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Home , Aluminum can, Precycling, Rite Aid

A Quarterly Newsletter of The City of Irvine (949) 724-7669 Management of Orange County (949) 642-1191 ®

Fall 2009 Cans for Cash Put a little green in During 2007 and 2008, the City of Irvine Halloween partnered with Irvine Unified School District and local businesses to take part The origins of the Halloween tradition in a nationwide aluminum can started hundreds of years ago as an ancient challenge. Through this community Celtic festival that marked the end of partnership, the City of Irvine won an award summer harvest and the beginning of two years in a row for the most innovative winter. During this celebration, they would campaign and donated the award proceeds, adorn themselves in costumes and tell each totaling $10,000, to the Irvine Public other’s fortunes. Schools Foundation to support the school Today, many of us participate in district’s recycling program. Halloween celebrations and adorn ourselves This year, the City is participating in in costumes. But instead of fortune-telling, the recycling challenge once again. So, we head out for a bounty of candy or for please save your aluminum cans and recycle a lively party. Halloween has become them in Irvine during the month of October. the second biggest holiday season of the For more information about the year, with over $5 billion in annual sales, Cans for Cash contest, please visit www. according to the National Federation. cityofirvine.org/environmentalprograms or This year, help make Halloween more call (949) 724-6459. environmentally friendly. Here are some tips to add a little green to your orange and black celebrations and help save some money in the process. electronic “evite” for your fabulous monster Fun Facts about Can Recycling Each year, about 36 million children go bash. Buy snacks in bulk and serve them • It takes 95% less energy to recycle an aluminum can than to create a new one from trick-or-treating, fully one-third of adults in reusable bowls. Provide recycling raw materials! dress up in costumes, and 7.4 million pets for plastic, , and aluminum • Recycling 40 aluminum cans saves an amount of energy equivalent to 1 gallon of get gussied up. Instead of buying brand-new beverage containers. gasoline! costumes, create your own using items from When trick-or-treating, use a reusable • Recycling one aluminum can saves enough electricity to power a TV for 3 hours! around the house or visit local thrift stores. , such as a pillowcase or canvas tote, Search online for sites providing ideas and to carry your treats. Consider giving patterns to make your own costume. When out items that don’t generate additional done, recycle your costume. Trade with , such as pencils or erasers. or plastic? No, thanks! friends or organize a costume swap. Look for treats made with organic or local About $1.5 billion is spent on ingredients. Reducing your waste is easy—stop Halloween and related fall decorations. Search online for other tips, crafts, and accepting the free paper and plastic Choose sustainable items for decoration. ideas to help green your Halloween. Visit at the store. Once you get home It’s really scary to consider how much these sites for ideas: to put away your groceries or other waste goes to the . Make sure • www.greenhalloween.org purchases, you are stuck with these your decorations are durable and can be • www.costumzee.com bags. The bags are reusable, but a lot of used over and over. Put your decorations • www.treehugger.com them just go into the trash. Plus, many together into a or bin and clearly mark • www.babyzone.com of the lightweight plastic bags end up it “Halloween.” Before you head to the Don’t forget to visit the city’s website! on our roadsides or hanging from trees store for decorations, check your own attic, We have tips on greening all of your holiday as . garage, or storage area. celebrations: www.cityofirvine.us/green_ You probably already have several Planning a party? Send out an holiday_home.php. canvas bags that you can . Put some in your car. Then remember to grab the bags on your way into a store. If you don’t have lots of extra canvas bags, you can purchase reusable you say, “No, thanks” to plastic and paper County HHW Collection Center shopping bags. Some are so small and bags, you reduce the potential for litter and lightweight that they fold up to fit into a your weekly waste, and you conserve fuel pocket or purse. Many of these reusable that would have been used to deliver bags to Plans October Re-Opening bags will hold as much as three to four the store. Carrying your own reusable bags is an easy way to help our environment, The Orange County Household Hazardous To use this facility, proof of Orange plastic or two paper bags full of groceries. Center (HHWCC), located County residency is required. That also means fewer trips from the car to keep our community cleaner, and make your unloading a breeze. at 6411 Oak Canyon in Irvine, was closed For more information or to learn more the house while you are unloading—and we during part of August and September for a about other Orange County HHWCC know you’ll like that! To learn more about this and other “” options, visit the city’s website paving rehabilitation project. The project locations, visit www.oclandfills.com or call Each year in the U.S., retailers hand out is in the final stages of completion and the 714-834-6752. more than 380 billion plastic shopping bags at www.cityofirvine.us and click on “Zero © iStockphoto.com / Jason Reekie Waste.” County expects to have it up and running by and another 10 billion paper bags. When mid October. Residents may drop off household gray . To participate, simply hazardous waste, pharmaceuticals, medical place your plastic bags inside another bag, Bag your bags sharps in approved containers, and universal not loose in the cart, to ensure that all waste, such as fluorescent tubes and bulbs, the plastic will be captured in the sorting Residents with curbside recycling service batteries, and electronics. Drop-off hours process. When your bag is full, tie it shut can recycle their plastic shopping bags are Tuesday through Saturday, from 9 a.m. and drop it into the recycling cart. in the recycling cart with the gray . to 3 p.m. (The HHWCC is located off recycling is also still For residents who live in multi-family of Sand Canyon between the 5 and 405 available at most grocery stores. complexes, place your plastic bags in the freeways.) Page 2 Fall 2009 Helpful Hints for the Holiday Season s the holiday season approaches, you are probably already planning trips and parties. A Beginning in November and continuing through Super Bowl Sunday, many people travel, visit relatives, eat big meals, prepare special foods, and give more than a few gifts. Because of this, the holiday season is often also waste season. It doesn’t have to be. Here are some tips to help you have a less wasteful—and more relaxing—winter season. n Party Planning – Know how many people are coming to each event you’re hosting © iStockphoto.com / Pattie Calfy and plan the food accordingly. If you have more leftovers than your family can finish, send food home with your guests. Avoid disposable decorations, dishes, cups, and downloadable music are also a great, waste-free idea. Another option is napkins. Instead, reuse old family decorations, your own dishes, , and cups, to give of yourself, such as offering to run errands, babysit, take a walk in the woods, or and reusable cloth napkins. If you don’t have cloth napkins, maybe this would be a meet for a picnic in the park. You also might consider giving to a good cause in honor of good time to invest in some. They are inexpensive and can be reused year after year. If someone on the list; you can make a card describing the group that has received money you take a gift to your hosts, make sure it is consumable, such as food and drinks, or or goods in their name. Framed photos make a wonderful gift—you might even be able reusable, like a serving tray. to make a frame or find a unique used frame. If you choose to buy new gifts, look for n Travel – Road trips often include disposable and recyclable drink items such as jewelry or handmade stationery made from recyclables. containers that end up in roadside trash cans. If you’re traveling by car, pack snacks n Gift Wrapping – Reuse wrapping paper, gift bags, ribbon, and tags from past years. If (and even lunch) in your own washable, reusable containers. You can put them you don’t have any on hand, make your own wrapping paper by decorating the blank into a cooler with drinks from home. When you get to your destination, wash your side of brown paper grocery bags; reusing colored sections of newspaper, old maps, containers. They’ll be ready to repack for the trip home. Look for roadside recycling or children’s artwork; or using fabric, shelf paper, or wallpaper . In other words, containers, which are available at some rest stops. If you don’t find them, put your begin with items that you already have on hand! Or, “wrap” the gift in a basket or aluminum, glass, and plastic beverage cans and into a bag or box and recycle canvas bag that will be reusable later. If you buy wrapping paper, look for paper with them when you get home. If you are flying, look for recycling bins for paper and drink recycled-content. containers in the airport. n Holiday Greetings – Think about the holiday greetings that your family most n Gift Giving – Make a list of everyone to whom you’ll give a gift this holiday season. enjoys—they are probably the cards or letters that include a personal touch, whether After making the list, decide how much you want to spend on gifts. Now, decide what that is newsy notes or fun photos. Consider creating your own letter with family you would like to give. One budget-conscious and waste-reducing way to give gifts is to updates and holiday greetings. Of course, print it on recycled-content paper and mail it shop for gently-used books and other items in recycled-content . Or, email paperless greetings instead. at secondhand and antique stores. Give reusable gifts, such as washable This is a great time of year to discuss what really matters most to you, your family placemats and cloth napkins, or members, and friends. During this season of giving, learn what your family and friends consumable gifts, such as gift really need. You might find that they could use more of your time and attention. Time and cards to a restaurant or attention don’t cost money and create significantly less waste than giving them a lot of movie. Gift cards for stuff. Read more about it! 42 Ways to Trim Your Holiday Wasteline www.use-less-stuff.com/ULSDAY/42ways.html Reducing Holiday Waste www.epa.gov/osw/wycd/funfacts/winter.htm Simplify the Holidays www.newdream.org/holiday/ Tips for a Cleaner, “Greener” Holiday www.informinc.org/greener_holiday.php Make Something Day

his isn’t an enforced craft event Hosting a Make Something Day A ship-tastic T for the non-crafty! Instead, it is is easy: an opportunity for each person to make something they enjoy. By hosting a 1. Set the date and location. idea! “Make Something Day” with friends and 2. Ask each person to come up with a Are you ordering a gift online for someone relatives, you bring people together to creative idea and gather the needed who lives faraway? Don’t have it shipped to enjoy each other’s company and use their supplies. your house, unpack it, wrap it, and re-ship hands and hearts to create something 3. Set up tables so that crafters with common it. Save time, packaging, shipping costs, special. For some, it will be a great meal. materials can work together. For instance, those with fabric will want to be at a and fuel by having it delivered directly to For others, it might involve sewing, your far-off friend or family member. If you knitting, or beading. One person may separate table from the folks working on collages with glue! really want the gift wrapped, many online write a poem or a song. Others could retailers offer gift wrapping services, too. paint, draw, or scrapbook. A few may 4. Celebrate the creations over a meal. If one of your creative friends has cooked, enjoy. decide to create holiday cards or gifts. If not, have a pitch-in meal or order pizza. Express your talent and share it. Page 3 Fall 2009

Quotes Requoted Overshooting According to The Global Footprint Network, we reached “Earth Overshoot fast facts Day” in mid to late September. This marks “the day when humanity begins using more ecological Going Waste-Free resources and services in a given year than Earth According to WasteFreeLunches.org, can regenerate in that year.” From that day on, we packing a waste-free lunch for your child are consuming resources that we are, in essence, costs about $2.65 per day, while packing borrowing from the future. “Put another way, in a lunch full of single-serve and disposable less than 10 months, humanity will have used items costs $4.02. Waste-free lunches ecological services it takes 12 months for the Earth can save your family $1.37 per child per to regenerate.” day. That’s a savings of over $240 for the school year. The same applies for lunches that adults take to work, but the savings is even greater—as much as $340 per year. Pack waste-free to save!

When we try to pick out anything by Creating Community itself, we find it hitched to everything According to Bill McKibben in Deep Economy: The Wealth of else in the Universe Communities and the Durable Future, “consumers have ten times as many conversations at farmers’ markets as they do at supermarkets.... John Muir, 1838-1914 When you go to the farmers’ market, in other words, you’re not just American naturalist and writer acquiring tomatoes; you’re making friends.” Ecological Intelligence aniel Goleman explores the relatively new field of in his D newest book, Ecological Intelligence (Broadway Business, 2009). The study of Industrial Ecology focuses on Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs), which guide businesses and consumers in judging the relative impacts of their actions. LCAs explore the environmental impact of each stage of extraction, transportation, and manufacture. LCAs are increasingly used by businesses to make supply- chain, manufacturing, and distribution decisions. Goleman advocates for what he terms “radical transparency,” which would involve making a large quantity of LCA information available to the average consumer. Much as food products are labeled with nutritional information, a radically transparent consumer product might be labeled Re-style with environmental impact information, such as pollution created, energy consumed, human and animal health When the going gets tough, the tough get effects, and non-renewable resource creative! Whether you are decorating your consumption. house or outfitting yourself, hard times Goleman writes, “If we get better, don’t have to mean that style goes out the more complete information about the window. Learn to rework what you have. true effects of an item at the moment Decorating your house? Look to we are deciding whether to buy it, we Mark and Sally Bailey for ideas. Sally’s could make wiser decisions. Such full book, Recycled Home, explores their disclosure can make each of us an agent adventures in reusing their own stuff and for small, gradual changes that, when multiplied by millions, will ripple through the industrial enterprise, from manufacturing the discards of others. Visit the local library and design, through supply chains and transport, to the distant ends of consumption.” to look for this and other books full of home A single glass , from cradle to grave, involves as many as 1,959 separate steps, decorating ideas that focus on reuse. While you each with its own environmental impacts. No consumer, no matter how well informed, are there, take a look at the magazine section. Periodicals such as Ready Made, can be expected to know and evaluate all of this information. Fortunately, there are many Country Living, and This Old House, among others, are full of ideas for taking the organizations devoted to helping consumers make wiser and greener decisions. used to create the useful and the ornamental. To learn more about the ecological impacts of various consumer products, visit Don’t forget the clothes! Old jeans, T-shirts, and more, which are found in the these websites: Center for a New American Dream, www.newdream.org/marketplace/; back of nearly every closet, can be turned into all sorts of creative clothing and Consumer Reports’ Greener Choices, www.greenerchoices.org; and Good Guide, www. goodguide.com. At your local library, look for books such as Stuff: The Secret Lives of accessories. Turn an old backpack into a new fanny pack. Repurpose an old T-shirt Everyday Things by John C. Ryan and Alan Thein Durning. into a shopping bag or a scarf. Create capris, shorts, or a skirt with an old pair of Several organizations certify certain products as being sustainable or environmentally jeans. Or, turn the jeans into pot holders, bags, or a rag rug. For ideas, visit www. friendly, including: Forest Stewardship Council (paper and wood products), www.fscus. threadbanger.com, www.generation-t.com, or www.eHow.com (search for recycled org; Green Seal (cleaning and construction products and services), www.greenseal.org; clothes). and USDA Organic (certified organic food products), www.ams.usda.gov/nop. Another certification coming soon will be Good Housekeeping’s Green Seal of Approval. Page 4 Fall 2009 Buyback and Ready for recycling? In Irvine, we recover about 66% of our For recovery, you need to know Recycling waste for recycling and composting. That’s when, where, and how to recycle. If you great news! have curbside trash collection service, Of course, recycling depends on each your recyclables go into the cart with Center one of us. For recycling to continue and to the gray lid. If you live in an apartment grow, we each need to do our part. We or condominium, look for carts with need to buy products in recyclable gray or for bins marked During your fall yard cleanups, containers and packaging. “Recycling.” remember that green waste is collected We call this “precycling” You can buy recycled separately from trash. Green waste because we are planning when you shop. To service is provided weekly to most ahead to recycle. Then, find recycled-content residents with curbside service. The we need to collect products, check exception is those areas where homes do our empty and clean the . Many not typically generate a large amount of recyclables. We refer products made from green waste. For more information, call to this as “recovery.” recyclables will have Customer Service at And finally, we need to the recycled-content 949-642-1191. buy new products made symbol (shown here) from recyclables, called or phrases such as 100% vvv “buying recycled.” Recycled , Holiday tree collection will be These are the materials Post-Consumer Recycled available to residents with that we recycle locally: Content, Recycled Content, curbside service. During Remanufactured aluminum and cans; soda/ or . If you look, the three weeks following juice bottles; plastic milk containers; you’ll be able to find recycled-content Christmas, trees will empty aerosol cans; pie tins; glass bottles notebook paper, pencils, fleece hoodies, be collected on your and ; plastic containers labeled #1 – #7; jewelry, and more. Some products are Waste Management of Orange County, newspapers and inserts; junk mail; white almost always made from recycled service day. Simply in conjunction with the Orange County copier/printer paper; corrugated cardboard/ materials, including aluminum and steel place your bare tree Conservation Corps, operates a buyback and ; magazines; colored and construction cans and cardboard boxes. out at the curb on recycling center at its Irvine facility. This paper; cereal boxes (remove liners); To learn more about recycling and your collection center provides a convenient location for and telephone books. This will help you buying recycled, visit www.cityofirvine.us day. Trees residents to recycle their aluminum, glass, precycle. and www.americarecyclesday.org. must be free and plastic beverage containers in exchange of decorations, for cash. These containers are part of the stands, lights, Refund Value (CRV) Program etc. Trees that and include bottles and cans that held are 4 feet or soft drinks, sports drinks, carbonated and Doing some fall cleaning? noncarbonated water, fruit and vegetable taller must juices, wine coolers, and beer. Bulky item collection is available year-round to Irvine residents be cut in half. In addition to the CRV cans and bottles who live in single-family homes and have curbside service. Residents with that can be redeemed for cash, the center Residents are entitled to two free pickups each year, with up to green waste also accepts other recyclables. There is no four large items per pickup. Bulky items include large, hard- carts may cut up their trees and place cash payment for these items, but recycling to-handle items, such as furniture, mattresses, and appliances, the pieces into the green waste cart for drop-off is free! Other recyclables accepted as well as televisions and computer monitors. While there is collection. no charge for this service, it does require an appointment. For include: non-CRV aluminum, non-CRV vvv glass, non-CRV plastic, tin cans, newspaper, more information about the program or to schedule a bulky item white ledger paper, computer paper, mixed pickup, call Waste Management’s Customer Service Center at Learn how to water for better plant paper, and corrugated cardboard. 949-642-1191. health and lower your water bills in the The Waste Management Buyback and Residents who live in apartments or other multi-family process. The Irvine Ranch Water District Recycling Center, operated by the Orange complexes should inquire with their property manager about offers residential landscape workshops County Conservation Corps, is located at bulky item service. to promote water efficiency. These free 16122 Construction Circle East in Irvine. It workshops are open to any residential is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 customer in the IRWD service area. a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call For more information, and to get on the 714-956-6222. Be “sharps” smart reservation list, visit www.irwd.com/ FreePrograms/workshops.php or call We want your suggestions, Sharps, such as needles, syringes, and • Rite Aid, 3875 Alton Parkway, 949- 949-453-5327. questions and comments! lancets, cannot be mixed with household 250-4465 vvv trash. In order to help you dispose of • Rite Aid, 18112 Culver Drive, 949-786- The City of Irvine sharps properly, Waste Management, in 0151 Fullerton Arboretum’s Composting P.O. Box 19575 partnership with Sharps, Inc., offers a mail- • , 6316 Irvine Boulevard, Classes are free to Irvine residents. Irvine, CA 92623 back disposal program. To take part in this 949-451-1563 Learn how to turn (949) 724-7669 low-cost program, residents purchase a kit • Walgreens, 5695 Alton Parkway, 949- yard clippings and at a local . The first kit is FREE, 726-0716 The views and statements of food scraps into a environmental organizations referenced and two additional kits require a $5 co- To supplement local mail-back valuable resource in this publication do not necessarily pay. Residents simply show a valid ID at programs, Orange County’s Household at the composting represent those of the City of Irvine. any participating pharmacy listed below to Hazardous Waste Collection Centers also workshop. The verify that they live in Irvine. accept medical sharps. Residents can now class provides Each kit includes a specially designed take their sharps to the HHWCC, located at an overview of sharps and a postage-prepaid 6411 Oak Canyon in Irvine. Sharps must be composting for the . Used sharps are placed delivered in an approved sharps container, beginner as well inside the container for safe storage. Once which is available at any pharmacy. Please as a discussion of the container is filled, it is dropped in the call the County’s HHW hotline at mail in the postage-prepaid box and sent to advanced techniques for the experienced 714-834-6752 for additional composter. a certified medical waste facility, where it is information. destroyed. The Sharps Disposal by Mail kits Visit their website at http:// are available at these locations: fullertonarboretum.org for the next This program is brought to you by • CVS, 15333 Culver Boulevard, Suite composting class. Waste Manage­ment and the City of Irvine. 300, 949-654-2600 vvv Copyright© 2009 • CVS, 6775 Quail Hill Parkway, The City of Irvine and Eco Partners, Inc. 949-823-8915 Learn more about composting by All rights reserved. • CVS, 5385 Alton Parkway, watching the videos posted on Irvine’s Printed on recycled paper 949-733-8226 website. Go to www.cityofirvine.us and 70% post-consumer news content, • CVS, 14330 Culver Drive, click on “Composting Videos.” using soy inks 949-786-0151