Water Bottles

The amount of plastic water bottles sold per year is 1,809,938. That to me is very shocking considering the fact that you could save so much money and just buy a reusable water bottle for 10.00 dollars. Think about it... if everyone in your family had a reusable water bottle that you could fill with normal tap water

Most people think that plastic water bottles are easy because they already come full of water but they are actually super easy to just grab and go. At schools you can fill it up at water fountains. Most offices have bathrooms with filtered water or kitchens. You can fill them almost everywhere in our modern environment.

Just imaging a world with no water bottles. People would be free from plastic poisoning, and garbage would be way less. A happier safer environment for everyone. Image that.

Cellphones!!!

A quote that is sometimes said is "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust". This is DEFINITELY not true for cellphones. Every time a cellphone is thrown out, a number of toxins are released into the environment such as arsenic, antimony, beryllium, cadmium and lead. These toxins are very bad for you and the environment. Some of these toxins can even be directly linked to many health problems and diseases such as cancer, neurological disorders, damage to the nervous system, and developmental problems.

Have you ever thrown out a cellphone before? A lot of people do, usually because they either broke it, or because they have found a better, newer cellphone that they would rather have. This is a huge problem. When people do go to get rid of their phones, they have the choice of recycling it or sending it to a landfill. In a landfill, toxic substances get in the soil, water and air.

Did you know:

- The average customer only uses their phone for 1 year? In this year, 4, 221 megajoules of energy are used, the equvilent of 32 gallons of gasoline.

- For every 515 cellphones recycled enough energy is saved to power a house for a year.

- 100, 000, 000 cellphones are replaced each year, most of which are sent to landfills because people don't realize all of the dangerous chemicals they contain.

- 61% of people have cellphones, which means that there are about 4.1 billion cellphones in the world.

Now that you know why cellphones are bad for the environment, here are some tips on what you can do.

Don't throw out your cellphones. There are many places that will take them, give them to charity, or take them apart and reuse the valuable parts inside of the cellphones. Some of these places you can take your phone are: The Body Shop, Best Buy, and Value Village. You can also call 1 - 800 - 505 - 5525 for locations near you.

Every single person makes a difference. So what if your just a kid? You can make a huge impact on the earth just by telling everyone around you to recycle their phones, and doing the same. If every single person makes this small change to their lifestyle, imagine the worldwide effect it would have!

By Jenny (some of this information is from our cellphone project that I did with Emilie V.)

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY.

Imagine if instead of seeing gas stations every second while looking out the window, you saw green fields filled with wind turbines, and solar panels covering every buildings roof. That could happen if the world decided to use greener energy sources, instead of our current way of using fossil fuels. There are three main types of achieving this goal of a greener planet without the use of fossil fuels. The ways are using these types of energy are solar panels, dams, and wind turbines.
Solar panels ( also known as photovoltaic cells ) make renewable energy using the sun, and is very environmentally clean. They are mostly made of cystalline silicon and gallium arsenide, which is only used in solar panels. In the best conditions possible for a solar panel ( on the equator, sunny day, and it is brand new ) if the solar panel has diameter that is about 1.5 meters it creates a 2 amp current at around 2 volts. The best thing about solar panels is that they use the suns rays, which keeps on coming and the amount can not run out, they will never run out of the fuel to make their energy.
Dams are man-made structure that are built across rivers. Even though the majority of them them are used for flood prevention and to control the river's flow, lots are used to produce hydroelectric power. The energy is created when the water passes through the dam. So the more water that goes through, the more energy is created. Dams are usually huge, and the biggest one ( located in, Tadzikistan, Asia ) is 300 meters tall! ( around 984 feet ).
Wind turbines create the wind into kinetic energy. The first machines that used wind as a way to get energy was around 200 BC in Persia! Wind Farms are where many wind turbines are kept together. They usually have 3 points, and they can reach a speed of over 320 kilometers per hour! They have the highest efficiency of any the sources here.
I think that if the world replaced coal with hydroelectric energy and gas with wind energy the word would be a better place. I don't see many reasons why the world can't change there ways, and use greener energies.

I used the following websites:

http://www.wikipedia.org/
http://www.solarpanelinfo.com/solar-panels/what-are-solar-panels.php
http://www.mbgnet.net/fresh/rivers/dams.htm

Posted By Michael O

Deforestation

Deforestation is when Earth's trees are cleared at a massive amount, because of deforestation our rain forests could be completely demolished in 100 years.

most forests are cut down for money or so people can provide for their families.
Normally it is farmers who cut down forests so they can expand their farm, to do this the farmer will cut down part of the forest and then burn it.

Deforestation has a very bad impact on the enviroment, it kills many scpecies. Seventy percent of the worlds land animals live in rain forests and if we keep destroying the forests they will all die. Deforestation also is a major producer of climate change. Without shade from the trees the ground dries up, trees also help in the water cycle.

Without trees they also can't absorb any of the green house gasses, or CO2, this also polluting.

A solution to all this would to manage clear cutting smartly, so the forests stay intact.

by Liam

I got my information from
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation-overview.html

This is a blog post I wrote for Ms Weldon

Its called G is for Green! Check it out!

by Hannah

20 Facts About the Environment

Here are 20 surprising facts about the environment:

1. Hybrid cars- If you were thinking about buying a hybrid car, think again. According to scientists from the University of Chicago, you would help the environment more if you go vegan than if you buy an eco-friendly car.

2. Water pollution- What do you think is the #1 source of water pollution? If you were thinking chemicals, you're wrong. The biggest source of water pollution is actually the waste from farm animals.

3. Marine animals- Studies have shown that 70% of the world;s marine animals are at risk of extinction.

4. Wasting water- You could save more water if you didn't eat a pound of California beef than if you didn't shower for a whole year.

5. Wasting food- Many people cannot afford to buy fruits and vegetables, so the government spends thousands of dollars to get rid of them. While this happens,

40,000 children die every day due to starvation.

6. Methane emissions- Animals raised for food create 15-20% of the methane emissions the world produces every year.

7. Fossil fuels- Fossil fuels are being consumed 100,000 times faster than they are being formed.

8. Resources- By the time a Canadian is 6 months old, they would have used more resources than someone in a developing country would have used in their life.

9. Idling- Just 10 seconds of idling your car uses more energy than to just to restart your car.

10. Paper- Every tonne of recycled office paper saves 380 gallons of oil. 50 million tonnes of paper are consumed every year by Americans- that's more than 850 million trees being cut down.

11. Faucets- A single dripping hot water faucet can waste 212 gallons of water a month. That not only increases water bills, but also increases the gas or electric bill for heating the water.

12. Extinction- By the year 2100, a third of all animals living now will become extinct. Not only will the animals be gone, but ingredients to many medicine will be gone as well.

13. Forests- More than half of the world’s tropical forests have been lost. Each year, over 63,000 square miles are destroyed.

14. Recycle- It takes over 450 years for 1 plastic bottle to degrade, so recycle it! For every tonne of paper you recycle, you save 17 trees.

15. Computers- Laptop computers consume up to 90 percent less energy than standard desktop computers.

16. Food- Twenty-seven percent of all food produced in North America is wasted.

17. Plastic bags- Currently, Canadians take home over 55 million plastic shopping bags every week.

18. Cleaners- Canadians use approximately 54,000 tonnes of household cleaners annually.

19. Oil- One litre of oil can contaminate a million litres of ground water.

20. Aluminum cans- The energy saved from recycling 1 aluminum can is enough to power a TV for 3 hours.

I got my information from Green Expander, Stonyfield Farm, and Thinkquest.

By Erika

Endangered Species

Did you know that today 512 species are at risk of extinction. There are 13 species already extinct. About 75% of these species are endangered because of human induced habitat destruction. Many of the species at risk live in the Arctic. The polar ice cap they live on melts by 5% every decade. At this rate the ice cap will be totally gone by 2050.

What you can do is: become a member of P.E.T.A. an organization that protects endangered animals. You can learn more about the endangered animals by going to sites like the world wild life so that you can teach more people about these poor animals.

I hope that I have changed your thoughts about the endangered animals and I hope that you will help this situation. I hope that these animals will be saved!

By, Hannah
www.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2007-04-03-arctic-ice-melt_N.htm
www.naturecanada.ca/advocate/wildlife

Go Green

Green, be greener, go green. As global warming becomes a greater concern for us we hear these words everyday! Whether its coming from your radio, TV or just at school people everywhere are being told to "go green". But how do we "go green"? How do we save our environment? I mean how can one person save an entire planet???? Well one person alone can't save our planet but one person can help. And think about it if all 6 billion of us helped then maybe we could save our planet!!!

So here are some easy things that you can do to help, and you never know if you start to help maybe the people around you will follow your example and help too!

• STOP JUNK MAIL!!! -did you know that if you were to save all the junk mail that you find in your mailbox everyday for one year you would have the equivalent of one and a half trees!! You can stop junk mail by writing to: Mail Preference Service Direct Marketing Association of Canada 1 Concord Gate, Suite 607 Don Mills, Ontario M3C 3N6


• RECHARGE YOUR BATTERIES!!!- batteries contain heavy metals such as mercury and cadmium if your batteries end up in landfills these harmful heavy metals are released into the air. Did you know that the average annual use of mercury in batteries is over what the government limits in landfills by four times! You can buy rechargeable batteries or recycle your alkaline batteries, they can reuse the mercury and cadmium.


• BEWARE OF YOUR SHOWER!!- if a four person family showered for five minutes each day over one week they would use 700 gallons of water!! This would be enough water for a person to live off of for three years!!! If that same four person family had a low-flow shower head installed they would save over 14,000 gallons of water every year!

Now you know what you can do to help!! Go green and help save our planet, its the only place that we have to live!!!

I got my information from: http://library.thinkquest.org/11353/gather/help.htm and http://www.lovearth.net/stopjunkmail.htm

By: Rowena

How You Can Create Less Trash

1. Think about whether you really need the item before you buy it.

2. Buy in bulk from loose bins when possible to create less garbage. You can get bulk food at your grocery store.

3. Avoid products that have a lot of packaging, when you don't need that much. About 33% of what we throw away is packaging.

4. Buy products that you can use over and over again

5. Maintain and repair products instead of buying brand new ones

6. Reuse cloth bags and containers when you can.

7. Use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins

8. Use reusable plates and utensils instead of not reusable ones

9. Use reusable containers instead of plastic wrap and tin foil

10. Use cloth bags instead of plastic or paper bags

11. Buy rechargeable batteries for devices that are used more than others

12. Reuse packaging boxes and shipping materials

13. Compost your fruit and vegetable scraps

14. Buy used furniture, instead of buying brand new furniture

I got this information from 100 ways to save the environment.

By Jamie

What's Greener?

When it comes to being green, everyday choices affect the most. Which of the following is more eco-friendly?

1.Organic or Local Food?

Organic food means that no one uses farmers don't use harmful pesticides to the plants or feed hormones to animals. But not all organic food is nearby. Some organic farms ship their products far and wide which uses a lot of fossil fuels along the way.

A average North American meal travels about 2 400 km before it reaches our stomachs. Local food is a meal that's grown within 160 km of where we live. Food that's grown nearby doesn't generate the same pollution that comes from flying, shipping and trucking food thousands of miles.

The Greener Choice: Food that's both organic and local is the best. But when isn't available, go local. However buying locally means that we would have to cut out certain foods we need that are in our diet. For example, a Canadian family on a local diet can't eat bananas because they're only grown in tropical areas.

2.Leaving the computer on or off?

Some people say that leaving the computer on lasts longer. They say turning it on and off a lot times a day can stress its components because of the heating and cooling of the CPU(central processing unit). A broken down computer would end up in the landfill where it would probably be there forever.

A average PC computer uses 300 watts an hour, which equals to 7 200 watts are used every 24 hours. A family may use a computer for only up to 4 hours a day, wasting 6 000 watts of energy. Plus, the TV have many of the same components as a computer has and it's not on 24 hours a day.

Greener choice: Turning the computer off. But some computers are hooked up to networks or are used as web servers. These computers need to be on or they can't do their jobs.

3. Hand Dryer or Paper Towels?

Hand Dryers can last 5 years before being thrown away into a landfill. Also they need electricity to work so they use non-renewable resources.

Trees are cut down everyday just to produce paper towels. Energy is used to transport and manufacture the towels, which are only used once and then thrown away. Since used paper towels can't be recycled, they're then headed to the landfill.

Greener choice: Hand Dryers. But some say that these are health hazards because some people walk away before their hand are completely dry. This leads to the water transferring bacteria onto other surfaces.

Hope this helps. Got information off Owl Magazine, September 2009 issue.

Emma S.

Enviro Challenge

Do you have what it takes?

The environ-challenge is taking place on May 3rd, 2010! We only have 5 people signed up! Please sign up on the sign up sheet above the water fountain! The questions are easy enough for everyone to be able to understand, and the prizes are absoluley outstanding!!

Sign up above the water fountain!!!

Thanks,

The Environ-Challenge team

NAME!!!

Bloggers of grade 7 please remember to add your name at the end of your post.

Thank you
-Kyle

20 practical ways to help the environment

1. Prevent energy leaks at home.
2.Lower your thermostat.
3.Switch your light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs.
4.Use a low-flow shower head.
5.Compost or use a Green bin.
6.Use a drip irrigation system in your garden, so you don't have to use the hose.
7.Plant trees in your yard and community.
8.Go "mostly organic" in your garden.
9.Use a reel or electric lawnmower.
10.Replace your single paned windows with double paned windows.
11.Turn off lights and electronic devices when they are not in use.
12.Fix water leaks in your kitchen and bathroom.
13.Switch to a low flow toilet.
14.Use ceiling fans to cool off in the summer.
15.Dry your clothes outside instead of using a dryer.
16.Invest in solar panels.
17.Rethink transportation.
18.Use small efficient devices to cook food.
19.Use native plants in your garden.
20.Get involved locally.

I got my information from: Practicalenvironmentalist.com

By Tyler

GREENTEC

GREENTEC is an organization that disposes your electronics safely. Here are some things GREENTEC can do with your electronics: they can recover the remaining value of your end-of-life IT equipment. They also sell recycling boxes (boxes where you put recyclable electronics to be recycled). Their core competencies are acquisition, qualification, disposition, and/or recycling. They recycle ink cartridges and cell phones, and they give some money back to the people that gave them the electronics. A great program they have is that for every 24 products they collect from someone, they plant a tree in their name. Some of you may have read in the Friday File that on Monday, April 26, GREENTEC has kindly offered to bring in an e-waste bin so we can drop off our old electronics. When it gets full, someone will take it back to GREENTEC so the electronics can be recycled. The e-waste bin will be in the back parking lot, near the middle school. Please help the environment and dispose your electronics properly. If you want to find out more information about GREENTEC, visit their web site at www.greentec.com.

By Erika

Environmeantally friendly and fun.....gardening!

For environment day, the gardening group is doing something environmentally friendly and fun. We are making a garden with many flowers, pumpkins, and more. We have talked with Mr. Spackman and Mr. Southward about the issues, so we havent figured out where this garden is going, but we have a few ideas. Our main spot is where everyone will see it, we can get to it easily, and it has the sun and other environmental opportunities to grow faster. We are thinking behind the chapel. To include our younger lower school students in this garden, we will let them find rocks, then they can paint them (with environmentally friendly paint)as their own pet rocks. If students dont want to get messy with paints, they can participate in making the "pet rock houses" and the "wind chimes". The houses are made with just rocks and sticks and other fun nature items to decorate them. The wind chimes are made with sticks glued together, strings hanging down, then attaching the rocks to the strings. All these things will make our garden look fun, environmentally friendly, and fantastic. All the kids can look at it and say that they made it too.


Apart from all the gardening, here are some tips to help our environment and all the earth together:


Turn off the lights after leaving a room


Have showers, not baths


Use bamboo products, not paper

Reduce, reuse, and recycle

Keep the air good (:

Keep your doors closed in the summer when your air conditioning is on, or open your doors instead of using air conditioning!

Keep the air nice and fresh and don't pollute it! And try using more energy efficient things for your everyday tasks.

Christine

Recycle!

For the last little while, the desire to help the environment has increased. An easy way to help the environment would be by recycling! Many towns and cities are making it a requirement rather than an option. Also, they are running out of places to put garbage, so if we all recycle this could start to help this problem. And even seeing something new coming from things we have already have used, may be a nice thing to see, and it's better for the environment.

We could do things like using reusable bags, and we could have compost bins! Just little things like this could help the environment!

Here are some facts about recycling!


In a life time, the average North American will throw away 600 times his or her adult weight in garbage. This means thateach adult will have a legacy of 90,000 lbs. of trash for his or her children.

You can make 20 cans out of recycled material with the same amount of energy it takes to make one new one.

Enough aluminum is thrown away to rebuild our commercial air fleet 4 times every year.

A glass bottle can take as long as 4,000 years to decompose.

9 out 0f 10 people would recycle if it were made easier.



I got my environmental facts from:

http://www​.rribitt-w​hy-is-recy​cling-so-i​mportant.c​om/recycli​ng-facts.h​tml

Emelie F

Global Warming

What Can We Do To STOP Global Warming???

Use Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

Replace your old light bulb with a compact fluorescent one. If you use three compact fluorescent light bulbs in your home you will save 300 pounds of carbon dioxide and $60 per year!

Inflate Your Tires

Having your tires all the way inflated can save you $840 per year and keep 250 lbs. of carbon dioxide out of the air! You can check your tires monthly to make sure.

Change Your Car's Air Filter

Check your car's air filter every month. You can save $130 per year and keep 100 lbs. of CO2 from going in to the atmosphere by doing this small little thing.

Fill the Dishwasher

If you only run your dishwasher when it's full if will save you $40 a year and 100 lbs. of CO2 emission a year.

Adjust Your Thermostat

If you Move your thermostat down two degrees in the winter and up two degrees in the summer you can save up to $98 and 2000 lbs. of carbon dioxide a year.

Change the AC Filter

If you clean or replace dirty air conditioner filters you'll save 350 lbs. of carbon dioxide and up to $150 per year.

Take Shorter Showers

Cut your shower short and you can save 350 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $99 per year.

Install a Low-flow Shower Head

Using less water in the shower means that less energy is used to heat the water, saving 350 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $150 a year .

Buy Minimally Packaged Goods

Buying less packaging reduces garbage up to 30%. You also save 1200 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $1,000 per year.

Carpool When You Can

Carpooling with friends saves fuel. You can also save 790 lbs. of carbon dioxide and hundreds of dollars per year.

Don't Idle In the Car

Idling wastes money and gas, and generates pollution and global warming-causing emissions. Turn your engine off if you have to wait for more than 30 seconds. Only leave it running if your in traffic.

Drive Less

Walk, bike, carpool, or take public transit. You'll save one pound of CO2 for every mile you don't drive.

Reduce Garbage

Recycle paper, plastic and glass, and buy products with less packaging can save you 1,000 Ibs. of CO2 per year.

Plant a Tree

Trees suck up CO2 and create clean air for us to breathe, so we need them to survive. A single tree will absorb one ton (that's 2000 lbs.) of CO2 in the course of its life.

Unplug Un-Used Electronics

Even when electronic devices, like your stereo and phone charger, are turned off, they use energy, so unplug 'em and save over 1,000 lbs. of CO2 and $256 a year.

Put on a Sweater

If you put on a sweater instead of turning up the heat you can save 1,000 lbs. of CO2 and $250 a year.

Air Dry Your Clothes

If the weather is nice, put your laundry on the line to dry. You'll save 700 lbs. of CO2 and up to $75 a year.

Turn Off Your Computer

Shut it off when you're not using it and save 200 lbs. of CO2. Save energy by using your sleep on your computer instead of its screensaver.

Eat Your Greens

The average American diet is full of meat products and thus contributes an extra 1.5 tons (that's 2500+ lbs.) of greenhouse gases per year, compared with a vegetarian diet. Eating 20% less meat makes the same impact as switching to a hybrid car!

Ditch the Plastic

2.5 million individual plastic water bottles are thrown away every hour in the US alone! That is 2.5 million to many. A plastic bottle thrown in a landfill will still be a plastic bottle in 200 years because plastic is not biodegradable! Start using a reusable water bottle and just say no to plastic!

In total, if you did all these things, you would save $3, 448 per year and 9,000 Ibs. of CO2 Per year.

By: Laurel

I got my information from Action Tips: Ways You Can Stop Global Warming.

A Greener Home

So if you think about simple ways to save on electricity bills, you can make some smart changes to your home, making it more eco-friendly and save a considerable amount of money in the long term. The term green energy refers mainly to the use of devices that consume less energy or use renewable energies like solar and wind power as eco-friendly and profitable energy sources.

The following tips are practical ways so that you can make your house more energy efficient and eco-friendly:

1) Installing solar water heater is a great way to make your home more energy efficient and eco-friendly.

2) The placement of solar photovoltaic panels: the use of renewable energy from the sun and convert it into electrical energy can be easily done by placing solar photovoltaic panels on the roofs of your house.

3) If you build a new house, you can make your house to be more energy efficient by build your house through the use of bricks which are made of insulation material, installing doors and windows to allow the house to use the sun shine optimally.

I hope those tips useful for you. Let us start to make this world greener and better for our future.

By Pooja

Thank You.

carbon dioxide emitions

Carbon dioxide emissions are a main cause of global warming and here are the top 5 out of 100 worst sorces of co2 emissions. In first place for worst carbon dioxide contributor China with 6,103,490 metric tons. Followed by the US with 5,752,289 tons. Then we have European Union with 3,914,159 then Russia with 1,564,669 tons. Finally India with 1,510,351. Now we weren't in that list because Canada is 9Th. If you put all the worlds emissions together there would be 28,431,741 tons of co2 wow what are we going to do about that?

thank you International Energy Agency for the info

Enviro Challenge

Do you think you know about the environment? We need 10 students from each class to participate in this competition. The sign up sheet is posted at at the water fountain. You can win some cool prizes, just sign up before April 24th.

Do you have what it takes to win the enviro challenge?

By, Emilie Vos

Interesting Enviro Facts

If just 25% of U.S. families used 10 fewer plastic bags a month, we would save over 2.5 BILLION bags a year.

On the average, the 140 million cars in America are estimated to travel almost 4 billion miles in a day, and according to the Department of Transportation, they use over 200 million gallons of gasoline doing it.

Every year we throw away 24 million tons of leaves and grass. Leaves alone account for 75% of our solid waste in the fall.

Over 100 pesticide ingredients are suspected to cause birth defects, cancer, and gene mutations.

Every ton of recycled office paper saves 380 gallons of oil.

About 1% of U.S. landfill space is full of disposable diapers, which take 500 years to decompose.

Energy saved from one recycled aluminum can will operate a TV set for 3 hours, and is the equivalent to half a can of gasoline.

Glass produced from recycled glass instead of raw materials reduces related air pollution by 20%, and water pollution by 50%.

Americans use 50 million tons of paper annually -- consuming more than 850 million trees.

Homeowners use up to 10 times more toxic chemicals per acre than farmers.

By turning down your central heating thermostat one degree, fuel consumption is cut by as much as 10%.

Insulating your attic reduces the amount of energy loss in most houses by up to 20%.

Enough glass was thrown away in 1990 to fill the Twin Towers (1,350 feet high) of New York's World Trade Center every two weeks.

One ton of carbon dioxide that is released in the air can be prevented by replacing every 75 watt light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs.

Many banks lent large sums of money to developing nations. In order to pay those debts plus interest many nations have turned to the mining of their natural resources as a source of financial aid.

Every day 40,000 children die from preventable diseases.

The public transportation that we have is a wreck. The U.S. continues to promote and invest in private car travel rather than public transportation.

The human population of the world is expected to be nearly tripled by the year 2100.

A three percent annual growth rate will result in the doubling of consumption and production of food and other products in 25 short years.

The amount of motor vehicles that are expected to be operated will increase 15 million a year until at least 2010.

The world's per capita grain production has been on the downfall since 1985 despite the use of fertilizers and pesticides.

Already a train system has been developed (back in 1987) which is based on magnetic levitation and causes minimal pollution. These versions of a train are already in use in several countries.

Fibre optics, made of glass, are being used to replace copper cables throughout the world.

The uncontrolled fishing that is allowed has reduced the amount of commercial species. Some species, up to one-tenth of their original population.

Every day 50 to 100 species of plants and animals become extinct as their habitat and human influences destroy them.

Found at: http://library.thinkquest.org/11353/facts.htm

Posted by Kyle

WANTED!

SJK is having its very own “GREEN” fashion show!

What we need is for you to volunteer to be our models!
All you need is some “GREEN” clothes, which could be anything from hand-me-downs, to recycled clothes or even clothes that are the colour green, with recycled materials stuck to them! But there’s a catch, your clothes have to be approved!

EnviroZine http://www.ec.gc.ca/envirozine/english/issues/33/print_version_e.cfm?page=feature1

---

Mounting Concerns Over Electronic Waste
Mountain of computers in landfill. Electronics are being replaced every day with faster and smaller devices, and yet few are recycled after these products become obsolete. As a result, mountains of electronic waste are piling up in landfills across Canada. Of even greater concern is that most electronic equipment contains toxic substances such as lead, cadmium and mercury. These heavy metals and other substances found in electronic products can pose elevated risks to human health and the environment if they are not properly managed.
Electronic waste can contain both toxic substances and recyclable materials. Photo: John Wlodarczyk. Click to enlarge. These products also contain valuable material such as aluminum, ferrous metals and copper that could be recycled. However, due to the shortage of electronic waste recycling facilities in Canada, very little is being recovered. In response to the growing need to safely manage obsolete electronic equipment and promote product-focused resource recovery strategies, Environment Canada, Natural Resources Canada and Industry Canada are working together with equipment brandowners, provinces, territories and other stakeholders to forge a national industry-led program to take back and properly recycle unwanted equipment. How much e-waste is there? Environment Canada commissioned two studies to estimate the amount of computer equipment, phones, televisions, stereos, and small home appliances disposed each year. The first study on Information Technology and Telecommunication Waste in Canada, released in October 2000, and the Baseline Study on End-of-Life Electrical and Electronic Equipment in Canada, released in June 2003, provide a better understanding of the magnitude of the e-waste problem in Canada. Combined, these studies reveal that disposed computer equipment, phones, audio-visual equipment and small household appliances account for more than 140 000 tonnes (or 4.5 kg per capita) of waste each year in Canada. Producers Take Responsibility Several major brandowners of electronic products have identified that they are committed to developing, financing and administering a Canada-wide program to divert e-waste from disposal by ensuring that it is properly recycled. This concept, commonly referred to as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), places the onus on producers to properly manage their products at the post-consumer stage. EPR has rapidly gained much popularity, both in Canada and other parts of the world, because it has a potential to stimulate producers to design longer-lasting, less hazardous, and more recyclable products. In Canada, EPR has already been applied to target a broad range of post-consumer product streams such as used oil, scrap tires, batteries, beverage containers and packaging. The Canadian electronics industry established a not-for-profit organization known as Electronic Product Stewardship Canada (EPS Canada) to lead design and implementation of a national EPR program for e-waste, and liaise with Canadian governments and other stakeholders on this issue. The organization is composed of industry representatives from two industry associations, namely Information Technology Association of Canada and Electro-Federation Canada, and 16 major multi-national corporate funding partners. EPS Canada plans to roll out the implementation of a national industry program over a five-year period, starting in 2004. Designed to encourage consumers to reuse and recycle their electronics, the program will initially target personal computers, laptops, printers and televisions. In time, the program will broaden in scope to include other types of electronic equipment. Similar to other EPR programs, industry proposes to finance its national program by imposing environmental levies on their products. It is anticipated that consumers will be charged between $2 - 7 for laptops and printers, and $20 - 25 for televisions and personal computers. To help ensure that hazardous wastes and recyclables are managed in an environmentally sound manner, Environment Canada is revising its existing Export and Import of Hazardous Waste Regulations and developing federal guidelines for managing end-of-life computer equipment. Combined, these tools will provide added measures to protect human health and the environment from hazardous waste and hazardous recyclable material streams, including electronics. Computers for Schools refurbished computer. Photo: M. Blondin. Click to enlarge. Refurbishing programs aimed at recycling electronic goods are gaining in popularity. Computers for Schools is just one of many programs that encourage reuse of older electronic products like computers. The Computer for Schools program reconditions donated equipment and distributes them free of charge to schools and libraries across Canada. Computers for Schools currently delivers over 340 refurbished computers per day. To date, it has refurbished over 426 000 computers. E-waste and You You can help to keep electronic products out of landfills by: Encouraging vendors and brand owners to subscribe to a take-back and recycling program for the electronic products they sell or make. Upgrading or repairing electronic products where feasible instead of replacing them with new ones. Donating your old equipment to a family member, friend or charitable organization. Checking with your municipality to learn about reuse, recycling and disposal options for electronics in your area.	Fast Facts More than 140 000 tonnes of computer equipment, phones, televisions, stereos, and small home appliances accumulate in Canadian landfills each year. That's equivalent to the weight of about 28 000 adult African elephants or enough uncrushed electronic waste to fill up the Toronto Skydome every 15 years. An estimated 4 750 tonnes of lead is contained in personal computers and televisions disposed each year in Canada. By 2005, yearly disposal figures for personal computers alone will contain an estimated 4.5 tonnes of cadmium and 1.1 tonnes of mercury. Exposure to high levels of lead, cadmium and mercury in the environment has been linked to adverse effects on human health and wildlife. This includes subtle neurobehavioural effects for lead, chronic kidney damage for cadmium, and sensory or neurological impairments for mercury. Electronics contain valuable resources such as ferrous metals, aluminum, and copper, however most electronics are currently sent to landfill. In 1999, it is estimated that disposed personal computers alone contained 4 400 tonnes of ferrous metal, 3 050 tonnes of aluminum and 1 500 tonnes of copper. Extended Producer Responsibility recognizes that brandowners and manufacturers are in the best position to control the longevity, content, and recyclability of the products they design and market. Related Sites National Office of Pollution Prevention Transboundary Movement Branch Extended Producer Responsibility & Stewardship Computer for Schools Electronic Product Stewardship Canada Information Technology Association of Canada Electro-Federation Canada Related EnviroZine Articles Out With The Old, In With The New...But Wait! Stop Pollution Before it Starts Pollutants in Your Neighbourhood POPs - The Dirty Dozen What are future concerns about landfills? What do you do with old computers and the parts that are obsolete or just a few years old but lack the latest capabilities? What to do with your old appliances?

URL: http://www.ec.gc.ca/envirozine/english/issues/33/print_version_e.cfm

E-waste

E-waste and You

You can help to keep electronic products out of landfills by:

1. Encouraging vendors and brand owners to subscribe to a take-back and recycling program for the electronic products they sell or make.
2. Upgrading or repairing electronic products where feasible instead of replacing them with new ones.
3. Donating your old equipment to a family member, friend or charitable organization.
4. Checking with your municipality to learn about reuse, recycling and disposal options for electronics in your area.

taken from http://www.ec.gc.ca/envirozine/english/issues/33/feature1_e.cfm