waste

Demystifying Recycling in Minnesota

in
Author
Sara Grochowski
Do It Green! Minnesota
Publication Date: 
November 1, 2010

The average Minnesotan generates more than seven pounds of waste per day and more than one ton annually! In fact, in the Twin Cities area alone, we generate enough waste to fill the Metrodome 11 times every year. Although Minnesota has one of the highest recycling rates in the country, we could be recycling more. Often the problem is not what you know that can be recycled, but what you don't know. Those items usually end up in the trash.

Resources
On the Web!: 
Recycling Association of Minnesota, recycleminnesota.org
Rethink Recycling, RethinkRecycling.com
Recycle More Minnesota, recyclemoreminnesota.com
1-800 Recycling database, 1800recycling.com

Green Your Child’s School Lunch

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Author
Katrina Edenfeld
Do It Green! Minnesota
Publication Date: 
November 1, 2011
Food_GreenSchoolLunch.jpg

Home-packed lunches can be fun, healthy, and green, with very little time or money required. I calculated that my child's lunch, including organic fruit, required less than five minutes on average and $1.00 per day last year - compared to over $2.25 for school lunch. Try these suggestions to green your packed lunches, whether for children, adults, or picnics!

Resources
On the Web!: 
Waste Free Lunches, wastefreelunches.org/HowTo.html
Creating Less Trash at School, pca.state.mn.us/index.php/download-document.html?gid=11345
Read Up!: 
Vegan Lunch Box: 130 Amazing, Animal-Free Lunches Kids and Grown-Ups Will Love!, by Jennifer McCann, DaCapo Press, 2008.
Lunch Boxes and Snacks: Over 120 Healthy Recipes from Delicious Sandwiches and Salads to Hot Soups and Sweet Treats, by Annabel Karmel, Atria, 2007.
Act Locally!: 
Wedge Community Co-op Minneapolis, MN 612-871-3993 wedge.coop/recipes/whats-in-lunch -box
Linden Hills Natural Home Minneapolis, MN 612-279-2479 lindenhills.coop/naturalhome
Lands End  Not-Quite-Perfect Store, Roseville, MN 651-633-7004 Lunch boxes, food jars

Lands End Inlet, Woodbury, MN 651-714-9000 landsend.com

Sustainability in the Office

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Author
Reprinted with permission from Minnesota Waste Wise
_
Offices contribute greatly to the waste generated in Minnesota. According to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), each year the average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of office paper, and the average American throws away 1.6 billion single-use pens.
Footnotes/Endnotes

ON THE WEB!

Do It Green!, Minnesota,
doitgreen.org
(see Business section)

Minnesota Pollution Control, Agency, reduce.org

Minnesota Waste Wise,
St. Paul, MN, mnwastewise.org

National Resources Defense Council, nrdc.org/enterprise
/greeningadvisor/pa-reducing.asp

LOCAL SPOTLIGHT Butter Bakery

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Author
JESSIE HOULIHAN
Do It Green! Minnesota
Butter Bakery and Café owner, Dan Swenson-Klatt, on how his restaurant is working to lessen their impact on the environment.

Q: How does Butter Bakery's product differ from a conventional restaurant?

Greening My Child’s School: A Local Story

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Author
JULIE JONES
EcoMoms Edina
Cafeteria waste contributes immensely to our ever-growing landfills. Considering this, it was easy for me to implement no-waste lunches in packing for my three school-age children, but I thought we could take it one major step further and reduce the waste for their entire school: Edina Highlands Elementary. After reading an article about Hennepin County initiating an organics recycling program in their schools, I called John Jaimez at Hennepin County for more information, and Highlands began an organics recycling program too.

Footnotes/Endnotes

ON THE WEB!

Cloth napkins for kids,
fabkins.com

Waste-free lunch facts,
reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=22

Laptop lunches, laptoplunches.com

Swiss-engineered water bottles,
mysigg.com

Reduce waste, reduce.org

act locally!

John Jaimez, Hennepin County Environmental Services, Organics Recycling Program, 612-348-5893

Alternative Birthday Party Ideas

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Author
SARA GROCHOWSKI
Do It Green! Minnesota
Growing up, my birthdays consisted of parents, grandparents, godparents, a cake, candles, and, since it was summer, endless games of kick the can, ghost in the graveyard, and flashlight tag. Nowadays, it seems kids have multiple parties with family, friends, and neighbors and the gifts and waste grow with each event. As important as it is to honor your child's emergence into the world, it is just as fun to plan for parties that have less waste and may even give back to the environment or community, thus helping create a cleaner future for birthdays to come.

Footnotes/Endnotes

ON THE WEB!

World Wildlife Adopt an Animal, worldwildlife.org

Oxfam,
oxfamamericaunwrapped.com

Waste? What’s the Problem?

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Author
ANGIE TIMMONS
Hennepin County Environmental Services
The average Minnesotan generates more than seven pounds of waste per day or more than a ton annually!
Footnotes/Endnotes

metro county contacts

Anoka County Integrated Waste Management,
AnokaCounty.us/recycle
763-323-5730

Carver County Environmental Services, co.carver.mn.us
952-361-1800

Dakota County Environmental Management,
co.dakota.mn.us
952-891-7020

Hennepin County Environmental Services,
hennepin.us/environment
612-348-3777

Ramsey County Environmental Health, co.ramsey.mn.us/ph
Recycling/Solid Waste Hotline,
651-633-EASY (3279)

Scott County Environmental Health, co.scott.mn.us
952-496-8177

Washington County Public Health and Environment,
co.washington.mn.us
651-430-6655

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, reduce.org
www.recyclemoreminnesota.org
651-296-6300

ECO SPORTS Put a Little Eco in Your Stride!

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Author
AMI VOELTZ
Do It Green! Minnesota
Going green with sports may not be the first thing you think about when it comes to being eco friendly. As it happens, there are more ways to play green than you may think. Aside from the obvious, "Leave No Trace" rule when you are visiting state parks or camping, there are other important environmental factors to consider when playing your sport. The green sports industry has boomed in the last few years, now offering those of us with active lifestyles a few new eco options when it comes to workout clothes and even equipment.

Footnotes/Endnotes

ON THE WEB!

Eco Friendly Sports Clothing:

greatgreenlist.com/Eco-Friendly-Sports-Clothing-69.html

fairtradesports.com/gearshop

playitagainsports.com/

patagonia.com

rei.com/gear/feature/search/rei_home/Eco-Sensitive+Product

From Wasteful Tourist to Ecotraveler

in
Author
JESSIE HOULIHAN
Do It Green! Minnesota
The convenience of tourism, complete with tiny non-recyclable toiletries, gas-guzzling airplanes and over-packaged fast food, leads to an accumulation of waste. In order to revamp travel into a more sustainable practice, we must abandon the traditional idea of tourism and adopt a new goal to become an ecotourist. As ecotravelers, we must strive to explore with a higher consciousness of our surroundings and the environmental impact of our decisions instead of purchasing waste generating fast food and supporting big
Footnotes/Endnotes

ON THE WEB!

Green Routes, greenroutes.org

Ecotravel Magazine, ecotravel.com

Read Up!

Green Travel: The World's Best Eco-Lodges & Earth-friendly hotels, Fodor's Travel Publications, 2008.

The Eco-Travel Guide, Alastair Fuad-Luke, Thames and Hudson, 2008.

Tips on Working with Your Landlord to Green Your Apartment

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Author
AMY PICKETT and CHAD SKALLY
Skally Management
Too often when we talk about living green, we focus on homeowners rather than renters. At Skally Management, a family-owned and -operated real estate management company in St. Paul, we're changing that concept by finding innovative ways to practice Eco-Management: sustainable, responsible real estate management designed to have a positive impact on our local environment and community.

We encourage renters to see their landlords as partners in living green. Try to start a face-to-face discussion with them, rather than using

Footnotes/Endnotes

ON THE WEB!

Xcel Energy, xcelenergy.com

Eureka Recycling,
eurekarecycling.org

Neighborhood Energy Connection, thenec.org

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