Instead of taking their recyclables to the curb, Oregonians can now turn their cans and bottles into money for higher education.
Thanks to a new partnership between BottleDrop, Oregon’s redemption center for recyclable goods, and the Oregon College Savings Plan, the state’s 529 college savings plan, residents can directly add funds from redeemed cans and bottles to an existing college savings accounts.
Previously recyclers had three options on how to receive the funds: cash, grocery store vouchers or donations toward a nonprofit. But this partnership adds a fourth option that makes it easier for participants to save for tuition.
To take part in the program, recyclers first need to create an online BottleDrop account where they can link college savings accounts for themselves or anyone else — family or friend — as long as the recipient has an Oregon College Savings account.
Each recycled container is worth 10 cents, and there are over 50 drop-off locations across the state.
“Our collaboration with BottleDrop offers Oregonians with a creative way to save for education and training after high school,” Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read said in a news release. “We know that no matter where you live in Oregon, every penny adds up, and we want to make it easier for everyone to start saving for their future today.”
Although 10 cents might not seem like much compared to the total cost of college tuition, the 529 program is a taxed-advantaged plan that will accrue interest over time. More importantly, studies show that students who have college savings accounts, no matter how much or how little money is in the account, are more likely to go to college. Research from the Center for Social Development at the University of Washington in St. Louis showed that a child from a middle- or low-income household with a savings account is three times more likely to go to college than their counterparts without a savings account.
“For nearly 50 years, families have used bottle and can returns to teach kids about family finances and conserving natural resources,” Jules Bailey, Chief Stewardship Officer and Director of External Relations for the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative said in a news release. “The BottleDrop partnership with the Oregon College Savings Plan offers Oregon families another easy way to turn their small deposits into big returns for their future.”
More: This Oregon College Knocked Textbook Prices down from $200 to $40 with One Move
Tag: recyclables
Want to Throw Food Away in This City? It’ll Cost You
There’s a new contender for greenest city in America. Seattle’s City Council unanimously passed a new policy that will fine businesses and residents for not composting.
Starting Jan. 1, 2015, all Seattle residents and commercial establishments must separate food waste and compostable paper for recycling — meaning these items can’t get sent to the landfills like regular garbage. With the new regulation, the city’s trash collectors can hand out tickets if they find a trash bin with more than 10 percent compostable waste. “After receiving two warnings, residents and businesses will be fined $50 for dumpsters and a more modest $1 for waste at single-family homes,” CNN reports.
Even though a $1 fine isn’t very much (for comparison’s sake, San Francisco fines its residents up to $100 for failing to compost), Seattle isn’t actually trying to make money off of trash violators. Rather, the city wants to stress to its residents the importance of recycling. As Tim Croll (Seattle Public Utilities’ solid-waste director) tells the Seattle Times, the city has collected less than $2,000 in fines since it outlawed recyclable items from the trash a whole nine years ago.
“The point isn’t to raise revenue,” Croll adds. “We care more about reminding people to separate their materials.”
MORE: The State That Has Made It Illegal to Throw Away Unwanted Food
Seattle has a goal of recycling 60 percent of waste by 2015 and 70 percent by 2022. However, its recycling rate for 2013 was at 56 percent, which fell a little short of the city’s target, the Times reports. The new law should generate an additional 38,000 tons of compost material every year, hopefully putting the city back on track.
Food and paper waste is a huge, expensive problem for the whole of America. We’ve previously reported that more than any other material thrown away by Americans, paper has the biggest presence in landfills. According to the EPA, paper takes up the largest chuck of solid municipal solid waste at 27 percent. As for our food scraps, a staggering 40 percent of the food in this country is completely wasted, or about 36 million tons of food annually, setting us back $165 billion in wasted costs per year.
Seattle’s continued efforts reduce waste is something that other cities should aspire to.
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Why Those Red Party Cups Are Also Big Red Flags
The Red Solo cup is about as American as beer pong and Toby Keith, but there’s a big problem with this party icon.
These beverage holders are made of No. 6 thermoplastic polystyrene, a moldable plastic that’s cheap to produce and found everywhere, from disposable razors to CD cases and even Styrofoam containers.
In theory, this plastic is 100 percent recyclable. But even if someone actually collects the used cups for recycling, most curbside pickups and facilities do not accept this kind of plastic since it’s not easily recyclable.
MORE: Can I Recycle This? 5 Things You Should Always Recycle (and 5 Things You Shouldn’t)
This means, unfortunately, most of these cups get sent to the landfill where they take their sweet time to decompose (No. 6 plastic takes about 50 years to break down).
We’ve already mentioned how plastic is an environmental menace, and that doesn’t even include all of the energy, chemicals and barrels of oil it takes to manufacture a cup that’s probably only going to be used a single time before it’s trashed. (In case you’re wondering how you can recycle them, you can send your used Solo cups to TerraCycle.)
Whether they’re made of plastic, paper or Styrofoam, it’s clear that America has a disposable cup problem. They’re everywhere. You’ll see them ankle-deep at college keggers and all over coffee shops and restaurants. In fact, airline flights in the United States go through a staggering 1 million disposable cups every six hours (!).
So what’s a environmentally conscious beverage-drinker supposed to do?
Well, you can swear off all disposable receptacles forever or just wash and reuse the ones you already have. Alternatively, you can drink from a better cup.
ALSO: This Simple Solution to Reduce Waste Is So Obvious It Should Happen in Every Coffee Shop
Washington-based company MicroGREEN Polymers launched their InCycle Cup a few years ago with hopes of replacing these plastic menaces. What makes these cups different is that they are made from recycled PET bottles, which are exceptionally recyclable.
“The main distinguishing factor is they are cheaper, made from water bottles that already exist so no trees are cut down or chemicals used to create the cups, and InCycle cups can be recycled again and again,” a rep tells NationSwell.
Last year, InCycle saved and repurposed 27 million water bottles from landfills. Not only that, according to a report from Seattle King 5, a single plastic water bottle can make three InCycle Cups.
If you’re worried that these cups are made from the same weak and crinkly material as plastic bottles, thanks to proprietary technology involving billions of micro air bubbles, these American-made cups are light yet extremely durable and can hold hot and cold beverages alike. Check out this neat video of an InCycle Cup that survived without a single crack after being run over by a car.
The eco-friendly cups — which are currently being used on United Airlines, Virgin America and Alaska Airlines flights and other companies — can be purchased online.
Turns out plastic can be used the right way. Cheers to that.
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DON’T MISS: There’s a Surprisingly Green Use for Styrofoam
If You’re Going to San Francisco, Here’s Why You Might Need to Bring Your Own Water Bottle
The city by the bay is definitely an eco-trendsetter. After all, it was the first to institute a ban on plastic bags way back in 2007. (Several other cities and an entire state later followed suit.) It also diverts everything from recyclables to compostables and even unwanted clothes from landfills. And now, it might prohibit the disposable plastic water bottle as well.
The easy-to-transport drinking vessel is currently on the endangered species list in San Francisco. The city’s Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a measure that would ban the sale of plastic water bottles 21 ounces or smaller at events held on city property. If approved a second time by the board and the city’s mayor, the ban would go into effect starting on October 1 for indoor events and in 2016 for outdoor events, SFGate reports.
“We all know with climate change, and the importance of combating climate change, San Francisco has been leading the way to fight for our environment. That’s why I ask you to support this ordinance to reduce and discourage single-use, single-serving plastic water bottles in San Francisco,” said City Supervisor David Chiu, the author of the ordinance. “I want to remind people that not long ago, our world was not addicted to plastic water bottles. Before (the 1990s), for centuries, everybody managed to stay hydrated.”
MORE: Can Rain Solve West Virginia’s Tap Water Problem?
Could your city be next to take on this bottled environmental scourge?