Green Eco Services

All About Litter and Trash in Utah

Welcome back!

The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) launched a new anti-litter campaign targeted at lost cargo and debris. Large litter, such as ladders and mattresses, are responsible for more than 25,000 accidents on North American roads each year. Learn more at www.litterhurts.utah.gov

I had done a previous post on the High Cost of Litter- and Taxpayers Many people emailed me and asked where I got the information. Listed below is more information and the sources. 

2007 Stats:

• Dispatch Calls to Highway Patrol to pick up litter- 6,357 in Salt Lake County Alone
• Reported Accidents caused by debris on Highway- About 1,000
• Time taken to re-litter- 6 weeks
• Trash Bags Used- 2006- 99,600 trash bags 

 Miscellaneous Info

• Trucker Bombs- bottles filled with urine and feces- 2005- Last year, UDOT estimates it removed upwards of 30,000 of these “trucker bombs” from the side of state highways.
• Nearly 80% of Utahans surveyed have been confronted with debris on the road
• 45% of Utahans surveyed have experienced damage to their cars due to litter on the road. 

Litter on Utah State Highways  May 2007 

 Prison work crews, Adopt-a-Highway volunteers and UDOT employees are constantly 

removing debris and litter left on our roads by motorists. We spend more than 

$1,000,000 annually to pick up and dispose of highway litter. Additionally, in urban 

areas, we spend $800,000 per year sweeping debris left on the road. Every year litter 

pick-up costs and disposal fees increase due to additional roadside litter.  

 60% goes for UCI Prison crews – they cost about $500 per day (Guards, truck, porta- 

potty, trailer, and inmate wages). 25% goes to pickup and dispose of the orange bags 

that Prison Work Crews and Adopt-a-Highway groups gather up. The remainder goes for 

UDOT crews picking up litter and roadside debris. 

UDOT trucks travel about 150,000 miles hauling orange trash bags to the dump. About 

8,000 truck loads (One-ton size) of litter hauled to landfills around the state annually. 

UDOT pays dumping fees for most of the debris hauled off the road. We use orange 

trash bags because they are so visible and tend to remind motorists of how much debris 

there is on the roadside. In 2006 UDOT used 99,600 trash bags. Each bag holds 12.2 

cubic feet of litter. Our “haul” in FY2006 was 45,000 cubic yards of litter. That’s enough 

litter to cover a football field 45 feet deep. 

The biggest problems are on freeways and multilane arterials – especially in urban areas. 

Roads to recreation venues are also particularly hit hard at times. The volume of trash 

seems to decrease with the distance from convenience stores, fast food outlets and 

major big-box retailers.  

Truck driver generated debris is another separate problem localized to interstate ramps.  

It is not what we pickup for that $1.8 million – it’s what we don’t get picked up that is 

the problem. 

With our current practices and enforcement, roadsides get re-littered in as little as six 

weeks. Some, like SR-201 west towards the Salt Lake County landfill fill up even faster. 

Fines

• Fines- up to $250 for littering and up to $500 for lost debris

Resources

• Litter Hurts Utah 
• Recycle Utah 

Optical WebBlog and Business

Top 16 Ways to Save Paper in Your Office

I Just Gotta Tell Ya

• The Average office worker goes through 10,000 sheets of copy paper a year. According to the EPA each employee in a typical business office generates 1.5 pounds of waster paper a day.
• A Ton of 100% recycled papers saves 7,000 gallon of water, 60 pounds of air emission and  3 cubic yards of landfill space 
• According to Office Depot, each remanufactured toner cartridge ‘keeps approximately 2.5. pounds of metal and plastic out of landfills and conserves about a half gallon of oil.’

What you can do

1. Use  recycled office paper and products. See Staples, and Office Depot.
2. Buy Paper that is PCF (processed chlorine free)
3. Use unbleached and uncolored paper.
4. Buy products in bulk to minimize packaging .
5. Stop Printing if you can, read online, and order catalogues, newsletter online instead
6. Print on Both Sides
7. Avoid Color Printing
8. Ask to be removed from mailing lists
9. Make hard copies only when necessary. Use Email or E-vite
10. Use a stick on label on the first page of a fax instead of a cover sheet.
11. Recycle toner, and ink cartridge and buy remanufactured ones.
12. Post Employee manual and similar materials online rather than distribute print copies
13. Get rid of paper files and folders- put it all online 
14. Go Paperless 
15. Use the back side of old paper for scratch pads 
16. Recycle all paper 

How Much Can you Save? 

• A single sided 10 page letter cost .55 cents to mail. Same letter copied on both side of the paper uses only 5 sheets and $.34 in postage.
• A carton of paper costs $50.00 (5,000 sheets) cutting your paper use in half can save you $50.00 per employee per year. 

Resources 

• Grinning Planet 

Green Drinks – Environmental Networking

Want to meet with other like minded people, people who are interested in the environment? Try hooking up with Green Drinks- an informal networking group who get together monthly to meet and greet each other. No Green Drinks in your city- you can start one- the information is available on their site. Want to see who else is involved, check out their FACEBOOK page.  

Not into bars or too shy- try mixing your own: 

Green Cocktails 

Tru PIneapple- Tru Organic Vanilla Vodka (USDA certified organic) , Disaronno Amaretto, Fresh Pineapple Juice. The bottle consumes 25% less glass than the average vodka bottle. The packaging is 100% recycled, recyclable or biodegradable. Tru Vodka plants a tree for every bottle sold. 

Acai Tea- Tru Organic Lemon Vodka, Veev Acai Liquor, Iced Tea, Simple Syrup. VEEV donates $1 per bottle to Rainforest preservation throught The Sustainable Acai Project and is the only certified carbon neutral spirits company in the world. 

Passion Fruit Caipirinha- Cuca Fresca Infused Organic Cachaca, Lime Juice, Simple Syrup- Cuca Fresca is estate bottled cachaca made from organic sugar cane. A proportion of gross sales is donated to the Rainforest Foundation. 

The above sites have a slew of cocktail recipes- check them out. 

Eco Friendly Guitar Cleaning- From Zero Impact Guitars

Steve over at Zero Impact Guitars just developed a Guitar Cleaning and Conditioning product from natural Ingredients- it’s formulated from natural ingredients that are from sustainable resources. There are no chemicals used in the process that is completely performed by hand. He’s in the process of having it certified organic. For more information please contact him steve@zeroimpactguitars.com>

Getting Ready For Earth Day – Re-use Contest

I received an interesting email form Chica and Jo. They have a great site on reusing and making all sorts of cool things.  In celebration of Earth Day (April 23) they are having a Recycling Contest- (with Prizes!) Go to their site for more information- and ideas- Rules and Regs posted below: 

Rules:

• Project must contain at least one recycled item.
• Submission emails should contain your name, picture or link to the project, list of materials used, and short project description. By submitting your picture you are giving us the right to publish it on our site if we choose.
• All submissions must be received by 12:00 AM, ET on April 20th to be eligible.
• Multiple entries are allowed.
• International entries are accepted.

Prizes:
 $25 gift certificate to PlumParty.com, game packs for baby or wedding showers from the site, Shower in a Box, and a canvas organizer tote customized by us. Also they will be designing a unique t-shirt that commemorates recycling crafts. 

Drawing:

If you have a web site or blog- Publicize this contest on your site and you will be entered to win a random drawing for an additional prize. Send us a URL showing either the below button displayed on your site or a text link (http://www.chicaandjo.com/2009/03/23/contest-for-earth-day/) to this contest and we will enter you. Button placers will receive two chances to win and text linkers will receive one!

Homemade Non-Toxic Cleaner- Baking Soda Product Review

Slowly but surely- I am using up all my toxic cleaning products. Knowing Baking Soda is a cheap and non-toxic cleaner, bought the 12 pound bag at Costco ($4.50). Started to use as bleach in wash (excellent) but so far the best results have been in the bathtub! 

What I did: 

1. Took a plastic Peanut Butter Jar and poked a hole in the top (reusing and makes a great shaker) 
2. At the end of the shower- sprinkled the baking soda on tub bottom 
3. Took a sponge- and rubbed the bottom with my feet- 

If bottom of tub is really dirty- let it sit and next time you take a shower- it will just wash away- 

Easy, cheap and time saving.

Homemade Tobacco Pest Control- Product Review

Homemade Pest Contro.

I got bugs in my Native Garden- so frustrating- The non- native roses I can’t kill or dig up are going like gangbusters. The Calla Lilies keep sprouting up all over the place- no problem with bugs! In my own ‘reuse (FREE) way decided to try the Tobacco Pest Control  Recipe’

Does it ever work! Even made up a batch for a friend- who now is a convert to Tobacco Pest Control. This will be my new ‘gift’ for friends- It’s easy and it’s free! 

This is what I did-

1.) Collected water from shower (saving water) 

2.) Poured water into (recycled Gallon Ice Cream Container)  and yes this does look disgusting. 

3.) Put cigerettes (whole) into water

4.) Covered and let sit for how long? 

5.) Poured liquid into old spray bottles

6.) Sprayed bugs- GONE! 

If you smoke, you will have plenty of cigarette butts, if you don’t smoke, maybe some of your friends will save some butts for you- Don’t have any smoking friends- Take your gloves to the streets and collect on the streets, saving the environment and your money! 

Good Luck, I highly recommend it!

Reuse- Make Money- Recycled Skateboard Jewelry

Skateboard Bracelets

On an earlier post- I had written about ‘Greening and Recycling Your Skateboards‘ ! Here is another great alternative- Make Jewelry- Seven Ply’s mission is to ‘rescue, recycle, and reuse broken skateboards by turning them into a unique piece jewelry.’ They make necklaces, bracelets, earrings, studs, belt buckles and even pocket mirrors. Very Cute and certainly will be a  conversation piece! 

Skateboard Earrings

2ReVert’s Shop- also makes coasters, jewelry, pendants, necklaces, belt buckles and rings 

Eco Office and Schools- Whiteboards and Markers

AusPens-

I Just Gotta Tell Ya 

• Disposable whiteboard markers use xylene, a very harmful chemical, significantly increasing the toxicity of classrooms and all workspaces.
• Disposable whiteboard markers are one of the top sources of toxic waste for local schools and offices.
• North American teachers will throw out over 500 million whiteboard markers into their local landfills.
• Disposable whiteboard markers clog our local landfills with toxic chemicals and millions of PVC cylinders that will never biodegrade.

Whiteboard Markers

• Aus Pens- non-toxic and xylene free- Their Motto- Refill Not Landfill-  Using Aus Pens can save you up to 70% in your dry eraser budget .

Gardeners Who Litter

Marketing Litter

I realize that people have to advertise and market their business- But this is the most annoying marketing program! Someone (gardner’s, landscapers?) enclose their card with a bunch of rocks in a plastic bag and cruise neighborhoods and throw this trash into every house’s yard!

The sad part 1.) Gardener’s are supposed to be the keepers of the earth 2.) Plastic Bags (what a waste of oil, trash and money 3.) Most of these marketing pieces are not picked up and thus end up in the street and storm drains.

If you receive one of these pieces- please pick them up- recycle the paper, rocks and bags and best, call the company and tell them you will never use their services due to the amount of trash they leave!