One of the most innovative ways of recycling materials that have probably been over-looked came in the form of a contractor re-using bricks from a brick wall that needed to be torn down during the construction of an addition to a home.

The contractor learned his trade from one long time mason worker who believed that if you have brick as part of your building project, it could last forever.

He believed that the only structures that were worth a plugged nickel contained the strong and classy component of brick; also adding that more brick is better.

How could you go wrong following that kind of advice? In the Age of Recycling, as this time in our lives could be described, what would be the sense in sending perfectly good bricks off to a landfill?
If we are going to be efficient at recycling, our best course of action is to prevent waste, right? Here are some ideas the contractor had when talking about recycling the brick wall, one brick at a time and his suggested materials.

This project may not be one where any kind of further education degree required, but it is a laborous task and keep in mind the fate of your back from bending and picking up throughout this activity. The only materials needed are, a bucket with water, brick hammers and some muriatic acid for those really stubborn cement-clinging bricks.

This project could really make an impact on the home renovations in keeping with the theme of recycling, if done properly.

The wall needs to be taken down a brick at a time. The best way to do this and still keep the bricks in tact is to be patient and methodical. Tapping the bricks away from the mortar may sound easy but it is a sure test of patience when, in the back of your mind, you continue to think about how much more easy the task would be if you were using a large sledge hammer to do the job!

Once you have the bricks removed from the wall, begin to remove the mortar from each individual brick by chipping at it with the tapered end of the hammer.

There will be some instances where the mortar is not going to come off so easily and it is suggested that by placing the brick into a 5 gallon bucket of water, that should almost always make it easier for the mortar to come off the brick.

In cases where the mortar is still clinging onto the brick after a few dips in the water, try soaking the bricks in a solution of water and muriatic acid. Please remember to pay close attention to the instructions when using muriatic acid and be sure to wear gloves and protective goggles.

After the bricks have soaked in the acid and water mix, all mortar should come off by using a wire brush and cleaning them off.

Reuse the bricks anyway you choose and walk away from the project knowing you’ve done your best to recycle!

If you enjoyed reading about Recycling – Even Bricks Can Be ReUsedyou can read more articles like this at Dave Winterman’s website on general recycling information.

It may come as a surprise to you, but there is a really good chance that the town or city you live in offer a service you may not have heard of; an energy audit.

Cities and towns all over the country have started doing this, where an auditor comes to your home and goes through your living space and helps you to see where you could make changes that will not only help you conserve energy but will help you save money! What a bonus it is to save money by doing the right thing.

There are so many changes you can make in your home to impact the way we recycle and in the end, will help you keep some of the money in your pocket.

Having recycling bins set up so that you can properly sort the items that are recycled is a great first step. That activity alone can cut down greatly on the items that end up in the landfills rather than where they can be recycled.

Keeping your televisions, DVDs, stereos and computers plugged in to a power strip or surge protector rather than directly into the wall and then turning off the power strip will cut back greatly on power “leaks” that can cost you money on your utility bill.

Being aware to turn these items off, is the first step, and then having them plugged into the power strip will just further the action for saving money and energy.

Don’t leave a light on when you walk out of a room and no one else is in there. And have you changed your light bulbs from the traditional ones to the compact flourescent kind?

Did you know that the newer lights use 75% less energy to run and they will out live a traditional light bulb by up to 10 years? Make the changes that need to be made in your home.

Don’t run the dishwasher or the washing machine unless they are full. It’s a waste of energy and water to run a cycle through the dishwasher when it’s only half full. Don’t turn it on until you have a full load to wash and then just wash them all at once.

Use microfiber cloths for cleaning all kinds of surfaces like furniture, counters and sinks. The bonus is that these items can be tossed into the washer and are perfectly able to be reused again and again.

Think of the savings in paper towels alone! Talk about a win-win; if we use fewer paper towles, then that means fewer trees need to be cut to make them in the first place. How can we go wrong with thinking like that?

Take shorter showers and see if you can pick up a shower head that is a water-conserving item, already in place, that will save you money and you’ll never even notice the difference during your shower.

There is so much you can do in the efforts to recycle, just be sure you’re doing your part.

If you enjoyed reading about Recycling – Are You Doing Everything You Can?you can read more articles like this at Dave Winterman’s website on general recycling information.

In an average week how much junk mail comes to your home? For the average American family, with two adults and two children, they could probably weigh their junk mail at the end of any given week to equal the weight of a small animal.

An average American home can get items from; clearing houses, credit card offers, insurance offers, lottery winnings, mortgage advertisements and promises of lowering monthly mortgage bill, college flyers from schools all over the United States, entries into contests that had never been entered in the first place, solicitations from charities and the ever present retail catalogs!

Along with the simple fact that all of these items are unnecessary and annoying, the amount of waste they create is drowning the average American family in misused, unread paper.

How can this issue be dealt with and the waste be reduced, or never pro-duced, for Americans all over the country?

The answer to that question is, yes, there is something we can do to stop the madness of junk mail that litters our mail delivery every single day!

There is a group that has done all of the work for us, and they have all of the information needed to put an end to the junk mail that we are assaulted with in just a few easy steps and with the patience of a few weeks.

First you order the Junk Mail Reduction Kit for $15.00. Once you have purchased your kit, you simply sign on to the website and have the kit activated by clicking on the apropriate link. It is as simple as entering your name and address and the names of any other people living at your house, even variations of a name that appears on junk mail can be added.

The next step is to register your name and the names of the others at your address with the Direct Marketing Association Mail Preference Service, which will remove the names from hundreds of mailing lists.

This service is a one time fee of $1.00 per name and along with monthly monitoring to ensure your name remains off of unsolicited mailing lists. The option of having mail addressed to “resident,” “occupant,” or even “neighbor,” can be done, too.

Because the fact that conventional or “snail” mail isn’t instantaneous, it will take a few weeks for things to get rolling but in a few short weeks you will receive customized pre-printed postcards to sign, stamp and mail in and your name will be removed from as many lists that have your name in their data base.

Eventually all of the companies that have your name will be notified and the endless barrage of junk mail will cease. If a piece of junk mail finds its way into your mailbox, simply sign in to your online account and have your name removed as quickly as possible. Just imagine the impact of one house on one street in one town will make and why shouldn’t it be YOUR house?

If you enjoyed reading about Recycling: Putting An End To Junk Mail you can read more articles like this at Dave Winterman’s website which has hundred of articles on general recycling information.

Recycling has been around longer than any of today’s young teens have been alive and maybe that’s why recycling has never been a question for them as to whether or not they should recycle but has always been more of a “How else can we help when recycling,” kind of thought process.

My own generation, having grown up in the 70′s has a different mind-set. In fact, I have to remind myself the reasons we recycle, when to recycle and how to keep my family and household up-to-date and aware of the reasons to recycle.

This new, younger generation, is an impressive one, to me. They seem to be aware of humanity on a global level. Lessons they’ve been taught in school on a consistent basis have always had a common theme; take care of the Earth or we may lose it.

They are keenly aware of how wasteful prior generations have been and seem to be of one mind when it comes to solving those problems.

When we recycle we are taking a step away from ourselves and begin to think about the Earth as a whole. It has become obvious to us that by recycling our waste we are going to be leaving less waste for future generations to have to deal with and we are taking an active step in keeping the planet ‘around’ for a longer period of time.

Today’s teens have inspired me by their dedication to helping others who have less than they do and how wasting any commodity or resource we may have, the idea of wasting it is simply not an option.

They are forever coming up with new ways to reduce production of an item or they are constantly thinking up ways in which the item can be reused; they do this without needing to “think” about it, it’s the only way of life they’ve known.

There is an organization that has taken something many of us take for granted and figured out a way to pass on to those who are unable – to feel a little normal. Locks of Love takes hair donated by people and has that hair made into wigs for people who have had their hair fall out due to chemotherapy treatments or as the result of another disease or condition.

How brilliant to think of those of us who grow our hair without thought or effort, to be able to have the privellige of helping another! It’s beautiful to me, how this new generation is always thinking about how they can help others.

There are two teens that I know of who took this idea of growing their hair in order to donate it, and dedicated this past summer to doing just that; and the week before school opened in September, sat together and had their hair cuts.

What is remarkable about these two teens is that only one is a girl, the other, a young man knew there was a need for other boys his age to have wigs made for them and took on the challenge valiantly. Boys don’t have to have their hair quite as long in order to donate it, but it does have to be grown-out.

My awe at teens like these two from town, who at such a volatile age, where self-image is so very fragile, would step out of their comfort zones of following the crowd, in order to do grow their hair long enough for it to be recycled and reused by others, is overwhelming.

By stepping out of those comfort zones they leave themselves in a vulnerable situation, where they can become the targets for some of the ridicule that goes on in Middle school; and yet they still do it.

Maybe they are less likely to go against the idea of recycling because of the timing of their birthdates; it’s just refreshing to know that the idea of recycling is strong in this up coming generation and if we continue to foster that innate responsibility in them, we may just keep this planet around a little longer.

If you enjoyed reading about Recycling and Today’s Teensyou can read more articles like this at Dave Winterman’s website which has hundred of articles on general recycling information.

With the way technology is out-doing themselves year after year with newer, better, bigger and improved products for computer users, you can just imagine the amount of waste that is generated when consumers upgrade along with the process.

One household may have one or two computers to upgrade on a yearly basis but if you add to that computers and monitors from even a small business, the numbers add up very quickly.

What is the problem with throwing computers, their monitors, TVs and the like away with the rest of our trash? The main concern is that with CRTs and TVs they each contain approximately four pounds of lead per unit.

Lead cannot be biologically broken down and if it were placed in a landfill there is the possibility of the landfill becoming contaminated with the toxins from lead.

Lead poisoning has been associated with several health problems in children, including, learning disabilities and behavior issues and in some extreme cases, where high doses of the lead has been found, there have been reports of seizures, coma and even death.

There is always the risk of lead toxins seeping into a water source if left in a landfill and any results of lead poisoning are made even more tragic because they are so easily preventable.

In addition to the lead in some household items like computer screens and TVs, the plastic parts of these items sometimes contain a component that is called, brominated flame-retardant that helps the item to be resistant to flames in case of a fire.

Unfortunately, while the exact results of exposure to this additive are undocumented there is sure to be some kind of negative result that it’s just better to steer clear of.

In an effort to keep these potentially hazardous materials out of landfills there are many other options for ridding your home of older, outdated technology.

The first option should be to check with your community to see if there is a program set up to receive older CRTs and TVs for recycling. For instance, in Massachusetts, where I live, many cities and towns were given grant money for the specific purpose of setting up such a program.

If your town does not have such a program the next place to look would be at a local TV repair shop or even an electronics retailer because they may be able to reuse what you want to throw out.

Some areas even have electronic recycling companies that will come to your residence or business and pick up such items and from there they are responsible for the recycling of the items.

Even if a piece of electronic equipment can no longer be used for refurbishing an older model they can always be dissected and the individual components can be sold for their scrap value.

No matter what the item is that you want to recycle, there is a way to do it, all you need to do is make a phone call or two and you will have done your part to follow the recycling laws.

If you enjoyed reading about Recycling Items Like Computers & TVsyou can read more articles like this at Dave Winterman’s website which has hundred of articles on general recycling information.