“Bertha” is a nickname that came about to describe the size of the outdoor recycling clusters and is used among the A.S. Recycling team. It contains four separate bins for the following categories: newspaper; aluminum and plastic #1 - #7; glass; and trash. We employ student route-riders to service the berthas using specially-designed tricycles.
The cluster containers themselves were designed by the A.S. Recycling Program and Mary Ann Hopkins of UCSB Physical Facilities in 1992. Made from all recycled materials, other UC campuses, cities, counties and outside agencies are now purchasing and using these clusters from recy-Cal have been inspired by these cluster containers and have borrowed the design for their own use.
Close the Loop is a term used to describe the last or first step in the recycling process. It refers to the point when a consumer purchases a product with recycled content. Closing the loop is most important as the recycling emblem to reduce product consumption.
Commingled Recycling means collecting two or more types of materials in one receptacle to be sorted later. Commingling is more convenient, but fosters a lazy habit that requires little or no conscious thinking for the consumption of your material, i.e. reduce. It also saves space, but the quality and quantity of recycled products maybe reduced.
Electronic Waste (E-waste)
MarBorg Industries is a family owned and operated business established in 1936 by Mario F. Borgatello Sr., hence the name. MarBorg provides waste management and garbage collection services for the Central Coast area, including Santa Barbara County. They own MarBorg took over the Goleta Material Reclamation Facility (MRF) and did a beautiful job in the Santa Barabara MRF
Material Recovery Facility (MRF - pronounced “murf”) is a specialized plant that prepares recyclable material for end-use markets. The facility separates different recyclables such as green glass from clear glass. Some facilities, like the Goleta MRF, separate trash from recyclable rich material. This method costs more for the extra labor. After each material is baled or compressed and bound into rectangular blocks, it is ready to be shipped and sold to manufacturers for reuse.
Transportation of material from collection sites to the MRF and finally to manufacturers and makes up a large part of energy costs depending on the location of each destination. Local sites are much more efficient for transportation purposes.
Office Pack is the recycling industry’s word for all recyclable paper. See Indoor Recycling.
Office Pack Containers are the tall dark green recycling containers designated for recycling office pack paper. They are located throughout campus classrooms, office areas, mailrooms, libraries and computer labs.
Post-consumer Content is material or a product that has been used by consumers and then reused/recycled, as opposed to those scrap materials produced by and then recycled within manufacturing processes (e.g. a newspaper returned to a paper mill recycled into new recycled content paper products). It is material or product used by the consumer for its original purpose and then discarded. Packaging often lists the percentage of recycled content (e.g. 50%) and then the percentage of that which is post-consumer content (e.g. 10%). 1
Recycled Content is the amount of pre- and post-consumer recovered material introduced as a feedstock in a material production process, usually expressed as a percentage. 2
Recycled Paper, according to Environmental Protection Agency's guidelines require a minimum of 30% post-consumer content for uncoated printing and writing paper, and a minimum of 10% post-consumer content for coated papers. Other forms of paper, such as newsprint, corrugated packaging, tissue, and others, also require post-consumer content. 2
Techno Trash encompasses a broad array of electronic devices such as computers, monitors, printers, and more. Many electronic wastes exhibit the toxicity characteristic due to the lead content as well as other heavy metals, deeming the waste hazardous and thus prohibited from regular trash.
Transfer Stations are intermediary sites that collect and sort a variety of materials, both recyclable and non-recyclable, from trash collection. The recyclable material goes to Material Recovery facilities (MRFs) (make link) for separation. The non-recyclable materials are hauled to a landfill, where they are covered daily in a system of compacted layers. 1
Unbleached paper excludes all white colored paper. Unbleached paper is either gray or dyed during papermaking. This process involves the least environmental impact.
Vermicomposting is the process whereby worms feed on slowly decomposing materials (e.g. vegetable scraps) in a controlled environment to produce a nutrient-rich soil additive that is one of the best fertilizers around. 1
Wet strength paper refers to paper product with wet strength polymers that provide mechanical strength when it is wet. Wet strength agents are added to a range of paper products like paper tissues, towels , hygiene paper napkins and beverage labels. Some face tissue paper and toilet papers also have wet strength agents. 4
1 Santa Barbara County Waste Reduction Program
2 New Leaf Paper: Terminology
3 New Leaf Paper: Eco-Paper
4 easy2source.com |
