Recycle Ike Contest

Take a look at the devastation of Houston after Hurricane Ike.

Hurricane Ike Slideshow

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

Then check out details on "The Recycle Ike Contest- Houston’s Wood Debris Recycling Contest" at the following links:

Introduction: http://recycleike.com/Introduction/tabid/403/Default.aspx
FAQ's: http://recycleike.com/FAQs/tabid/391/Default.aspx
Rules & Regulations: http://recycleike.com/RulesRegulations/tabid/400/Default.aspx

The intention of this contest is to:

* Broaden awareness of green debris recycling;
* Generate and publicize examples of ways to reduce green house gases through recycling green waste;
* Produce a creative, innovative way to reuse materials left by Hurricane Ike;
* Identify proposals that make the largest impact.

Any recycling ideas and information should be submitted on the “Participate” page at Recycle Ike by Midnight October 31, 2008 in order to receive a Participant Number. All final proposals must be submitted by Midnight November 14, 2008.

According to an email I received, the contest is open to all interested parties worldwide, regardless of age, discipline, or professional status. Here is what participants stand to win.

1st Place = $10,000
2nd Place = $5,000
3rd Place = $2,500

Let's go for it!

Learn from past solutions.

Through the years, human beings have been experiencing climate change. It happened when they migrate from one country to another or from one state to another. Following are some problems faced by farmers when they moved from Eastern USA to the Plains.

Farming the Plains - Problems

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They survived this diversity because there were willing to change and adopt new methods of farming and grow hardy winter variety of Turkey red wheat introduced by Russian-German farmers.

Homesteaders - Solutions to Farming Problems

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Learn from history. To survive climate change, we have to change our ways.

Trading without money!

When it is time for the next spring cleaning, make sure you take time to have a look at SwapTree. It is a place where you can post media in your collection that you are no longer interested in. This can be books, CDs, DVDs and video games you would like to swap with other users of SwapTree for free but you have to pay for shipping charges.

If you like the idea at SwapTree, maybe you would like to work on starting a swap for other kind of stuff with your friends and neighbours. I am sure that you will be able to find someone to take the stuff you plan to throw away and find stuff that you want and they don't in exchange.

I remember going shopping with my former American boss in a shop in Shanghai. There he came across an antique decorative wooden panel and I helped him to acquire it at a bargain price. I noticed another piece in better condition and suggested that he take that since the owner was selling it at the same price as the piece he had chosen.

To my surprise, he preferred the broken piece. He wanted it for its "antique" value and the more worn looking it is, the better, he said. So there! Somewhere, someone may be looking for what you are discarding no matter how shabby you think it is.

You never know, you may have swapped quite a unique collection locally to start a business trading them online. After all, what is common in your own country could be exotic over another end of the world.

If you need some inspiration, read what Greg Boesel, the co-founder and CEO of Swaptree has to say about how and why he started it.

A green job on Dirty Jobs

Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs found himself learning how to make cow pots by creator, Matt Freund, a dairy farmer in Northwestern Connecticut. The following video clip shows only part of the process which is long and arduous, not to mention dirty and stinky.



So what are Cow Pots?

They are pots made out of manure collected from cows at Freund's Farm. As the manure has gone a drying and composting process, the pots created do not smell and are great fertiliser for plants. Just dig a hole in your garden and push pots and plants right in to grow.

You can see photos of the biodegradable plant pots sold at Cow Pots.

Need tools? Borrow them!

Check out "Design for the World" and decide what kind of message you have for the inhabitants of the world.

Design for the World

view presentation (tags: mfa design manifesto social)

From these slides, my search for "Eco Design Foundation" led me to iShareStuff. This is the place you can go to if you want to save money and reduce waste by sharing stuff you have or need with friends and family.

So, before you buy infrequently used products or tools, register to take a look at what other users would be happy to lend you first. Like the idea? Then post what you are willing to lend and earn yourself more space in your home.

Find time to check out the following websites from the slides to see if any of them share your ideals. Share your designs on the world for a better tomorrow.

• Design Altruism Project

• Designers without Borders

• Design for Development

• Design for Social Impact

• Design for the World

• Eco Design Foundation

• New Economics Foundation

• The Graphic Imperative (Posters for Peace, Social Justice, and the Environment)

Love creating minis? Sell them!

If you love creating but find that you tend not to complete large arty projects you take on, then it is time that you consider creating miniature artwork instead.

Is there a market for mini art pieces? Yes, if you can create your piece small enough to fit into a cigarette box. So, why must it be in cigarette box size? That's because Art-o-mat have been re-using retired cigarette vending machines to vend art and they have 82 active machines in various locations throughout the country.

They currently have 400 contributing artists from 10 different countries involved in this project. If you think you have the chance to make the grade, find out about Art-o-mat's submission process.

Would it be a waste of time to create a prototype of your creation for their review of acceptance? Check out this calculation. Accepted pieces are sold on the vending machine at USD5.00 per piece, so that means that it would not be too high priced to sell. You, the artist will receive $2.50 per sale and you will have to deliver on consignment basis, a minimum quantity of 50 finished pieces. Sell them all and you get USD125.00.

Maybe it would be costly for you to ship your work, especially if you are living out of USA. But, if you are looking for global recognition of your creativity, it is a good way to start because there is a likelihood that your work will be posted on Art-o-mat's website.

There is also a way to increase your profit. By using abandoned material to reduce your cost to create, of course! And I have lots of ideas and free tutorials somewhere on my blog which will appeal to you.

Good luck with your mini ventures.

Why throw away food?

With prices of food going up, the question we should ask ourselves before we consider throwing away any food is, "Why are we throwing away our food?".

Here are some possible answers with links to solutions I discovered.

1) I did not learn the basic of cooking so I tend to cook in access of need. Sometimes the dish did not turn out well due to my inexperience.

2) I do know not how to cook with leftovers. Maybe I should join a forum about cooking?

3) I did not know what I have that foodstuff in my fridge and discovered it too late. How long should I keep that in my fridge?

4) I did not know that there are people around with insufficient to eat. Where can I send my excess food to?

5) I did not know that some local food outlets and franchises discard their stock about 3 days before their expiry dates, just to maintain their standards for freshness. If I can collect such food, surplus, distressed or damaged food and grocery items where can I send them to?

6) I did not know that I can start a Community Kitchen with of donated food and grocery product? Other than through donations, how would a non profit organisation like Second Harvest in America run?

7) Where else can I learn about making use of leftovers? How about from those in the record-setting food recovery programs highlighted by EPA?

8) What other facts should I know about?

What about those who eat out or do take-aways? Maybe you should first find out how others are rating drinks, food or outlets you intend to eat at. If the ratings are high on the food you picked, there would be nothing left on your plate to waste.

So, before you throw your food away, find out if they are any ideas here that you can make use of.

They struck oil! In the trash.

I remember while my daughter was younger, I used to push her around the neighbourhood in her pram for walks. Frequently, I was able to pick up some discarded cuttings in the park to grow in my garden. Now and then, I was even able to bring home stuff that had been thrown into trash bins because of my artistic calling to create something out of them.

I cannot be doing that in America or I will be caught stealing trash! I will not receive a note of appreciation even if I am willing to help remove foul smelling, rancid used cooking oil. In fact, I will be reported and napped by the police if I am caught in the act. So, what is going on there?

People in the catering industry there are now aware that they can be paid for their used fryer or cooking oil. The companies that recover them are able to recycle the vegetable oil, tallow (fat from cow) or lard (fat from pig) from animal to produce soap, or bio-fuel, or cosmetics and even animal fat-based feeds, which are widely used by farmers in some parts of Europe, North America and Asia.

The theft for the used oil is so high that owners are willing to install surveillance equipment to monitor this commodity. A grease collection company in USA has even hired two detectives to investigate thefts around the country. Clear indications that this is a highly profitable business.

Is this something that you could start in your own country? These are places where you can get your source of used cooking oil:

1) hotels
2) fast food outlets
3) restaurants
4) food processing companies
5) domestic homes

And here are the processes for making:

a) soap
b) Bio-fuel

Go strike (used) oil. You never know; you maybe able to start a franchise.

Trash Bins? Can be smart.

A bin that can weigh recyclables you have dumped into it and track how much "recycle dollars" you have been rewarded with for recycling. Cascade Engineering has developed such a smart bin.

The bins have Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips embedded in them so that, they can be weighed and scanned by the sensors in the garbage truck. The Smart Cart automatically records the information in computers and the householders are credited with "Recycle Bank Dollars". With that they can get coupons for discounts from participating businesses, such as, groceries, gas, clothes or travel agencies.

Fred Keller, CEO of Cascade Engineering, calls that "Econology”. Check it out.

Food wastage? Reduced with values.

I have put on some weight! I have been eating my children's leftovers because I don't like the idea of throwing away food that I have taken so much time to cook. They have not thought about the cost in getting the supplies and energy needed in the processes. They have forgotten about the children with no food to eat in war torn countries. They obviously do not value the love and efforts I put into cooking for them as much as I do.

I should put these thoughts and feelings to use by teaching my children how to grow their own vegetables and cook them. After all the efforts, I am sure they are less likely to throw away their own greens.

If you think that children are not capable of such tasks, then you have obviously not heard about "The Edible School Yard". It is a programme of an urban public school, Martin Luther King Junior Middle School, in Berkeley, California, where the students have more than an acre organic garden and a kitchen for classroom.

Hear what the founder, Alice Waters, and teachers in "The Edible School Yard" have to say about the effects this programme have on the children.







And, just in case this posting has inspired others to start a similar programme in their community, don't forget to check out their "How To" link. You can also try googling "edible classroom garden" to see if there are any such programme in your own country.

You may also want to read about "Forest Gardening" or download Dave Sansone's booklet on "Edible Forest Gardens".

Here are some videos of "Forest Gardening with Robert Hart".





I have covered composting in my earlier posting.

Kids not recycling? Let's play games.

If you find that your children have no interest to learn more about recycling or conserving resources =$, then it is time to let them play some online games. Here are some that I have discovered on the web:

At World Recycling Games the children have 6 kinds of games to play with. There is also a Teachers Resources link for you to find facts to questions that they may ask after playing the games .

Playing Dumptown Game is like playing Monopoly. There are program icons your children can pick that will give them information about what the program does and how much it costs to start using it and the maximum amount they can spend in the game. The Total Cost bar shows them how much they are spending.

If your children are creative, you can try getting them to create the pieces out of cardboards so that they can play it with their friends offline.

The Premier Xmas Recycling Game and Recycling Fun will teach the children what is recyclable and where each item should go.

At Bottlesandcans.com the children can click on their link to "Play the Recycling game!". If you are living in California, they can also learn about California Refund Value (CRV) and how much they can earn when they return used containers to a Recycling Center near your home.

So, Californians, the next time your children ask you for money to buy what they want, remember to lead them to the Cash Calculator and let them find out how many containers they need to recycle to get that amount. Then, get them to recycle!

It's food scrap. Not waste.

I have read from GreenYes forum that many homes in USA have food waste disposer systems installed under their sinks.

This disposal system increase water usage as food scraps thrown into these garbage grinders need water to move the waste along pipes to the sludge system. This is filtered and chemically sanitized tap water down the drain, one of its members highlighted. And if sewer blockages of food debris are high in your area, where do you think these could come from?

I think that if house owners are not able to dispose of their food scraps that easily, they would make more efforts to reduce food scraps. California Integrated Waste Management Board has a very good FAQ page on Food Scrap Management to work on this issue.

Check out some useful links I have collected about reducing leftovers and how you can donate your food scraps. Watch out for more ideas I will come up with on reducing food scrap using abandoned material, of course.

Upgrading your mobile phone? Before you dump...

What do they do you do with your used mobile phone once you have upgraded to the latest and greatest? You are likely to hear your own responses in the following video by INFORM, Inc.



So, before you buy your new mobile phone, maybe you would like to check if the company you are buying it from has a "Take-back" recycling programme. I did a search on Google for "old used mobile phones take back" and discovered Charity Guide provides a list of places where you can donate your used mobile phones and feel good about it.

The "Scrap House" project

I watched the "Scrap House" project on National Geographic channel this morning. It is about the process of designing and building a home entirely out of refuse from San Francisco landfills and junkyards in four weeks to celebrate "World Environment Day 2005".

Take a peek at what it looked like before it was demolished.



Looking at the material used in building the "Scrap House" should make you wonder how these items landed in the junkyard. From watching the TV progamme, I came to know that some of the material were available in high numbers because construction sites have to purchase material in access of requirement to cover any shortages from defects.

Do a search on "overruns", "surplus", "overstock" and see what you can find. Some of these are likely items produced in excess of anticipated future sales or they maybe from companies that have closed down.

Let us work on this on a smaller scale. How can these be re-used if you would like to create your own "scrap room"?

Recycing eWaste? Are you doing it right?

Do you know that they are companies in USA who will take your electronic waste (eWaste) off you to be recylced?

While you can get paid for paper, glass or aluminum cans you recycle, you may have to pay company, like GreenCitizen for recycling some of your electronic equipment. So, when you have to pay for recycling eWaste, what "services" are you paying the amount for? This video will give you an idea.



If you do not want to take the "green action" and pay just to get rid of eWaste, there are some other options that you can look into featured in this video.



So, before you discard your eWaste indiscriminately consider the following facts:

1) Your eWaste may land up in the backyard of poorer countries.
2) Toxic chemicals from your eWaste could be contaminating the environment.
3) Incorrect methods used to reduce the eWaste may be affecting the health of many innocent workers.

America buying trash?

I have just discovered from watching a video "Trashed" that country like America imports trash into their country from Canada for a fee. What attracted my attention was that people are able to find fresh produce in garbage! Think about the hungry children in war torn countries.

Are you throwing away what you shouldn't? Maybe this trailer from "Trashed" will remind you what you have been throwing.



If a developed country like America would consider cutting down tress to create landfills for trash imported from another country, I wonder if it is because they are looking into developing bioreactor landfill. What's the difference?

In traditional landfill, like what we have in Malaysia, waste is dumped and buried. In the absence of oxygen, the waste decomposes very slowly. The same process occurs in bioreactor landfill but gallons of water per day are injected into the waste "cell" to facilitate the growth of bacteria.

The water used will be recirculated through the "cell" and this additional step makes organic material such as paper, food scraps and wood decompose more rapidly. When the waste decomposed, methane is produced and the gas can be "captured" to be used as fuel. Another advantage of bioreactor landfill over traditional landfill is that since the waste decomposes rapidly, this free up more space for incoming waste.

All landfills, traditional or otherwise, have some risks factors. They include:

1) the escape and combustion of gas
2) collapse of waste and decomposing material
3) leachate of potentially hazardous liquid into water sources.

So, it is still your call. You can:

1) start reducing by buying less
2) find ways to reuse before discarding
3) recycle whatever is possible
4) keep throwing, thinking that it will land elsewhere
5) be motivated to act reading "Letter Written in Year 2070".

Planting trees? Get 10 free!

Thinking of planting trees but you have no idea how to go about it? If you are living in America, you are in luck because all you have to do is be a member of The Arbor Day Foundation and they will send you 10 free trees, guaranteed to grow in your area or they will replaced them free.



On top of that, you will also receive:

1) A Free Copy of The Tree Book, your expert guide to tree care and conservation.


2) Arbor Day Foundation's bimonthly publication.
3) Member Savings of 33% - 56% on the purchase of trees, plants and bulbs.

The annual subscription fee is USD10 but if you are a member of Woodmen of the World, you need only pay USD7.50.

If you are living in Malaysia and thinking of planting timber trees commercially, you can look into getting an 80% or 90% loan for your venture from "The Forest Plantation Loan", offered by the federal government. This is a 15-year programme to ensure that there will be enough raw material supply for the plywood, veneer and furniture making factories in the years ahead.

The loan is not open to applicants who intend to grow oil palm trees and species of high commercial value you can consider planting are:

Kelempayan
Bantai Binuang
Rubberwood
Khaya
Acacia mangium

If you opt to plant rubber trees, you will have to be able to fund 10% of the investment in your plantation. Eligible participants will receive RM5,400 per hectare. Applicants for other kind of timber trees must be able to fund 20% of the investment and if eligible, will receive RM3,200 per hectare. You will start repaying the loan once your trees are mature enough to be harvested. The payback rate of 3.5% is not compounded.

Need more information about trees before you take the plunge commercially or for a greener environment?


Maybe The Tree Guide posted by Arbor Day and the tree database from World Agro Forestry Centre will help you some.

No recycling bins? Stop complaining.

Are you complaining that there are no recycling bins in your neighbourhood? Do you know that you can do something about it? If you are able to find a suitable venue in your neighbourhood, then this is what you have to do if you live in Malaysia.

If you are living in America, you are in luck. The Coca-Cola/NRC Recycling Bin Grant Program is on to promote and support community recycling in the U.S for the collection of beverage container recyclables. Just send in your on-line submission by Friday, October 26, 2007 and if you are selected you will get:

1) Recycle bins of your choice
2) Expertise on how to set up recycling programs from the National Recycling Coalition

Where can you install the recycling bins? Just think

1) Sporting events
2) Music venues
3) Schools
4) Commercial locations
5) Non profit organizations
6) Government buildings

Love reading information like this? There is more posted at

Need green fund? Look for "birds of a feather"

Drawn? Now what?

If you would like to find out if you are up to par with the experts, join the contests that are being organised by Threadless. You can have your artistic work or slogans posted there for comments.

Go win some fans if not the USD2,500 prizes they have boasted about. There is also a chance to gain USD500 if your design gets reprinted on T-Shirts!

Old photo frames? Not for pictures only.

If you do not know what you should do with the photo frames that you no longer want, do what the Urban Curators are doing in their efforts to highlight common, overlooked objects and spaces within their city of Providence in Rhode Island.

They are placing picture frames over spots that have been overlooked or abandoned before taking pictures and posting them on Urban Curator Map. Interested to do something along that line in your own country? You don't have to crack your head figuring how to, as they have all the tips you need to get the project going with or without frames.

With so much changes going on in progressive countries, especially in South East Asia, I think this is a very good way to remember our childhood by. It may well turn out to be a good record of the greener environment and standard of living that we now have that are being deemed deemed common and overlooked.