Active in recycling

Last week we showed you some different ideas you can recycle aluminium cans for festive season such as Christmas. This week, we are going to show you what else you can do with aluminium cans. It's not just the same old boring recycling method like throwing your cans into the recycling bin. 

It's so much more than just that!!!

How to make recycling fun? Everybody like something that is fun and engaging. Recycling can be fun as well☺ The boys in our group are more sporty and we came up with ways they can be sporty while recycling. Here's the video of it....

Wow. Using aluminium cans to shoot at the basketball hoop? Playing tennis with aluminium cans? That's the first time i've heard of that. Instead of using the real basketball or tennis ball, we replaced it with aluminium cans and we had as much fun doing it. 

The thing is, there are so many ways to recycle and we can actually incorporate it into our daily lives or our habits. Recycling is not a hassle if it's always on your mind so be active in recycling.

Also, our group would like to wish you a Happy New Year! It's 2012 now and while being in the festive mood, let's not forget about recycling☺

Christmas Special

First of all, we would like to wish all of you Merry Christmas! 

Even though Christmas is here, let's not forget about recycling. Our group has come up with ways you can do to recycle aluminium cans for Christmas. 

All you need is:

1. Cans

2. Scissor

3. Marker

4. Pen knife

5. Strings

1st step:
Take the marker and draw whatever shapes you want to cut out on the aluminium can.

2nd step:
Use a pen knife to poke a hole and use a scissor is cut the shape

OR

Step 3: (for snowman)
Draw the eyes, mouth and the buttons on the snowman

Step 4: 

Cut out the strings and paste it on the decorations you had cut out and TADAH! You can hang it on your beautiful Christmas tree :)

Our group also cut out letterings from the aluminium cans.

To make it stand out in the dark, place lighted candles in it! You can see the end product in our video at the end of this post :)

It's a season of giving and sharing. Share the love and save our earth. Here's a video that we did for you, hope you like it!



Lastly, our group would like to wish you a merry Christmas and DON'T STOP RECYCLING!

Like a boss

Recycling can help save materials and energy, but cutting down on waste in the first place is even better. Thus, we reduce waste. When you avoid making garbage in the first place, you don't have to worry about disposing of waste or recycling it later. 

Changing your habits is the key — think about ways you can reduce your waste when you shop, work and play. There's a ton of ways for you to reduce waste, save yourself some time and money, and be good to the Earth at the same time.

Here are 5 tips on how to reduce, Asian level that is.

#1 Replace Disposables: Wherever possible, replace disposable products with reusable ones (i.e., razor, food storage, batteries, ink cartridges (buy refill ink), coffee filters, furnace or air conditioner filters, etc.).

#2 Tree-Free Home: As much as possible, create a tree-free home:

·    replace paper napkins with cloth napkins

·    replace paper towels with a special set of cloth towels/napkins (or cut up old t-shirts for great towels) - store the used ones in a small container in your kitchen and just wash and reuse

·    if you print documents, print on once-used paper

·    switch to a digital organizer for tracking your to do's and grocery lists

·    reuse envelopes, wrapping paper, the front of gift cards (as postcards) and other paper materials you receive wherever possible

·    read books, magazines, and newspapers from your local library or online (many have email newsletters)

·    create and use note pads from once-used paper

·    leave messages for family members/roommates on a reusable message board

·    make your own cards/letters from once-used products or handmade paper or buy at thrift stores

Although it make trees feel lonely, we got to do what we can to reduce waste.

#3 Plastic Bags: While shopping, if you only buy a few products skip the shopping bag. For larger purchases, bring your own.

Irony much. Don’t be like this girl, be a true blue anti-plastic-baggist

#4 Borrow From Friends: If you only need something temporarily, ask if a friend or neighbor would loan it to you.

#5 Share With Friends: Share things like books, magazines, movies, games, and newspapers between friends and neighbors. Even water. ;)

Showering with your boyfriend or girlfriend reduces the water used by twice as much. Reducing level – Asian.

Hope this have helped! Remember to continue to Reduce, Reuse and maybe Recycle.

PLASTIC. REUSABLE?

Remember what we told you about recycling?

Put that aside for today, but don’t go about forgetting it as today we will be telling you more about
RE-USING.

Let us begin this topic with something that is closely related to us,

It is something that all of us have at least interacted with at least once in our lives, 

Plastic Bottles!

Its been around since we were born, but now comes in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Can you spot the difference between the 2 bottles above?

Yes yes yes, you might say we are dense to ask such a question as one is clearly more better looking, more expensive looking,  has better branding and the list goes on.

Even a child could tell you that, but here's something a child will not be able to tell you
(Even if the child could spot the difference, he/she would not be able to explain it.)

Lets take a look at the bottom of both bottles,

Notice the difference between the 2 numbers?

You might be asking what the numbers represent, it has 2 meanings,

The first being what material its made off (Thus how to recycle it),

The second reason will be the bottle's reusability.

Plastic bottles that have a lower number should not be reused,
Why? you might ask. Because lower numbered plastic bottles releases cancer causing chemicals as it decomposes over time (In layman terms as the full explanation is too theoretical). The lower the number the more dangerous it is.

So, if you're in the habit of reusing your disposable plastic bottle of yours, throw that away or you might just be throwing your life away.

Don't worry as here is a guide on how to properly pick your water bottles.

#1

The best reusable bottles you can get your hands on for both your health and Earth's, are made from aluminum or steel (E.g. SIGG) or glass (E.g. VOSS). But glass is heavy and fragile while steel can be expensive (Especially for those who lose them constantly).

These bottles are essentially non-plastic and are extremely durable thus they can last for an extended period of time.

#2

The second best bottles are those made of plastic with the symbol at the bottom that reads 7. These are known as hard bottles (E.g. Nalgene) and are made from polycarbonate plastic. These bottles are rather durable and easy to wash, very much like their steel and glass counterparts.

#3

3rd on the list, soft bottles (E.g.Platypus) made from polyethlene (Symbol 2) or polyproplyene (Symbol 5). These plastics are commonly used in other packaging like yogurt tubs. Since it is a soft bottle, bottles made from such plastics are not as durable and thus will not last as long as a Nalgene.

#4

The last and the least, disposable water bottles, those sold in vending machines, convenient stores. Cheap as they can get but that's really the only advantage such a bottle provides, such bottles are hard to wash and crumple easily, allowing for bacteria to grow and shows how unreliable it is in terms of durability. Disposable bottles are generally created from polythylene terephthalate hence the name PET Bottle usually carry the symbol with a number 1 on it. 

We highly advice you not to reuse such bottles unless you are dirt poor and live in a cardboard box at some MRT station or void deck.

Save Cans! Save me and You!

Last week we touched on a controversial topic, which may have left some in a daze.


However, this week we will be telling you more about what you belief.


That’s right, we will be telling you more about the positive aspect of recycling. 

We talked about paper and how ineffective recycling it actually is, but what about aluminium?

Aluminium is everywhere. We see it in soft drink cans, beer cans, foil, packaging and more.

Why should we recycle aluminium? Unlike paper, which is produced from trees which are grown, aluminium is mined (from mines of course >.>) and thus is non-renewable.

How we wish we could grow aluminium, then we could all quit school and start planting aluminium ‘trees’ to meet the world’s demand and supply our pockets with cash.

What most people don’t realize is that aluminium is practically the perfect recyclable material. Out of many recyclable materials such as paper, glass and plastic, which clutter up our landfills, aluminium can be recycled over and over again. 

Here are 5 interesting facts you may not know about recycling aluminium:

1. It takes energy to make aluminium from scratch. The energy you save by recycling a single aluminium can will run a TV for three hours.

2. Aluminium beverage cans are getting lighter. 20 years ago, 1 pound of aluminium = 20 cans. Today, the same amount of aluminium = 30 cans. This is due to the thinning of the sides of the can, now it is as thin as our hair!

3. It takes about 400 years for aluminium to break down naturally. That can drink you just drank from will probably still look the same in another century or two.

4. Aluminium can be recycled over and over without breaking down, Theoretically, we have an inexhaustible supply of it in circulation right now. If we recycled all our aluminium, we'd never have to make more. 

5. Aluminium recycles in no time at all. When you send a can to a recycling depot, it’s processed, recycled, and back on the shelf again in about 60 days.

Apart from all those serious stuff, here are some creative things people have done with aluminium.

Speaking of recycling, our group pledges to recycle a can for every 2 'likes' we have on our facebook page. 

Here is a sneak preview of what is to come, Treat it as a teaser advertisement for our cause, Enjoy!

There is no downside to recycling aluminium. So the next time when you want to throw away the aluminium can after drinking it, think again. You would be doing the world some good by recycling it instead of throwing it away.

The Controversial act of Recycling!

What if you were told right here and right now that recycling isn’t as good as it seems?

Think about it for a second....

 Can’t seem to convince yourself?

The only way for us to make you believe or even think about recycling being bad in one way or another is for us to have some form of scientific proof or maybe even just presenting to you something that makes sense.

We are no scientist nor environmentalist,

So whatever we have claimed to far may seem unbelievable,

But hear out the 2 guys in our video before jumping to any conclusions.

 

    

Told you that recycling is NOT as good as you think!!

This American documentary television series aired on the premium cable channel Showtime, from 2003 to 2010 and was nominated for 11 Emmy Awards.

To know more about this two awesome gentlemen copy the link below!

http://www.sho.com/site/ptbs/home.do

Right now you might feel a tad bit disoriented,

So let us break it down for you.

 

When we, the people, demand paper,

They, the companies supply it to us.

Paper is demanded and thus trees have to be supplied to produce it!!


Taking this a step further,  

More Demand = More Trees!

Do you see it now?

Amazing when you think about it this way now isn’t it?

Basically, the more paper we demand, the more trees will have to be planted.

When we recycle paper,

we demand lesser trees and actually prevent thousands of them from being planted!!

Now how’s that for your recycling efforts!

To those of you who have only seen photos of deforestation, this is what actually happens:

Trees are a renewable resource!

Aside from tree farms producing more trees,

they acturally produce MORE oxygen than a natural forest (Given that both have the same area).

Why, you ask?

Young trees require more CO2 to grow,

And in turn produce more O2 in the process.

Here’s the thing, tree farms generally keep quite a big 'young' population
(Trees are felled unlike a natural forest)

We are not saying that recycling paper is all that bad.

But when you do chance upon an opportunity in the future,

Think about it.