New Water Purification System

Tony LaRocco, owner of VITA, ihas installed the state-of-the-art Natura system in his Buckhead restaurant. This new water purification system allows VITA to offer quality drinking water while also helping the environment. VITA is one of only four restaurants in the city that have installed the Natura system, which has just launched in the Atlanta market.

The Natura system is a water purification system that uses both high-grade carbon filters and UV technology to eliminate impurities and bacteria while retaining healthy, thirst-quenching minerals. More specifically, these filters reduce chlorine compounds, particles and heavy metals while retaining magnesium, zinc, calcium, and all good, thirst quenching minerals.

The Natura system offers all of the benefits of purified, great-tasting chilled or sparkling water without the need to store, chill or dispose of either plastic or glass bottles of the unsightly oversized plastic tanks that accompany most water dispensers. The patented system not only reduces costs for its clients, but also benefits the environment by replacing disposable plastic with reusable glass bottles and reducing carbon footprints by eliminating air travel and/or the need to truck heavy water bottles to their destinations. The resources invested in shipping, storing and serving water in disposable containers has a tremendous impact on the planet— more than 30 million plastic water bottles are disposed of every day in America, alone.

www.naturawater.com

Recycle Water Bottles After P'Tree Race

With over 55,000 runners, the Peachtree Road Race is the world’s largest 10K race. This translates into a great deal of recyclables—last year it was estimated that more than 65,000 bottles of water were used. 

Unfortunately, since many people carry these plastic recyclable bottles away from the event (where recycling bins are located), many are thrown away. Without strategically placed recycling bins at the nearby MARTA stations, there is little opportunity for diverting these materials from the landfill.

To solve this collection problem, Peachtree Road Race Staff, MARTA, Whitten Management and Atlanta Recycles have teamed up to provide temporary recycling bins at the Civic Center MARTA station during the event. We predict that a large amount of the materials thrown away at the MARTA stations during the morning of the Peachtree Road Race will be primarily recyclables.

This will be the first time (that we know of) that recycling will be available at the MARTA station at the Peachtree Road Race. Bryant Whitten of Whitten Management has donated the recycling services for the MARTA station. Atlanta Recycles has recruited volunteers from Georgia Conservancy, Environmental Protection Agency Region IV and Hands on Atlanta to assist with the recycling efforts. MARTA officials have been very helpful in integrating this new waste diversion plan.

Whitten Management Inc. will manage and implement the recycling program at the Peachtree Road Race. Atlanta Recycles has served as a liaison between key stakeholders: Peachtree Road Race staff, City of Atlanta (Special Events), MARTA, and Whitten Management to ensure that recycling efforts meets the needs of all parties. Furthermore, Atlanta Recycles has recruited and will manage volunteer recycling monitors for the event.

Atlanta Recycles is a coalition of governmental, corporate, and environmental entities with a shared mission to promote recycling and improve the collection infrastructure for recyclable materials.

Emory Conference Center Recycles

Already one of the most environmentally responsible conference centers and hotels in the Southeast, the Emory Conference Center Hotel (ECCH) is now the only property in Georgia implementing the single stream recycling system.

Single stream recycling enables ECCH employees and guests to mix recyclable paper, plastic and glass in one centralized bin, resulting in the hotel recycling more than 41 tons each year. Before adopting the program, items had to be sorted into seven different bins. The sorting is now done at an off-site processing center after the mixed recyclables are collected from special containers on the ECCH loading dock.

“It’s easy for our employees to recycle because they don’t have to worry about separating any of the items,” says Kathryn Johnson, general manager. “And the really great thing is that the single stream takes all plastics, not just one and two. It also takes all paper products including mixed, white, coated, etc.”

Guests are also encouraged to participate. Recycling information is posted in every hotel room and recycling bins are located on each floor and in all meeting rooms.

Inspired by the architectural design of Frank Lloyd Wright, the ECCH is the only Green Seal-certified hotel in the state, meeting rigorous environmental leadership standards for waste minimization, water and energy efficiency, hazardous substances handling, and environmentally responsible purchasing.

A major conference center expansion that began in March 2008 will be certified LEED Silver by the U.S. Building Council, while the existing building will be working toward earning LEED EB certification, making ECCH the only hotel in Atlanta LEED certified.

The ECCH is a member of the Green Hotels Association, P2AD, and the Georgia Restaurant Association Local Sustainable Green Round Table.

The hotel is located at 1615 Clifton Road. www.emoryconferencecenter.com.

Piedmont Park To Begin Recycling; Drills Well

Piedmont Park will begin a trial recycling program this Wednesday. The Piedmont Park Conservancy will place 50 bins around the park to collect plastic bottles and aluminum cans. The Conservancy will collect data for 90 days to see if the program is working and hopes to earn revenue by selling the plastic and aluminum to recycling companies.

Piedmont Park, like all of Atlanta, is held to the water restrictions issued by the City of Atlanta due to the extreme drought. As a result, the Conservancy has drilled a well (pictured) to provide enough non-potable water to protect the trees, Active Oval/Ball Fields and the open meadow. The goal is to find enough water underground that will pump water into Lake Clara Meer, which will then be used to water the park. Most of Atlanta's big festivals -- including Atlanta Pride, Dogwood Festival and Peachtree Road Race -- were kicked out of the park because of the drought. 

In addition to the well, the Conservancy is also incorporating various sustainable and water conserving approaches including rain gardens, cisterns to capture storm water runoff, rain barrels, and planting native species.

New Paper Recycling Opportunity

US GreenFiber, LLC, manufacturer of GreenFiber natural fiber blow-in insulation, announces a new community paper recycling program throughout the Atlanta area. As a company, GreenFiber diverts over 350,000 tons of paper each year from landfills and rewards participating organizations by giving back to local groups.

“The benefit for communities that participate in the GreenFiber Community Recycling Program is far-reaching,” said Liz Byrd, recycling program coordinator for GreenFiber in the Metro Atlanta area. “Residents now have a free, ecologically-sound way of disposing their recyclable paper materials, while also supporting their local organizations and keeping a measurable amount of recyclable material out of landfills.”

Collection teams at schools, churches, businesses and other community organizations can participate and benefit based on the amount of recyclable materials they gather using specially-designed GreenFiber recycling bins. The GreenFiber recycling bins feature a vivid green exterior and graphics of the GreenFiber Community Paper Recycling Program mascot – a green frog whose likeness is on the GreenFiber Web site, www.greenfiber.com.

Unlike some recycling programs, GreenFiber’s Community Paper Recycling Program accepts a wide variety of paper goods: newspaper, magazines, phonebooks, office paper, cardboard, cereal boxes, brown paper bags and construction paper.

A GreenFiber collector regularly services the bins at no charge and designated community programs benefit based on the amount of recyclable material collected. The community also benefits by reducing the amount of paper products that would otherwise be buried in local landfills. Refuse efficiency experts estimate that paper products account for almost 35 percent of landfill space; some estimates indicate that Americans throw away enough office and writing paper every year to build a wall 12 feet high from Los Angeles to New York City.

Nearly 100 GreenFiber recycling bins have been placed in the Metro Atlanta area in Carroll, Douglas, Haralson and Paulding counties and additional bins have been ordered to meet demands as the program grows. “The response has been wonderful – we already have a waiting list,” Byrd said. “The community has embraced the program and recognizes the environmental and economical benefits - it’s truly a win-win situation for everyone.”

To find a GreenFiber bin location in the Atlanta area, call 770-819-6900, x14. Additional details about the recycling program are also available at www.greenfiber.com/corporate/recycling_bin_program .

GreenFiber cellulose insulation is a natural fiber product made of 85 percent recycled paper fiber and offers an environmentally-friendly option for homeowners’ building, renovation and re-insulation projects with all of the ease and convenience of blow-in insulation. Since 2000, GreenFiber has diverted nearly 3 million tons of recycled materials from landfills. One ton of recycled paper: saves 17 trees; saves 4,000 kW of energy; can provide enough GreenFiber natural blow-in insulation to insulate the attic of a 2,500-square-foot home.

Established in 2000 and headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., US GreenFiber, LLC is the largest manufacturer of natural fiber insulation, fire and sound products. With 11 manufacturing plants located throughout the United States, GreenFiber products are sold to building supply retailers, manufactured housing builders and insulation contractors in the U.S. and Canada. For more information on GreenFiber, call customer service at 800-228-0024 or visit www.greenfiber.com.

Green Recession Busters

Whether the US economy is in recession is up for debate. However, it's fairly obvious that our economy has declined in the last couple of years and everyone is tightening their belts and trying to save a little money. Here's a few things you can do to put a little more jingle in your pocket and live eco-friendly. These tips our courtesy of our friends at GreenLivingTips.com.

• Turn lights off when not in use.

• Change incandescent lighting to CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamps) or LED.

• Use MARTA more, car pool, bike it or walk when possible.

• Reduce red meat consumption. Cows and livestock require food and produce methane gas, so maybe just have steak once a week...or even once a month. 

• Recycle whatever you can. 

• Take shorter showers.

• Look for natural alternatives to harsh chemicals. For example, baking soda can replace a stack of chemical cleaning products as can lemon juice and vinegar.

• Don't bin coffee grounds, throw them in the garden - it's great fertilizer.

• Turn off appliances at the wall when not in use. Just about anything with an adaptor or with a stand-by function sucks energy when not in use - this is called "phantom load" or "vampire power". The annual collective standby power draw from households in the USA is around 8 gigawatts - equivalent to the electricity production of eight large power plants.
  

All these things might seem insignificant, but when millions take an action, however small, collectively it can have a appreciable postive impact. Financially speaking, even addressing phantom load can knock up to 10 percent off your electricity bill.

Recycle Drink Pouches & Earn Cash

Fruit drink pouches are a staple in American schools' cafeterias. According to the Container Recycling Institute, 3.6 billion drink pouches are produced each year. Because the material used to make these pouches is non-recyclable, virtually every single one is sent to a landfill.

To help combat this huge loss of resources, TerraCycle, Capri Sun, and Honest Tea banded together to create a program called the Drink Pouch Brigade. This program allows schools, houses of worship, and others to reuse these previously non-recyclable items. In the program, locations are sent collections bags which hold 100 pouches and have prepaid shipping labels already attached!

The Drink Pouch Brigade program is available nationwide. The program is collecting ALL used drink pouch containers, while paying participants 1¢ for drink pouches they collect, while Honest Kids drink pouch that they return, and 1¢ for all other drink pouch brands. The program is free to sign up for and easy to run.

The program allows schools, groups, and organizations to help save environment while raising money for charity. Most importantly, it teaches kids about the importance and benefits of recycling. The pouches will be made into school supplies such as pencil cases, as well as handbags of various sizes and styles are tentatively scheduled to be sold at major retailers in 2008.

For more information about the program, visit www.terracycle.net/dpb.

Schools Win Recycling Award

Ten Georgia schools turned trash into treasure when they collected $1,000 each as winners of the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation’s 2007 “Excellence in Recycling” awards. The schools will use the money to either begin or expand recycling programs.

The foundation awarded a total of $10,000 to the schools for collecting recyclable products and promoting environmental education and events. Weyerhaeuser presented the awards at a Feb. 19, 2008, luncheon in Atlanta where students toured the Robert C. Williams Paper Museum.

The program, which is in its tenth year, is administered by the Georgia Recycling Coalition. Executive Director Gloria Hardegree said student leadership and instructional emphasis are priorities for selection. Students are expected to take part in program planning and collection of items that vary from milk cartons and drink boxes to newspaper, yard trimmings, food waste and steel cans.

“Students at some of these schools have helped arrange assemblies, plan an Earth Day event, publish a newsletter or sponsor a poster/essay contest,” she said.

“This year’s contest brings the total amount of grants since 1998 to $110,000,” said Monte Simpson, Weyerhaeuser public affairs manager.

The 2007 recycling award winners are:

Division A – Recognizing an Outstanding Program: Amana Academy, Alpharetta; Arcado Elementary, Lilburn; Centennial High School, Roswell; The Paideia School, Atlanta; Sylvester Elementary, Sylvester.

Division B - Expanding Existing Programs: Campbell High School, Smyrna; Woody Gap School, Suches.

Division C – Beginning a Program: Chestatee High School, Gainesville; David C. Barrow Elementary, Athens; Willis Sutton Middle School, Atlanta.

The mission of the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation is to improve the quality of life in communities where Weyerhaeuser has a presence. Since 1948, the Foundation has directed more than $183 million to the communities where Weyerhaeuser employees work, live and play. Nationwide, the Foundation’s annual philanthropic budget totals $10 million.