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1. Total Reclaim and EcoLights Earth Day
Recycling materials that pose a threat a threat to the environment is only one way to protect the Earth. This year for Earth Day, we worked with EarthCorps to take a more hands on approach: Removing invasive plants from a Seattle greenbelt.
EcoLights Account Manager Sydney Leff organized a contingent from EcoLights and Total Reclaim that joined with other volunteers to remove ivy, blackberry and other plants that are detrimental to native habitat.
A group of 115 people gathered near South Seattle Community College, picked up shovels and pails and removed invasive species from 42,434 square feet of land. This site is home to a diverse population of wildlife and provides an important corridor for migrating birds. The event was one of several organized by EarthCorps (earthcorps.org) for Earth Month.
[Event pictures; thank you letter from EarthCorps. 6.2 MB PDF]
2. E-Recycle: Where Loads of Electronic Waste Wind Up
Link to complete story with photos:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009996550_erecycle04m.html The nine-month-old "E-Cycle Washington" program has collected an estimated 27 million pounds of TVs, computers and monitors. So where does this e-junk go? The vast majority passes through approved processors who deconstruct the gadgets and send the raw materials back into the production stream. By Richard Seven
Seattle Times staff reporter The nine-month-old "E-Cycle Washington" program has collected an estimated 27 million pounds of TVs, computers and monitors. So where does this e-junk go? The vast majority passes through approved processors who deconstruct the gadgets and send the raw materials back into the production stream. Almost every workday, old TVs fill an assembly line inside Sodo recycler Total Reclaim. Workers pry off the black plastic cases that are squashed, baled and eventually ground into pellets and sold to make a wide range of products. Workers smash the tubes into pieces, pick out metal, and ship the glass to Mexico for power washing and then to India, to be made back into new picture tubes. They mince circuit boards to be sent to smelters, and they separate valuable metal such as copper, aluminum and steel that gets resold to manufacturers. Monitors and computers that aren't refurbished and reused go through a similar process. "Disposal in a garbage Dumpster at our facility would be less than 1 percent," said Craig Lorch, co-owner of Total Reclaim. (more...)
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