The Campus Advantage Greensite

Okay, so I lied about Trick-or-Treating  for Cellular Phones being the last activity. Seriously, there are many other creative activities that you, your family, and your friends can do! All we need is just a little brain power. Am I right?

Anyways, check out this activity. I found out about it on a website called PlanetPals.com. I know this website is extremely kid-ish, but it has such a great green activity idea!

This activity is called, “Recycle and Earn,” by PlanetPals.com.

Activity: The Cell Phone, Inkjet, Toner Return Program. Visit official website.

What is it: The Cell Phone, Inkjet, Toner Return Program will assist schools and organizations to recycle ink jet, toner cartridges, and old cell phone and turn them into cash points.

So, while you’re out collecting cell phones, you might as well ask if people have used ink jet, toner cartridges that you can collect! So basically, trick-or-treating for ink jet, toner cartridges, and old cell phones!

Well, did Trick-or-Treating for UNICEF catch your interest? It did? That’s great? What? It didn’t? Wow, you are picky!

Today, I will introduce the LAST activity!

This third activity is called, Trick-or-Treating for Cellular Phones.

Activity: Trick-or-Treating for Cellular Phones. Visit official website.

What is it: The Women’s Funding Alliance and other women’s fund around the country are working in multiple ways, such as partnering with Green Halloween, with the Good Deed Foundation to collect cell phones. The goal is to recycle one million cell phones by the end of every year, thereby raising over a million dollars to be distributed via grants to organizations working to alleviate women’s poverty and find lasting solutions to climate change.

What the heck is soy-based ink? To answer your question, well its name says it all!

Benefits of soy-based ink:

1. You are saving money because although prices are comparable to petroleum-based ink,  less soy-based ink is needed per print job and it reduces paper waste.
2. Makes paper easier to recycle because soy-based ink is easier to be removed in de-inking process.
3. Soy-based ink has low levels of volatile organic compound! That means LESS HARMFUL TOXINS.

Lastly, soy-based ink produces brighter and sharper colors since soybean oil has intrinsic clearness!

Polystyrene — disposable cutlery, meat trays, coffee cups, packing “peanuts” and insulation — can be reprocessed into items such as rigid insulation! That means, recycling centers loves it!

Recycle – Can you guess how many pieces of paper you will go through in a semester? Help out the environment by recycling as many recyclables items as you could! Look for recycling bins on campus.

Try not to use disposable cups and plates – I know, disposable cups and plates are so convenient — easy clean up! However, disposable cups and plates will contribute to more waste and also eat away your money. You should buy washable, inexpensive plates and cups to help with waste reduction.

Change the bulbs to fluorescent bulbs – Yes, these bulbs cost more than a regular bulb but these bulbs pay for themselves over time due to their lasting usage.

Binders are better than notebooks – This is another way to waste reduction. Plainly, you can use one or two binders to keep all your notes organized without having to worry about purchasing new notebooks – reduce waste and convenient!

Suit101.com has an article with these similar tips, but further more extended. Check it out for more information!

Such plastics have a very low rate of recylability.

Plastic pipes, medical tubing, vinyl dashboards, shower curtains, and (a few) baby bottle nipples contains polyvinyl chloride

Grocery and sandwich bags are example of low-density polyethylene.

Tupperware has what you called polypropylene containers

Containers of laundry detergents, bleaches, milk, shampoo and motor oil have high-density polyethylene. Such type of plastic can be recycled into toys, piping, plastic lumber and rope and  high-density polyethylene is also welcome at recycling centers!

Polyethylene terephthalate (PETE) is what most common plastics are made of, and PETE is also the easiest material to be recycled. Medicine containers and water bottles are examples of PETE. After these common plastics have been processed by a recycling facility, PETE turns into fiberfill for sleeping bags, life jackets, and winter coats! Not only that we can use PETE to make rope, car bumpers, tennis ball felt, sails for boats, and even furniture!

Visit www.ehow.com to learn How to Recycle Plastic!

“Paper bags are great for lining trashcans or animal cages, versus petroleum-based plastic liners you would otherwise buy. They can be used to cover books to help them last longer, and can be turned into gift wrap (which you can have fun decorating) or packaging material. Paper bags have thousands of other possible applications, so get creative!” — Brian Clark Howard, The Daily Green.