4th Quarter 2010 Newsletter

Quarterly Newsletter

Welcome to the first edition of the Phoenix Recycling quarterly newsletter! Check us out for recycling updates, spotlights on environmental topics, opportunities to do more in New Orleans and special offers from Phoenix and our partners.

Send us your feedback and ideas or contributions for next time.

A Message from Phoenix Recycling President, David McDonough

Curbside vs. Drop-off

Five plus years after Katrina, there are starting to become more and more recycling opportunities available throughout the region. I'm absolutely thrilled that we've reached a point in New Orleans' recovery where recycling is becoming the norm, and not the exception.

But, one has to wonder if drop-off sites are part of the solution or an inefficient and outdated model that leads to bigger problems.

Most of the new recycling opportunities have come in the form of drop-off centers; the City sponsored drop-off site at Elysian Fields on Saturdays and the Target drop off option in Metairie. Drop-off sites do serve a purpose, mainly in rural areas where curbside recycling would be less efficient. But residents in densely populated areas should approach standard recycling drop-offs very carefully. Consider that we can fit the material of almost 400 typical residential stops in just one of our rear-loading "garbage" trucks. Then think about the amount of carbon emissions generated if those same 400 people were to drive a recycling bin over to a drop-off center. You might be causing more problems than you solve by driving there, offsetting the benefits of recycling and wasting resources by going to a drop-off center.

And we are likely to pass your house anyway. In an urban environment, a drop-off center would be your best option for things not collected curbside - eWaste and paint to the Green Project is a great example. CFL light bulbs to Home Depot is another. But for "curbside material", it's only best if you live close to the center, have a large amount of material and/or fill your vehicle practically to capacity, have an extremely efficient way to transport it, group your trip with other errands, and don't mind adding another thing to your to-do list - on Saturday. For most of us, that's simply not the case.

Phoenix Friend: Langston Hughes AcademyCompost

Curriculum: Eating & Growing Healthy Food

By Amy Zellweger, Garden Coordinator and Educator.

As the young scholars reach through the school cafeteria window to get their healthy menu option lunches, they smile in delight at how much of their meal they can compost. They eagerly sit down, carefully putting their orange peels far away from their baked chicken breast, knowing that no meat or dairy trace can go into the compost bucket. After a wonderful lunch of fresh salad, fresh broccoli, baked chicken with brown rice, and their choice of an orange, apple, or nectarine, they anxiously - but carefully - place their apple cores, nectarine pits, or orange peels alongside their leftover broccoli into the compost bin. Soon though, the scholars will understand what it feels like to be in a real dining establishment. They will have real plates and real forks to wash and reuse every lunch period. This is just the beginning of the transformation that is occurring at Langston Hughes Academy in New Orleans.

LHA is a nonprofit charter school that is implementing big changes in the way their scholars learn. One exciting change that is occurring is happening beyond the school walls. It's outside in the garden! As Garden Coordinator and Educator, I have been able to use composting as a way to teach outdoor, hands-on, life science classes to grades k-3. Kindergartners for the first time are seeing the life cycle of plants firsthand. Third graders are learning what it means to make soil, and what plants need from the soil in order to grow. All my young scholars are seeing their own seeds sprout and develop into mature plants with fruits, flowers, and vegetables. As each seed grows at LHA, the scholars' minds are being watered and they are seeing hands-on, what life cycles are all about.

LHA is currently beginning the first stages of a five-year garden plan. In the five-year plan, with help from Rethink Group of New Orleans, there are numerous opportunities to learn. With a butterfly garden, vegetable and flower garden, outdoor classroom, community garden, compost, and a conflict resolution circle, scholars are experiencing the beauty of a safe outdoor space to learn and grow. Along with the garden design and curriculum being taught, cafeteria reform is making its way into the lunchroom at LHA. With a fresh fruit option at every meal, and brown rice and salad, the scholars are seeing and feeling what it means to be healthy.

Finally, as the scholars walk back to their tables after a delicious, well-balanced and healthy meal, they walk away knowing with satisfaction that their compostable waste has just contributed to the growth and development of the plants in our school garden and the planet.

^{Spotlight: Plastic}

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Halloween may be over for this year, but the horrors of plastic will be around for quite a while. A case in point is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a natural accumulation of unnatural materials in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Of all the trash in the Ocean, 90% is plastic. Most of the plastic sinks to the bottom, but about 30% floats and gets caught up in the natural ocean currents. A large circular series of currents called a gyre has accumulated a patch of plastic trash twice the size of Texas in the Pacific Ocean.

Unlike other types of debris floating in the Ocean, plastic is not biodegradable and will never go away. Eventually, the sun will break down the plastic in a process called photodegradation. But it never goes away, the pieces just becomes smaller and smaller. Small pieces called nurdles are often mistaken for food by larger organisms. In fact, at the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, plastic nurdles outnumber plankton 6 to 1.

Plastic will eventually become broken down to the molecular level. Even then it is still plastic, and still toxic. Microscopic organisms, which are the food for larger organisms, ingest the tiny toxic plastic nurdles.

Read more about the ecological effects of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, how gyres created it and what you can do. Or find your own facts by googling Pacific gyre and The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

The best action is to avoid plastic at all costs. If you are confronted with a choice of paper or glass versus plastic, always choose paper and glass. But if you just can't avoid plastic, then make sure you recycle it! Phoenix accepts most kinds of plastic. Refer to our material list for specifics.

What else can I do?

Worm Composting vs. Regular Composting

By David McDonough, Phoenix Recycling

Ok, so I'd heard a lot about worm composting versus an outdoor compost pile and decided to give it a try. I don't have much in the way of leaves or lawn clippings, mainly kitchen scraps. I looked online and found a worm box that was made from recycled plastic, seemed pretty sturdy and fairly easy to maintain. The best price I found was from Lugar Creek and I opted not to get the accessory kit, so my total was $110 for the kit and $15 shipping. I found it on sale, so $110 total.

Set up was easy and I began to immediately put scraps in the box. Seems like the more I put in, the faster they ate.

Aside from a much cleaner kitchen garbage can that is emptied much less frequently, is the 'tea' that is produced by the worm box, via a spigot in the box. I don't really want to know the details, so didn't research and can't comment on the source. However, my houseplants and container vegetables were on steroids this summer. The mix smells like rotten water, but mixed or better yet, applied outdoors it worked like magic.

I did find a design for an outdoor box, which can be built with recovered lumber or 5 gallon paint buckets (from the Green Project). There is also an much more information, resources and links within this link from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. I have the box indoors now and, as advertised, no smell and they still consume all I can throw at them. I highly recommend the worm composting method.

The Green Project Corner

Reuse and recycling? What's the difference? Many people use these words interchangeably, but they are actually two different processes. Reuse is when one uses an item over and over again, hopefully for the duration of the product's life. In contrast, recycling reprocesses materials into new items with the help of energy.

The Green Project both reuses and recycles! The Green Project is a nonprofit building supply retail store in the St. Roch neighborhood (2831 Marais St.). They operate a warehouse and a lumberyard where they sell reused materials to keep them out of the landfills and to provide and affordable building alternative for everybody. The Green Project also operates the only paint recycling center in the Gulf South where they recycle old latex paint into their own affordable, quality paint. And The Green Project offers electronic waste recycling with Capital Area Corporate Recycling Council to prevent heavy metals from being disposed of in landfills.

More information about the many projects of The Green Project can be found at www.thegreenproject.org and on their Facebook page.

^{The Green Project is a proud member of the ReUse District. The ReUse District aims to increase the appreciation and accessibility of reused materials in the 7th Ward, Bywater, Marigny, St. Claude and St. Roch neighborhoods. thereusedistrict.org}

Give the gift of recycling with a Phoenix Recycling Gift Certificate.

$90 for 6 months of recycling

$150 for a year of recycling

Give the gift of stylish apparel with a Phoenix Recycling T-Shirt!

Anvil Organic brand shirt made from 100% Organic Cotton

Shirt is off-white with large green logo on back and small green logo on left chest

S M L XL - $20

XXL XXXL - $22

^{For purchase information call (504) 322-7551 or email}^orders

Do you work for a Green organization? Are you an eco-minded individual? Do you just like to write? Contribute something to the next issue of Phoenix's newsletter! Email news@phoenixrecyclingnola.com for more info.