HOW TO RESCUE THE RIGHT WAY
Host: Over the past two days as we have gone to the Ends of the Earth, we are showing you the delicate condition of the environment. You all know that it's important to recycle, but a lot of us don't know how to do it the right way. Well, we have come to the rescue here with Chip Giller and Katharine Wroth, they are from grist.org, they are also the authors of 'Wake Up and Smell the Planet,' and they have got some important recycling tips for us. Chip, nice to see again, Katharine welcome to you.
Let's start with the VHSs and the CDs, we have collected them. It's going to go the way of the dinosaur and usually they end up in the trash, but you say they can recycled.
Chip Giller: Except you have your Dawn Johnson collection at home. Yes, things like this, there is a company GreenDisk, you can find it at greendisk.com, they will send you a box, load up the box, you mail it back to them and it gets reused as car parts and appliance parts.
Host: And that goes for your CDs as well?
Chip Giller: Exactly.
Host: Okay, let's go into running shoes, because millions of these end up as landfills every year.
Katharine Wroth: Sure, yeah and there is a program called Reuse-A-Shoe. They will take them back, no matter how stinky they are, it's run by Nike and the National Recycling Coalition. They take back any brand, they grind them up, you can see it here and they turn them into surfaces for things like tracks, running tracks, tennis courts and that kind of thing.
Host: That's amazing, I love that, okay. Now you can't live in New York without finding old mattresses and TVs along the curbside, because people don't know what else to do with them, but there is someone who will take them.
Chip Giller: Yeah! So, at grist.org we talked about reuse as well as recycling, and the best thing to do with old mattresses is to go to craigslist or freecycle.org, post up there, that you have a mattress available in your office.
Host: Someone will take a used mattress?
Chip Giller: More often they not, someone will come.
Host: Really, okay! And TVs as well.
Chip Giller: TVs as well.
Host: Now computers are another thing. What's the percentage of computers that are actually recycled, is very low.
Katharine Wroth: It's something around 10-15%, it's really low.
Host: Which disturbing too, because they have dangerous chemicals and things inside.
Katharine Wroth: Yeah! They have lead and mercury and all kinds of things that you just don't want getting out into the world.
Host: So who will take them?
Katharine Worth: Most of the major manufactures, now have take that program. So when you are shopping for you a new computer. They will help you to figure out, how to send back your old one and how to recycle it properly.
Host: And you said Dell in particular is very good at this.
Katherine Worth: Dell has the great program, yes, Apple, IBM they all have.
Host: And you can bring back the computer that isn't a Dell company, they will also take that as well? My kids ask for a new CD, there is new practically every other day, selling thousands, millions of these as well. Who takes these?
Chip Giller: Yeah, there is about a billion of these that aren't in use. So these little guys they are full of nasty chemicals. Staples, we can drop them off at Staples, the Staples will refurbish them and they put these in developing countries, and if they aren't able to be refurbished, they will recycle the parts in an eco-friendly way.
Host: Okay, I know we got to go, but you can recycle those beer bottles.
Katherine Worth: Yes, this is one of our favorites.
Host: That's the question that's asked a lot.
Chip Giller: That's a question, in fact asked a lot at grist.org, and we are here to say, you may recycle these, just put them in your recycling bin and we'll get to reuse them as glass and other products.
Host: Okay, Thank you both, so much, a lot of good tips for recycling.
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