E-Recycling Made Easy | Green Energy News

June 18, 2007 – Vol.12 No.13

E-RECYCLING MADE EASY.

Own one or a chain of retail stores? Own or manage one or a portfolio of commercial or industrial buildings? How about a condominium or apartment complex, a hotel or a resort, any managerial involvement there?

If any of the above applies, how is your in-house or public-access recycling program? Do you have one at all?

Recycling waste products, and ultimately recovering usable, valuable materials from them, reduces the amount of energy needed to make those products from virgin materials. Recycling also keeps hazardous materials from ending up in the ground and into our water supply.

Recycling, too, is good business and public relations. Store owners who offer to recycle spent products should attract environmentally conscious customers who, after recycling, might continue shopping.

And for many materials, proper recycling is the law.

While recycling of paper, plastics, glass, metals and chemicals has been going on for decades the hot button now in recycling is various types of electronic products - computers and CRT monitors, television sets, batteries, personal electronics, fluorescent and compact fluorescent bulbs - all now known as universal waste and e-waste.

Fortunately for institutions, business and organizations launching a recycling program - that can include public input - is relatively easy and can be started with the wonders of the Internet.

Two companies that make it easy are Veolia Environmental Services and Waste Management.

Both companies offer postage-prepaid packaging and prepaid recycling for a wide range of waste products including computers and difficult to dispose of 8-foot long fluorescent light bulbs.

Both offer waste tracking services and documented certification of proper recycling to comply with government regulations.

Both companies sell prepaid recycling containers through websites.

Motel Six, a US hotel chain with nearly 900 properties, has made a major lead into recycling by starting its Motel 6 Fluorescent Light Bulb and Battery Recycling Program. In the program each hotel will annually receive a Veolia Environmental Services box designed to collect light bulbs and a container for batteries. Instructions on how to fill and return the used containers will be included.

Motel Six, which began switching to all fluorescent lighting at the beginning of 2006, expects to recycle 60,000 bulbs each year.

The company claims it has the first national fluorescent light bulb and battery recycling program within the hospitality industry.

The program is part of the Earth Guest ongoing environmental initiative which includes the planting of 20,000 trees, one for each employee of Accor North America, parent of Motel Six.

Waste Management (WM), that considers itself the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America, is stepping up its prepaid recycling program by acquiring LampTracker (tm) the nation’s first provider of mail-back recycling for fluorescent lighting.

WM LampTracker’s customer base includes numerous Fortune 500 companies in retail, commercial and industrial markets. WM

is also a developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States.

Visit Motel Six and Accor North America at http://www.accor-na.com/ Veolia Environmental Services http://veoliaes.com/ ( their RecyclePak service for e-waste at http://veoliaes-ts.com/OnyxPak) Waste Management LampTracker at http://www.wmlamptracker.com/