According to the EPA website, recycling aluminum cans saves 95% of the energy needed to make aluminum from bauxite ore.  Almost everything we use in our offices can be recycled, including printed paper, used ink cartridges, empty cartons and old computers and printers.

Here are 5 simple tips from the Green Business Bureau to help your business recycle:

1. Get the iRecycle App. This is a simple app that helps you find a recycling facility near you.
2. Place clearly labeled recycling bins around the office. Provide separate bins for plastic, metal, glass and paper if your recycling system is not single-stream.
3. Place recycle bins strategically. Easily accessible recycling bins are more likely to be used. Place a paper-recycling bin near the printer and aluminum/plastic/glass recycling bin in kitchen and break room.
4. Recycle hardware carefully. Take used batteries, old computers and printers to a certified electronic recycling facility.
5. Select a recycling coordinator. As with other programs, accountability is important. Choose a recycling coordinator who would be responsible for dropping off the recycled material at the right locations, encouraging and educating other employees about benefits of recycling. The recycling coordinator can also reward employees who recycle most with a free lunch, day off, etc.

Fibrex Group, Inc. manufactures the latest, most innovative recycling containers and waste receptacles on the market. Our new Mobius FLEX model has the attractive appeal and functionality of an expensive design, but is priced at less than $400.  Our large selection of custom designs is tailored to today’s wide variety of public area waste collection and separation needs – perfect for your office recycling efforts!   Call 1-800-346-4458 or visit us at www.FibrexGroup.com today for a copy of our free catalog!

**Parts originally published by the Green Business Bureau

Fibrex Group, Inc. is pleased that Texas A&M’s College of Architecture has chosen our new Mobius Flex recycling bins for inclusion on their campus!! The Flex is an affordable but stylish, high-end design for high traffic public areas. It is perfect for the most discriminate of locations. The Flex’s innovative anti-scratch surface and rotational molded plastic body & lid make it extremely durable and user friendly. This dual stream receptacle is absolutely perfect for universities, schools, malls, hotels, convention centers, airports, military installations & office settings.

With approximately 1,900 students, the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University is one of the largest colleges of its kind in the United States, offering a comprehensive catalog of prominently ranked graduate and undergraduate programs in the design, planning, construction, land development and visualization professions.

Offerings include four professional design and planning degrees, as well as doctorate programs in architecture and urban and regional planning. It also houses all Texas A&M University programs in the visual arts.

Together, the college's 120 faculty members, 40 staff members, 400 graduate students and 1,500 undergraduate students create an energetic environment for academic and professional success.

One of the premier design research institutions in the world, the Texas A&M College of Architecture strives to remain at the forefront of research, teaching, professional education and outreach associated with built and virtual environments.

The college is distinctive in that it offers a truly interdisciplinary curriculum, recognizing that no single professional track or narrow specialization can adequately prepare tomorrow's building and planning professionals. Because the college houses all of the built environment disciplines, it is uniquely suited for interdisciplinary collaboration.

Fibrex Group offers low factory direct pricing and a large variety of designs, sizes and custom models of recycling bins to fit today’s wide range of recycling, composting & waste needs. Call us today at 1.800.346.4456 for more information or visit us on the web at www.fibrexgroup.com.

Keep America Beautiful (KAB) and Nestle Waters North America have announced the third annual Recycle-Bowl competition, a month-long challenge to see which U.S. school can become the national recycling champion.

Elementary, middle and high schools across the country can register through the official Recycle-Bowl website. The program, which first launched in 2011 as a way to encourage recycling in schools, will run from Oct. 21 to Nov. 15. Winners from each participating state will be awarded $1,000, with an undisclosed grand prize going to the overall winner.

Recycle-Bowl 2012 was a big year for Kokomo, Indiana's Taylor Primary. Students recycled 47 pounds of waste, per student, on their way to becoming the national recycling champion. School principal Terry Stokes told Resource Recycling another win is in view: "Being the National Recycling Champions last year was a huge accomplishment for our little students. They enjoyed having our award celebration in a school-wide convocation, especially the part where our high school cheerleaders cheered about recycling while flipping through the air."

If the program's first two years are any indication, competition should increase in 2013. In the competition's second year, student participation nearly doubled from 500,000 in 2011 to 900,000 in 2012. KAB's Kelley Dennings is challenging students to keep at it in 2013. "In partnership with Nestle Waters North America, Keep America Beautiful has a goal of reaching 1,750 schools in 2013 and engaging over 1.5 million students," she told Resource Recycling. "This would be a 25 percent increase in the number of registered schools, a goal that we were able to attain in 2012."

Get your school recycling containers from Fibrex Group. Our wide selection of smart receptacles will enhance your school or university, as well as collecting recyclables for Recycle-Bowl. Who knows, your school may even win the 2013 championship?! Check us out at www.fibrexgroup.com or give us a call at 866-756-4560 to see how we can help you close the loop on your campus.

Original by Bobby Elliott for Resource Recycling

The Envirodesign RL4200 is the perfect outdoor recycling container for collecting waste and recyclables in public spaces. Built to withstand the most demanding high traffic public areas and attractive enough for the most discriminate of locations. This 2-compartment recycling bin is made from recycled materials as well - from recycled plastic milk jugs!!

The large drop-in openings give you the flexibility to collect a wide variety of paper, plastic or glass, compostables or waste. The recyclables are collected inside with two rigid half-moon plastic liners that hold 21 gallons each. Openings are 8” round for waste and a 6” round single stream recycling configuration.

The recycled plastic lumber slats that surround the outside base of the recycling container are available in the following colors: Cedar, Brown, Gray, White, Black, Yellow, Blue & Red.

Dual opening lid color options are: Green, Blue, White, Black, Gray, Yellow, Red, Tan, Orange, Maroon, Purple & we can also match any custom color.
 
Recycled plastic lumber has a wood-like appearance and does not require any maintenance since it does not absorb any moisture. It will never need waterproofing, painting or staining and will never rot, rust, crack decay, split or splinter. Recycled plastic lumber is the environmentally friendly and economically superior alternative to traditional wood, steel and aggregate concrete products.

Public area recycling containers permit people to practice their good recycling habits when at work or at play. Our multi-compartment receptacles allow for source-separated collection of recyclable beverage containers, recyclable paper products, compostables and residue waste products. Designed to last, resist vandalism and bad weather, these receptacles are attractive in design and perfect for high traffic areas such as parks, universities, city streets, sidewalks and many other pedestrian public spaces.

Call us now at 1-866-756-4560 or contact us for more information. We offer excellent factory direct and GSA contract pricing for your needs.

On course to double its recycling rate to 30% by 2017 and save at least $60 million annually, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg unveiled a new public information campaign – "Recycle Everything" – to remind everyone how easy it can be to make a measurable difference.

Scraps of colorful brand product labels make up artsy collages that are being placed in print publications this week and will be seen in subways and were placed on streets starting Aug. 5. Shaped like bottles, cans, magazines, and yogurt containers, the collages have slogans, such as "Give new life to old plastics," "Turn this issue into next week's," and "Recycled as a can. Reborn as a can."

The "Recycle Everything" ads highlight ambitious policies and investments that will allow more waste to be recycled in The Big Apple, or as one proponent put it: to realize the fruit scraps of their labor.

The campaign precedes a plan to expand food waste collection this fall from a few select Manhattan high-rises to neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the Bronx. In the spring, Queens and Staten Island will begin organics recycling and the program will reach an estimated 125,000 residents.

The "Recycle Everything" campaign follows an April initiative that allows New Yorkers to recycle all rigid plastics, including toys and hangers. That marked the largest expansion of the recycling program in 25 years.

"The tagline sums up nicely how far we've come: Recycle everything," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said during the campaign launch on Monday.

New Yorkers generate 11,000 tons of waste every day. In total, metal, glass plastic and food waste, textiles and electronics account for 80% of the waste stream. The mayor said the public information campaign and expanded collection services into the final frontier of food waste will help divert materials that can be recycled away from landfills.

"These ambitious policies will save at least $60 million in taxpayer dollars and have a significant environmental impact, making them the type of investments we need to secure the city's future," Bloomberg said.

Organic waste accounts for more than 35% of New York City's total waste stream. Recycling diverts it from landfills to be composted or converted into energy. In places where food waste recycling is offered, the Department of Sanitation has found the voluntary participation rate exceeds 50%.

For households that want to compost but aren't in a pilot area, the city is partnering with the non-profit group GrowNYC to begin food scrap collection at drop-off points in five boroughs. The compost will be used at community gardens. The GrowNYC collection program is on track to divert more than 1 million pounds from landfills this year.

The city also developed Re-Fashion, a program for clothing and textile collection service in more than 280 buildings city-wide.

In addition, it is planning the most expansive electronics waste recycling collection service in the United States.  Announced in May, the first phase of the program calls for registering buildings with more than 10 units. The city hopes to enroll most buildings before a ban on disposing of electronics in residential trash takes effect in 2015.

A perfect collection receptacle for this program is Fibrex Group’s Profile 6 Recycling container. With its streamlined simplicity, the Profile 6 is a versatile, go-anywhere kind of recycling container. Its curvy lines offer a contemporary look and the six compartments can be set up to fit your custom needs. Each compartment is equipped with a heavy-duty, 32-gallon collection bin, user friendly drop-in opening, and doughnut shaped recycling decal. Please visit www.fibrexgroup.com for more information.

For more information on recycling containers for New York, contact us.

Original by Katherine Cavanaugh - Waste & Recycling News

Last week, the owners of Fibrex had the honor of attending the memorial garden dedication for a wonderful young man whose life was cut too short. Ian Michael Burgett is the son of Roger & Tammy and the brother of Sam Burgett. Ian was attending his senior year Nansemond Suffolk Academy (NSA) and preparing to attend James Madison University, when he was tragically killed in an auto accident. The Burgett family is friends of ours whom we have the pleasure of knowing in our neighborhood at Book Club, Bunco, Fantasy Football, and while boating on the James River.

After Ian’s death, Tammy contacted NSA about creating a memorial garden at the school where students could gather and reflect during their day - even give them a chance to be reminded about who Ian was and share memories about him. Tammy is a Master Gardener herself so she had great plans about what the space would entail. Suzanne learned about Tammy’s plans while chatting with her on a Friday night. She offered that Fibrex could donate a bench to the garden for the students to relax on. Tammy agreed.

At the office next Monday, Suzanne emailed NSA and Tammy with the bench options that might suit for the garden. Within a week or so, Kenda Council from NSA contacted Suzanne about their decision of what model the bench would be. Fibrex began production of the Victorian Bench that would be placed in Ian’s garden.

We like the fact that the bench is made from recycled plastic bottles and sustainable. It also shows that whether the person whom it is dedicated to is still here or not, their soul and energy will continue to go on. Just like the renewable materials in the bench.

The bench looks wonderful standing next to the plaque that NSA provided in the garden. It was bittersweet attending the dedication last week. It brought back a lot of memories of Ian for us and the many classmates that attended. Wearing Ian’s favorite color pink and seeing the pink ribbon on the bench, we were all reminded of what an intelligent, athletic, kind and caring young man Ian was. He always lived life to the fullest with no regrets and made every day count. As Sam cut the pink ribbon I couldn’t help but think that the many students who will hang out in the courtyard will ultimately think back with fond memories of their fellow classmate, Ian Burgett. A talented son, brother, friend, student, swimmer, soccer player, sailor, runner and all around great guy who touched many lives and whom we all miss very deeply!!

Fibrex Group’s New Lunasol PLB Series amber LED Option has been approved by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for use in Sea Turtle Nesting Habitats.

Baby turtles are safer thanks to the Lunasol  PLB amber LED and the 180 degree back light shield that provides necessary lighting for visual landscape of beachfront properties near marine turtle habitats.

PROTECTING A UNIQUE SPECIES

Each year thousands of sea turtles make their way to the sandy beaches of Florida and the Caribbean looking for a place to nest. Unfortunately over the last 10 years reports have shown a nearly 50% drop in sea turtle nesting and the rise in hatchling mortality rates. This is a direct result of ambient white lights emanating from commercial and residential areas along the coast. These white lights trick the hatchlings into thinking they are headed for the moonlit waters when in fact they are heading to certain death. Since the little turtles are unable to see the safer amber LEDs they turn their attention to the white light of the moon and make their way to where they are meant to be, the sea

For more information about turtle-safe lighting:
www.myfwc.com/conservation/you-conserve/lighting/

For lighting certification requirements:
www.myfwc.com/conservation/you-conserve/lighting/certified/


For more information about Lunasol LED solar lighting, please visit www.FibrexGroup.com or call us at 1.(866) 756-4560 for a quote.

For the first time in decades, the community improvement group Keep America Beautiful and the Ad Council are teaming up on a national recycling awareness campaign, this time with the goal of turning more Americans into “avid recyclers.”

The two organizations helped thrust recycling into the public eye in 1971, when they created the now-iconic Iron Eyes Cody television spot, and in the years that followed, Keep America Beautiful has crafted a number of other litter and recycling awareness campaigns. The current effort, called “I Want to Be Recycled,” uses a multifaceted website and handful of strategies and advertising formats to demystify the recycling process for consumers, most notably by tracing how specific products can be transformed into other items.

Two television spots were released recently – a 60-second ad that follows the journey of an HDPE milk jug that becomes recycled into a park bench made from recycled plastics and a 15-second ad that shows an aluminum can becoming part of the Baltimore Ravens’ stadium. Those TV commercials will be supported by radio spots, out-of-home advertisements and an extensive digital campaign. All of the ads direct audiences to the new website iwanttoberecycled.org.

In a press release announcing the campaign, the groups noted that recent data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency indicate only 52% of Americans feel they are “very or extremely knowledgeable” about how to properly recycle and that only 38% say they are “avid” recyclers — that is, that they recycle as much as possible.

“I know that we can reach the ‘occasional’ recycler and transform recycling into a simple, daily habit for millions of Americans,” said Peggy Conlon, president and CEO of the Ad Council, a nonprofit group that brings on advertising industry experts to create public service announcements. The two groups hadn’t partnered to do a campaign since the iconic “Crying Indian” spot from more than 40 years ago.

The idea of the current campaign — to trace the journey of recovered materials — came from several years of consumer research. “Those we surveyed were interested in creating less waste and some of the other environmental benefits of recycling,” Brenda Pulley, Keep America Beautiful senior vice president, recycling told Resource Recycling. “But one of the more interesting takeaways was how many of the respondents were intrigued and fascinated that recovered materials could become something else.”

"The core idea is to tell people to recycle and give their garbage another life. Showing that a bottle has dreams seems like a very powerful yet delicate way of doing it,” said PJ Pereira, chief creative officer at Pereira & O’Dell, the San Francisco-based ad agency that designed the campaign pro bono.

“This campaign is the emotional push needed to raise awareness and positively change people’s behavior to recycle more,” said Pulley. “Based on survey feedback, we know people want to recycle. This campaign is designed to tap into that desire as well as provide helpful tools to make recycling easier. I know of no other national campaign of this scale just on recycling.”

Resource Recycling

We all grew up with the old mantra: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle—your checklist for sustainable living. But recycling is the final item on that list for a reason. When it comes to electronics, recycling should be the last option. Not the first.

Last year, 1.75 billion phones were sold to consumers around the world. By the end of 2013, another 240 million tablets and 207 million PCs will be produced and shipped globally. Seamless plastic and sleek aluminum covers belie the messy origins of our favorite gizmos.

The laptop on your desk, the cell phone in your back pocket, and the tablet on your nightstand all house within them materials wrested from a reluctant earth—things like cobalt, cadmium, nickel, lead, copper, and gold. A single cell phone, for example, is composed of between 500 to 1,000 different components—some sourced from countries that aren’t particularly well-known for safe mining practices, human rights, or environmental standards.

As the demand for gadgets increases, so do raw material extraction rates. In the last 10 years, iron ore production has increased by 180%, cobalt by 165%, and lithium by 125%. Every year, mining operations have to go deeper into the earth, producing more waste for less raw materials. Copper ore deposits, for example, are only one-tenth the purity of the ore mined 100 years ago. Mining and producing just an ounce of gold creates approximately 80 tons of waste.

No matter what manufacturers try to tell you, there is no such thing as a green electronic.

Repair is better than recycling. Way better. Repair extends the life of electronics. It keeps things out of landfills, and out of shredders. Every cell phone repaired is one less that needs to be manufactured. Every laptop saved from the shredder lessens the strain on already overtaxed finite resources. Every computer upgraded can go on to a second, third, or even a fourth user before it really needs to be recycled.

So don’t drop off your broken phone or your old computer at the corner e-waste drive. Repair it. Then keep using it, or give it away. And know that you’ve done something real, something tangible in the fight for a resource-effective future.

But when you are ready to collect & recycle items such as batteries, clothing or plastic bottles & aluminum cans, you organization might want to consider Fibrex Group’s Profile 3 recycling container.

The Profile 3 recycle bin provides the user with a clean, organized recycling set-up which is clearly identified as not being a trash receptacle. The P3 has become very popular for many public drop-off locations for various organizations & charities. The possibilities are endless.

Segments originally posted by: Elizabeth Chamberlain and Kyle Wiens of iFixit

The Green Business Bureau reports that a new study from the nonprofit, Green America, shows that a record number of small businesses are going green.

Some of the survey's findings include:

• The green economy is growing much faster than the traditional economy
• 79% of companies strongly agree that green products and services give them a competitive advantage
• 75% of companies who sell green products and services saw an increase in sales during the recession

Those are just some of the reasons that Intuit reports sustainability will become a "competitive requirement for small businesses within the next 10 years." Are you prepared or getting left behind? Fibrex Group can assist you with these efforts. With our extensive line of of recycling containers and site furnishings made from recycled materials, it’s a no-brainer for your business and your budget. We have been a sustainable products leader for over 20 years, and can even assist in designing custom graphic units for your corporation.

Green business certification will help you save money, increase sales and engage your employees - all while protecting the environment! Fibrex Group can help you achieve your green or LEED initiatives. For more information, contact us.