This is a note from Anne Bauer that was sent earlier this week. But I wanted to throw it on the blog so that everyone can easily refer to this very important information.

Here is her paraphrased message in 4, easy to remember points:

1. Plastics that are labeled with a 1 and 2 are recyclable. The beverage containers are the majority of what constitutes the 1 and 2 plastic in the waste stream from our campus but any waste we can divert to the recycling stream is encouraged!

2. Lids should be off.

3. Metal lids should be off. They can only join the recycling stream if they are separated and clean.

4. Any container with food on/in is considered contaminated (e.g. pizza boxes) and cannot be recycled. But if the container is clean, it can be recycled.

*If you are curious about what materials go into this numbered breakdown, refer to this list

First Week Experience

My first week as an Eco challenge participant has made me much more aware of my daily living habits. Because of this challenge, I have been more keenly monitoring even the most mundane of activities , and it soon came to my attention that I was very wasteful. Although keeping my appliances such as lamp desks, phone chargers and fans plugged into the wall seems harmless enough, it is an entirely unnecessary practice and I can easily prevent this and in the process save energy. Using lights and water sparingly is also something that is very easy to do, it just takes a little bit of discipline to be aware of how much you are actually using. Prior to this challenge, I usually took fairly brief showers, lasting only 3-5 minutes, and during this time I always kept the shower continuously running. Although I don't know the exact number of gallons this would amount to, I do know that I could get just as clean with about the equivalent to 30 or 40 seconds (maybe less) of the water running. I've already started this practice, which involves a brief outlet of water in the beginning, and then a brief outlet of water to rinse off all the soap at the end, and that is really all that I need to get clean. I definitely think that I would be pleasantly surprised to find out how much water I was saving over the course of several months or a year.

So far in this experiment, I feel that I have greatly improved my energy conserving habits (although I still have a ways to go) and I believe that these habits will gradually replace my wasteful ones.

One of the cool things that we have been using to help us reduce our water consumption was collecting runoff from our roof. During the first night of the competition, it rained a significant amount and we felt this resource would be a great one to tap into. In the photo, you can see that our recycling bucket turned grey water collection device is about half full. We have been using this water to wash out our recyclables so that we aren't tapping into our faucets. Hopefully we can get some more rain so we can continue to utilize the grey water.

So its been close to a week.  Too long since I last posted.  Little update: homecoming this weekend so plenty of things to do.  Spending homecoming with the school community was a great way to save on electricity.  By spending the entire day with the community our townhouse did not waste electricity.  Going to the library and completing work also is a great way to save on electricity.  The University offers many ways for us to take advantage of  energy saving techniques, we just have to open our eyes to find them.  By going to ted's and watching television there you become more apart of the community, while also eating food and you can even charge your phone or computer there as you get work done.  So you are now killing three birds with one stone.  My goal of this challenge is for me not to change who I am and what I do but to gain the ability to be even more aware of what is going on around me, and have the ability to be aware of ways to easily fix issues that will not interfere with my current lifestyle.  Double checking lights are off and items are unplugged is not a hassle, being able to kill three birds with one stone is not a hassle, so becoming more eco-friendly is definitely not a hassle.

Vampire Energy is a real money sucker!

This is a video that I found particularly informative and relevant to this challenge. I know that each of our townouse residents has a power strip that connects all of their major appliances and electronics to an outlet in their rooms. I know that I kill the master switch on my power strip every time I leave my townhouse. Keeping up this habit may very well make all the difference.

This video from GOOD Magazine, illustrates just how much can be saved (in dollars and carbon emissions).

Labeling before recycling ...

We have recently labeled four of our bins into 3 categories: glass, aluminum and plastic to help us separate and understand what we are recycling. We are using this system to minimize waste and keep contaminated waste out. We use the fifth bin to collect "grey water". The water we save in this bucket we use for washing out our recyclables. conserving water useage in this way, I estimate that we have saved 1 shower's worth of water from needlessly going down the drain this week!

Please see this video to see how effective the recycling of grey water can be.

I hope the townhomes that replaces ours have the BRAC system installed!

Other little efforts/changes we have made include: Y/B rule on the toilet and the we expect we will be using our new LED keychain flashlights to light our way through the dark stairwell and to the bathroom.

Photos to follow soon ...

Thanks for the good work guys! 3 weeks to go!