By John DeFore

As disheartening as it is to hear, you may not be doing anybody any good by taking broken electronics to a firm promising to recycle it. In fact, your good-faith act could be leading to disease and hellish pollution in some of the world’s most impoverished villages.

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By John DeFore

Everyone knows by now that habitually buying bottled water introduces a staggering amount of wasted plastic into the world. Even if you conscientiously recycle every bottle, that recycling process uses energy and would be unnecessary if you used a non-disposable drinking vessel instead.

For those who have ditched the bottled water habit but don’t trust what comes from their tap, water filters are an appealing solution. Filter-makers have seized upon environmental concerns, and Brita even teamed with Nalgene for an ad campaign disguised as a green awareness effort that asks readers to “take the pledge” to buy filters and reusable bottles.

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By Catherine Colbert

“It pays to be green” is one of RecycleBank’s mantras. And that’s what the cutting-edge company, based in New York City, is all about: Paying people to be green, at least when it comes to recycling.

While most people who recycle are already self-motivated to participate, RecycleBank gives them an extra incentive in the form of Reward Points redeemable through local and national partners, such as Petco, IKEA, Staples and other retailers.

Customers can take advantage of this financial pat on the back whether they’re homeowners who recycle curbside or students who recycle through a RecycleBank Kiosk.

“We believe everyone can recycle and everyone should be rewarded for it,” says Lisa Pomerantz, director of marketing. “RecycleBank is founded on the belief that environmental solutions create economic opportunities. With that in mind, our goal is to increase recycling, reduce landfill needs, cut disposal costs, and build local economies.”

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By Harriet Blake

Old computers do not have to end up in the landfill and in Texas, they won’t. Thanks to new legislation (House Bill 2714) that took effect Sept. 1, all computer makers are now responsible for recycling their products.

Texas is the fourth state to have such a law, says Jeff Jacoby, staff director with the nonprofit Texas Campaign for the Environment (TCE), which was one of the bill’s main advocates. The other states are Minnesota, Maine and Washington.

Companies such as Dell, Hewlett Packard and Apple, as well as mom-and-pop operations, are required to provide free and convenient recycling to their customers, or they will not be able to sell computers to anyone in Texas, under the law.

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