Go Green!

Step 5 Recycle

Most people use things only once or twice, and throw them away. What I say: RECYCLE!
Recycling is when something gets used in a cycle over and over again. Every 16.9 oz/500 mL plastic bottleed saves the energy of a computer being on approximately 30 minutes. od way, if you drink bottled water. I prefer drinking filtered tap water, it costs 500 times less. And saves money.

Rishnai's two cents:
If you like to have a source of portable water, buy one (count it, one) bottle of water, drink it, and refill it with tap water.

Little-known fact, but Aquafina and Dasani are just glorified tap water from the cities that the bottling plants are in. Unless you live someplace where the water is literally non-drinkable, like Alamosa, Colorado recently (major bacterial contamination), your tap water is not any less safe than most bottled water.

Aluminum is at record prices right now. If I remember correctly, 8 aluminum cans equals a pound. Two full 45-gallon trash bags of cans fetches three dollars at King Soopers. That same thing fecthes you over a hundred at the scrapyard. Don't let the scrapyard weigh your truck with and without the cans, though and pay you for the difference--they're cheating you. Those large scales are not calibrated for that kind of precision. Weigh the cans yourself on your bathroom scale before you leave home. If you put the bags in boxes and go to the post office/UPS office during a non-busy time of the day, those folks will probably let you use their scales. Their scales are definitely accurate. Now have that information at the ready when you go to the scrapyard and cash in.

Comments

[DELETED_cholo71796]

(removed by author or community request)

[Rishnai]

You make an excellent point. Of course, all such plastic bottles leach Bisphenol A, so best not using them at all. I'd think that more would leach into the initial amount of water because it has been in the bottle a lot longer than just filling it up for the day and drinking it. Even the "reusable" plastic water bottles leach nasty chemicals. Nalgene bottles, for example, leach an estrogen-like chemical that can cause endocrine problems. Maybe we all ought to stick to stainless steel or glass bottles, if we drink out of a bottle at all.

[Grey_Wolfe]

cans are not considered 'clean' aluminum, so they're not worth quite as much as other sources of aluminum. Your point still stands, they're worth more at the scrap yard. Helpful hint: the tabs are clean aluminum unless they're coloured; pull your tabs and scrap them seperately, you'll get more cash.

[Rishnai]

Excellent idea! I used to collect them. I had about 45 gallons of them at one point. Maybe I was a little obsessive, but I just made a point of having everyone who I had ever met give me their tabs. Of course, I didn't sell them at the scrapyard, I made "chainmail" out of them and sold it at art fairs and the like. Kids liked it. Another thing about the tabs: some places have stuff from the Ronald McDonald House where they'll give one minute of dialysis to a child at children's hospital for each tab collected. That's where that 45 gallon bag went. That's a lot of Big Macs... I probably cost 'em a fortune!

[Grey_Wolfe]

Got any pics of your 'mail'. I've been messing around with cans as an art supply, I'd love to see how that turned out.