Month: July 2012

How to Make a Trash Can Composter

These days, being an environmentalist is really something that is needed I should say. Anything you can do to help out mother nature is needed as we can all see the negative effect of humans in the world today. Things like recycling and or proper trash disposal is a trend that is fast becoming popular due to this reason.

For us citizens, one of the more useful things we can do for our share is making compost from trash materials, and this is simple and possible for normal citizens like us. Just how do we make our own compost? We don’t really need a big piece of land to do this. In fact, we can easily give you tips on how to make your own trash can composter which can easily save you space and help the environment in the process.

First thing you would have to do for this trash can composter is that you buy a very big container, preferably a 32 gallon container, or bigger if you can manage, with cover and all. Now if you are thinking about pest problem like rats and all, then I suggest an aluminum or metal container. After securing one, then you punch holes in the lid, the sides and the bottom of the container using a drill to ensure the even sizes of the holes, and it is spaced at around 6 to 12 inches apart. These holes will aerate the composter later. Now you have your own trash can composter and all you need are the materials that you will put in this composter.

But what exactly are the materials that you can put in here? The most suggested of these are fruits and veggies, peelings, egg shells and even coffee grounds and produce that are past its prime. But never put in meat or dairies as this will actually rot and give your compost an unpleasant smell and this is what you want to avoid as it attracts pests like rats, and many other unwanted creatures in your composter trash can.

You can add soil from your garden in this compost pit to ensure it gets good bacteria in the process too. Just simply remember there is a ratio between the greens and brown wherein you should always make sure it is balanced to avoid making the compost wet as the more wet it is, the more it will smell. Keep the consistency like a moist sponge to get the best compost you need.

Now that you have this, the rest of what to do is quite simple as you just need to keep turning it at least every week or two to ensure that the contents are aerated properly and you will have a very good and successful compost material in the very end. Very simple right? Very inexpensive to do but the end product that you will have is quite useful for your garden and making the soil rich for growing fruits and vegetable plants, and you are also able to help lessen the possible amount of garbage that can destroy our mother earth in the long run.

Rio Closes Its Massive Jardim Gramacho Dump

One of the biggest problem for humans for a long time now has been waste disposal. And with the development of urban areas and cities, the number of trash seems to have been growing, producing a need to have a dump area, and this has actually created an unhealthy environment which, believe it or not, some humans have found a way to adapt to and make a living out of the trash in these dump sites.

In Rio de Janeiro, the name Jardim Gramacho is quite famous as it is the dump site for the city’s trash for many years now. This is actually the biggest dump site for trash, and for the record, at its peak, more than 900 dump trucks a day would come and dispose of the city’s trash in here. The poor people have actually made this as a source of their living by getting trash that are recyclable and sells it to the junk shops around the city.

These people are known as catadores, and for a long time now, they have actually provided the only way to lessen the trash in this area, but is a very unhealthy one of course as trash spells disease, health problems, and many more unwanted things for the human body. Why? Not only because it is unclean, but it decomposing trash happens to produce dangerous materials like carbon monoxide and methane which are not suitable for the body.

In order to address this, the government has now decided to close down this Jardim dump site. But of course, closing it is not the only thing the government will do, but it will actually put up a facility in this site that will harness the greenhouse gases produced by the rotting garbage. This will in turn provide a source for energy for Rio too, and help the environment in the long run. This is actually good news as the garbage in this area is responsible for polluting the nearby Guanabara bay, and of course, the dump site itself is a very bad place for human to be working in.

One of Rio’s goals is to actually also clean up the city in preparation for the upcoming soccer world cup, and also it will be hosting the Olympics in a few years, and this is part of the preparation too.

But one big problem they will have to face is the loss of work for the catadores, which number to the great thousands over the years. These are the poor who cannot find work in the city, and this is what the government needs to be addressing soon for the closing of the dump There are already plans in place for these catadores, but of course it will take a long time for them to really find a good source of livelihood so that they can still survive even if the dump site is now closed. But once this addressed, then hopefully things will really be for the best here in Rio De Janeiro.

Be Bear-safe with the help of bear-proof garbage cans

It is fun to be living in Florida as the nature is really great, and this is one of America’s best nature preserve areas if you are not aware of it. But with its natural habitat, there is also the problem of bears, which actually have learned to adapt to us humans that are living near their habitats. With such an environment, we could not help but also have problems with bear safety as of course, we want to avoid these bears as much as possible, and one way to ensure this is to get a bear-proof trash can.

Now why a bear proof garbage can? You see throughout the long years, people have started to put their trashes out of the house at night, and these bears have noticed that our trash can be easy food sources for them, and they will just simply wait at night, or even in broad daylight for some, to get to your trash and forage for food.

Over the last few decades or so, this problem has been increasing, and the bears are actually becoming much more smarter and bolder each time and they even destroy the trash cans to get to the garbage inside. But the problem is they cannot be treated as pest like rats or raccoons as these are actually endangered animals and should be encouraged to stay inside the forest to hunt for their food. So the best solution for this is to secure bear-proof trash cans, complete with lids that cannot be easily removed even if the bear tried to turn it over.

This has in turn become really effective as it discourages the bear and eventually they will just go away to look for other food sources in the forest. One example is a guy that I heard that secured one of these bear-proof trash cans and the bear that regularly comes over the last few weeks actually tried its best to get into the trash container for food, but became discouraged after days of failing to get its contents and never came back again.

These bear-proof garbage can is much more expensive of course than the regular trash can, but this price has its reasons of course, as this is much more sturdy, and the cover is certainly much more harder to open as it comes with locks and seals to ensure no bear can get to it. But in the long run, this is a very good investment for people living near forests or nature reserves as the bear population has been rebounding over the last decade, which means that there are now more bears as before, and them foraging through our trash when we are not around is becoming a very clear scene for us.

Help avoid this kind of situation by securing a bear-proof trash can as it is also for our own personal safety as we all know that bears can also attack people. Help avoid the circumstances by keeping them away from our homes with measures like this bear-proof garbage can.

Funny Trash Cans

Garbage in, Garbage out

Trash cans are everywhere. Every household has to have one, sometimes several, but they are usually kept hidden away as if in shame.  Although they provide a vital service, they are rarely celebrated, but there are those who buck the trend.  Some people will go to great lengths to decorate their receptacles.

Different countries may adorn their cans in different ways.  In many Latin American countries, there are cans that are vividly painted.  They may depict something that reflects the local environment like a palm tree if the can is near the coast or perhaps some cacti if the vessel is found somewhere in the desert of northern Mexico.  They may also be gaily adorned with matadors and bulls.
Monsters are a subject of choice for trash cans found in several areas.  In places where Halloween is a spook filled holiday, the month of October can be a time to paint the can with a ghost or a devil or maybe a picture of a pirate.  Depending on the artist’s abilities, their can be witches, warlocks, and a host of demons.

Art not Meant to Get Respect

Trash can art seldom lasts for long.  It lies exposed to the elements and gets banged around all the time.  Nasty spills occur around the cans all the time.  The work will get dented and fade over time.  All this is understood at the time of origination and so not that much time and care is taken in the design.  These things tend to be a spur of the moment project.  Kids may just up and decide that it is time to paint the can.

There are no rules or limitations on how to decorate a trash can.  Whatever is done is not likely to make it into a museum.  It is just a fun way to spend a few hours, and maybe the neighbors will get a kick out of it.There are no tours as yet of trash cans around the world, but there is no doubt that one could be arranged.  Those cans are everywhere as noted, and people are bound to put things on them just for something to do.  If something becomes an issue in the neighborhood, it can become a subject suitable for a can.  They can become political as well.  A can may endorse a candidate or make fun of office holders. 

Ways to Reduce the Trash in Your Garbage Cans

Slowing the Load

It can be quite astonishing; the amount of trash a household produces.  The accumulation presents a problem that must be disposed of promptly.  This is a chore that few enjoy, but it simply has to be done.  One way to hold down the amount of trash produced is to inventory everything that gets thrown away.  The time it takes to do this may make one less inclined to just toss something away.  Perhaps some other use can be made of the item.  At the very least, the consideration to list all things that end up in the trash will likely lessen the amount of trash produced.

Some people report that an inventory control system allows them to cut back from four trash bags filled a week down to merely two.  Such folks have cut their trash production in half.  This would be a worthy goal for all households to pursue so some thoughts should be given on how to lessen the load of trash that we produce,

There is the environment to consider in all of this.  Recycling cuts back on the amount of stuff that ends up in landfills and garbage heaps.  These facilities are unwanted just about everywhere, but it is hardly economical to transport trash long distances and so they end up in the least desirable portion of every neighborhood.  Recycling not only extends the life of land fills, it also saves on resources many of which are nonrenewable such as the petroleum base of all plastics.

It also takes less energy to recycle products rather than manufacture wholly new replacements.  Recycling in effect becomes a means for reducing energy consumption.  This both saves on nonrenewables, it is also easier on the environment in terms of the pollutants that enter into it during the manufacturing process.

Think Small When Buying

A great way to cut back on the trash produced is to simply buy less stuff.  Carefully consider every purchase and do not buy things on a whim.  When purchases are made, try to get things that do not have a lot of packaging.  In the case of food, many items can be bought in bulk at a far cheaper cost rather than in individual servings that each come in a package.

Farmer’s Markets often feature food this way.  Even supermarkets are helping out by offering customers price breaks, cash backs, or other incentives to reuse plastic bags.

Once an item has served its purpose, it does not automatically have to be transferred to the trash heap.  Other uses may be found for it.  Crafts can be fashioned from all manner of throwaway containers, and the containers themselves may be reused if properly washed.

Cooking from scratch will cut down on the packaging that gets tossed.  This is usually a less expensive way to eat as well.  The scraps left over from such type of preparation can be added to a compost pile for mulch to enrich the garden.

Ways Recycling Can Benefit Your Community

A Benefit to Neighborhoods

Everyone has heard about the need for recycling, but the decisions to do so always seem to be an individual matter. There are however many beneficial aspects to recycling. Some of them help out the community.

Recycling is now a big business that provides many jobs. This goes well beyond just the numbers of people employed by municipalities to pick up the recycling bins that people put in front of their dwellings every week. According to the latest figures from the Department of Labor, there are now over 3 million jobs in the U.S. that are classified in categories that can be labeled green. Many of these are centered on community efforts devoted to recycling.

People work in the recycling centers. Others work to bring materials to the recycling center. There more jobs as the recyclables move on down the line to be remade or renewed. All these phases of the recycling effort put people to work in gainful employment.

There is a lot of worth in the materials that are recycled. Neighborhood groups involved in such work can bring money into an area that might be in need of just such cash infusions. Often nonprofit groups lead recycling drives in order to raise funds for their work.

Saving Money a Goal

Recycling can not only earn community money, it can save it from spending as well. Landfills are expensive to operate and hard to replace when filled. By recycling, less will go in the landfill, and it can stay open longer. This is an important consideration given the fact that the siting of landfills is generally a controversial issue for most neighborhoods. Few people want to live

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near one. For communities that have little open area close by, this becomes a real problem.

The most comprehensive form of recycling that neighborhoods engage in is curbside pickups by garbage trucks. A trash can will usually be designated for this, often colored green to denote the beneficial aspects to the environment that the program symbolizes. The proceeds derived from selling the recycled materials can be used to underwrite the effort.

The effort required to make a recycling program work can help to pull a community together. This tends to be a labor intensive field meaning that it requires many hands to do the work. With

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people working together in this way, a community can gain a feeling of solidarity that can carry over to how the community feels about itself. If that sense is of a neighborhood working together for a common good, a sense of civic pride will be at hand.

Since recycling products almost always take less energy than making new ones from scratch, there will be less fuel consumed in the process. This will lessen the pollutants entering the atmosphere making the air cleaner and more breathable. It will also lower the amount of greenhouses gases produced thereby lessening the concern that global warming would otherwise present.

Food Waste Program Uses New Trash Can Technology

Nothing Goes to Waste

In many places, there is no incentive as far as garbage collection fees go to take steps to limit the amount of waste thrown away.  Whether one is conscientious about waste management making a serious effort at all times to limit waste produced or whether one ignores such attempts completely will make no difference in the monthly bill. South Koreais one of the few places where it does make a difference what one pays.  The more garbage that must be collected, the higher the bill will be.

This system is being further refined so that the correlation between waste and fees will be as exact as it possibly can.  The system will be applied to both businesses and residents.

In many countries such as theUnited StatesandGreat Britainnearly 40 per cent of the food is just thrown away.  This happens for a host of reasons.  Supermarkets have sell by dates.  When these expire, the foods have to be discarded.  The sell by dates make it difficult for the markets to be able to donate the food to charities because it is no longer seen as fit for consumption.

Once food is brought home, it also often ends up in the garbage once it is no longer fresh.  Leftovers often end up in the rear of the refrigerator until someone decides it is finally time to throw out.

South Koreahas a comparable rate of food wastage.  The nation is famous for meals with many dishes, each with a small portion.  Such a style of cooking lends itself to wastage and leftovers which then become more wastage.  The government however has set ambitious target for reducing the amount of food tossed.

One innovative method being tested is a food waste bin that measures how much food waste is being taken in right down to the very gram.  These are set up at mass transit stations where riders are prone to toss away half eaten items purchased from vending machines. The customer is then billed this amount to their transit cards.  It has helped cut down on the proportion considerably.

Machine Opens on Command

This trash can marvel opens after being tapped by a transit card or upon receiving a credit card number.  The user then tosses their container within.

For food wastes in the home,South Koreais requiring residents to purchase four different types of bags according to the sort of food waste they are likely to produce.  These are disposed of in different fashion according to the content.  Many of these items can find use for bio-fuels, animal feed, fertilizers, and other industrial uses.

South Koreahas been challenged of late to find places to dispose of it garbage.  The country is densely populated with large urban districts that have been heavily built up.  This has made it expensive to get rid of the garbage.  At the same time, the country’s rising standard of living has meant that more garbage is being generated.

Trash Cans the Best Option for Unused Drugs

 

Dangerous Tossed Items

Most American households have a supply of old prescription drugs lying unused.  The symptoms they were used to treat may have long vanished, but the bottles are retained just in case.  Many medicines though have limited life spans.  If they are not used by a certain date, they will not be fully effective.  Simply tossing them into the trash as one would for any item that goes into the garbage is not a responsible method for disposal when the drugs contain dangerous chemicals.  Every year the amount of drugs that fall into this sort of category grows by around 200 million pounds.  It amounts to a considerable hoard.

This growing pile can endanger children and others who may be interested in sampling something out of that bottle of pills they came across.  Simply flushing them down the toilet is not a good option either.  It puts what may be dangerous chemicals into the waste stream where they may end up polluting rivers or coastal waters.  These chemicals can work their way up the food chain becoming more concentrated at every step.  By the time, they reach the sort of fish we eat; the concentration can be high enough to be of concern.

The Drug Enforcement Agency has been conduction nationwide collection since 2010.  Results from the last one recorder were a whopping 500,000 pounds of drugs to discard.

Trash may be the Best Disposal

Despite the success of the DEA’s collection efforts, analysts feel trash disposal by residents the most efficient means of disposal.  The incineration the DEA employs to get rid of its collection is the most thorough method for eliminating dangerous chemicals from the environment, but the high temperatures required make it a big energy consumer.  Energy is also needed to get the person making the disposal to the collection site.

The EPA has issued guidelines for how people should put their unused medicines in the trash.

This is seen as the most realistic method for disposal. Swedenwhich has long had collection programs has determined that over the long haul, they only end up netting around forty per cent of the unused medicines.  They learned that the chances for the drugs making their way into the environment were about the same using the collection methodology as it was for having everyone just throw them away at home.  There was far less energy used in home throw away however.

On the other hand, it has been suggested that many people would never get around to throwing their drugs away were it not for collection programs.  They serve as a prompt for people to clean out their medicine cabinets.

There are trade offs to be considered in either case.  With home disposal though, there is no need to wait for the collection date to come around.  One simply tosses the item the moment it is decided that the time has come to clear out the medicine chest.

Building Materials Find New Use

Benefits to Pocketbook and Environment

One of the biggest costs in construction is the purchase of the materials used at the site.  To save money, more and more builders are turning to the reuse of existing materials.  The procedure is better for the environment as well.  Some beautiful structures have been recently built not from just scrap building material, but from recycled products that were originally manufactured for entirely different purposes.  Take for example the Buddhist Temple shown above.

It was constructed in Thailand from over a million old bottles and people marvel at its beauty.  Houseboats have been hauled onto land where they now serve as homes.  A mountain resort has been erected by the rebuild of a vintage airplane.  Many imaginative uses have been made of recycled products to make new structures.

Glass bottles make particularly good building material.  They are durable, strong, and allow light to pass through.  These very qualities however render them an environmental threat if simply tossed aside.  They will take ages to decay though they can easily shatter into sharp and dangerous pieces.  These are often hard to detect because their transparent nature can make them hard to see allowing unwary people and animals to be harmed by their cutting edges.  While there are not a large number of structures constructed entirely from bottles, it is becoming fashionable to use them in place of windows of regular glass.  Such apertures will refract the sunlight passing through giving a unique glow to the interior.

Silos, Cans, Shipping Containers and More

Many rural regions contain silos for grain storage that are no longer needed for such a function.  The structures themselves remain perfectly functional and can be turned into housing.  The circular form can prove an architectural delight allowing for unusual use of interior space.  This is one of the cheapest forms of home building around.  The resulting home will be eco friendly and make a personal statement about the owner’s commitment to the environment.  They are a fun place to live to boot.

Cans may also play a role in home building.  People have been adding aluminum siding to their houses for years.  Cans will accomplish the same thing, and they will provide a more decorative surface with more interesting patterns.

With the mushrooming of global trade, the world is now awash with shipping containers.  Many are sadly strewn onto empty lots where they corrode and leave an unsightly look to the area.  Others however are being adapted for use as low cost housing.  They are converted into office space in some instances or find myriad other uses.  Their rectangular nature allows them to function much like gigantic Leggos.  They can be stacked atop one another to create a building of any size desired.

Used tires are another product that often litters the landscape.  Packed tightly with compacted earth however, they are an extremely strong material for building.  Structures made from them will be well insulated from heat and cold.

More information on recycled materials may be found at Securr Trash Cans.

 

What’s Inside Oscar’s Trash Can?

In Sesame Street, one of the most intriguing things that you will see is the trash can owned by Oscar the Grouch. It is located between the Big Bird’s Nest and the 123 Sesame Street. Just like many of the cartoons during that time period such as the TARDIS of Doctor Who and the classic clown cars used in Snoopy’s Doghouse, the trash can owned by Oscar is much bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside. On the inside, there are a number of luxuries and amenities relating to the Grouch that are placed within the seemingly bottomless trash can.

When the show was first aired, some of the first few episodes of season one showed that the trash can were set beside a wooden crate on the top of a big blue crate. In the season that aired in 1974, the perch of the crate was redesigned and a larger burlap crate was used to replace the older trunk and a barrel was used to form the base of the trash can. In the surrounding area, more garbage cans appeared, as well as a trash bag and a pail for collecting garbage. In one of the episodes aired in the 1975 season, Oscar is shown to be installing an Olympic sized swimming pool inside his trash can, which shows the overall size of the trash can from the inside.

A book published in 1989 by the name of ‘What’s in Oscar’s Trash Can? And Other Bedtime Stories’ mentions the presence of an ice skating rink within the trash can as well as the Olympic sized swimming pool. It is also written in the book that Oscar’s trash can had a bowling alley installed inside too. As mentioned by Sesame Street Unpaved, Oscar’s Trash Can also has a grand piano, a hearth and a train set as well as an art gallery. The Train Set is known as the Grouch Central Station.

Oscar has a number of different pets, with whom he shares his trash can. His pets include a horse, a number of goats, a dolphin, elephants, and Slimey, which is his favorite pet, and is a worm. Frequent visitors within the trash can include Grundgetta and Irvine, who are relatives of Grouch. In most of the cases, very few people of the residents living on Sesame Street generally venture in to Oscar’s Trash Can.

The first time that the inside of Oscar’s Trash Can was shown was in The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland. There is a separate door that Oscar has placed within his trash can in order to take people to Grouchland USA. In episode 3997, the inside of Oscar’s Trash Can was again shown on screen, but this time, it was more in line with a standard trash can than a huge house with an assortment of luxuries. Oscar has also managed to cut holes in the bottom of his trash can, so he is also able to walk with the trash can around.