Hi all,
I love this discussion! At our Galveston Bay Foundation office, there are 3 of us that manage the recycling. I created and labeled a trash can specifically for plastic bags and Amazon shipping bags and am responsible for bringing that to our local HEB for recycling every time it's full. Another staff member takes all other common recycling once a week to a local recycling center. And another person brings batteries and electronics to Batteries Plus to recycle.
I also manage our litter/trash/water pollution reporting app, Galveston Bay Action Network, which allows anyone to report pollution anywhere in the Houston/Galveston area and it sends the report to the responsible authority.
When it comes to how municipalities and the material management industry can help, I would love to see more advertising and awareness campaigns that make it clearer what can be recycled where and address common misconceptions about recycling (like that plastic bags can just be put in with everything else. What about straws? Yay, nay? Chip bags, etc.) The biggest feedback I get from the community is that they are often unsure of how to do right! I will be hosting a Facebook Live from our organization's page to go over some of these questions and also offer reusable options for lots of single-use items found at home and in the office.
If there is a common location beside Earth 911 for identifying Texas recycling locations and what they accept, please send it our way. It would be a great resource!
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Sasha Francis
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-09-2020 16:06
From: Lanny Shivers
Subject: Material Management, what can we do?
Hello Lindsay,
I hope we all get back to our office buildings real soon. We work very hard at the EarthX offices to recycle everything we can. We have several different Recycling Streams and it can be hard at times even for the EarthX folks to know which bin to place an item in. As for the Recycling in our Building we have worked with the Building Manager who coordinates with the Recycling Company ours is (Community Waste Disposal) . We also work with our Building Engineer who manages the cleaning crews and makes sure they know which Recycling Receptacle for the Office Recyclables. We Recycle hard to recycle items with "TerraCycle" and we do our composting with "Turn Compost". Workplace Recycling takes effort on everyones part but can be done. Thank you for the question and my suggestion is start with your Building folks and the education for the employees, it has seem to work for the EarthX offices.
Happy Recycling
Lanny Shivers
EarthX
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Lanny Shivers
Business Development Manager
Original Message:
Sent: 03-31-2020 13:57
From: Lindsay Boykin
Subject: Material Management, what can we do?
I like your thinking in asking - let me ask what are you currently doing to support, raise awareness to reduce, reuse, and recycle the materials we generate on a daily basis? I'm sure there are programs and resources that I'm not aware of.
I have been an avid recycler for many years now - I have a box in my office for my materials - that I take home every 2 weeks to include with my home recycling. I do that because I am not fully aware of the recycling at my office building - so here's a starter; how we can get a better understanding of what our office buildings are doing, how can we increase building participation, raise awareness? I'd love some ideas!
thanks in advance!
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be well,
Lindsay Boykin
Plano, Texas
lindsayboykin@live.com
Original Message:
Sent: 03-03-2020 11:03
From: Jordan Fengel
Subject: Material Management, what can we do?
Hi everyone!
What can we, the material management industry (STAR, TCEQ, material handlers, municipalities, etc.), do to help you reduce, reuse, and recycle the materials you generate on a daily basis?
I'm excited to hear your thoughts.
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Jordan Fengel
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