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Larchmont /Mamaroneck Zero Waste Initiative Recommends We Future Cycle School Recycling Program

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payt_epa_logoOn December 9th, 2014 representatives of the Village of Mamaroneck, Village of Larchmont and Town of Mamaroneck were listening to a very informative and well structured presentation by the Columbia  University Masters in Sustainability Capstone Program. The kick off was a presentation by Mitch Green, Town Liaison, explaining how this presentation came about and thanking the Capstone team for choosing Larchmont/Mamaroneck as their project.

0514_boltanskiThe team then laid out the “have and have nots” of the towns, slides showed the percentages of yard waste, curb side recyclables recovered, as well as total garbage collected.  The towns are already exceptionally well positioned with a 63% recycling rate, which is the combination of yard waste and curbside recycling. The goal however is getting to 90%. The team showed several areas of opportunity, which are comprised of textile recycling, food waste composting, “Pay-as-you-throw” and getting the schools involved. carpet-waiting-to-be-recycled

The team outlined that schools and the children within them are the key to changed behavior and their recommendation is to get the We Future Cycle Program into the schools to start that process. Parents learn from their children, as much as the other way around.

The 100+ page report will be posted as soon as it becomes available.

Hastings Lunch Recycling Program On The Air…… Nationwide and Beyond!

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UPDATE: The program will be aired on January 12th on AM 880.

Today, Sean Adams, a reporter for WCBS, came to learn about the We Future Cycle Recycling Program in the Hastings-on-Hudson schools.

WCBS Newsradio 880 is one of America’s most listened to radio stations providing news and information on the AM dial in New York for 45 years.  Traffic and Weather Together on the “8’s” has been a mainstay with New York commuters for decades. With one of the largest, most veteran local news staffs in the country, WCBS provides coverage of breaking news, local news, business, sports and entertainment. WCBS 880 provides a 24 hour news stream via CBS New York.com.

Sean Adams with Hillside's Assistant Principal Mr Johnson
Sean Adams with Hillside’s Assistant Principal Mr Johnson

Adams took time to learn about the program, walked around the schools and interviewed Mr. Johnson, Assistant Principal of Hillside Elementary school,  Mr Johnson explained how the children have taken full ownership of the program and how they are correcting and teaching each other, how they check their classroom bins for all content to be correct and that they are even checking in the offices if all is in order. “I am very conscious about where I put my things because I know that I have my kids in and out of here and they are checking”, Johnson said with a big smile.

George Prine, Director of Facilities, shared that garbage has gone down drastically . Prior to this program, he used to fill two 6 yard containers to the brim every day. Now he is looking at maybe 4 yards every other day. He is in the process of making changes to his pick up needs and is expecting to be saving on next years garbage bid. “I am just amazed how well it is working, we have tried several times to increase our recycling, but only this time it is working and it is here to stay” he shared contently.

Alan Levin, Food Service Direct with Chartwell
Alan Levin, Food Service Direct with Chartwell

Sean Adams also interviewed Alan Levin, Director of Food Service with Chartwell. Mr Levin has been an exceptional team player in this program because he worked diligently to bring his kitchen to follow the same rules. The kitchen is also fully source separated, sorting out compost, commingled as well as soft plastic. “Prior to this, we had about 5 barrels of garbage every day, and now we are down to this tiny little bin”, showing off an office sized bin, “everything else is either commingled or compostable. I call this a really successful program and my staff has really been very good about following the new rules.”

All three agreed that this is the way of the future and they are happy to be part of it.

The show will be aired on January 5th, 2015 on AM 880.

Student Lunch Contributes to Global Warming

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About 18% of elementary school sandwiches are wrapped in Aluminum foil. This data came from a survey in a New Rochelle Elementary School lunchroom. Every child was surveyed on how its lunch was packaged. aluminum-can-life-cycle

We found of the 850 children surveyed, about 55 % brought lunch from home, the others bought lunch in school.  That is about 470 children. Only 6% of these children were completely waste free, meaning they brought all food and drink in reusable containers. Another 16% had some sort of reusable container, either a bottle or a sandwich box , 18% had their lunch wrapped in aluminum foil, of which half had that aluminum wrapped sandwich again in a small plastic bag.  So close to 80 sheets of aluminum were used every day in just one school.

Let’s look at what Aluminum is and how it is mined.

map_enAbout 7 percent of the earth’s crust is aluminium, making it the third-most abundant element after oxygen and silicon. Aluminium production starts with the raw material bauxite.

Bauxite is a mineral found mostly in a belt around the equator. Bauxite, containing 15-25 percent aluminium, is the only ore that is used for commercial extraction of aluminium today.

mineThe bauxite occurs mostly in the tropics, in horizontal layers normally beneath a few meters of overburden . The layers are usually mixed with various clay minerals, iron oxides and titanium dioxide. It is the iron that gives bauxite a deep red color.

This is the process of mining.

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Industry claims that it is mitigating the devastating effects of strip mining huge surfaces, but evidence is ample that mitigation as well as environmental control during mining is lax or non existent.

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Tailing ponds is another source for environmental problems.

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75% of all Aluminum foil used in the US is for single use food  wrapping, and ends up in landfills.

So your child’s sandwich can contribute to global warming.  Maybe there is a better solution?

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Why food composting can save Westchester’s taxpayer money, big time!

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Food waste is around 40% of all waste from households, it is made up of mainly water, thus it is heavy. Garbage cost is calculated by weight. So all this water is costing the tax payer dearly.

Westchester’s garbage is being collected by the municipalities, brought to one of the several transfer stations within the county and from there it is transported in big trucks to the incinerator in Peekskill.

So basically, we are using fossil fuels  (garbage trucks get about 2.6 miles per gallon of diesel fuel) to truck water 50 miles north?

The far better solution would be to sort out all that water laden food waste and actually compost it.  Combine food waste with yard waste and  nature will give us black gold, aka compost.

The absolute best way is to do it right at home. Solon-Compost-Bin-4Have a little bin next to your sink and sort out all your food waste (no bones or meats though, home composters can’t handle that, commercial ones can)

And place that food waste in a ratio of 1 food waste to 3 leaves or woodchips into a composter. It can be a home made one, compost-4-940x626

or a commercially available one like these. And the rest is done by mother nature. Turning the mixture once in a while will introduce oxygen and thus help the bacteria to do a more efficient job. Earth_Machine_close

A few weeks later you will have lovely compost that can be used in your garden.

Most people are afraid that composting will be smelly or attract rodents. With all in life, if it is done right, there is none of that.

Fabulous Way to Deal with Surplus Good Used Things

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unnamed (1)Meet Joseph Nicoletti, the Commissioner of DPW in White Plains in front of his most fabulous TILI.

TILI stands for Take it or Leave it. A place to donate good used surplus household items, garden toys, household tools, play items, building supplies, exercise equipment, old but working condition TVs and all those things that really should be re-used, rather then chucked into the garbage. unnamed (3)

And at the same time, a place to pick up that extra vase, the drying rack, the home bike and those large outdoor plastic kids toys.

The front is built from recycled materials and is made to look like an old western style store, but behind the sliding doors are two shipping containers that keep things nice and dry. The TILI is staffed by volunteers and does vivid business during opening hours. unnamed (2)

What a great idea, something that should be replicated in each community.

Setting Up A Recycling Program…..ha, how difficult can that possibly be?

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unnamed (1)As Sustainability Consultants we often run into the attitude that setting up a recycling program is nothing but putting out some bins and ….voila….. all is well.

The reality is a far stretch from it. Changing behavior is a complex problem that takes much outside pushing and delicate prodding as well as proper set up of logistics and safe guards to avoid falling back into old behavioral patterns.

Its human nature.

Just look at systems such as wanting to loose weight. Every person that wants to loose weight KNOWS that it has to do with what they eat and how much/little they exercise.   Some people then make valiant efforts to change and the weight loss industry is making billions in the process, but only very few sustain to the desired effect, unless they have prolonged support from an outside person.

The same problem exists in regards to changing to sustainable habits in institutions. Implementing a recycling program such as We Future Cycle offers looks so easy, so logical, surely the institutional director of facilities can do it all by himself?

How difficult can it possibly be?

Same as with weight loss, how difficult can it possibly be to eat less and to exercise more on a regular basis?

The truth is, unless there is a person or organization in place that constantly supports the program and keeps all players engaged over an extended period of time, no behavioral change takes place.

And the losers in the system are the children.

The children had just learned the value of recycling, they were excited and actively engaged in saving the world, but then they see the adults loosing interest…..

Why are we teaching our children that inconsistency is acceptable?

Setting up a successful recycling program with sustainability education is very difficult and it can only be accomplished with the understanding that it is a long term capital improvement project that takes active management and professional support.

It cannot be accomplished by just putting out some bins…..

Hastings-on-Hudsons Schools Food Service Manager Supports Recycling

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAHastings-on-Hudson school district has changed Food service providers and the new manager Alan Levin is very supportive of the school’s recycling initiative. He worked extensively with We Future Cycle and his staff to find the perfect set up in the kitchen to allow for proper source separation.

Initially the kitchen had garbage cans set up at all locations with only boxes being broken down and placed into recycling. Now the kitchen staff carefully sorts out

all organic waste into composting,

all soft plastics such as the wrapping of drink containers or bread bags,

and all commingled like cans, bottles, salad dressing containers.

This reduces the kitchen waste from 5 bags per day to really just two handful, because only sanitary gloves and soiled soft plastic does not fit into the above mentioned categories.

Mr Levin has shown great support and within days has been able to organize the kitchen to follow the new guidelines properly.

Thank you for supporting Hastings-on-Hudson’s recycling initiative