I just signed up on EarthLab. It was introduced to me through my company as we are working to reduce our overall impact on the environment globally through work-related carbon reduction activities. As part of the Earthlab site I was able to see my current (gastly) sasquatch sized foot print of an impact and immediately select a ton of ways to reduce it. The site is extremely easy to use and has a lot of very quick and easy ways to make an impact. For instance, I had no idea that the bottle caps on plastic bottles are not recyclable (why?) and if the recycling plant gets a bottle with the cap on, they disgard the entire bottle (again, why?). So, by removing the cap first, you have a higher chance of it being recycled. Of course, we’re making up for a very illogical process on both the reasons for 1) distributors not using recyclable caps and 2) recyclers throwing out bottles instead of unscrewing the cap…but until we change that, it’s a great way to help. I’m sure thankful for the millions of people that read my blog so this will get passed along quickly…
Here’s a quick update that I just saw that could be a silver bullet in our plastic water bottle issue… http://www.impactlab.com/2008/11/26/introducing-the-paper-bottle/
