Terracycling at the courthouse

This week I made a terracycle box to put at the courthouse. You can put anything in this box that is terracycleable such as chip bags, drink pouches, cookie wrappers, and many other things. I also went to the couthouse and presented to the Extension office about terracycling and planet green. Mr. Davidson was really impressed with the actions that the greenteam here at EJSHS are taking. Mr. Davidson also told me that he would help us contiune recycling and terracycling. But there are many different boxs all around the town at different businesses and you can find any of them and drop off your terracyclable goods.

Product packaging

My packaging product I chose was a monopoly game. I bought one of these games a while back and when I started opening it i realized that it had way to much wrapping on it. Ever little single thing was wrapped individually. Each instruction book was wrapped, the game board was wrapped, the money was wrapped by it self, the game pieces were wrapped by it self, and the box was wrapped in plastic as well. Now once you think of all the games that are made in the world, and everywhere there is one, that is a lot of plastic being used. Plus all of the other games in the world that have the same or even more of the same wrapping on them. Some of the game aren't never used so we just waste it.

If i were in charge of making games for people, i would use a way better solution for wrapping them. Everything doesn't need to be separated and wrapped individually. I would put all of the small things in one thing plastic bag that was air sealed so it would not damage the items. I would than wrap the game boards along with the instructions in one air tight bag. Then once the items were in the box you still have to wrap the outside the same cause if not then people can steal them easily. I would also start a program that every unused game or plastic product would go into the wrapping of the games so they do not go to waste. Also so we don't have to make new plastic to wrap the games in.

product pakaging, box, terracycle at courthouse

I created a box displaying for people to see that you can recycle old inkjet cartridges and old cell phones. My box is displayed at the local Alco here in Eureka, and has only collected a few items, but is doing well! The product packaging I chose to pick on was chip bags, and it made since because they use a lot of packaging. There is no need to use as much packaging as Doritos and Frito Lay does, its not very smart in my opinion. Or even in beef jerky packaging its similar to chips but, they are just as bad at a lot of packaging or even worse. I believe they are ripping people off by making it look like they have a lot of product but actually with not very much product. The only product that is equal to the packaging is candy bars. They do an excellent job at making them right unlike a bunch of other companies. But other than candy bars it doesnt seem like very many companies do a good job at trying to help the environment. They should make all of their rappers or bags where they can dissolve into the ground while in the landfill and help the environment. Now terracycling in the courthouse will help the landfill just like we have here in the high school. They seem to be very supportive of our ideas and want to help us, especially Ashly Bogle. She has helped the green team soooo much with getting our word out about terracycling and recycling.

Why pay more ?

This last week the green team has been working hard! The green team was assigned three projects that had to be competed by the end of the week. The projects were the Planet Green drop boxes, Product packaging, and Green Business flyers.

The project that I will tell you about is Product packaging. On this project you had to pick an over packaged product. The product I choose was mail order. Did you know that you might not just be paying for the name on the box but the packaging inside as well?

When I was thinking about what product I wanted to uses, I remembered that buying some thing over the internet or through the mail that came in over packaged. My idea is to place the item in a box big enough to have some shipping material and the item. Without having to hunt for the item you bought in a sea of shipping material.

All around town!

This week the Green Team members had been working on many different projects like, “Planet Green” boxes product packaging and green business advertisement flyers. Out of these projects, I picked the planet Green fundraiser to discuss. Our goal was to design a collection box and create an informational display that goes out into are community to collect inkjet cartridges and old cell phones. The Fundraiser has two parts we get money from what we collect and send in, we get 15% from ink that you supporters purchase from the website below, they can track the progress of the fundraiser and buy remanufactured inkjet cartridges for their printers. The Green Team has been busy raising money to continue our “green projects” and ultimately build a sustainable greenhouse. Please visit any of he following locations to drop off your items:

Loretta’s

Emprise Bank

Flint Hills Feed

Secured Title

G&W

GWCO courthouse

GWCO Hospital

Alco

Library

New Beginnings

Alan’s Carpet & Flooring

www.planetgreenrecycle.com/ejshsgreenteam

Jeans don't just keep your legs warm!!

Levi Strauss is making big strides to becoming an eco-friendly company. It has started many projects to reduce the amount of clothing waste going into the landfills and the amount of unneccicary packaging being used. Levi Strauss was a 24 year old German immigrant who left the big city of NewYork for San Francisco. He took a small supply of dry goods with the intention of opening a branch of his brother's NewYork dry goods business. On May 20, 1873 they recieved U.S. patent NO. 139, 121. This date is now considered the official birthday of "blue jeans".

Levi Strauss is launching a $100,000 denim insulation fund which will provide grants to non-profit organizations who are currently undergoing construction projects. The fund will offset the cost difference of using recycled denim insulation instead of conventional insulation. The cost of the recycled denim insulation was easily three times the price of fiberglass.

Levi Strauss also has another project in place called "Care tag for our Planet" in cooperation with Goodwill. The tage on their products not only instructs consumers on how to clean their clothes will less environmental impact, it also encourages them to donate used jeans to Goodwill rather than throwing them out. According to Goodwill, about 23.8 billion pounds of clothing end up in U.S. landfills each year.

The company also has started some efforts to reduce the amount of packaging they use. They are reducing the number of "hangtags" on each garment from an average of two to three. They are also beginning to print size and care information directly onto garments. Here's a quote from the Levi Strauss company about reducing the amount of greenhouse gases in the environment. "Through participation in the Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP), we have joined other global companies in calling for leadership and support from the U.S. administration and Congress to develop energy and climate legislation that promotes energy efficiency, encourages energy and climate innovation, and reduces overall greenhouse gas emissions".

This is great! Levi Strauss is really using their resources to make better decisions about what their company's doing to the environment. They have many more cool initiatives in place, you should check their website out at http://www.levistrauss.com/.

Du Pont And The Green Racing Team

Du Pont is a company that advances itself through the engineering of new products to help keep out environment healthy. Du Pont was founded in 1802 as a gunpowder maker. When Du Pont first began, they saw the “messiness” of manufacturing of many products, as Du Pont Grew, other companies grew in a “traditional way” as Du Pont grew in a “greener” way.  As the years progressed as well as the company advanced they began to set their sights on the broad term of manufacturing and engineering in a green way. Du Pont successfully covers many areas that we live in from plastics to fuel efficiency to water usage reduction. Water reduction is a major problem in the world as of the population of the planet is always growing. Plastics are another major health issue throughout the planet, plastics are being manufactured all around the world, but many cannot be recycled and end up in landfills and in the ocean, harming the environment the stay in and affect the health and beauty of the planet.  Du Pont is finding new areas of improvement to our environment everyday. Du Pont advertises in many ways, but NASCARS Jeff Gordon really advertises in a mild but know manner. Setting their sites on new goals everyday as the world advances, soon the world will be a healthier place to live in with the cooperation and advancements of other Green companies. As Du Pont and other green companies advances so will the health of our environment.