Is recycling a waste of energy?

Hey Mr. Green,
My friend refuses to recycle because he says the amount of energy it requires is enormous and the effect on the planet is negligible. Is he right? If not, how can I convince him to start recycling?--George in Santa Monica, California

Tell your friend that recycling does save energy, and lots of it--the equivalent of 10.2 billion gallons of gasoline per year from recycled U.S. municipal waste alone. And we still recycle only about a third of our staggering annual total of 250 million tons of waste, according to the EPA.

The savings do depend on the material. Recycling aluminum cans, for example, saves a high percentage of energy per pound, yet we Americans recycle only about half of our cans.

If your pal claims that recycling has its roots in tree hugger hysteria, point out that U.S. aluminum companies import more than 7 billion used cans per year--90,000 tons--to reduce their energy expenses and other costs.

Even if recycling didn't spare a crumb of coal or a drop of oil, its effect on the planet is far from "negligible." It averts some of the collateral damage from our material excess. A ton of recycled steel prevents 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal, and 120 pounds of limestone from getting gouged out of the earth, says the Steel Recycling Institute.

Recycling also slows the spread of dumps, keeps plastic out of the food chain, and prevents hundreds of millions of gallons of used motor oil from fouling our streams and lakes.

How to Recycle a Stove or Oven

Hey Mr. Green,

Can you please tell me how to recycle a gas range that has served as a stove and an oven?  I've been trying to give it away, but because it requires a lot of repair, nobody wants it. Being the eco-friendly gal that I am, I can't bear the thought of it going into the local dump. Do you have any suggestions?

--Val in Elkhorn, Wisconsin

There are quite a few outfits in your area over near Wisconsin's populous southeast coast that recycle large appliances. So how does an answer guy perched in California know this? Because he went to the premier national resource for finding recyclers, Earth911. All anybody has to do to find local recyclers at Earth911 is type in whatever you want to recycle, plus your address, and a list of recyclers that are closest to you will appear.

If you don’t want to haul the stove to the recycler yourself, you may want to call to find out if they’ll come pick it up.

And yes, you are most assuredly an “eco-friendly gal,” because recycling doesn’t just help keep the dumps from perpetual expansion. Every ton of recycled steel saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal, and 120 pounds of limestone, according to the Steel Recycling Institute. So your old stove can be more cleanly reincarnated, maybe even as an enlightened bicycle, instead of rusting away in a landfill.

Can You Compost Shredded Paper?

Hey Mr. Green,

I shred credit-card statements and other papers containing personal financial information. I usually have a disproportionate amount of green material for my compost, so I'd love to add this shredded paper to the pile.  Is such paper safe for composting?  What about shredded newsprint? 

--Marianne in New York, New York

Except for colored and glossy paper, which might contain some toxic heavy metals, newsprint and other paper is safe to use as mulch or in compost. In fact, one study revealed that paper had less toxic material than straw or grass!

The only problem with paper is that if you put too much of it in your heap, you could get an unfavorable carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, since paper is high in carbon (one reason it burns). But unless your finances are of a Bernie Madoffian level of complexity, your financial documents will probably not disturb the ratio! The ideal ratio is 25 carbon to 1 nitrogen. Too much carbon slows down the process. If that happens, you can always add high-nitrogen material such as grass, alfalfa, or manure. As you no doubt have already discovered, well-chopped material and frequent turning is the key to healthy, happy compost.

To chop up stuff like stems and long grass, I place a cross-sectional slab of a log on an upturned milk crate and mince the material with a machete. Better exercise than cramming it into a chipper, and there's a primal thrill in wielding a machete. Now if you're an inaccurate machete-wielder, I recommend thick gloves to keep from severely injuring the hand that feeds the material onto the slab. If you're a hopelessly inaccurate machete-wielder, you can make a wooden rectangle and attach a side of it to the slab so that you have to feed the stems, etc. through it. This will keep the feeding hand far enough away from the machete to insure safety. (Having grown up in a rural area where more than a few farmers lost fingers, limbs, and life in accidents, I'm a stickler for agricultural safety. And by the way, the agricultural-injury rate is higher than in mining, and while we rightly decry the coal industry for cutting corners on worker safety, the number of fatalities among agricultural laborers is 12 times as high.)

Finally, since you are a composter, let me share a fine poem about composting, which you can read by clicking through the jump. I recommend affixing a copy of it to your compost box for inspiration.

What Do Composting and Identity Theft Have in Common?

Hey Mr. Green,

We shred a lot of typical white paper at work because of confidentiality concerns. Is this paper safe to use in garden compost? I'd love to be able to use it but don't know about the chemicals in the paper or the printer ink.

--Katy in La Canada Flintridge, California

As any inmate of a cubicle can tell you, the paperless office has not arrived: we're using 4 million tons of copy paper a year.  The good news is that only a third of the material to make paper comes directly from trees. A third of it is from recycling and another third from sawmill waste, according to the EPA. 

It is indeed safe use this office paper in compost, according to the U.S. Composting Council and other sources. I have even come across studies that show that paper actually has lower levels of contaminants than typical yard waste—not that your typical yard waste is unsafe.  Paper helps absorb water, which can help prevent your compost from stalling into the saturated, odorous gunk that tends to trouble the fastidious composter. It also provides carbon, an essential ingredient in compost,  since a 30-to-1 ratio of carbon to nitrogen is ideal for happy production.

If mulching works in your garden (i.e., doesn't shelter slugs and snails), you could also use the frizzy paper for this purpose.

In general, however, the soundest use of this paper is simply to recycle it to make more paper. After all, paper can be recycled five to seven times before the fibers become too short to be resurrected into new paper.

The Enduring Diaper Question

Hey Mr. Green,

A comment rather than a question on your "Great Diaper Debate" answer in Sierra magazine. A benefit you didn't mention for cloth is that those same diapers work for the next kid too. After two kids, about half my supply of prefolded cloth diapers was still in good enough condition to give to an expecting friend, and the rest made great cleaning rags.

The non-prefolded kind are the world's best multipurpose cloth, especially for backpacking: You can use them as head coverings for sun or wind, emergency arm slings, tight wraps for a strained knee, face coverings for dusty trails, quick-drying bath towels, cleaning rags, and so on. My youngest is now 24 and I'm still using and enjoying a few of those diapers!

–Jan in Clovis, California

Thanks for advancing the cause of cloth diapers, in the best tradition of reduce, reuse, and recycle. I didn't have room to note this benefit, but reusability and immense longevity does go a long way toward offsetting the environmental stress caused by growing cotton for the diapers. Unless you're afflicted with empty-nest syndrome, there can be an inexpressible joy and a sense of release in deploying diapers on an outdoor recreational jaunt instead of on—a baby.

Some readers even advise doing away with diapers entirely, though they may be suggesting more "communication" with baby than many of us stay-at-home parents can handle. However, because there’s an obvious environmental upside in backside alternatives, we offer the following description of diaperless baby management from a reader who advocates it:

"All over the world, people employ knowledge and techniques that allow their babies to wear few or no diapers at all. This process of dealing hygienically with babies' waste is variously called 'elimination communication,' 'EC,' or 'infant potty-training' by people who are relearning this ancient art of baby care. Elimination communication involves observing a baby's signs and signals, providing cue sounds, and can be done with or without diaper use. Another bonus, besides reduced diaper costs and laundry: no potty-training necessary, since baby hasn't been diaper-trained in the first place! EC can be practiced full-time or just occasionally, started at birth or at 9 months or older. The best part: learning to communicate with your baby is fun, something that changing poopy diapers really isn't, whether they're plastic or cloth. For more information and resources, visit www.diaperfreebaby.org."

When a Kitchen Counter Top is More Than Just That

Hey Mr. Green,

What's the most environmentally friendly counter top for the kitchen?

–Pat in Redrock, Oklahoma

This is an extraordinarily difficult question because the materials used are so different and have such different impacts on the environment. The length of time a counter will survive before it has to be replaced is also an important factor. So, while ceramic tile might require more energy to produce than, say, recycled wood, its extreme longevity gives it some environmental advantage over wood. My favorite authority on green home topics, the U.S. Green Building Council, notes that traditional ceramic tile and natural linoleum can be green options,  while plastics have some serious drawbacks. 

To help in your choice, you can consult the USGBC's list of countertops that are made with at least 20 percent recyclable materials such as glass, wood, and even paper, or from wood harvested from certified forests, natural linoleum, and bamboo at this link. You might also take a look at the GBS's "Buyer’s Guide to Green Countertop Materials" and "Choosing a Green Countertop that Works with Your Style and Your Life."

Yes, this last "life" concern is important, and because aesthetics are involved, I would hesitate to prescribe a counter on strictly environmental grounds even if somebody did come up with an infallibly green rating system. It's important to like the way things look. So one wonders: Can ugliness cause collateral damage to the environment? Do people rendered restless, irritable, and discontent by their immediate environment go out and buy Hummers to fill an aesthetic and spiritual void? Would the world be a better place if the Cathedral of Notre Dame or the Taj Mahal or other famous edifices had been built like utilitarian, efficiently constructed warehouses? Are soulless shopping malls really crypto marketing devices, the sheer banality of which drives us to drive more and more to buy more and more stuff? How has our sense of architectural beauty affected our relation to nature? What if John Muir hadn't compared mountains to marvelous temples, or Bob Dylan hadn't sung of the wild cathedral evening?

In sum, is a counter top merely a functional culinary workbench, or a path to philosophical inquiry?

A Down-To-Earth Question About Carpets

Hey Mr. Green,

Where can I find information about purchasing replacement carpeting that is environmentally responsible and nontoxic?

--Donna in Ocala, Florida

Finding the most environmentally magic carpet can take a bit of digging but it's worth it. I recommend taking the following steps:

1) Make sure your prospective carpets, carpet pads, and adhesives carry the Green Label Plus logo of the Carpet and Rug Institute. This certification helps ensure that carpets and installation materials meet low-emissions standards. If you've ever been exposed to noxious, dizzying fumes from carpet installations, you'll know why this is important.

2) Look for carpets and pads that are blessed with the highest post-consumer recycled content and recovered materials content (recovered materials are those recycled with the manufacturing process). The Carpet and Rug Institute provides links to help you assess individual manufacturers here.

3) If you're thinking about replacing an old carpet, consider the possibility of giving it a new lease on life by refurbishing it or re-dying it or both. If it's too far gone for such remedies, make sure it's recycled after you rip it out. Only 10 percent of old carpets get recycled. A depressing 2.5 million tons of it gets squished down into U.S. landfills every year, instead of being resurrected as composite lumber, tile backer board, roofing shingles, railroad ties, automotive parts, stepping stones, and so on. You can find carpet-recycling information at the Carpet America Recovery Effort’s Web site, and at Earth911. For more intriguing information about carpets and their destiny, click here.

4) Institute a shoes-off-in-the-house rule. This will extend a carpet’s life and reduce its need for cleaning.

Biodegradable Plastics: Panacea or Put-On?

Hey Mr. Green,

I think that your column’s recent stance on biodegradable cups is all wrong. Not only is compostability important, but being nontoxic in our municipal landfills and incinerators is a real plus. If you knew about the island of plastic that is floating around in the Pacific then you might have reasoned that if we used bioplastics instead of Styrofoam and other plastic disposables, it wouldn't be there threatening marine life and everything else daily.

Of course people should use reusable containers but in the modern world that is not always an option. Give some credit to technological developments that try to bring about greener alternatives to the worst petroleum-based environmental offenders. 

--Stephen in York, Pennsylvania

"Biodegradable" has acquired such solemn meaning that you now hear the word uttered with prayerful reverence. But look, just because something's biodegradable doesn't make it entirely virtuous. Charlie Manson is biodegradable, Richard Nixon is biodegrading, and Nero and Caligula and Attila the Hun have no doubt biodegraded to the point to which some of their molecules could be zipping around in the organic coffee that just fueled this overwrought sentence.

I did not actually take a pro or con stance on biodegradable plastics. Rather, I expressed skepticism about whether they are as environmentally benign as some folks believe. I'd like to be convinced that they don't use more energy or cause more pollution than other plastics, but I haven't seen the evidence.

Some types of biodegradables may generate higher net levels of greenhouse-gas emissions, atmospheric acidification, and eutrophification, while some may reduce it. But even the researchers who find reductions in emissions because of the use of these materials have cautioned that other problems may arise. In fact, some studies show that biodegradables don't even biodegrade unless placed in commercial composting systems. So people blithely chucking out biodegradables believing that it's OK might be harming wildlife. Adding to the question’s complexity is the reality that there are different kinds of biodegradables, making it even more difficult to reach a conclusion.

Regarding landfills, they are actually designed to prevent material from breaking down in them, so neither kind of plastic can claim moral superiority once it's interred.

I have two other compelling reasons for skepticism about giving "credit to technological developments.” One is expressed in the old axiom: "Reduce, reuse, and recycle." It's always best to attempt to reduce first, for obvious reasons. Touting biodegradability as a miracle solution can distract us from what is by far the most effective measure, which is to reduce use. To our great peril, we continue to ignore the basic principles of conservation of resources, partly because of our distracting infatuation with technological fixes. In other words, don't wait until you can afford solar panels to turn out the bleepin' lights.

Secondly, I'm old enough to remember when pesticides and nuclear power and all manner of synthetic materials were touted as wondrous instruments of progress. While the relentless march of time is in most respects a fairly miserable experience, it does reinforce a healthy skepticism known as the precautionary principle. The irony of the word "plastics," as whispered to Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate, is much more compelling than it was 40-odd years ago.

Just Do It. (Recycle, That Is.)

Hey Mr. Green,

What do I do with my old stuff, like used shoes? I hate the thought of filling our landfills if my junk can be someone else's treasure. How do I learn what can be reused or recycled and where to send unwanted items?

--Kirstin in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin

My favorite resource for information about recycling almost anything is Earth 911. You specify what you want to recycle, type in your ZIP code, and get the location nearest you.

Regarding footwear, there are an estimated 1.5 billion pairs of unworn shoes languishing in U.S. closets—enough, maybe, for the most desperate shopaholic, or all the world's shoeless. But there are plenty of organizations that recycle them, including Soles4Shoes, which takes all types of "gently worn" shoes. For women's shoes, there's SimplySouls. For sports shoes only, there's Nike—but don't let its recycling program convince you that Nike is environmentally innocent, and don't get all utopian about recycling, as Sole4Soles does with its slogan "Changing the world, one pair at a time," or SimplySouls'  "Saving the Earth, one shoe at a time." It's gonna take a bit more effort than basking in the glow of a recycling ritual to fix the environment.

Nike takes worn-out athletic shoes and grinds them into Nike Grind,  which sounds like runner’s boredom but is actually a substance used in those cushiony athletic surfaces. Critics charge that while Nike has made some improvements since the 1990s, it dumps or burns scrap rubber in Indonesia—and that laborers in Nike and other shoe and sportswear factories in Asia lack the right to organize, are fired for union activity, and cheated out of pay. See, for example, this site or this one. Since Nike itself admits that there are still problems,  it wouldn't hurt to remind the company to try harder to solve them.

How to Recycle Propane Canisters for Camp Stoves?

Hey Mr. Green,

I have been trying to find out how best to dispose of or recycle the small propane canisters that we use for our camp stove (the green ones a bit fatter than the size of a jar of pasta sauce). Even our local hardware store didn't seem to know. Do you know?

–Donna in San Francisco

Until very recently, it was impossible to recycle those old canisters for the simple reason that nobody wanted to risk having the gas left in them blowing up or starting a fire. But now—good news for campers—you can heat up the pasta sauce at your campsite and enjoy it even more. Coleman, a major manufacturer of canisters, has introduced a "Green Key" canister. The green key that comes with the canister allows you to make sure all the remaining gas is expelled, thereby averting disaster and making it safe to recycle. To find the nearest recycler that takes them, go earth911.com, follow their instructions, typing in "steel" and your ZIP code.