Making Recycling Easy…

Remember back in the day when you had to sort out all your recyclables? Paper, Glass, Metal, and Plastic - all had to be sorted and arranged before that day of the week when it finally got picked up. Welcome to 2012 - where many municipalities have switched to the concept of single stream recycling. A fancy term meaning that everything goes into one bin because it greatly increases the likelihood that people will actually recycle. According to a recent study, US Households are almost 90% more likely to recycle if they don't have to put the effort into separating their trash. These numbers were convincing enough to municipalities in California who began implementing single stream recycling in the late 1990s. Since then, single stream programs have been popping up all over the nation moving its way eastward. Today, an estimated 220 city and regional single stream programs are in operation in 27 states serving about 72 million people; this is compared with 11 states and 16 million people in 2005, according to Government Advisory Associates (CBS, 2011). Once picked up, these comingled materials are separated at the single-stream Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) through the use of various magnets, screens, optical scanners and manual sorting techniques. As a result of waste processors handling the separation of these materials, consumers and municipalities alike are seeing the value of this technology, enabling it to become a more widespread recycling solution in the U.S. that creates jobs and helps our environment.

How it Works…

So your mixed recyclables container is picked up once or twice a week and taken to a single-stream recycling facility. Depending on your region, it will be taken to your local plant that processes recyclables on an hourly basis. The incoming materials start the journey on a conveyor belt where workers remove trash, large objects, and plastic bags, anything that can clog the machinery or be removed from the recycling process at its beginning stages. The conveyor belt then leads into something called a ‘disk screen’ where rows of spinning disks push large pieces of cardboard up and out of the stream as the smaller recyclables fall below.

The remaining materials are then dropped on to another conveyor belt where more workers are separating trash and leftover cardboard that may cross their path. This belt the leads into another disk screen – a double decker that separates out lighter paper products such as newspapers so that soda cans and water bottles fall below. The remaining enclosures enter an enclosure where a magnet removes any steel objects from the stream. At this point glass bottles and jars are screened out and shattered into small pieces by large disks as their shards fall below. Aluminum cans pass through an eddy current which imparts an electrical charge so another magnet can repel them onto a separate belt. The items remaining in the stream, plastics and some trash pass through a device that uses an ultra-violet light to scan each items composition. When a plastic item is scanned, its position is registered on the belt and then reaches its precipice before the moment the item plunges below it is sucked up into the appropriate receptacle above while everything else falls to the seemingly pit-less dark depths below.

Case Study

The City of Madison, Wisconsin began single stream recycling with automated collection in September of 2005, following two years of planning. The time was perfect for this transition since recycling trucks needed to be replaced, the transfer station needed redesign, and the recycling contract was up for renewal. According to the Solid and Hazardous Waste Education Center who conducted the case study, 2006 was the first full year of implementation of the single stream recycling system and Madison experienced a significant increase in tonnages. The City increased overall recycling by 25% from the year before. Additionally, the City achieved over $103,000 in landfill tipping fees savings in 2006 as compared to 2005.

Single stream recycling is gaining popularity across the United States because many residents prefer it because of convenience in terms of not having to sort materials. Municipalities and collectors also prefer the method due to increased ease and efficiency of collection with mechanized lifting of carts, associated cost savings, reduced injuries on the job, and increased overall participation and tonnage collected. However, it must be warned, Single stream systems are not always cheaper alternative. Cost increases can come in the form of new carts/bins, new trucks, education of residents, and the construction or renovation of a MRF or recycling center. Single stream recycling systems should be targeted towards areas where there is lack of recycling centers or dramatically increase tonnage the amount of tonnage collected. Communities really need to analyze their specific situations in order to decide which type of program is the best fit for them.  Implementing this type of process requires the coordinating of Municipalities, collectors, processors, and manufacturers who must all work together to organize the logistics to share costs equally figure out the highest amount and percentage of quality recyclables that can potentially be recovered.

One Stop Green, LLC facilitates environmentally friendly improvements to residential and commercial properties through distribution of green, energy efficient products and services. They offer every product needed for sustainable energy independence enabling homeowners, businesses and commercial property owners to master their usage by reducing waste and implementing efficient energy consumption methods. Their goal is to provide user friendly and practical long-term solutions to existing inefficiencies and their carefully selected products and professional installers offer a higher level of satisfaction and service for their customers.

12 Green Days of Christmas

12 Tips to Have a Green Christmas

On the twelfth day of Christmas: Get that closet ready! Almost 100,000 tons of old clothes will be thrown away this Christmas, so if you know your getting a new wardrobe, be sure to get your closet ready by donating your old clothes to a local charity.

On the eleventh day of Christmas: Avoid buying gifts that require batteries! New gifts at Christmas often mean that households go through a lot of batteries. But remember, batteries contain toxic chemicals, are not biodegradable and are difficult to recycle. As an alternative, One Stop Green recommends using rechargeable batteries or better yet, try buying new USB rechargeable batteries! By opening the batteries cap and plugging it into a USB connector, you can recharge them pretty much anywhere and save them from otherwise being disposed!

On the tenth day of Christmas: Buy in bulk! Instead of purchasing cans of soda and individual small bags of chips, go ahead and stock up on bulk goods you know you’ll end up using to reduce packaging waste and save on trips to the grocery store.

On the ninth day of Christmas: Getting a new cell phone or electronic product for Christmas? Be sure to dispose of that old phone or electronic through an e-recycling program. Each year, approximately 130 million cell phones are thrown out that weigh over 65,000 tons. Recycle your old phone or electronic responsibly to prevent hazardous elements like mercury, cadmium and lead from leaking into our landfills.

On the eight day of Christmas: Buy a Real Christmas Tree and be sure to Recycle! Ninety-eight percent of Christmas trees were grown on farms, not in forests, so it's not as if you're cutting down an ancient tree. Each year, 10 million Christmas trees end up in the landfills and while your tree won't fit in the recycling bin, you can recycle it through various other methods, one of which is through programs offered by the city to turn your tree into mulch.

On the seventh day of Christmas: Add Organic and Local Foods to Your Holiday Feast! Support local farms that grow sustainable meat and produce. Not only does it taste better, but its more humane towards animals and you'll be doing your part for the planet too. Speaking of buying local foods...

On the sixth day of Christmas: Buy Local Gifts - The impact of transportation contributes significantly to greenhouse emissions and global warming so this Christmas, buy locally made and manufactured gifts from places such as fairs and artisan shops that reduce the added costs of transportation.

On the fifth day of Christmas: Christmas is expensive and that means lots of bills! This Christmas, be sure to sign up for paper free billing and pay all your bills online. Not only will this help you cut down on the amount of junk mail you receive but you'll save some trees as well!

On the fourth day of Christmas: Not all gifts have to be store-bought. Give more while spending less by making personal and unique gifts from scratch. Need some ideas? Check out how to make your own Green Terrarium! fwd4.me/0he8

On the third day of Christmas: Use LED Christmas lights to decorate your home! Save money, use less energy, and invest in long term LED energy saving Christmas lights that will give you all the festive cheer without the holiday electricity bill.

On the second day of Christmas: Re-use gift bags! Save your gift bag or wrapping paper and re-use them for other gifts to use less paper. Try also using the comic section of your daily newspaper to wrap gifts – it’s free, saves money, and helps the environment!

And on the first day of Christmas: Buy Green! This Christmas, consider giving the gift of green and give recycled and up-cycled gifts and ornaments! For more eco-friendly gift ideas and tips, visit OneStopGreen.com – your destination for green living! 

One Stop Green is looking towards a ‘greener’ future, sharing the latest and greatest ideas in green living and green technology with you through our staff written blogs. Going 'green' is no longer a choice, it's our responsibility, that's why it's so important to try and do the small things that can help change the outlook of the planet - and this is essentially the purpose of One Stop Green. We believe even the little things like recycling or using less water helps the environment out in a big way, and that's why our various solutions seek to nurture and edify your home or business in an eco-friendly manner.

Visit our website at www.onestopgreen.com or download the mobile app at http://fwd4.me/01gP

Easy Ways to Reduce and Reuse

Blog week of September 18, 2011


Start With Around the Home


We have a number of useful tips on easy ways to reuse or recycle in the home that are available on both our website and mobile app. However, the following are probably the most creative and have been chosen as our staff favorites:

Be sure to make full use of your water! Inserting a bucket to collect water while waiting for your shower to warm up is perfect for watering plants!

Get twice the use out of your sink water! In homes across the U.S., the bathroom accounts for 74% of total water usage. Install the AQUS System to capture water from the bathroom sink, then filter and disinfect it to provide reused water for toilet flushing! Reduce metered water usage in a two-person household by 15–20 gals a day – or approx. 6,000 gallons a year!

You have got to Clean Green! Old newspapers are great for washing windows, just crumple up and wipe clean of all dirt and grime. Be sure to also save your worn or old t -shirts and use them as cleaning rags for anything from drying a freshly washed car to dusting or polishing your furniture!

Save that Sponge! Don't clean things with a dirty sponge, but don't toss it out either! 2 minutes in a microwave can effectively destroy 99% of bacteria and other harmful buildup in a sponge and it can then be re-used to clean anything!

Finally, be sure to Pee in the shower! Save wasted toilet water by peeing in the shower. Just kidding...One Stop Green in no way endorses peeing in the shower (except under extraordinary circumstances).

As you can see, being ‘green’ doesn’t necessarily mean spending lots of money to make excessive upgrades to the home, at its very core, its just living your life in a smarter, more efficient manner in order to reduce your overall negative impact on the environment.


One Stop Green is looking towards a ‘greener’ future, sharing the latest and greatest ideas in green living and green technology with you through our staff written blogs. Going 'green' is no longer a choice, it's our responsibility, that's why it's so important to try and do the small things that can help change the outlook of the planet - and this is essentially the purpose of One Stop Green. We believe even the little things like recycling or using less water helps the environment out in a big way, and that's why our various solutions seek to nurture and edify your home or business in an eco-friendly manner.