E-Waste: Responsible Disposal Options

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, E-waste is now the fastest growing part of the municipal waste stream.  It was estimated that between 2003 and 2010, more than three billion consumer electronic devices would be discarded.

 In the U.S., global consumer electronics makers continue to ramp up efforts to recycle more e-waste. As an example, Samsung Electronics America Inc. has recycled 12 million pounds of e-waste in 2009.  Still, more effort is needed.

 Incorporating responsible recycling practices into your business is one more step in building business sustainability.  A sustainable business strategy is to begin with the end in mind.   Consider sustainable purchasing which addresses environmental and social factors, as well as the total costs associated with each purchase. It means looking at what products are made of, where they come from, how they were made and how they will be disposed. 

 Within our professional consulting, we recommend the following ideas to responsibly dispose of your e-waste:

• A first step mentioned in our eco friendly training for properly managing electronic products is to look in your Yellow Pages under Computer Dealers–Used and Recycled; Environmental and Ecological Services; Recycling Equipment and Services; Scrap Metals; Waste Disposal–Hazardous; or Waste Disposal, Reduction and Recycling.
• Recycling for Charities allows individuals an opportunity to recycle cellular phones, PDA’s, Palm Pilots, digital cameras, and iPods for value that is then donated to the charity of their choice.  What sets Recycling for Charities apart is the fact that they are the only 501(c) (3) Non Profit Organization recycling cell phones.  This sustainable business strategy not only helps protect the environment.
• Best Buy offers their Greener Together Program.
• Search Earth 911‘s database for electronics recycling. 
• Buying or selling used electronic pieces?  Check out Electronics Recycling.
• LampRecycling provides businesses with an easier system for recycling their fluorescent bulbs, CFLs, batteries, ballasts, and electronic waste, and tracking their recycling efforts.
• To recycle CDs, DVDs, video and audio tapes, look to GreenDisk. 
• BatteriesPlus offers recycling for batteries of all types: both commercial and residential use.
• The Directory of the North American Scrap Electronics Recycling Industry is available for a fee from Resource Recycling. The Directory contains extensive details about firms and organizations that acquire and process obsolete computers, peripherals TVs and other electronics.
• The Electronics Industry Alliance maintains a national list searchable by state.
• The International Association of Electronic Recyclers Directory of the Electronics Recycling Industry allows you to search for organizations that are involved in electronics recycling. Most of the database focuses on companies that provide recycling services for electronic products.
• National Recycling Coalition (NRC) hosts the National Database of Electronics Recyclers, Reuse Organizations, and Municipal Programs.

 
Your business makes decisions every day about what to buy and where to buy it. Cost and quality are important factors, but there are other things to consider when making purchasing decisions that will benefit your business and make a positive impact on society and the environment.  The good news is that most electronic components can now be reused, recycled, and diverted from the waste stream.

Posted via web from 3BL Media, CSR News, and Emily

Clear, the New Black: Pharos and Transparency

The Signal: News and Notes from the Pharos Team

If anyone doubted the need for a tool that cuts through the fog of labels, manufacturer claims and private certification schemes that dominate the building materials market, a short stroll through the aisles of the 2009 Greenbuild exhibition hall last November would have erased that.
 
Perhaps it was the aftershock of a trip through the Greenbuild exhibition hall that prompted keynote speaker, Al Gore, to exhort: “I urge the green building movement to pay attention to keeping the environmental standards high, and when you find greenwashing going on, speak out against it. Don’t put up with that because they undercut the legitimate folks who are here, who are doing the right thing.”
 
Al was right. The trouble is, it’s not always that easy. Greenwashing is by definition clever, sophisticated and disingenuous, making it difficult to distinguish from legitimate green marketing. The other limitation is that individual voices rarely break through the din of greenwash. We know from experience how difficult this can be.
 
That’s why we created the Pharos Project. Pharos, at its core, is a campaign for transparency in the building materials market.  What we are creating is the ultimate campaign tool:  a tool for users to locate the best materials to meet their current needs and enduring values; a tool to help cut through the prolific greenwashing; a space where users can discuss what makes a product truly green; and, most importantly, a platform from which to show manufacturers what constitutes a market in support of the best environmental, health and social equity practices.
 
The Pharos Project delivers users online access to environmental health data on over 9,000 chemicals used in building materials as well as full product evaluations within a constantly expanding building product library. Users not only get the information they want, they also send a clear message to manufacturers about the kind of information a truly “green” market needs.
 
For manufacturers, Pharos defines transparency as a product manufacturer answering three basic questions about their product: What’s in it? How was it made? Where did it come from?  
 
That may seem simple enough, but in an era of proprietary polymers, confidential business information and greenwash, it is often too high a bar for many manufacturers to reach.  Still, the Pharos Project exists for those product manufacturers who are willing to supply such information and for those designers and specifiers who demand it.
 
Ultimately, real progress towards reversing many of the most challenging environmental issues of our generation will depend upon all of us meeting that standard of transparency rather than redefining the term.
 
Transparency must be a foundational element of sustainability, not just the new black.

 HBN5651

Posted via web from 3BL Media, CSR News, and Emily

Sustainable Purchasing of Electronic Equipment

Your business makes decisions every day about what to buy and where to buy it. Cost and quality are important factors, but there are other things to consider when making purchasing decisions that will benefit your business and make a positive impact on society and the environment.

 Incorporating sustainable business strategies, like sustainable purchasing addresses environmental and social factors, as well as the total costs associated with each purchase. It means looking at what products are made of, where they come from, how they were made and how they will be disposed.

 Our sustainability consulting practice offers small business resources and guidelines for the procurement, use, and end of life options for electronic equipment. 

 Procurement of electronic equipment: 

• Consider the energy use and cost over the lifetime of the equipment. Specify “Energy Star” equipment.
• Choose suppliers committed to business sustainability.
• Work with suppliers to reduce and take back packaging materials or find ways to reuse or recycle the materials.
• Rent, lease, or buy the equipment second hand.
• Select equipment that meets both current needs and future needs. 
• Choose a product or service designed with specific environmental or social attributes.
• Negotiate “trade-in” opportunities when upgrading equipment.
• Look for “take -back” and recycling programs from manufacturers.
• Buy products locally when possible.

 
Use of electronic equipment:

• Proper use and maintenance of electronic products will extend their useful life.
• Network equipment to improve efficiency and decrease the amount of equipment required.
• Use remanufactured toner and ink jet cartridges. Make sure that your depleted cartridges are returned for refurbishing and reuse.
• Use duplex printers to decrease paper use and utilize technology to move towards a paperless organization.
• Upgrade, repair, or replace parts rather than purchase new equipment.

 
End-of-Life Management

• Resell or donate still operating or repairable equipment.
• Recycle non-working equipment.
• Many components of electronic equipment can be reused or recycled.
• Evaluate other disposal options for e-waste.

Sustainable purchasing is important because it can help your business make better choices.  Those choices expand eco awareness within your organization, positively impact your local economy, reduce your footprint on the environment, and improve your bottom line.

Posted via web from 3BL Media, CSR News, and Emily

My Community 2010

(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) NEW YORK, NY – March 25, 2010 – PCI-Media Impact launches the sixth year of My Community, a unique social change communications program designed to help communities help themselves remove the barriers to health services and environmental preservation. My Community is taking place in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Peru. With the support and partnership of 36 community-based NGOs, My Community is empowering over 12 million people with important information on basic human rights and securing their well-being with access to vital health care and a clean living area.

  The lead organizations participating in My Community are Centro de Educación y Comunicación para Comunidades y Pueblos Indígenas (CECPOI), Alternativas Humanas, Comunicares, Corporación Tierrafertil, ProNatura, Radio Integración, Red SIDA – Cusco, Salud sin Limites – Perú, and Red de Desarrollo Sostinible (RDS). From its 25 years using media to inspire communities, Media Impact knows that successful interventions depend on linkages to effective delivery systems already in place. The groups participating in My Community have demonstrated over time their integration into current systems and their desire to improve those systems and the well-being of their communities.

   
For their participation in My Community, groups receive a 10-day course on entertainment education and social marketing, a manual on entertainment education and social marketing, one year of financial and technical assistance to ensure the successful implementation of the program, and the ongoing support of a strong, global network of organizations that are using Media Impact’s communications approach.

  Media Impact is working with the groups to produce a series of radio soap operas, magazine shows and community outreach events to engage the public on the issues of health and the environment. Continue checking Media Impact’s website (www.mediaimpact.org) for more information about My Community, the participating groups, and their social change communications campaigns. Radio broadcasts will begin in June 2010.

  Green Shots are Sprouting
One of the newest groups working with Media Impact is Corporación Tierrafertil in Colombia. Through My Community, the group is collaborating with some of the leading bio-fuel scientists, engineers and community activists to educate the public about the toxins produced through coffee production and its effects on health. The project is also showing the community to take these toxins and convert them into a new green economy producing bio-fuels. If this small community in Colombia can transition to a clean, green economy, it holds many promises for other coffee producing nations.

  PCI-Media Impact is an independent, non-profit organization founded in 1985 that is dedicated to the rights and empowerment of women, youth and Indigenous peoples; the promotion of education and health, including reproductive health and informed choice; sensitivity to national and local cultures; and the principles put forth in broadly accepted United Nations covenants and resolutions. Media Impact’s programs assist local media group produce, air and sustain programs with advocacy and human rights messages, and facilitate the dissemination of programs as widely as possible, especially to the underserved.

  Contact:
Michael Tatu Castlen, Executive Director
Telephone: (212) 687-3366
Email: info@mediaimpact.org
Website: www.mediaimpact.org

  PCI5634

Posted via web from 3BL Media, CSR News, and Emily