Go Green This Holiday Season

/PRNewswire/ -- According to experts, most of us will generate 25 percent more waste during the holidays compared with the rest of the year -- resulting in an extra 5 million tons of garbage. To encourage consumers to "trim their trash" while trimming their trees, Plastics Make it Possible(SM), an initiative sponsored by the plastics industries of the American Chemistry Council, offers this holiday "how to" guide for reusing and recycling everyday plastics.

According to a recent national survey conducted by Plastics Make it Possible(SM), 67 percent of Americans recycle to do their part to help the environment. During the holidays, it's especially important that we keep it up.

"From beverage bottles and food containers to shopping bags and dry cleaning wrap, so much of the waste we generate during the holidays is recyclable," said Steve Russell, vice president of the American Chemistry Council's Plastics Division. "These valuable plastic materials can be easily recycled in many communities and given a second life as carpeting, clothing, furniture, durable backyard decks and home building products, new bottles and bags, and other products we use every day."

By turning the following reuse and recycling tips into household habits, you can help reduce waste, keep valuable plastics out of landfills, and protect our planet during the holidays and year-round.

1. Get smart. Find out which plastics are accepted for recycling
in your community. Today, more than 80 percent of U.S. households
have access to a recycling program, and the vast majority of them
collect plastic bottles. A bottle is any container with a neck or
opening that's smaller than its base. Include the following
wherever plastic bottles are recycled:
-- Milk jugs
-- Beverage bottles (e.g., water, soft drinks, juice and beer)
-- Bottles from shampoo, toiletries, laundry detergent and other
household cleaners
-- Salad dressing, cooking oil and condiment bottles
-- Food jars, such as peanut butter and mayonnaise
2. Remove and rinse. Before tossing bottles in the recycle bin,
remove the caps. Be sure to rinse bottles that previously
contained food. (Empty beverage bottles can go straight into the
bin.) Unless your community specifically asks for them, bottle
caps should be placed in the garbage, not the recycle bin.
Similarly, bags should be clean and empty. Do not include plastic
food wrap or bags that have food residue.
3. Reuse, reuse, reuse! From wrapping to ribbons, boxes to packing
peanuts, gather and save gift wrap and packing materials for next
year! And don't forget bags -- there are many helpful ways to
reuse plastic bags, including:
-- Wet umbrella cover - keep other items in your bag dry when your
umbrella is wet
-- Suitcase savers - wrap shoes before packing them with clean
clothes
-- Hand protectors - place them over your hands to handle messes
indoors and out
-- Kitchen clean-up - place them under the cutting board for
quick scrap removal
-- Trash can liners - use them in bathrooms and other household
waste baskets
-- Doggie duty - bring them on dog walks to collect and dispose of
pet waste
4. Bring bags back. Most large grocery stores and some
retailers (e.g., Wal-Mart) offer plastic bag drop-off programs
that allow consumers to return their used bags and product wraps
to be recycled. These bins are usually located at the front
entrance or near checkout areas. Almost all kinds of clean
plastic bags are accepted for recycling in these programs, including:
-- Grocery bags
-- Retail bags (remove hard plastic or string handles)
-- Plastic newspaper bags
-- Dry cleaning bags (remove paper and hangers)
-- Bread bags (with crumbs shaken out)
-- You can also include plastic wraps from products such as paper
towels, bathroom tissue, napkins, diapers and cases of soda
wherever plastic bags are collected for recycling.
5. Pitch in beyond the kitchen. While many recyclable bottles
come from the kitchen, don't forget to check the bathrooms and
laundry room for shampoo and detergent bottles.
6. Practice patience. On the road this holiday season and can't
find a recycle bin? Don't throw your empty bottles in the trash --
temporarily store them in a purse or briefcase, or simply leave
them in the car until arriving home to place in a recycle bin.
And don't forget to temporarily put the cap back on your bottle
to prevent leakage until you can properly recycle it.
7. Don't throw out the leftovers. Saving your lidded plastic
food containers and plastic to-go containers from take-out
could provide a free and easy way for holiday party guests to
carry home leftovers. Plus, they can keep these items and reuse
them again.
8. Check for containers. In addition to bottles, roughly one-third of
communities are collecting and recycling plastic containers, such as
yogurt cups, tubs, trays and lids. If you're only recycling bottles,
check to see if your community is one of the many areas that has
recently added food containers to its list of collectibles.
9. When in doubt, leave it out. Keep in mind that mixing the wrong types
of materials (even other plastics) can lower the quality of the
recycled material. So unless your community specifically asks for
plastics other than bottles, please put only bottles into the
recycling bin. Keep these items out of the recycle bin unless your
community specifically accepts them:
-- No plastic bags or wraps (take them to your grocery store, if
accepted)
-- No automotive, pesticide or solvent bottles
-- No lids or spray pumps
-- No toys
-- No trays, tubs or containers (unless your community accepts them;
more and more communities are recycling these types of containers
in addition to bottles, so it's worth checking.)
10. Adopt a second life mindset. Do you ever wonder where your
recyclables go? Keep in mind that today's water bottle could be
tomorrow's little black dress or carpeting or backyard deck.


For more tips and ideas on plastics reuse and recycling, visit www.plasticsmakeitpossible.com.

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Farmers Forced to Leave Tomatoes in Fields

When it comes to food, perceived danger can be as harmful as a real one, especially to a farmer’s wallet. Georgia tomato growers learned that lesson firsthand when consumers stopped buying fresh tomatoes during this summer’s Salmonella scare linked to fresh tomatoes.

In July, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a nationwide warning regarding a Salmonella risk on varieties of raw red plum, red Roma and round red tomatoes.

“The disease wasn’t found on Georgia tomatoes, but the general public’s perception was that all tomatoes were affected,” said Archie Flanders, an economist with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The scare cost Georgia farmers $13.9 million. Georgia grows about 3,000 acres of tomatoes, worth between $60 million and $80 million annually.

As president of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, Bill Brim tried to tell consumers through media interviews that Georgia tomatoes were safe. He ate tomatoes straight from his field on television.

“I was interviewed by (all the major Atlanta television media), and I tried my best to persuade people that Georgia tomatoes are safe,” Brim said. “The national news media really put us under by telling people not to eat any tomatoes unless they have the vine attached. What was so sad was that it wasn’t true.”

Georgia growers weren’t the only ones. “Growers in Tennessee, north Florida, Louisiana, North and South Carolina, and of course California, were all hit hard, too,” he said.

Brim grows 80-acres of tomatoes in Tifton, Ga. The summer scare cost him $1.2 million. “This was a very significant loss for small- and large-scale farmers,” he said.

Tomatoes are one of Brim’s most expensive crops to grow. An acre of tomatoes costs him $12,000. Bell pepper costs $8,000 per acre. Squash costs him $2,500 per acre, he said.

Georgia tomato growers lost $1.6 million from harvested tomatoes that were picked but not sold. Much of the state’s tomato crop wasn’t harvested because there wasn’t a market for them, Flanders said.

“When wholesalers aren’t buying produce, growers know the market is lost,” Flanders said.
To determine the total impact of the scare, Flanders led a survey conducted by the UGA Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development.

Most Georgia tomatoes are grown in nine southwestern counties and one county in northeast Georgia. Farmers there were surveyed by UGA Cooperative Extension agents.

The survey revealed that 32 percent of Georgia’s tomato acreage was left in the field due to decrease demand caused by the scare, Flanders said. Another 9 percent was lost to discarded harvested and packed tomatoes due to decreased demand.

Before the scare, Brim’s tomatoes were bringing $19 a box. Three days after the FDA warning, the same tomatoes dropped to $4 a box. A box costs him $8 to grow. That doesn’t include the packing cost.

“All the food chains and grocery chains quit taking them,” he said. “I dumped 30 percent of our crop and left 30 percent in the field. It was heartbreaking. … You do an excellent job growing it, and then you don’t have a market to sell it. You just have to leave it to rot.”

Each year, Georgia has two tomato crops, one harvested in summer and one in fall.

Brim is now harvesting 40 acres. Prices are still.

“I think there are going to be more and more people getting out of the tomato business because the market was just declined,” Brim said. “We just hope the market will turn around and consumers will get the confidence back. I stand behind the fact that Georgia-grown produce is the safest food in the world.”

By Sharon Dowdy
University of Georgia

Sharon Dowdy is a news editor with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

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