Looking to cut down on your waste? Check out MassRecycle: a statewide coalition of individuals, governments, businesses, institutions and non-profit organizations dedicated to promoting and realizing the vital environmental, social and economic benefits created by reducing, reusing, and recycling waste materials, and by increasing the utilization of recycled products.
MassRecycle holds a number of events throughout the year to help communities and organizations implement successful waste reduction programs. Programming highlights include an annual green office conference, recycling facilities tours, and advocacy for sound public policy around recycling and other forms of waste reduction.
Project Green Schools is a small non-profit with a big mission: to create greener and healthier learning environments. Founder and Executive Director, Robin Organ, knows first-hand about the havoc that environmental toxins can wreck on personal health. Her own experience with toxic overload inspired her to found Project Green Schools and work to transform our schools into green & healthy spaces. Project Green Schools offers educational programs for staff, parents and students to help improve indoor air quality, food and nutrition, and resource conservation. They currently work with over 70 schools and are establishing new relationships all the time. Folks in the Boston area can learn more about them by visiting one of the many Community Green Fairs that they host over the course of the year.
Remember the old-fashioned system known are bartering? I know, it’s kind of fallen off our radar screens. But now there’s a great online resource to help you barter–or swap–books, CDs, DVDs, and video games you don’t want for those that you do.
It’s called Swaptree.com and the possibilities it opens up to reduce and reuse are so great, it almost make me giddy. Remember that series of books your child just had to have in first grade but has now outgrown? List them on swap tree and you could find yourself with the must-have series for third graders. Or how about those videos that your children watched endlessly as toddlers? Trade them for the Wii games they have been nagging you for. Or how about all those thrillers you buy at the airport? Trade them for ones you haven’t read.
41 Pounds is a non-profit junk mail reduction service that guarantees it will reduce your junk mail by 80-95% within 2 months of your signing up and will keep it this way for 5 years. 41 Pounds will contact direct marketing associations and catalogs companies on your behalf and instruct them to remove your name and address from their mailing lists–all for $41.
I signed up with 41 pounds about a year ago, and although I haven’t tested to see whether my mail has been reduced by 80%, it has been significantly reduced. If at any point during the 5 year period you notice that you are getting new junk mail and/or that your old junk mail is returning, contact 41 pounds and they’ll take care of it for you.
There are also things you can do to protect yourself. Check out our green tip, Junk Your Junk Mail, to learn more.
Based in Waltham, MA, Gazelle buys and resells small, used electronics from people all over the country. If you’re like me, you probably have old cameras, cell phones and even laptops sitting around in a drawer somewhere. Depending on how old they are and what kind of condition they are in, these devices may be worth good money!
You can request an quote online and if you decide to take them up on their offer, gazelle will send you a box and pay for you to ship the item to them. Gazelle will responsibly recycle any item they receive that cannot be salvaged for parts or resold.
For other electronics recycling options, click here.
Green Decade Coalition/Newton is a Newton, MA based non-profit that promotes environmental stewardship through educational programming and advocacy. Green Decade is a highly respected organization that works closely and effectively with city leaders on a wide range of environmental issues from energy conservation to waste reduction to transportation. Green Decade’s educational programming is also extremely high quality. Of particular note is their environmental speaker series and their green tours.
Earth911 is an online resources dedicated to helping people reduce, reuse and recycle. They started off as a “recycling hotline” seventeen years ago and, still today, one of their most useful features is their recycling database. You can search the database by material and zipcode to find a recycling center that will accept even those hard-to-recycle items like paint, carpeting and electronics.
Freecycle is an excellent resource if you’re looking to reduce your waste. Freecycle, which is a grassroots, online movement, is dedicated to keeping good stuff out of landfills. Freecycle networks exist in a number of MA towns and cities. Members give and get stuff from each other for free by posting items online. Each network is moderated by a local volunteer and membership is free.
The City of Newton provides an exhaustive “recyclopedia” to help residents donate and recycle household items. The “recyclopedia” covers everything from packing peanuts to computers. It’s a great resource, even if you don’t live in Newton!
The Boston Building Resources is a nonprofit dedicated to reusing good-quality used and surplus building materials. They accept donations of everything from used sinks and cabinetry to surplus lumber, and they resell them to the public at low prices. If you are undertaking a home improvement project, check with the resource center before you throw your old stuff away.
