GoingTrueGreen's Blog Postings

Dead Solar Panels

3/10/2020

solar, solar electric, solar panels, gallium, solar farms, photovoltaic, solar energy, recycle

Unusable Solar Panels: Recycle or Bury

Solar Panels have a life span of about 20 to 30 years. They help our environment in that time period by reducing the alternatives which would increase our carbon footprint. However, to prevent dark clouds from forming overhead due to the coming waste management issue with old solar panels that are decommissioned, we need a plan toward an efficient infrastructure to recycle up to tens of millions of solar panels.

America has over two million solar installations ranging from roof tops on homes and businesses to rack systems on the ground in solar farms. Many older systems are at the decommissioning stage. Currently, America does not have efficient solar panel recycling policies. The U.S. actually has no national policy.

Europe has policies for solar recycling programs because the Dual Systems laws, which have been in place for years have the manufacturers take back their products to recycle. In July of 2014, I wrote a GTG Blog post on this called:
eRecycling and eWaste. Here in the U.S. the homeowner is on their own, especially with older systems that do not have monitoring abilities in place to inform the contractor or homeowner when the solar panels need to undergo decommissioning.

Solar panels are 99% recyclable since they are made up of glass, aluminum, plastic, copper, lead, gallium, cadmium and silicon. However, the process to recycle solar panels is very involved. Dissembling all parts and separating some of them with melting, lasers, a solvent, cutting or a stream of electrons to selectively break apart components on a surface maybe necessary. Despite all that, great recycling opportunities are coming and an economic upside can come from recycling solar panels. Some estimates state that there will be a 15 Billion dollar business waiting for the new solar recycling industry by 2050.

The time to start is now, so we don't find ourselves burying dead solar panels in landfills.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

Telomere, Telomeres, cold spring harbor, L.J. Williams, BBV publishing, living forever, romance novel, woman heroes, 2001

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Grandpa's Wood Hangers

2/13/2020

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FTC Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate Ad link below and GTG will be compensated if a purchase is made after clicking the link. Thank you.

hangers, wooden hangers, plastic, plastic hangers, waste, garbage, sustainable Living, going green, goingtruegreen, hangers, grandfathers, cotton, wool, garment district, reduce, reuse, recycle

70 Year Old Wood Hangers Still Working

I only had one grandfather in my life when growing up. I never knew my grandfather who was killed in an accident on a loading dock for a World War Two supply ship. The other day I thought of both of them as I reviewed my clothes in the closet. I have been Reducing and Reusing over the years and I make sure that a great deal of my clothes are made of 100% cotton or wool. See my previous GTG Blog post called:
All I Want for Christmas is Cotton and Wool

This time while going through my closet, I noticed something else I have been reusing: My grandfather's hangers made of wood. The grandfather, that I was fortunate to have in my life when young, was a tailor and worked in New York City's Garment District. When the Garment district started its transition and the demand for my grandfather's talent was replaced with overseas manufacturing, the company he worked for eventually went out of business. When he saw the company throwing away all the suit hangers, he took home as many as he could. These hangers were made in the 1950s and I am still using them. I inherited some of those hangers and I proudly use them instead of any plastic hanger made today which could never perform to the same caliber as my grandfather's hangers that he saved from a landfill.

waste, garbage, sustainable Living, going green, goingtruegreen, hangers, grandfathers, cotton, wool, garment district, reduce, reuse, recycle

Curbside Garbage That Is Not Garbage

Sure over the years one or two broke, but I improvised and fixed them. I took the time to think of a way to repair them and spent the time fixing them instead of subscribing to be a member of the "throw away" society. Many times I see items by the curb for garbage pickup that are still in good working order. So many people just don't take the time, 3 to 5 minutes in reality, to make a phone call for someone else to use the items they are throwing away. One phone call to your church, community center or one of the dozens of charities that will pickup items from furniture to dishes, takes but a few minutes and others will be so grateful.

I realize the many faults of my own, even with me having less clothes now, I still have more clothes than my grandfather did. I know, because I remember cleaning out his armoire after he passed-over. I donated his hand-made suits and clothes. However, I kept the wooden hangers he was using and added them to the few he had given me many years before.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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Tree Top Garbage

12/5/2019

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Plastic Clouds, Bill Lauto, microscopic plastic, BPA, PS, oligomer, bisphenol A, molecular bond, pollution, plastics, petroleum, plastic islands, plastic in beer, plastic in air

Tree Top Garbage

Tree Top Garbage
by Bill Lauto

There it shall stay,
until it erodes away.
Let loose by humankind,
into our air & out of mind.
Innocently caught by a tree,
until it’s digested by you and me.

If the garbage is some kind of foam, plastic or any other very slow degradable product made by humankind, the key word or the upsetting word in the poem above is digested. Litter, such as plastic, is made from petroleum. The official name is polyethylene terephthalate, or PET. When organic material, such as grass or an apple, is exposed to the elements of nature or buried, bacteria breaks down the item into the original compounds that formed the organic element. This biodegradation process doesn't occur on plastic in the same way or period of time.

Studies have shown that UV light will break the molecular bonds holding plastic together so that item can break down into smaller pieces. And smaller and smaller and smaller pieces. Nevertheless, there are problems because buried plastic in landfills are in a place where the sun doesn't shine and when plastic does break down into smaller pieces, this is proving to be a very serious problem.

First let us review what we all know: Plastic is building up in our oceans, especially the Pacific ocean. Humankind's plastic shopping bags, water bottles, take out containers, soda bottles, product packages and six-pack plastic rings are bathing in sunlight as they float in our oceans and waterways. The UV rays will eventually break down that plastic into smaller pieces. Ten years ago, a study from Nihon University in Chiba, Japan, discovered that plastic in our oceans can start to degrade within one year. Thus, creating smaller and smaller pieces.

BREAKING PLASTIC DOWN INTO SMALLER PIECES IS BECOMING A MAJOR WORLD WIDE ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM

These smaller pieces of plastic are not natural. They are made of bisphenol A (BPA) and PS oligomer. These are carcinogens and these toxic chemicals end up in the bellies of fish and perhaps evaporate into our air. So let us continue with that natural process of the rain cycle...
After Evaporation is Condensation and finally Precipitation, allowing these chemicals to settle on the land and crops. Animals eat the chemicals and humankind eats the fish, the animals and the crops!

I am now asking everyone who is perusing this GoingTrueGreen blog post to also revisit or read for the first time, these two previous posts:

Plastic Water, Air and Food (12/27/2017)

Plastic Clouds (03/19/2019)

As for all of us, may I suggest that we be extra mindful this time of year with the Christmas and holiday wrappings, boxes filled with shipping material and plastic waste.

GoingTrueGreen.com is teaching the complete picture for saving money, energy, our Earth and our health - Not teaching poetry.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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Roadside Litter

6/10/2019

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We are Infested with Litter Bugs

When will this type of littering stop? One of the largest areas where litter accumulates is a street corner by a red light or stop sign. Especially the street corners at the end of a highway's Off Ramp.

We have an infestation of Litter Bugs and they seem to have an urge to void themselves of all unwanted items after a drive on a highway by tossing them out the car window. From cigarette butts to water bottles and cups we see them piling up and clogging sewer grates.

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Cigarette Butt Litter

What these Litter Bugs don't realize is that everything you throw out your car window, even a piece of dental floss, will eventually find its way down the sewer and into our water ways. That means our rivers and oceans. If anyone has gone swimming and a long brownish-gray string came across your face, that is not seaweed, that was someone's used dental floss. More drastic is the fact that fish eat what is in the oceans that we polluted and we eat fish. We are our worst enemy.

Now, since I do not wish to "Be A Triple C" person, that is someone who Constantly Complains and Criticizes. I will also present solutions, because a Triple C person never accomplishes anything and they never help to find solutions or solve a problem. Sadly the majority of our politicians are Triple C people.

Nevertheless, we the individual are the solution and what we need to talk about with our townships is the installation of cameras at the various street corners that have a large volume of litter. The cameras should be relatively easy to move from one location to another when deemed appropriate and should be used to catch people tossing anything out their car windows. License plate numbers will be recorded and a summons mailed to the owner of the car. This money can then be used to clean the litter and our oceans. All without raising taxes.

Don't Be A Triple C and don't be a Litter Bug.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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International Recycling Market Changed!

1/22/2019

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Flyers used by some Townships

No and no, the International Recycling Market didn't Change. The International community buying our recycling are only now holding the United States to original standards. Glass was to be clean with a small percentage of dirt being acceptable. Plastic wasn't to be mixed with paper and paper wasn't accepted with plastic mixed within. Again a small percentage of mixing was acceptable, but the Recycling systems in America changed and those changes caused the recycling market to collapse. America's recycling is heavily contaminated and very few countries want to buy a contaminated product.

Back on February 17, 2016 my blog titled "Is Recycling Striking Out?" and on May 16, 2018 called "Caught Looking! Strike Three!" were about this very issue. Now our Townships want us to think this change is by the hands of the International Recycling Market. No, the change started at America's Townships trying to make more money and cutting corners. Townships did away with multi-level sorting and we no longer had to rinse out glass jars. End results: We are no longer recycling Glass! Glass, one of the very first items that was recycled. Why? Because the Townships of America were saving money by not washing out the glass and they told us years earlier that we no longer had to rinse out the jars, so they could accumulate more glass. America started to send more and more "dirty" Glass to China. China finally said they will no longer buy dirty glass from our recycling system. This issue is the same with all recycled items.

Unwanted Recycling

The solution is easy, just REWARD those who sort and properly prepare recycling items before they are placed at the curb. Lower our taxes paid toward Recycling and watch how money is saved, even after more and more people join the ranks and receive a tax break. (Eventually the Townships will do away with the Tax break, but at least more people will be recycling correctly.) Reward for multi-level sorting done by Americans (done with RFID tags) instead of levying fines and punishing those who do not recycle correctly. Then, China may start buying our recycling items again, instead of us sending these items to our landfills or stacking unwanted recycling up in a warehouse parking lot. At least we will be helping our environment again on God's green earth.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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APPLIANCE DEGRADATION

11/28/2018

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Bottom Freezers Glup Up More Energy

Over the years the evolution of appliances has been seen as advancements. They are sleeker looking, loaded with convenient features and use less energy so our utility costs are lower. New appliances are delivered, installed and our old ones are taken away to be recycled to whatever level of recycling utilized at that time.

Sadly, we are being duped. I see and hear about so many issues from people who are shopping or just purchased a new appliance. The issues are so numerous that I do a Workshop just on appliances. So if we are in need of a new appliance, here are just a few items to familiarize ourselves with for some of the major appliances we all use.

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House Fires: Dryers #1 Reason

End of Life Recycling:

Let us not get our hopes up. Most appliances, if recycled, are only done so for the metal. Glass windows, rubber, all items plastic and electrical wiring are off to the landfill.

Free Installation:

With the cost of delivery, installation is Free. Yet “FREE” can increase the chance of our house burning down if the people installing a particular appliance don’t know enough. The appliance is a Clothes Dryer.

The number one cause for house fires is from the Clothes Dryer. Let the Dryer be electric or gas, that doesn’t matter, the build up of lint is the fire starter.

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Clean Lint Trap Each Load

Lint build up in the ductwork that is being blown out of our house always makes me nervous because we can’t see if the lint is accumulating. Just last year, friends of someone that I know, lost their house to a fire started by lint build up from the dryer. They left the dryer on when they rushed out to do a last minute errand on Christmas Eve. They were homeless on Christmas Day, but gave thanks to God that nobody was injured or died.

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Do Not Use Flexible Duct

We all can take steps to avoid this tragic possibility by cleaning the lint trap after every load, buy an extendable wire brush to clean out the ductwork and always use solid metal ductwork to exhaust the lint. However, even with so called professional installers, we have to watch them and know what to look for as they work. This actually happened to me, so this is a first-hand account with no exaggeration nor a presentation out of context.

As I watched the two gentlemen install my clothes dryer they had a problem with the metal ductwork fitting on the back of the dryer. First they wanted to put a screw into the ductwork to hold it in place. I immediately informed them that would increase the chance of a FIRE. The reason is because the screw will extend through the wall of the ductwork and stick out on the inside catching lint when being blown by the screw. Lint will build up and back up while being ever so close to the source of heat. Lint ignites very easily.

They understood my concerns and proceeded with an alternative course of action that was to install a flexible tube. A tube with many ridges and bends that catches lint to cause the same exact problem. I showed them an old flexible tube that I use for demonstration purposes and how the edges were filled with lint. They were out of options, so I instructed them to leave the dryer as is and I would buy a metal tube extension to put on myself.

Front Load Clothes Washer, Front load washing machine, Washers and Dryers, Saving energy with washing machines and dryers, front load washer, most energy saving washing machine, going true green, going green, sustainable living, energy star, energy saving appliances, lower utility costs

Tonight's Movie: WHERE'S THE HEAT

Sleek Looking:

This is another costly degradation in the name of having such fancy looking appliances. What we are actually buying is a ludicrous feature.

- Ludicrous Feature Number One -
A plastic window in the door of a clothes dryer so we can have matching "Looks" for our Washer and Dryer. We are trying to dry clothes, so why would we want heat to escape through a plastic window. Is the new feature in town our dryer’s window? Are we making POPCORN and pulling up chairs so we can invite the neighbors over to watch our clothes dry! Give me a solid insulated door please!

Bottom Freezer - Waste Energy & Money

- Ludicrous Feature Number Two Through Eight -
The double French Door fashion statement for refrigerators has been in vogue for decades. We can have our fridge door provide us with ice cubes, tell us that the cheese went bad, do online shopping, show calendars, grocery lists and photos while increasing our electric bill. Also now we can have a plastic window in the door! Tap twice and we can see inside. The falsehood presented is that we save energy by seeing the location of what we want to get first, before opening the door and letting cold air out. That is correct, opening and closing the door faster saves energy, but the window is allowing some cold air to escape 24/7 compared to a solid insulated door. Besides, having two smaller French doors instead of on big door is cutting down on the cold air lost. However, what really takes the grand ludicrous prize is the Butter Warmer inside the refrigerator. An electric heater is keeping the butter compartment warm so our butter is soft when we take the butter tray out. An electric heater inside an appliance designed to keep food cold. Take the butter out first, put the butter dish on the table and by the time the food is served and everyone sits down, the butter will be softer. Unless paying a higher electric cost for unnecessary features is the thing to do today.
Don’t be sold a Bill of Goods!

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Convectional Oven with Fan

Lower Utility Costs:

In the end, we are being told that these new bells and whistles save energy and our environment. However, when I match up the newest refrigerator loaded with features, that will cost me almost $200.00 more a year in electricity compared to my top energy efficient refrigerator from twenty years ago. How is that more energy efficient?

Also don’t depend on the Energy Star label to blaze a path to the most energy efficient appliance. The Star only means the appliance meets minimum requirements and can be the least efficient model made when compared to the most efficient. Find and study the Yellow Energy Guide Label.

Below are some very important features we most certainly need in order to save energy and help our environment:

OVEN - Convection design that uses a fan to circulate the hot air, thus cooking faster. Preferably a Gas oven and stovetop if natural gas is available, because operation cost is much lower than Electric ovens and stovetops.

Best Energy Saving Design

CLOTHES DRYER - Preferably a Gas model if natural gas is available, because operation cost is 75% less than Electric models. Also a Moisture Sensor to cut down on the drying time.

CLOTHES WASHER - Front Load design uses up to 70% less water and thus less fuel to heat.

REFRIGERATOR & FREEZER - The Freezer should be on TOP because the first rule of physics is Cold Air Drops. Putting the Freezer at the bottom by the hot motor and compressor is ludicrous. A Freezer on the top can drop excess cold air from the freezer into the refrigerator thus cutting down on the refrigerator’s running time.

AIR CONDITIONERS - Learn about EER & SEER (for central air) to know the energy efficiency of the air cooling unit. Also use the WHILE formula to know the correct BTU size for your window units. For more details see my previous GoingTrueGreen blog posts under Appliances.

Besides the jesting around in this blog post, all this information, especially the serious life saving facts above on Clothes Dryers, needs to be shared with family and friends around the dinner table this holiday season.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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Caught Looking! Strike Three!

5/16/2018

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The WSJ printed an article on May 13, 2018 with the title:
Recycling, Once Embraced by Businesses and Environmentalists Now Under Siege

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Back on February 17, 2016 I posted on my Going True Green Blog: Is Recycling Striking Out? So just over two years later, we have a serious situation for township's recycling programs. A situation that was rapidly developing when I posted my blog and asked if America's Recycling programs would be caught "Looking" at Home plate for strike three. With the Wall Street Journal's article, I believe we just heard the umpire yell, "You're Out!"

America continued recycling the same easy and cheap way only to now find ourselves sending unwanted recyclable items to Landfills again. I strongly suggest for everyone to read my 2016 Going True Green blog post again, the Link is above in Green, and then look up the WSJ article by Bob Tita. As individual's we need to notify our Town's Recycling Departments that we need to go back to the multi-layer sorting system and that we are not allergic to work. We are all capable of spending a few extra minutes to sort our paper from plastic and glass from cardboard, before putting it to the curb. The bottom line is the fact that, "Three strikes you're out" does not just apply to America's past time called Baseball.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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Plastic Water, Air and Food

12/27/2017

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Microplastic Fibers

New studies and reports are now quantifying what has been a growing concern for many years.
Allow me to first present statements that are being considered facts today by many scientists:

We are drinking Plastic Fibers
We are breathing Plastic Fibers
We are eating Plastic Fibers

I am not trying to yell the sky is falling, but we have created a monster. For those of us who don’t eat meat or fish, grow some food, and have counter top water distillers, a sense of brief relief may arise. However, this is an ever growing interconnecting issue, that is rapidly becoming serious for the world. Mainly because we do not know what the end results will be for humankind, animals, and nature!

How we are eating plastic:
Our clothes have more synthetic materials today than any other natural material. That evening dress we will wear this New Year’s Eve, the fleece coat we will use when shoveling snow and our exercise clothes for those workouts. Polyester equals plastic. An analysis was done by Tecnon OrbiChem on the data showing chemical use worldwide. Polyester is the world’s mandated fiber since 2007.

We then wash our clothes. Microplastic fibers that can’t be seen, are washed down the drain. A recent study found each washing machine cycle could release 700,000 fibers.

Also don't forget plastic microbeads in facial scrub products! These plastic fibers end up in our waterways, our oceans, because Water Treatment plants are unable to catch all of them. Dr. Alice Wemaere, EPA Research Manager said, “Consumers can help by checking the product labels for cosmetics and cleaners to see if they are certify microplastic free."

Next these plastic fibers absorb things while in the water. Things like: Oil from spilt motor oil, Pesticides from spraying weeds, Drugs from discarded medicine pills, Bacteria from Sewage and Wastewater Treatment plants, Chemicals from just about anything that went down the street’s sewer drain. To summarize in one word… Toxins.

Plastic Microfiber being ingested, Image by Dr. Kirby

Fish then eat these polluted plastic fibers and we eat the fish. Additionally, Plankton that support the entire marine food chain also eat plastic. The image shown is a still frame from a video done by Dr. Richard Kirby. The footage shows a 3mm long blue plastic microfiber being ingested by a planktonic arrow worm. This is our Food Chain and we may be hanging ourselves with that very chain.

We don’t recycle plastic well and an additional source of plastic for fish to eat also may come from, for example, 38 million pieces of plastic waste that washed up on the sands of an uninhabited South Pacific Island.

If Polyester is the mandated fiber, then the question is… Mandated by who?
Manufacturers, Profits, Consumers? We are all guilty.

How we are breathing plastic:
Studies done in 2015 by SETAC Europe (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry) told researchers that microplastic was atmospheric and offering substance to the old adage: The sky is falling. A minimum estimated of three tons of plastic fibers were being deposited each year onto the city of Paris. The question now is: By what means are these microplastic fibers getting into the air?

Professor Frank Kelly led research done in London and reported to the 2016 UK Parliamentary Inquiry the following:
“If we breathe them [microplastic] in, they could potentially deliver chemicals to the lower parts of our lungs and maybe even across into our circulation.”

How we are drinking plastic:
Plastic fibers have been found in our tap water around the world and I don’t mean a small sample. Plastic particles are found in 83% of the samples taken. The United States of America leads the way with the highest contamination rate at a staggering 94%. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found plastic fibers in the drinking water of their Headquarters and buildings used by Congress.

India and Lebanon came in second and third with the next highest rates. The UK, Germany and France had a 72% contamination rate. An independent study done in the Republic of Ireland by Dr. Anne Marie Mahon at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology also found microplastic particles in well water and tap water.

“We don’t know what the [health] impact is and for that reason we should follow the precautionary principle and put enough effort into it now, immediately, so we can find out what the real risks are,” said Dr. Mahon.

Another statement made by Dr. Mahon causing consternation was, “If the fibers are there, it is possible that the nanoparticles are there too that we can’t measure. Once they are in the nanometre range they can really penetrate a cell and that means they can penetrate organs, and that would be worrying.”

Compound that statement with microplastics absorbing bacteria found in sewage, because some studies have shown harmful pathogens on microplastic downstream from wastewater treatment plants, now the world's population has a bigger problem.

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Plastic with your Beer?

We now know of several sources on how microplastics can arrive into our water. Water is used to make everything, even Beer. Studies in Germany found plastic fibers in all of the 24 beer brands they tested. They also found plastic in honey and sugar.

Therefore if we are drinking plastic polluted water, then so are the animals. We then consume the chickens, cows, turkeys and pigs.

We are our own worst enemy.

We have no idea what the long term results will be for babies, children, and adults, when we consume years of microplastics with toxins. How our organs, muscle tissues, and overall health will be altered is still a quagmire.

I teach Outdoor Education part time at BOCES. I tell my students that everything is connected and there are consequences to all our actions. Our world’s ecosystems are being suffocated by plastic as these fibers become ubiquitous in the world. We are risking adverse consequences, but as I also tell my students, “There is always another way.” The last pull-over shirt I received as a gift, was 70% cotton. Much better than a few years ago, but still not the same as my 100% cotton shirts, T-shirts and jeans.

God’s green earth is becoming a plastic earth. I am sorry to say that I can’t find a Happy New Year in that possible indomitable issue.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

TELOMERE, by L. J. Williams "Telling The Untold Stories™ BBV Publishing

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Toilet Paper Progression

11/27/2017

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Cardboard Tube Free

Toilet paper, aka TP, is a product that is considered very useful to say the least. Yet, perhaps we can do better to save Money, Energy, and help our Environment.

Most rolls of toilet paper come with a cardboard tube in the center that creates a great deal of waste, especially because a small percentage of cardboard tubes are being recycled. Recent statistics present that each year in America we use enough cardboard tubes to fill the entire square footage of the Empire State building in New York.

We are paying more money per roll for that cardboard tube, while manufacturers are using more energy to produce and use them. Additionally, the negative impact on our environment each year is probably unmeasurable.

Thankfully another TP roll has been developed and we can all consider taking action to help move toward true green. As shown in the photograph, toilet paper rolls are available without a cardboard tube. The rolling curves of paper in the center function as the tube of cardboard. The only slight draw back I experienced is with one of our toilet paper dispensers. This dispenser has a wide mounting pin or dowel to hold the roll of toilet paper. These wider center mounting pins or dowels, are on various toilet paper dispensers. When restocking this dispenser with a new roll of toilet paper without the cardboard tube, I need to expand and widen the center curves of toilet paper at the center of the roll. This then facilitates an easier installation over the dispenser’s dowel.

Regarding the job positions producing these cardboard tubes, please realize no jobs should be lost with a little creativity. Young children in every American school should be learning about recycling cardboard. They also build, make, and create projects in classes between K to 5 grade and then in art classes. Cardboard and cardboard tubes are a key element with making turkeys for Thanksgiving to telescopes and from bridges to buildings. A simple shift in production to packages of different sized cardboard tubes and sheets, will make ordering and creating much easier for every grade school teacher.

Our hope at Going True Green is to see center cardboard tubes for toilet paper go the way of colored toilet paper. Matching colors in our bathrooms with the same color toilet paper reached tremendous popularity in the 1970s. However, toilet paper in various colors cost us more to buy compared to plain white toilet paper, production was wasting energy in the name of vanity and the dye in colored toilet paper was proven to be harmful to our environment. Finally in 2004, production of toilet paper with colors was stopped.

Unfortunately, some Novelty companies have started production again to meet the demands of certain "celebrities" and others. Red, Black, and Glow in the Dark toilet paper can be found online today with biodegradable and nontoxic claims to help entice the buyer.

Please distinguish between want and need. I certainly do not need to use Glow-in-the-Dark toilet paper that costs Ten Dollars a roll along with a cardboard tube in the center.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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Clay Pots & Plastic Buckets

6/30/2017

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5 Gallon Plastic Pails

We all like to save money and improvising another way of doing something is very rewarding. However, we must take the time to evaluate all the details before implementing.

One example can be reusing old 5 gallon plastic buckets to grow food when you don't have enough ground space to plant. This is a great idea under the “Three Rs” rule known as: Recycle, Reuse, and Reduce. You may have also seen some YouTube videos and many different "How To" articles for growing food in 5 gallon buckets. I disagree with all of them.

I strongly suggest against reusing any 5 gallon plastic bucket for growing food. Residue from the original contents may remain in the bucket. Products such as Paint, Sheet Rock Spackle, or a toxic cleaning agent, may still lurk within the cracks and corners. In addition, the plastic will contain BPAs (BisPhenol A ) that can leach into the soil and then into your tomato plant, eggplant, or any food, being grown. Now, this won't kill you tomorrow, but why risk adding contributing factors to issues later on in your life. I see this like cigarette smoking, over time you may have problems.

Personally I avoid eating food grown in any plastic container, served in any plastic container, or stored in any plastic container. Only three (3) things Do Not leach carcinogens into our food and drink. They are Glass, Porcelain and Wax Paper. So instead of 5 gallon plastic buckets, try a good old Clay Pot that is just about the same size of any 5 gallon plastic container. Clay pots have been used for thousands of years and still don’t cost much. They can be reused year after year and are great for growing inside when winter arrives. If you wish to learn more facts on BPAs, please use this LINK to visit my page at EnergyHotwire.com.

We all need to live a more sustainable life and growing some of our own food that we consume is definitely part or that solution.

Bill Lauto, at Going True Green
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
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