But as we know, even if stats are generated from scientific polls, surveys and measurements by very smart people, doubts and contradictions will still surface in the hearts and minds of the skeptical.

Instead, what if we dare to put it in terms of pure intangibles - the kind of subjective, yet logical conclusions one can make, based on life experience, observation and gut instinct.  Of course, this is where different perspectives foster.  This is where it gets delicate: when personal opinions are vested in traditions and visions of what the holidays mean to the individual – what the holidays should be.

The reluctant might say this is a fork in the road: you must choose between the satisfaction of enjoying the holidays the traditional way, the way our culture deems it, and restricting yourself to a limited, disciplined green holidays - possibly resulting in less fulfillment.

However, those who embrace green can see synergy.  They can see fun and green.  They can see happiness and eco.  They can see the holidays and all of the beauty our world has to offer, making time spent with loved ones and sharing even more worthwhile.

The two concepts are not mutually exclusive.  Eco-conscious people still put up decorations, give gifts, cook, travel, and party as much as those with fewer green thoughts in their days.  There is a certainly a place for celebrating and being earth friendly at the same time.  At a minimum, it’s all about making reasonable choices where one can be mindful of unnecessary excess where even a skeptical person would have to agree with.

For instance, consider decorations.  Indeed, the season just wouldn’t be the same without the lights and colors and patterns associated.  If you are fan of the holidays, you are fan of the decorations – they go hand in hand.   Where can the green come into play?  At a high level of eco, the type of decorations you use could be extremely green – from organic to handmade to reused for generations.  At a more basic level, it must make sense to everyone to take care of decorations, storing them carefully, and handling them delicately so they last a long time.  Imagine not having to rebuy new ornaments or light strands every year – a win-win situation for the planet and the wallet.

Speaking of lights, most new ones people can buy now are LED, with good reason, for energy conservation.  And the old strands can be recycled as well, by taking them to a scrap metal or electronics drop-off site.  But, beyond those considerations, simply thinking about how we use them could be greener, yet still the same level of enjoyment.  It would make sense to most people that they do not need to be on all night, when very few would enjoy them.  They make pretty nifty timers nowadays, or even just manually unplugging before bed and before heading to work or school would make a difference.

Gift giving is another biggie.  The joy of giving someone a gift they will truly enjoy is an experience we all cherish, when we know the notion is sincerely appreciated and you have made someone else very happy.  Those are the goals we all aspire for and share.  It would lead one to conclude, then, that perhaps some of the most meaningful gifts are the most personal and hit a spot in someone’s heart rarely touched.  These need not be excessive trinkets or redundant clothing of which someone already owns plenty.  The most thoughtful gift may not be a thing at all, but an unforgettable experience for someone’s life enrichment – anything from a fancy restaurant to big game tickets to a shared trip to frontiers uncharted.

The holidays are a time of special occasions and special times with loved ones.  No statistics can measure the joy in one’s heart.  This green-minded practitioner would never want to take away from the majesty of those moments with preaching green in the name of sacrificing that joy.  But, what is obvious to me is that the holidays can be enjoyed with the same passion and vigor, yet also not be a terrible stress on the environment.  It takes mindfulness and adapting behaviors to match.  They needn’t be extreme, though the possibilities are vast, but can be the simplest of adaptations making the smallest differences, one person at a time.

Have a happy holidays!

- Dustin, Recycling Intern in Waukesha County

In the past, the inclination was to rake the leaves into piles and burn them. This practice is no longer recommended, due to the toxic particulates added to the air we breathe, safety issues and creating a neighborhood annoyance. Many communities have banned this disposal method.  

One of the best practices for handling leaves is simply mowing them into the lawn.  This process has many benefits compared to the alternatives, including: no raking, bagging, dragging or tending a smoldering burn pile.   

 Additionally, mulching leaves into your lawn returns the nutrients to the tree, which spent an entire season creating the leaves as next year’s food source! Leaves are rich in carbon, phosphorus, and potassium – all of which help sustain your trees naturally while also supporting a healthier lawn.

 This year, put away the rake and bring out the mower to handle those colorful fallen leaves.  Your trees, and your neighbors, will thank you!

For details, visit waukeshacounty.gov/leaves

This year, we’re going straight to the source and recruiting schools and organizations to take on the Challenge. 

Check out this article about our latest Challenge with the STEM Academy in Waukesha:

http://www.waukeshanow.com/news/129753838.html 

Also, check out the revamped official website of the Reduce Your Waste Stream Challenge:

www.ReduceYourWasteStream.org

Hope you can join us for the Challenge soon!

Good news! Waukesha County Recycling has scheduled 10 community outreach booths for the month of March!  Count ‘em: 10!  Someone from our office will be staffed at these booth handing out recycling information, answering questions, and also providing free blue recycling bins for residents in our curbside recycling program.  These bins sure do go fast, be sure to get them while supply lasts!  Here are the dates and locations for outreach this month:

Where did it all go?  Much of it was removed from their garbage cans and either reused, thrown into the recycling bin or composted in their backyard.  Some of it never made it into their house because participants learned to buy in bulk or recyclable packaging to significantly reduce packaging waste.

The recycling grand prize, a desktop computer, went to the Peggy Lippe household from Elm Grove for increasing recycling from 7 pounds to 86 pounds per week, an increase of over 1100 percent.  Both the laptop and the desktop computers were donated by Materials Processing Corporation.

The fun, friendly waste-reduction competition was designed to increase awareness of recycling and waste reduction strategies available to all Waukesha County residents.  In all, 33 families in six Waukesha County communities participated in the Challenge. The STEaM Team, made up of five  families whose children attend the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Charter School in Waukesha, were awarded a Team Grand Prize for their cumulative 71 percent waste reduction.  They reduced their weekly waste from 7.7 pounds per person to 2.2 pounds per person.

Mr. Vrakas was pleasantly surprised by the results of the Challenge.  “The most interesting outcome of the Challenge might be the way families came together to work toward a common goal.  This competition did more than simply reduce the amount of waste people threw away.  It actually gave people a sense of accomplishment.  It made a difference in their lives. These families are models for the rest of us.” 

It also made a difference when considering the environmental impact.  Preliminary competition data showed that each household reduced the amount of garbage it produced by an average of 12.6 pounds per week.  The data also showed the amount of recyclable material increased by an average of 10 pounds per household per week.  By extrapolating the data collected from the participating households, if just one quarter of the households in the 25 participating communities did as well as our Challenge participants, the county would divert more than 7,200 tons of garbage every year from landfills and increase recycling by 5,700 tons.  From a financial standpoint, that represents an annual savings of over $288,000 in landfill disposal fees and $572,000 worth of additional recyclables..

“Even though this is a small sample size, this competition shows what can be done to reduce our waste stream in the county and the entire state,” said Karen Fiedler, Solid Waste Supervisor for Waukesha County.  “Most of the families that participated thought they were already pretty good about recycling, yet they were able to increase recycling by an average of 67%.  What that tells me is that those families that don’t do a lot of recycling could post even more impressive results by simply practicing the 3Rs- reduce, reuse, recycle.  The Challenge results are very encouraging and speak well to what households can accomplish in the future with just a little effort.”

Sponsors for the Challenge are: the Carton Council, leading manufacturers of carton packaging; FCR Recycling; Materials Processing Corporation (MPC), recyclers of electronics; Marcus Theatres; Veolia Environmental Services-Hartland; and Johns Disposal. To read participant blog posts and see team reduction and recycling data, or to learn what you can do to reduce your waste stream, go to www.ReduceYourWasteStream.org.

34 households in 6 communities are taking on the Challenge of reducing their waste, while also looking to make sure they recycle everything they can.

 After establishing a baseline trash and recycling output in the first week, the households then entered the Reduction Phase of the competition, where they are looking at ways to reduce, reuse, recycle, and rot!

This project has brought out the best in green behaviors for the over 125 participants.  As of this publication, the households have already reduced their trash by 40% and increased their recycling by 24%, with two weeks to go!

WCR is running this project with the dual goal of community waste reduction and recycling education and gathering information on the easiest and most efficient ways households can reduce their waste.

 The project will come to a conclusion the weekend before America Recycle’s Day, when the winning household and team will be determined and awarded at the WCR Semi-Annual Recycling Open House.

You can follow the action right now at the exclusive Challenge website: www.ReduceYourWasteStream.org

Earth Day may be over, but Waukesha County continues to provide environmental education programs all year long!

On May 8th, the Waukesha County Water Conservation Coalition is hosting it’s 1st Annual Water and Energy Efficiency Expo at the Waukesha County Exposition Center.

With exhibits, demos, stages and the kids zone, there is plenty of fun and education available for the whole family!

Radio Disney will even be hand doing their fun Backyard Show for kids of all ages!

At 10:00 am, keynote speaker Melinda Myers will be presenting on green gardening for Earth friendly techniques that are cost effective and time saving.  She will also be available after speaking to meet and greet and sign copies of her book!

For more information, visit www.wisconsinwaterwise.org/

Hope to see you there!

recycle more,

Recycle Raccoon

You all are invited to our upcoming recycling events surrounding Earth Week, 2010!

 On April 17th, we are hosting our semi-annual recycling facility open house from 10 am until noon.  All community members are invited to come and see our recycling facility up close and interact with the Waukesha County Recycling staff to learn about how recycling works in our community.

Another event, on Earth Day, (Thursday, the  22nd) Waukesha County Recycling is hosting a screening of No Impact Man, the award-winning documentary about a man and his family who decide to give up certain conveinances in an effort to reduce their negative impact on the planet.  The year long experiment changed their lives and inspired many others to make efforts to reduce their impact as well. 

The showing will be hosted at the Pewaukee Public Library at 6 pm.  A small-group discussion about the film will be facilited after the movie.  Seating for this showing is limited, so please RSVP by clicking on this link for the event.

Admission to both the open house and the No Impact Man screening is free!  Everyone is invited to come and experience Earth Week with like-minded individuals from the community!

For more local Earth Week events, please visit www.waukeshacounty.gov/recycling and view the Spring E-News link.

Hope to see you there!

She also appreciates the crisp cool air of the holiday season so be sure to keep the thermostat down and instead possibly wear some of the sweaters you received as gifts in past years.

Nothing makes Mother Earth smile like a batch of freshly baked holiday compost soil. Consider giving Mother Earth the gift of starting a compost bin or pile in your yard or where you work or go to school.  Much of your holiday waste could be composted instead of trashed including your tree, food waste, organic decorations, and shredded paper.
 
Another great idea for Mother Earth is to treat her to a facial!  Mother Earth always loves to be pampered with new native gardens and trees naturally landscaped to enhance her beauty.
 
Mother Earth has also been very generous, digging into her savings account the last several years to let us manufacture new things out of natural resources.  So be sure to recycle the stuff we already have and let Mother Earth keep some savings to splurge on herself!

Remember, you can’t go wrong with anything green, organic, efficient, resourceful, or that does less to stress her out. 

If nothing else, Mother Earth always appreciates a hug!

recycle more,

Recycle Raccoon

First we talk about the bin — everyone grabs a cup to use for their ‘bin’.

Next we talk about starting the bin with a little bit of soil.  Add crushed Oreos or Coco Pebbles for soil starter.

Then we talk about what to add to the bin.  First we add brown things.  I ask the kids to list some ideas of what would count as brown stuff.  When the kids come up with twigs we add small pretzel sticks and when the kids say dead leaves we add Wheaties or Corn Flakes.

Next we talk about green things.  I ask the kids to list some things that would be considered green.  We add green colored coconut for grass clippings and dried fruit bits for food scraps.  It may be appropriate to talk about the need for more browns than greens at this point, depending on the age of the kids.

Then we talk about needing air for the compost and we stir or shake the cups up to mix everything together.  I also add that we are not going to add water to our mix because although it is necessary for real compost, it probably wouldn’t taste very good with our recipe.  I tell the kids that when we are all done they can take turns getting a drink from the water fountain.

Last but not least, we talk about the critters that come to your bin and we add a few gummy worms.

I have found that it works best if the kids are sitting in small groups and if all of the items are off to the side and spread out on plates or in bowls.  We talk about an aspect of compost and then a representative of each group comes forward to get the item for their group.  4 to 6 kids per group usually works well.  Also, when a new item comes around I tell the kids how much to take (“Add 1 spoonful of coconut to your bin”) and then if there is any left in their group’s container, kids can take more.  This is especially key when it comes to the gummy worms

I would love to hear from you if you use this activity or if you have done it in the past.  What substitutions have you made?  Do you have any additional tips or tricks?

recycle more,

Recycle Raccoon