This information is brought to you by Keith Woods:

ECYCLEPHX.ORG is run by the Boy Scouts (Troop 446) who organize the longest running computer and electronics swap meet in the southwest – the Scouts’ Electronicfest. scoutscomputerswapmeet.com

They are hosting their 3rd Annual Earth Day Electronics Recycling Event sponsored by Valleywide Recycling Partnership. To be held all day (11am to 7pm) Wednesday, April 22nd, at the Best Buy in Phoenix (at Camelback Road and 20th Street. All kinds of electronics will be accepted at this event (working or not), and proceeds will benefit local Boy Scouts. Donations may be tax deductible. For more information please call Keith Woods at 480-752-7410

Here are some examples of things you can bring in to be recycled:

EXAMPLES OF WHAT MAY BE DROPPED OFF

Computer Monitors CPU’s (Central Processing Units) Televisions with Cathode Ray Tubes and Flat Panel Displays Printers Laptops Cables Keyboards Mouses Telephone Equipment VCRs Word Processors Batteries PDAs

Answering Machines Camcorders Compact Disc Players Copiers Duplicators Electric Typewriters Fax Machines Hard Drives Mobile Phones Modems Pagers Printed Circuit Boards Radios Games (Video)

Microwaves Smoke Detectors Large Household Appliances (Refrigerators, Washing Machines, and Air Conditioners) Toasters Fans Vacuum Cleaners Lamps Specialty Cookers Remote Controls Stereos Tape Players Telephones

For more information on the Scout’s Earth Day Event visit this link: http://ecyclephx.org/earthday_2009.htm

Related posts:

1. Michael Shuman, Author of Small Mart Revolution and Going Local will be speaking in Phoenix February 1st
2. Happy Earth Day Arizona
3. Support Local on Grand Ave

No related posts.

This 2006 report titled, “Sustainability in the Motion Picture Industry” (PDF) was commissioned by the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) to review the movie and television industry and find some of the successful sustainability practices already in place. It is worth noting that although this is a public project funded for $170,000, the CIWMB claims full copyright of the report and does not allow reproduction of it in any form. The excerpts reproduced here are done so in Fair Use in order to comment on and review the report.

The Principle Investigators of this report are Dr. Charles J. Corbett, Professor in the UCLA Anderson School of Management, and Dr. Richard P. Turco, Professor in the UCLA Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.

The authors used interviews and case studies to learn about “best practices” within the movie and television industry between Summer 2003 and Spring 2005. The goal was to present this information in a clear fashion that would make it easier for the industry to make these best practices more commonplace. The reason for studying the movie/TV industry is that it is highly decentralized. A studio decides to pay for a film or television show, but it is the production team that finds an assortment of other individuals and businesses to help put it together. The argument is that other industries are starting to outsource more and therefore they can learn a lot from the practices of this industry.

It becomes quickly apparent, however, that this industry does not want the attention of this type of study. The authors note that while getting interviews and talking to people on sets was relatively easy, there was very little interest in being outspoken or giving identifiable remarks. The industry does not want publicity that might lead the public to become concerned with its practices, as the authors mention in the following statment on numbered page 3 (overall page 8 within your PDF reader), “The public at large does not think of the motion picture industry as polluting or otherwise environmentally harmful, so any publicity related to environmental initiatives within the industry would, in that view, draw attention to the existence of environmental problems that apparently need solving.”

The following section includes a few highlights from the report, but there is a lot more in it that is not reviewed here.

Internal Coverage of Sustainability Issues: The report tallies the number of articles appearing in two movie/TV industry newspapers: Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter. Figure 1 of the report is a plot of the number of environment or sustainability articles appearing in these two papers versus time. It displays a rise in environmental coverage by showing that there were a total of 3 articles in 1997 compared to 13 in 2004. The researchers performed a careful study in which only true environmentally related articles were counted. From a statistics point of view this result does not seem to imply anything about a “recent increase in attention awarded to environmental issues in the motion picture industry” as the authors conclude. To compare, I conducted my own (decidedly non-scientific) study by using the search engine at Variety’s website. Here are some searches and the number of Variety articles they return:

“baby seals” – 3

“environmental impact” – 69

“sex scenes” – 1,757

“breasts” – 2,371

“jack nicholson” – 2,501

It seems as though environmental issues would get more coverage if either Jack Nicholson becomes a freegan or they start making breast implants out of recycled plastic bottles.

Environmental Impact on the Los Angeles Area: Employing so many people and working year-round, it is no surprise that the industry has a significant environmental impact on the LA area. In terms of conventional pollutants, energy usage, greenhouse gas emission, and lubricating oil and tire consumption, the industry is either the largest user or very near to it (Figs 1-3, 4-5). The fatalities section of page 15 (PDF 20) is interesting to read, but difficult to put in perspective.

One conclusion from the report is that the industry is contributing a lot of greenhouse gas and is not doing much to reduce its generation, as read on page 68 (PDF 73): “From the environmental impact estimates, greenhouse gas emissions are clearly an area where the motion picture industry can be considered a significant contributor. From the interviews, it is clear that very few people in the industry are actively engaged with greenhouse gas emission reduction, or even with discussions of the issue.”

Budget Limitations on Sustainability: Page 23 (PDF 28) spells out that roughly 50% of a 50-million dollar budget will be used for the cast (but dominated by the A-list star), director, and producer. These three people possibly collect more than half of the budget and the many, many other people involved in production split the remainder. This makes movies (though the television side is somewhat similar) expensive and leaves little room for costs incurred through environmentally sound practices. So, if you are happy to see your favorite actor in a movie, be aware that hiring this actor might have come at the expense of various, higher price, sustainable practices on set.

Recycling: Recycling is very good because in order to comply with City regulations the studios banded together to accomplish compliance efficiently. Even in this case, however, it is difficult to recycle sets and will often be cheaper to throw them away.

Ultimate Challenge to Maintaining Sustainable Practices: The ultimate challenge facing the industry is that no long-term planning is possible. A project is not worked on until the money is finally approved, and then it is done as quickly as possible because delays lead to less profitability and might result in cancellation. Sustainability is all about planning ahead developing practices that can be repeatedly applied. The movie/TV industry, on the other hand, is built around being nimble and capitalizing on spur of the moment pop-culture phenomena to produce content that will attract the largest possible audience. This leads to a mentality in which no expense (no resource) will be spared in the production of such content.

Case Studies: The report includes a few case studies that display successful practices in sustainable productions. You can read about the movie, “The Day After Tomorrow” being carbon-neutral, though this was achieved by paying for carbon offsets to The CarbonNeutral Company and that money came from the director, Roland Emmerich, personally. Whether studios are willing to start paying this on a regular basis remains to be seen.

“Film X” is an example of a production that wanted to remain anonymous, but the production team provided many interviews. The theme of profitability being the most important aspect of movies came up repeatedly (even though this was “a two-hour, dramatic film based on a popular
bestselling novel and comprised of a large cast of A-list actors,”). Commercial success was deemed even more important than creativity and artistry. This gets back to the difficulty involved in applying sustainable practices while keeping costs down.

The Matrix 2 and 3 are an example of a successful set recycling program. The production worked with The ReUse People and were able to recycle 97.5% of the set material.

No related posts.

The 11-year-old AZ StRUT helps train students about computers by using donated machines and recycling them for use among schools and nonprofit organizations.

The recycling event will be from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at locations across the Phoenix metropolitan area, including:

• Basha High School, 5990 S. Val Vista Road in Chandler.
• Gilbert High School, 1101 E. Elliot Road in Gilbert.
• Arizona State University at the West Campus, 4701 W. Thunderbird Road in Phoenix.
• Phoenix Zoo, 455 N. Galvin Parkway in Phoenix.
• Mesa High School, 1630 E. Southern Ave. in Mesa.
• Arizona Public Service Center, 16800 N. Dysart Road in Surprise.
• Tempe High School, 1730 S. Mill Ave. in Tempe.

Data Doctors sites until 4 p.m., locations available www.datadoctors.com.

[Phoenix Biz Journal]

http://www.azstrut.org/

Related Article – Where does E-waste Go?

Related posts:

1. Save Taxpayer Money And Help Create Locally Made Fuel By Recycling Your Turkey Grease This Year.
2. tea, tea, and more tea
3. Local Phoenix Boy Scout Troop Support Recycling Electronics.

Q) What criteria do you use to classify a restaurant as “green”?

The most significant and quickest impact a restaurant can make to the local environment is to have their used fryer oil be recycled into clean burning biodiesel. This is a abundant local renewable resource that can make a significant impact on the air we breath in Arizona. And for the restaurant it is the easiest transition to make the biggest impact on the environment.

Q) How do you use the waste oil you receive?

Our partners Az Biodiesel recycle the waste oil into clean burning low emissions biodiesel fuel to only be sold here in Arizona. For every gallon of biodiesel that Az Biodiesel makes it will take away 16 pounds of co2 emissions out of the skies in Arizona.

Q) What would happen to the waste oil otherwise?

Some of the waste oil that is too polluted to be recycled into biodiesel fuel will be used for feed stock here in Az. But unfortunately most of the used oil is being shipped out of state or even out of the country. Used waste oil is a commodity and some oil collection companies are selling it to other biodiesel manufacturers in other states. Our partners at AZ Biodiesel have committed to use the oil for biodiesel fuel to be only sold here in Arizona. Its a resource that should be utilized here in Arizona and not shipped elsewhere.

Q) What is the benefit to the restaurants, consumers, local economy, environment, and what is the benefit to az green dining?

The benefit to the restaurant is that they can take advantage of the advertising campaign that Az Green Restaurant org. has launched to increase business into these participating locations. People these days tend to favor businesses’ that are doing their part in helping the environment, so the restaurants can also benefit by promoting themselves as a environmentally friendly establishment (that should also increase their business.) The consumers benefit knowing they are actually helping out the local environment by dining at these establishments. And the consumers also benefit from the cleaner air. To the local economy: Creating jobs in biodiesel processing, fuel distribution, equipment maintenance, and many other collateral business’ associated with any industry and this is just the beginning of a new local industry. Glycerin by product is reducing costs at local water treatment plants.
AZ Biodiesel maintains the cleanliness of the restaurants oil collection area and environmentally clean accidental spills and try to use as many “recycled” collection systems (used, high quality, easy pour, fluid visible, barrels) as possible.

Q) Is the biodiesel that is produced from this oil going to be available to the general public?

Absolutely.
From the commercial supply our target market is the school bus system first and foremost. But, we definitely want to make available to all the individuals that want to be environmentally friendly. Its the community effort that will determine the size of the success and our potential to use as much local resources as possible. Its all about the public and I think people would agree on the commercial side that school bus’ first makes sense.

Q) Will any of the biodiesel be shipped out of state?

NO

Q) What is done with the byproducts of biodiesel production?

Currently, the city of mesa uses it (for free) in their water treatment plant to increase the “energy” produced. Glycerin is like a food for the microbes they grow to consume the solid waste. This will save mesa a lot of money, we expect, and we feel is the true “community benefit” that should come from it. We aren’t interested in making every nickel by selling glycerin when the community should benefit as this is really a community effort.

Q) Anything you would like to add?

Please help clean the skies in Arizona but supporting local restaurants that donate their used fryer oil to be recycled into clean burning biodiesel by visiting www.azgreendining.com

WVO Storage Tanks at Az Biodiesel – Biodiesel Mixing tanks at Az Biodiesel

Az Biodiesel should be opening soon, they have already passed ASTM specifications on their biodiesel and are currently waiting for an EPA certificate.

What else can restaurants do to be more stustainable?

• Serve dine-in customers with reusable, washable plates, cutlery, utensils, and glasses.
• Serve take-out customers with biodegradable packaging, cutlery, and utensils. Eco-Products
• Watch their energy usage. I can think of many places where it’s so cold you need a jacket to dine-in.
• Watch their water usage. Don’t unnecessarily waste water.

Related posts:

1. Save Taxpayer Money And Help Create Locally Made Fuel By Recycling Your Turkey Grease This Year.
2. The film Fuel: Change the world by changing your fuel.

April 19 is AzStRUT’s 8th annual computer recycling day. AzStRUT is Arizona Students Recycling Used Technology and they refurbish old computer and give them to groups in need of technology. Head over to their website to learn more.

Related posts:

1. Local Phoenix Boy Scout Troop Support Recycling Electronics.

Freecycle is a great website to go to find free stuff and to give stuff away for free. Once there you just search for a group near you and get signed up on the mailing list. The lists are Yahoo groups so they’re very easy and probably somewhat familiar to a lot of people. Once you’re signed up you can receive emails with all the stuff people are giving away or you can just check the group whenever there is something specific you need. The Phoenix group connects you to over 13,000 people and Tucson over 9,000 people, so there a lot of people giving away free stuff and looking for free stuff in Arizona.

Paper Back Swap – No need to buy new books, you can swap books with someone else. All you have to do is pay for postage.

Swap a CD – Similar to Paper Back Swap, but you pay .50 cents for each CD you order.

Re Use AZ is much like Freecycle except geared more towards business and construction. There you will find construction, landscaping materials, and much more. Unlike Freecycle everything is listed on the website, so no need to sign on to a group list.

What other sites are out there to help with this? Lets us know!

No related posts.

No related posts.