Cells for Cells

Recycle Cell Phones to Help Families Battling Cancer

"Ripple Glass"

How Can I Be Better At Recycling My Glass

by

Important Updates, Tips, and Notes From Ripple Glass

Cells for Cells: When someone asks themselves ‘How can I be better at recycling my GLASS’ what are 4 easy things anyone can do right now in 2023 to be better at recycling?

Ripple Glass: 1. Keep your plastic bags and plastic wrap out of your recycling bin. These items can only be recycled at the drop-off containers at your grocery stores, or you can put them in your trashcan.

2. Rinse or wipe out your recyclables, especially your plastics. The markets for plastic are very depressed right now, so the items need to be perfectly clean.

3. Purchase items that are easily recycled, and recycled locally. Glass and aluminum are great choices.

4. When you have an odd item, and you’re not sure if you can recycle it, check recyclespot.org for good local options! [Jason’s note: When your office needs to recycle old or broken cell phones request free shipping labels from Cells for Cells .

Cells for Cells: What is this partnership with End of Waste Foundation?

[Read more…] about How Can I Be Better At Recycling My Glass

How To Recycle Glass: Ripple Glass Makes It Easy To Recycle

by

Total Reading Time: Approximately 6 minutes.

Michelle Goth
Michelle Goth

Michelle Goth is the Program Manager at Ripple Glass where she makes glass recycling easier for Kansas City area businesses.  She assists bars, restaurants, hotels, event spaces, and other businesses to establish and to improve their glass recycling processes.

1.  What is the coolest innovation that you have seen in the glass recycling industry?

Michelle:  By far the coolest innovation in the glass recycling industry is the laser sorter. This machine can be programmed to identify thousands of different colors of glass. When a color is programmed into the machine, it scans all of the glass on the conveyor belt, searching for that particular color. When it finds it, it quickly blows a puff of air which pops the piece of glass onto a different belt. It has revolutionized the way that glass is recycled by allowing people to recycle all colors together. If a certain color needs to be separated out, the recycler can do so with the laser sorter. We use ours to separate out amber (brown) glass for re-manufacture into beer bottles.

2.  Does glass break down in the landfills?  How long does it take?

Michelle:  Glass does not break down or decompose in the landfill due to the lack of organic matter. If it is forcibly broken, it may eventually resemble something like sand.

3.  What else in the field of sustainability is interesting to you?

Michelle:  I think the issue of food waste is very interesting. Food composting is an underdeveloped area within the recycling industry here in the United States. Missouri Organic is pretty well established here in Kansas City, but I visit other large cities where businesses have no composting services available.

I’ve read that as much as 40% of the food we purchase in America ends up in the landfill. When you consider the level of resources that goes into food production, that is pretty devastating.  [Jason’s notes:  quick link to How to Stop Wasting Food and 27 Ways to Make Groceries Last Longer.]

4.  What are 4 things that anyone can do right now to be better at recycling?
Continue Reading

Recycle My Glass: How Old Glass Becomes New Glass via NPR

by

At a recycling convention, I spoke with a glass manufacturer about recycling.  At one point in the conversation the glass guy said, “you can’t get cheaper than sand.”  Shocked, I interpreted the underlying philosophy (of the glass guy) that it was a more of a hassle to recycle glass than it was to just bring in some fresh sand.  It made me a little bit suspicious of why he was at the recycling convention.  Also, I began to wonder about the public’s participation in some of the recycling programs available for glass.

Yes, Recycle Your Glass

In Kansas City, Ripple Glass is THE glass recycler.  They have bins everywhere; making it super easy to recycle your glass.  So, if you are looking for ways to be more friendly to our environment, Ripple Glass is the answer.

How Is Glass Recycled?

Have you ever wondered about how glass is recycled?  I caught this 3 minute video from NPR and was amazed by it.  Enjoy!

Secrets From The Recycling Plant: How A Used Bottle Becomes A New Bottle from Planet Money on Vimeo.

Additional Reading

How To Be A Better Recycler At Home

Recycling Tips From Deffenbaugh Industries

Sorting My Trash: How to Overcome Recycling Apathy

by

I do not want to admit it; but I will.  I have not been very good at recycling at home.  In fact, I have been downright terrible.  I hardly ever use my recycling container.

How can I run one of the largest cell phone recycling programs of its kind and still possess a high degree of Recycling Apathy at my house?  This must change!

My catchy phrase that I have used as an excuse for years is:  “I care; but I just don’t care enough” to recycle.  What is most interesting, as I look inside myself, is that I really never even tried to recycle at home.  I always felt like it was a hassle to sort out my trash.  I even got on my high horse and thought to myself, “I help to recycle thousands and thousands of cell phones – I am doing my part!”  But, you know what?  I have discovered that recycling at home is just as easy as taking out the trash.  Yes, that is my personal recycling at the end of my driveway from this week.

How to make recycling at home a permanent habit

1.  Find one thing to recycle today and put it in your recycling container.  Make it easy – like a newspaper or a plastic water bottle or milk jug or an aluminum can(s).  For me, just getting started was easy enough to help me make this a new habit in my life.

2.  Make it a fun, family project to look in your fridge and see what numbers are on your plastic bottles.  In our community recycling program – Deffenbaugh’s Curbside Recycling, we can recycle plastics numbered 1 through 7.    [What do those plastic recycling codes mean?]

3.  Locate your most convenient recycling resources.  Everyone lives near a school or church that has either a paper, glass, or multi-recycling container.  Our glass recycler is a huge Ripple Glass purple container that is only 6/10 of a mile from my house.  It takes me 1 minute to get there.  Here is the Ripple Glass locator map to see where you can recycle your glass.

4.  You might already be paying for it; so put it to use. I am charged a mandatory recycling fee of $5.10 on my trash invoice  for three months of unlimited curbside recycling.  I feel like I have a personal recycling butler come to my house once a week, take away all the stuff that can be recycled, and I only have to pay him 42 cents per week.

5.  Educate yourself on everything that can be recycled in your community.  Here is the list, in pdf format, of everything  that Deffenbaugh Recycling accepts in their curbside recycling program.

6.  Do it again next week…and the next…and the next…