Bring One For The Chipper Gwinnett Christmas Tree Recycling

Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful is again working under the KEEP GEORGIA BEAUTIFUL Bring One For The Chipper program!  Green In Gwinnett Area is asking Gwinnett County residents to donate your old Christmas trees.  You are asked to “donate” your Christmas Trees for recycling.  Your recycled Christmas trees will be turned into mulch to use in locations throughout the county.

From December 26 to January 16, 2012, Gwinnett County residents can take their undecorated Christmas trees to one of several locations.

For More Information: Recycle Christmas Trees In Gwinnett

Green Toner and Inkjet Cartridge YES YOU CAN

Yes You Can use compatible “green” toner cartridges in your printer and maintain your warranty!

From Bold Spicy News:

One of my clients recently received a call from a Pitney Bowes Sales Rep.  They were calling to see if my client needed additional red inkjet cartridges for their Pitney Bowes mailmachine.  My client informed the Pitney Bowes rep that they had purchased their ink from Print Green USA, Inc., and at substantial savings. The Pitney Bowes rep then stated that using cartridges that weren’t Pitney Bowes brand would void the warranty on the mailmachine.  That is not the case at all.  In fact it is illegal for a manufacturer to require that a consumer use a certain brand of product as a condition of the warranty. This is covered by the Magnusson Moss Warranty Act.  Read More Here

Recycle Christmas Trees In Gwinnett County

UPDATED FOR Gwinnett County CHRISTMAS 2011!

Wondering where to recycle your Christmas Tree in Gwinnett County?  Look no further.  Here are the Bring One For The Chipper, Keep Georgia Beautiful Christmas Tree recycling locations for Gwinnett County.

Christmas Tree Recycling Locations In Gwinnett County

 

Bring One for the Chipper is Georgia’s annual Christmas tree recycling program. Each year, Keep Georgia Beautiful works with private sponsors to organize the recycling event. In the past, these statewide sponsors have included The Home Depot, The Davey Tree Expert Company and WXIA-TV. Green In Gwinnett Area along with numerous local sponsors and volunteers also make contributions and provide in-kind services across the state. The Chipper program involves hundreds…

Read More Here

Georgia Ink Cartridge Recycling Initiative

Georgia Ink Cartridge Recycling Initiative.

Toner Cartridges have a significant environmental footprint:

• Over 375 million cartridges end up in landfills each year (total weight of these cartridges is equivalent to 112,463 Volkswagen Beetles).
• Plastic takes 1,100+ years to decompose.
• Our Landfills are at capacity and disposal fees are continuing to increase.
• Chemicals from the cartridges are polluting soil and water supplies.
• A large toner cartridge requires nearly 4 quarts of oil in its production.
• Ink Jet and Toner cartridge remanufacturing saves over 38,000 tons of plastic and metal from landfills.

Atlanta Ink Cartridge and Laser Toner Recycling

Do you wonder what to do with that empty cartridge when your printer or copier has used all of it’s ink or toner up and it is time to replace it? Do you know the impact that tossing that laser toner or ink cartridge into the trash has on your environment?

This year, over 700 million ink and toner cartridges will be consumed in the United States. A small fraction of empty cartridges will be recycled, but many more end up in landfills. Hazardous chemicals from the cartridges can pollute the environment, while the plastic they’re made of will take centuries to decompose. -Wastewise

One local option is a company based in Gwinnett County. Print Green USA offers recycling services for your spent and/or surplus imaging supplies (laser toners, ink cartridges, drums, etc). Print Green USA, Inc not only sells laser toners, printer drums and ink cartridges, but they will recover their clients empties for recycling.  They also will recycle empty laser toners and ink cartridges that were not purchased there.

For More Information, Please Contact Print Green USA via Their Website: Toner Recycling

Remember To Think Green In Gwinnett!!!

-If you have information on other local toner cartridge recycling options, please email: giga@greeningwinnett.org and we will review for posting consideration.

Reuse! Give Those Old Blankets, Rugs, etc to Gwinnett County Animal Shelter

Today’s Green Tip of The Day:
Instead of sending old rugs to the landfill, check with local animal shelters to see if they can use them.  Old towels, blankets and sheets are also appreciated.

You can find information here for the Gwinnett County Animal Shelter.

Gwinnett County Animal Shelter
If you’d like to adopt a new family member or if your pet is lost, the Animal Shelter is a great place to begin your search. The Gwinnett Police Department operates the Animal Shelter to enforce animal control laws and to shelter animals that have strayed, gotten lost, or been turned over for adoption. With pet overpopulation on the rise, we’re proud to report a decrease in incoming animals and an increase in animals placed to individuals and rescue groups through our shelter. Location
The Animal Welfare and Enforcement Center is located at 884 Winder Highway in Lawrenceville.

Office Hours:
Sunday and Monday	Closed
Tuesday and Thursday	10:00am – 8:00pm
Wednesday and Friday	10:00am – 4:00pm
Saturday	10:00am – 4:00pm
Kennel Hours:
Sunday and Monday	Closed
Tuesday and Thursday	10:00am – 8:00pm
Wednesday and Friday	10:00am – 4:00pm
Saturday	10:00am – 4:00pm
Adoption/Reclaim Hours:
Sunday and Monday	Closed
Tuesday and Thursday	10:00am – 8:00pm
Wednesday and Friday	10:00am – 3:30pm
Saturday	10:00am – 3:30pm

* Closed for lunch weekdays from 12:30pm to 1:00pm

Additional Contacts

General Administrative Contact E-mail
Acuadmin@gwinnettcounty.com

Jason Cannon, Supervisor
Jason.Cannon@gwinnettcounty.com

Charles Johnson, Supervisor
Charles.Johnson@gwinnettcounty.com

Thomas Stephens, Supervisor
Thomas.Stephens@gwinnettcounty.com

Monica Peete, Office Supervisor
Monica.Peete@gwinnettcounty.com
Thank you and remember to be thinking Green in your daily activities. 

Sincerely
James Chronicle

Green In Gwinnett Area

 

Do Those Laser Toners and Ink Cartridges Get Recycled? Not In Most Cases!

The first chapter into exploring my industry and the massive impact that it has on our environment.
Gwinnett! The following is a true account of this unethical field.
Green In Gwinnett Area GIGA encourages turning in your used laser toners and/or ink cartridges to be recycled. The are many programs available.

Print Green USA, Inc. located in Suwanee, GA has a program available to consumers.

Please email: recycle@printgreenga.com for details on how to recycle your laser toners or ink cartridges.

Please comment and I will explore your questions or your industry as well.

Lexmark and THE PREBATE:

Each quarter, Lexmark releases yet another financial statement reinforcing its “supplies-driven” profitability. It is making more dollars from the sale of cartridges than the sale of printers.

And how environmentally friendly are its programs?

Lexmark’s Prebate program (now known as its environmentally friendly “return” program) gives a discount at the time of sale if the customer agrees to return the cartridge to Lexmark, or at least agrees to not give it to a remanufacturer. So, a customer has already been rewarded for buying this “environmentally friendly” product, and any incentive to recycle it is long forgotten. When the cartridge is spent, the customer may find it inconvenient to return it to Lexmark. Still wanting to do the right thing, the customer attempts to sell or give it to a remanufacturer. The cartridge’s Prebate restrictions forbid its being remanufactured, so the preferable reuse option is foreclosed. Lexmark has testified in its lawsuit with Static Control Components that it gets back 50 percent of its Prebate cartridges, and that those cartridges are then remanufactured or recycled by Lexmark.

This begs the question: Are Lexmark’s recycling partners involved in legitimate recycling?

And what about the other 50 percent of the cartridges sold by Lexmark under the Prebate program?

They are condemned to landfills, as the Prebate restrictions mandate that they cannot be remanufactured by a third party. If a remanufacturer risks legal action by remanufacturing the Prebate cartridge, it runs into the chip problem. The chip acts as the enforcement device for the Prebate restrictions. It will determine if the cartridge has been remanufactured and will shut down the printer. Aftermarket chip solutions have been developed by several aftermarket vendors, one of whom has been sued by Lexmark for their ingenuity. Think Green Gwinnett! Start small, recycle, turn off the lights, recycle your laser toners…

To add even more insurance that the cartridge will not be remanufactured, Lexmark frequently changes the firmware in the printers through “upgrades” and during routine service maintenance. The firmware acts like a virus and renders many viable aftermarket solutions worthless.

Therefore, a Lexmark customer wanting to remanufacture the (return program) cartridge is frustrated at every turn. This is a classic bate and switch scheme.

So I beg all of you in Suwanee, Lawrenceville, Duluth, Norcross, Buford, Lilburn, Snellville, or any other area of Gwinnett County, please do the right thing and recycle your used laser toners and ink cartridges.

Stay tuned for another chapter in this tail…

Green In Gwinnett Area GIGA (Keeping Gwinnett Green and Sustainable)

and sponsor Print Green USA, Inc.

PrintGreenGA.COM

Getting Started Going Green in Gwinnett

You’ve decided you want to live a more eco-friendly life? Great! Are you feeling a little overwhelmed? Maybe you see all of the things you can change to be more green, and you don’t know where to start. Or maybe you’re on a tight budget and you simply don’t have the money to completely revamp your life. That’s okay! There are some simple, inexpensive things you can do to live a little more green. The first step is to decide why you want to go green. What is your main concern? For many people, they are worried about carbon dioxide and climate change, and they want to reduce their carbon footprint. Others are concerned about waste filling up landfills and want to start recycling. Still others are worried about chemicals in their home environment and want to start using green cleaning products or buying organic food. You might be concerned about all of these issues and more, but there is probably one thing in particular that has really convinced you it’s time to go green. Start with that one and you’ll be able to stick with your lifestyle changes easily, because they will be important to you.  Let’s look at some of these green goals and see how to get started.

So you want to reduce your carbon footprint…

With carbon, climate change, greenhouse gas, and “carbon neutral” being such popular buzzwords these days, you can’t help but think about how your lifestyle is affecting the planet. A great place to start is with a Carbon Footprint Calculator. This will estimate how much carbon you personally put into the air each year. There are tons of calculators on the Internet, I like the one at http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/carboncalculator/.

Now, that you know your carbon footprint, how do you make it smaller?

• Adjust your thermostat. Is your AC set so low that your family wears sweaters around the house in August? Using less energy to heat and cool your home can definitely change your carbon output, AND save you some money. You can also open blinds in the winter to let the sun heat your home naturally, and close them in the summer to help keep it cool. When it’s nice outside, open windows and screen doors can let in fresh air and nice temperatures. A programmable thermostat is an investment in your home that will pay for itself in energy savings. They are very simple to install yourself.
• Drive less. This one can save you money as well! Remember this summer, when gas was scarce here in Georgia, and we all tried to drive as little as possible? You don’t have to go to those extremes, but being mindful of how much you drive is important. Could you walk to any of your destinations? Can you carpool with anyone? My husband drives from Duluth to Athens for school, carpooling has saved us a ton of money! When you go out to run errands, take a minute to plan the most efficient route. It will save you both time and gas. If you’re lucky, you could even talk to your employer about working from home once or twice a week, and see the gas savings really add up!
• Turn it off. How many lights are on in your house right now, in rooms that no one is occupying? I will admit, I am terrible about leaving lights on! Turning them off can save your electric bill and the planet. Also, you’ve probably heard that some of your electronics use “vampire power”. This means they continue to draw electricity even when they’re switched off. TV’s are notorious for this one. Unplugging these power hogs can save a lot of money. You can also plug them into a surge protector with a switch so you can turn several items off at once (for instance, if you turn off your TV, you can also turn off your DVD player and video game console).
• Recommended reading for footprint reduction: An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore.

What if trash is your main concern…

Landfills take up huge amounts of space, and a lot of perfectly good stuff ends up in them. How can you cut down on the amount of garbage you send to them? The three R’s, of course!

• Reduce. This is really the most important thing you can do to cut down on waste. Think about ways you can create less garbage in the first place. Are you using disposable plates and cups just for the sake of convenience? Using paper towel for household jobs that could be done with a washable, reusable rag? If you don’t make any other green changes, then at least start bringing tote bags to the grocery store instead of getting plastic bags. Trust me, you’ll be glad when you don’t have a giant pile of plastic bags sitting in the garage! Some stores, like Whole Foods, give you a credit for bringing your own bags ($0.10) while other stores like IKEA charge for using plastic bags. Reusable totes are $1.00 at many stores, but I bet you’ve got tote bags sitting around in a closet that would work just fine.
• Reuse. It’s easy to find ways to reuse things around the house. Pasta sauce jars can be washed and used to store rice and pasta. Yogurt tubs and even toilet paper rolls can be used to start seeds. Every time you throw something away, try thinking of a way to reuse it. Remember that if you don’t have a use for something, someone else might. For instance, UPS Stores (in Dacula, Snellville, Lawrenceville and many other places in Gwinnett) will take foam packing peanuts for reuse.
• Recycle. Recycling has never been so easy! Most, if not all, garbage haulers in Gwinnett offer some sort of curbside recycling for items like cans, bottles, and newspaper. The Recycling Bank of Gwinnett should reopen soon, and they accept many items that curbside recycling doesn’t pick up. There are a lot of other places in town that accept various things for recycling. The post office in Duluth, for instance, has dumpsters to recycle phonebooks and magazines. Many groceries stores accept things like plastic grocery bags and egg cartons. Visit http:arth911.com to find out where to recycle near you. You’d be amazed at all the recycling going on in Gwinnett! I found ways to recycle ink cartirdges in Buford, car batteries in Lawrenceville, and newspapers in Grayson.
• Recommended reading for recycling fans: Living Like Ed by Ed Begley Jr.

Are you worried about chemicals all around you…

This seems to be an especially big concern among parents. Folks who never thought about what was in their cleaning products or food realize, when they have children, that they don’t know what most of these chemicals are or how safe they are.

• Switch to green cleaning products. There are so many eco-friendly options out there, and they work just as well as traditional cleaning products. These days there are also plenty of green options that aren’t too expensive either. Detoxing your home can get overwhelming, the trick is not to replace everything at once. Use up the cleaning supplies you have, and gradually replace them with greener options as you restock.
• Organic foods. Organic foods can be pricey, but you can prioritize your purchases. You can find out which foods tend to have the most pesticide residues, and which ones have the least. That way you know which foods it’s more important to buy organic and which ones you can probably stick to conventionally grown. Try this guide for starters http://www.foodnews.org/walletguide.php .
• Beauty products.  Natural beauty products have gone mainstream, with both Target and Wal-mart selling many brands of bath and beauty items with natural and organic ingredients. Trust me, this stuff will work just as well, if not better than their chemical counterparts, plus you’ll be able to pronounce all the ingredients! I visited the Wal-Mart in Suwanee just this week and I was really impressed by the natural and organic beauty brands they carry.
• Recommended reading for a non-toxic home: Organic Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck.

I hope this guide will give you some good suggestions of easy ways to go green. Do you have anymore easy green tips? Post them in the comments!

Gwinnett’s Green Generation

At a time when environmental issues are at the forefront it is critical that teachers integrate environmental education into their lessons. Children need to be given the skills, knowledge and resources necessary to positively impact the environment. There are many sources of information now available.

We are fortunate in Gwinnett County to have an effective and innovative program designed to enhance the available resources. Green In Gwinnett Area, better known as GIGA, founded by Gwinnett county resident James Chronicle, is designed, in part, to promote environmental consciousness. Area residents are encouraged to participate and support this endeavor. Information can be found by emailing giga@greeningwinnett.org. In addition, the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center offers programs and interactive exhibits for people of all ages, from pre-schoolers to senior citizens. It is a collaborative effort of the county’s board of Commissioners, public school system, The University of Georgia, and the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Foundation.

There are a multitude of websites available to promote environmental awareness. These websites can be accessed through search engines and many of them offer information geared to elementary age children. As a Suwanee resident and a Barrow County third grade teacher, I have used a website found on the National Education Association list called Eco-Bunnies. This site was designed to help students understand “carbon footprints” and how to reduce environmental impact. For more information, visit www.eco-bunnies.com/ Use EarthLab’s live calculator with your class and empower them to discover the amount of energy they use and ways to conserve. Suggestions such as energy saving light bulbs, developing conservation habits, and ways to recycle are outlined. Students can find their score and save it and return to see the positive impact they have affected through small changes in behavior.

There is a plethora of information available on the Internet to enable teachers to inform and educate their students, not to mention community based nonprofit organizations such as Green In Gwinnett Area GIGA. The future of the planet hangs in the balance. Teachers have a responsibility to ensure that they are promoting environmental awareness on a regular basis.

A Resolution to WalkGreen…

Today is a great day to commit to learning how to WalkGreen. My personal goal is to teach how to WalkGreen via the internet, in my local Gwinnett community, the metropolitan Atlanta area, state of Georgia and Southeastern part of the United States as God provides the means. I want to share easy ways each of us can make small lifestyle changes to help protect, preserve and live in harmony with the earth as God intended!

Some people believe Green living requires the loss of style, fashion and money. The truth is when you decide to WalkGreen you’ll save money and make a better place to live for yourself, others and generations to come. So my prayer today is any and everyone reading this today will make a commitment to changing at least one thing at a time. If we all change a little it can help a lot. I don’t know if you’ve made your resolution list yet but I encourage you to add learning to WalkGreen a priority in 2009. It can’t hurt in this economy we can all afford to learn a few things that will save us money. Why not do something to help the earth and Gwinnett in the process?

Add this resolution to your 2009 list …Walk Green In Gwinnett and save!

Here are two tips the easy green tip from December and the new tip for January.

December: Drink filtered water instead of bottled water. Filling and reusing a stainless steel container created for long term use with water is more beneficial to the environment and your pockets than purchasing bottled water. With all of the talk about chemicals used in bottling plastics it may also prove to be even more beneficial to your health.

January: Recyle! In Gwinnett county (Snellville, Suwanee, Duluth, Centerville, Lawrenceville, Norcross etc) all of the garbage disposal companies (including whoever eventually ends up with the final contract) pick up the little blue bins that take away plastics, aluminum cans and glass. Call your waste disposal provider today. The more you recycle the less you throw away. This cuts down on how often you purchase garbage bags, that saves you money. WalkGreen…and Save!

Join Green In Gwinnett Area on Facebook and LinkedIn!  GIGA!  Spread the word!