judge if a hotel that advertises itself as “green” or “eco” really is.

U.S. Green Building Council has a certification process called The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System.  This is a very complicated system, but lets just say that it mainly consists of a checklist that developers and builders have to follow while they are building and requirments that the building has to meet once it is finished.  I waded through some of it and it includes categories for alternative transportation, erosion and sediment control, reduced site disturbance, water-efficient landscaping, and the use of rapidly renewable materials.  If you’d like to delve into it all, check out the LEEDS website.  Although this system is not only used for hotels, knowing that your hotel has been certified through this process is a great piece of information to have when researching the hotel you’d like to stay in.

Be careful to do your own research!  There is also a group called the Green Hotels Association.  As far as I can tell from reading their membership application, you don’t actually have to prove anything to be a member of this group.  So just because a hotel claims to be a member of this association, doesn’t mean that they actually do anything special to be “green”, although membership does give them access to special prices on green building materials and hotel supplies.

In short, my recommendation is to do your own research.  It’s easy to be attracted by the terms “green” and “eco-friendly” and business like hotels know that!  Somewhere in the back of your mind also remember the term “greenwash”.  Hotels that are setting standards for sustainability and recycling are going to want to brag about it, so check out the website for the hotel you want to visit.  If they say they are a member of an organization or certified by a certain group, be sure to visit that organization’s website and see what their criteria are.  The hotel you stay in can be an important part of any trip or vacation so if you can, take it one step farther and find a place to stay that promotes sustainability and a cleaner environment.

Oh yeah, totally!

How gross? Hey, it’s no more disgusting than using public restrooms and actually, urine is sterile! It may smell funny or look strange, and definitely NEVER invite anyone to shower with you until after you have peed, but going in the shower can save our water. It can also save you money on energy and money on your water bill. 

If it seems strange to you at first, just grab a bottle of bodywash or conditioner, open the lid, and pump the bottle a few times in front of your face to get a good whiff of flowers while you do your deed.

After a few times of this water conservation practice your body will become conditioned to relieve itself anytime you get in the shower. Like clockwork.

Do I sound like I have experience in this? That’s because I do.

Little known secret (maybe well known), I have used this technique for years now. Only now that I have been focused on water conservation has it become apparent to me that this is used and encouraged by many enviro groups.  

Think of the gallons you can save! Think of the trees you save by using less T.P.!

In Brazil, an environmental group urges people to use this technique. They suggest to “Pee in the shower! Save the Atlantic rainforest!”

I’m sure this is new to many people and can seem extreme, but if you have ever peed in the woods then you will see that this is the same thing! Only difference is; you can rinse.

Remember: yellow is the new green!

So, if it’s yellow keep it mellow. But, if it’s brown, flush it down!

See? Saving water can be fun and adventurous!

Oh, and if you need more encouragement, check out this video:

GIves a new meaning to the term ‘golden showers’.

Billboard signs are everywhere I drive in Austin and although I have been able to block most of the obtrusive marketing going on, one sign did catch my eye as I drove past.  Organic Mattresses For Sale!  This was worth a second glance and a little research.

It turns out that an “organic” mattress is simply a common mattress that utilizes organic materials; no synthetic materials or bleached materials can be used. All the fabric is made from 100% Certified Organic Cotton  or even 100% organic wool while other parts may consist of natural rubber (Latex).  Just like run-of-the-mill mattresses, the prices of organic mattresses vary substantially.  Your average non-organic queen-sized mattress usually ends up costing somewhere between $500 and $1000.  I found organic Queen-sized models that started at $1,200 and shot up to $3,000.  My favorite was The Healthy Round Bed for $4,679!!! Yes it’s a round bed! No more waking up on the wrong side of the bed anymore.

Organic bedding goes beyond just the mattress.  You can also find organic pillows, sheets, comforters, duvets, and moisture pads.  There are even box springs and mattress foundations made from organic wood.

If you’re really eco-conscious when it comes to your sleep, there is another tier of products involving hemp, though be prepared to open your wallet wide!  For a queen-sized hemp mattress expect to pay about $2,300.

If you’re interested in reading more, here are a few places that you can visit:

Bensons For Beds - a shop in the U.K. that offers some organic options.  The members of their staff threw this fun little video together:
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The Organic Mattress Store

Earthsake

Humans spend 1/3 of their lives sleeping. Wouldn’t you want to make sleeping a more healthy and relaxing experience? Is spending a little more money worth it so that you and your family can rest on a healthier option?

So after my post about the WaterSmart carwash product and washing days located here in Austin Texas, we got an invitation to see what its all about.

So, tomorrow around the afternoon time, we will meet up with a wonderful lady named Sarah who will educate us further about the WaterSmart product then give us an example of how it works. We will finally get our grungy cars sparkling! I do look forward to understanding further how the product keeps the dirt from scratching the paint as you clean it.

But you know us, and a rushmonkey couldn’t go out there without getting our hands dirty (or clean, in this case) so we are going to get involved and wash cars ourselves. Probably each others!

The weather is great here in A-town. A little overcast, but when considering how hot it’s been all summer, cooler temperatures are welcome. And since my post about the drought, we have gotten some heavy rainfall! Oooh, I do have powers!

So after tomorrows excursion, we will put up the videos of us washing and being washed. 8-o

So stay tuned. thanks guys!

Lakes and waterways are drying up, the Texas land is parched and cooking at degrees well above 100, and forcasted rain never comes. Us Texans are suffering the worst drought season in years. In Austin, our two sources of water are drying up fast: Lake Buchanan, and Lake Travis. Lake Travis is 54% down and vegetation is growing thick on the newly exposed floor, and all but one boat ramp is closed.

This land was never visible, but now, it grows thick grass. Sad.

So naturally, the community is worried about their water and how much longer it will last.

Usually, it doesn’t occur to people how water is being wasted. Of course the most obvious things stand out, like running faucets. But think about it, where are gallons and gallons of water wasted?

Carwashing!

Since the newly implemented and enforced water restrictions on Texas water usage, I have been hesitant to wash my two cars at all. ( my poor supra needs a bath! )

But I recently discovered a new way to get the muck off my car. A company called WaterSmart has employed a carwashing team that uses less than 10 ounces of water to clean your car. You can read the article HERE.

Also, you should check at the end of the article to read about a product that dissolves the dirt, which will prevent scratching the paint.

Don’t fear! I worry about my paint job as much as anyone, but these products lift and dissolve the dirt away. Click here to visit their website to learn about the products and technique and to get an idea on what they are doing to conserve water usage.( www.watersmartautocare.com )

This is a really neat thing: where typically we use 20 gallons on a wash, we can save that water by using a few ounces to get our cars clean!

I hope that this company and the innovative eco-friendly ways to wash your car will become well known and widely used. I would love to hear that all self-serve or service carwash companies are now switching to this technique!

Spread the word and help us save our water and care for our home, planet Earth! Visit the WaterSmart carwash group on Friday at the Frost Bank tower downtown and support this movement! If you can’t make it on Monday, then you can visit them on Mondays at the St. David’s hospital’s parking garage downtown on Red River.

You can also purchase the product on their website. Click this link.

I took some pictures back in April of the Lake, then I went out today and took some pictures of it now. There is a dramatic difference in the levels. In the first picture, you can see a boat with a blue roof. In the third picture you can see where the boat has moved to.

Lake Travis in April

Lake Travis in April

Lake Travis in September

Lake Travis in September '09

Today we see the domination of the mp3 player as the next evolutionary step in our enjoyment of music. That same stride has now been taken in literature and written media with the mass marketing of the e-book reader. Instead of carrying around cumbersome books and stacks of magazines, imagine having all of your printed materials on one device to enjoy. Most e-book readers weigh about 10 ounces. So drop that hardcover copy of The Count Of Monte Cristo that weighs almost 4 pounds and load it onto your e-book reader and while you’re at it how about an entire set of the Encyclopedia Britannica too? Not only has the weight and shear bulk of a stack of books been eliminated, so has the cost. Once you have the e-book reader of your choice, you start to save right away. A set of  the six-volume hardcover of Jane Austen costs $110.25 on Amazon.com while the digital download version of all six books comes to under a dollar! Any literature over one hundred years old is public domain, meaning FREE! Even books in the public domain need to be printed, shipped, and distributed through a store, potentially causing large cost to the consumer. With production complications out of the way, this frees the publishers to also release newer books for free to promote the authors without a loss of revenue.

The biggest concern I hear people mentioning is losing the feel of the book. Yes, it is a romantic notion of holding a nicely bound book close to your heart and sinking deep into the story. This not the case for many people, including myself. Most people are able to get inside the story just as much on an e-book reader.

E-book readers utilize electronic ink. This technology allows a reader to view the text for hours without any eye strain. The lack of a backlit screen, like the type computers use, prevents a constant electrical charge from operating while the reader is viewing the text. Only when you go to a new page does the e-book reader send an electrical charge to refresh the screen. This allows a far longer battery life. The Amazon Kindle DX boasts a battery life of up to 2 weeks under certain settings. Currently most e-book readers display their text in 16 shades of grey although some companies are investing in color e-ink technology.

There are about a dozen e-book devices available today. Sony and Amazon are at the forefront of the market and there are many e-book stores online to fill your devices with hundreds of thousands of books and magazines. You can even access blogs, pdf documents, and have your newspaper delivered to your device daily . It is believed by media critics that this method of distributing information is going to save the suffering newspaper industry.

E-book readers are the mp3’s of literature and I look forward to a future of easily portable and accessible books.

Do you think this technology will ever replace books in the traditional sense?

Came across an interesting little website today for any of you monkeys interested in alternative products.  I bring to you:

SheepPooPaper.com

To paraphrase the ‘how it’s made’ section of their website: sheep only digest 50% of the cellulose fibers they eat.  So, the workers at sheeppoopaper (which will be referred to as SPP for the remainder of this article)  collect the poo, boil it, and put it through a washing process until just the fibers remain.  They then combine the cellulose fibers with other “recycled fibers” and use a traditional paper-making process to complete their line of products.

Not only do the employees at SPP create a variety of products – cards, photo prints, and “Poo-pourri” (air fresheners that come in all scents from fresh-cut-grass to daffodil) – they will also make paper just for you using the materials you request.  They offer to make paper out of dung from your own animals, from flowers or plants that you provide, and even old clothes.  Yes, they will use anything and everything except: TREES (Hooray!)

Although this company is located in Wales, they do ship internationally(for an extremely reasonable price) and you can browse products and place your orders directly on their website.  The website itself is fun and informative with pages dedicated to their paper-making process and to their environmental policies.  Stop on by and check it out – my favorite part was reading that the process by which they make their air fresheners is dubbed “Wave ‘n’ Waft”, a term which they have of course trademarked along with “Poo-pourri”.  I have personally ordered a set of their air fresheners (5 for 7.99 pounds including shipping – that’s just a little over $13) so that we in the eco-monkey team can try them out for ourselves.  I will post an update when they arrive for any who might be interested and feel free to share your own stories if you have tried out any of these products as well.

Even if you don’t want to purchase anything, it is still nice to read about a company with a strong commitment to protecting the environment and using practices that creatively(!) use natural waste products to provide a wealth of fun and personalized products.

USDA seal

People are hearing the word organic more and more these days.  Those little green and black USDA Organic labels are popping up on all foods from fruits and vegetables to crackers and fruit snacks. But what does organic mean?

The Official USDA Organic Seal

When you see this little label on food in the grocery store, it means that the US Department of Agriculture has certified it as “organic”.  This means that farmers or companies that have produced these items have had to meet a standardized set of criteria and paid a fee in order to be able to display this label on their product.

According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, the “Commitments” that organic farmers or ranchers must follow are:

1. Farmers must follow practices that “conserve and build the soil resource, pollute little, and encourage development of a healthy diverse agroecosystem, which supports natural pest management”.

This really means that these farmers will engage in crop rotation and that they will not use prohibited synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.  A farm that sells organic produce cannot have used prohibited synthetic pesticides and fertilizers for three years prior to being certified.

2. Farmers must also dedicate specific areas of the storage to organic use (Conceivably so that any equipment used in organic food production does not become contaminated by equipment that might be used in conventional farming).

3. Ranchers must make commitments that concern the treatment of their livestock. This includes providing room for the animals to move around in (i.e. a pasture) and agreeing not to perform certain body modifications.

The process to becoming certified as an organic food or livestock producer is not an easy one, and requires a tremendous amount of work and documention.  In brief, the steps are:

1. Find a Certifier

A farmer or rancher may hire any certifying entity that is accredited by the National Organic Program (a division of the USDA)

2. Submit an Application (and pay a fee)

3. Have the Certifier review their application

4. Have the Certifier come and inspect their farm/ranch

5. Complete a “Final Review”.  If this step is successful, then the farmer/rancher may begin advertising their products as USDA Organic.

*Note – After a farmer or rancher has received an organic certification, they must also maintain records detailing their farming or ranching procedures and practices.

USDA labels

Now we know what it means when fruit, vegetables, and meat (for you carnivores) are labeled as organic. But what makes a cracker organic? Here are the standards for USDA Organic labels as applied to processed food:

1. 100% Organic – This means that 100% of the ingredients used to make this food are organic according to the previously mentioned criteria. (*note – this does not include water or salt)

2. Organic – When the 100% is missing in front of the word Organic, then 95 – 99% of the ingredients used to make this food item are organic.

3. Made with Organic Ingredients – This means that 70-94% of the ingredients in this food item are organic.

4. If something is not labeled as organic in any way, it means that less than 70% of the ingredients used to make that food item or product are certified organic.  Any organic foods or products will be listed as such in the “Ingredients” portion of the label.
Now whether, or not these products are better for you than commercially processed foods is another topic entirely.  You ultimately have to make the decisions on what you put in your body or on your table.  Be armed with the best information you can and make your decisions based on knowledge and research.

Michael Bloch, over at greenlivingtips.com wrote a pretty amusing article on space debris.

One of the more entertaining bits in the post describes how some of the shooting stars we may see are less star than lingerie!  It’s a good read.  Check it out!