By Tim Sanders
SandersSays.com
Here’s an excerpt from my new book, Saving The World At Work:
Every day at work, you are surrounded by waste that could be easily converted into social nutrition for your community. Have you ever counted all the broken or outdated computers, monitors, printers, phones, desks, and chairs gathering dust?
Many innovators are turning their trash into food by partnering with nonprofit groups with expertise in preparing used items for community distribution. Electro-Motive, a LaGrange, Illinois–based manufacturer of electric-diesel locomotives, took a novel approach to a recent company-wide upgrade of its computers. Instead of throwing out 700 old computer workstations, the company donated them to Chicago’s Computers for Schools, a nonprofit that refurbishes computers for local school systems. And when executives discovered that the recycling program was popular with employees, they organized a three-day recycling drive. Employee enthusiasm was so high that organizers created a follow-up event for the general public at Chicago’s United Center. Between the two events, more than 80,000 pounds of computer and office equipment were collected.
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NE regional greenhouse gas initiative begins
September 26th, 2008 · 1 Comment
By John DeFore
This week, for the first time in the United States, an auction was held allowing power plants to bid against each other for the right to spew carbon dioxide into the air.
The goal, of course, is to reduce atmospheric carbon by finding the best way of putting a price tag on it for polluters. Ten Eastern states — Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont — have formed the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (or RGGI, pronounced “Reggie”) to coordinate their efforts by placing mandatory overall caps on emissions levels, then auctioning off allowances for CO2 emissions that can be traded between companies. As a result, companies will have a financial incentive to clean up their own act as quickly as possible.
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Tags: · cap-and-trade, Carbon Emissions, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, RGGI, Rhode Island, Vermont
Computer recycling becomes law in Texas
September 19th, 2008 · No Comments
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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Tags: · Computers, Electronic Waste, Maine, Minnesota, Texas, Washington
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