Food service providers have begun using Cereplast’s products such as their biodegradable forks, knives, spoons, and plates. However, on an even larger scale, CERP is able to manufacture renewable plastic for such uses as yogurt containers, automobile moldings, food distributors, and just about any plastic product you can imagine.

Cereplast has two primary lines of its compostable resins; Cereplast Compostables and Cereplast Hybrid Resins. From the company’s website, cereplast.com:

“Cereplast Compostables® resins are renewable, ecologically sound substitutes for petroleum-based plastic products, replacing nearly 100% of the petroleum-based additives used in traditional plastics. Cereplast Compostables® resins are starch-based, made from corn, wheat, tapioca and potato starches that primarily come from the Midwest (versus oil from the Middle East).”

“Cereplast Hybrid Resins® products are bio-based, replacing 50% or more of the petroleum content in traditional plastic products with materials from renewable sources such as starches from corn, tapioca, wheat and potatoes.”

They have also developed a method of turning algae into biodegradable plastics. This new technology not only produces little to no green house gas emissions, but it is completely renewable and compostable.

For those of you who like to invest in green companies, Cereplast is also a publicly traded company. The stock symbol is CERP.OB and it is poised for growth over the coming years.

Keep an eye on Cereplast as it looks like they are positioned well to provide quality green products and change the landscape of the plastics industry.

Artificial fertilizers need not be used for plant growth, as they eventually degrade the soil.  Organic products are predominantly used in composting. Organic products are nothing but natural, unprocessed materials which contain no chemicals. Meat products are however not used in this process.

The following information explains how composting works: Microbes are small organisms living in the soil, they feed on organic material. The presence of large amounts of microbes makes decomposition occur even faster. While preparing to compost, it is important to break down the material and add products high in nitrogen and some high in carbon in order to speed up the composting process. The micro organisms need these two chemicals in order to efficiently break down the material. Breaking down the food via shredding can help to further increase the speed and efficiency of the composting process.

Composting is done in large containers through which air can pass as the micro organisms need air in order to survive. Turning the compost inside out once in a while helps to let air pass through it equally. Besides air, composting also needs moisture and it is recommended to add water regularly if there is no rainfall. Temperatures inside the compost pile need to be quite high as it kills unwanted organisms and very low temperatures are not suitable for microbes. It is often beneficial to compost in the summer months if you live in cooler climates. The natural heat of the sun provides ideal temperatures.

Make sure your composting pile is not be too small either, it should be large enough for it to retain moisture and temperature. Decomposition usually takes about six to eight weeks with proper care.

If we could all go even just a little beyond the blue bin, by reducing and resusing, it could make an enormous difference on the planet’s waste. The following is a short list of astonsihing recycling facts that are sure to nudge you in the direction of going green. It can’t be stressed enough how even the smallest efforts can make a huge difference, as you’ll see with some of the examples below.

METAL:

• If it takes you 45 seconds to read this recycling fact, then by the time you are done, there will have been over a quarter of a million aluminum cans produced before you were done.

• If you drink a can of beer after work and then tossed it in the recycling bin, that one (aluminum) can saves enough energy to watch television for 3 hours after dinner! Of course, you’d save even more energy if you went out for a walk or read a good (used!) book after dinner.

• There are over 80 billion soda cans used each year. Yes, that’s billion. Yes, that’s just soda! can you see the importance of recycling aluminum?

• The good thing about recycling aluminum is that it can be recycled an unlimited amount of times, and a recycled can, even 200 years from now, can still be a can. Yes, it can!

PAPER:

• If everyone read just their Sunday paper online for now on and there was no paper versions, 500,000 trees would be saved per week!

• If every single newspaper was recycled after we read them, we would be able to save 25 million trees per year!

• If you were to add up the amount of separate pieces of paper trash that each American throws away per year, it would be approximately 13,000 pieces of paper. A large percentage of this is packaging and junk mail.

• If we were to save all the wood and paper that we toss into the trash each year, the combined amount would be enough to heat 50 million homes for up to 20 years.

• If we were to lay out all the paper that American businesses generate in just one day, that paper would be enough to circle the Earth about 20 times.

PLASTIC AND STYROFOAM:

• The soda cans mentioned above were a pretty high number, right? Well, just in the USA alone, over 25 million beverage bottles made of plastic are thrown away every hour!

• Styrofoam coffee cups are being thrown away at an unbelievable amount of 25 billion per year. That number is the statistic for USA only.

• Plastic material being dumped into the ocean is responsible for killing u to a million sea creatures yearly.

GLASS:

• Using a similar example as the single aluminum can above, did you know that recycling just one glass bottle can run one of your 100 watt light bulbs for 3-4 hours.

• When a glass bottle is recycled, it is considerably cutting back on the air and water pollution that happens when creating the bottle from raw materials.

• If we were to wait for a glass bottle to decompose after throwing it away today, we would have to wait approximately 4000 years.

• There are approximately 41 billion glass containers manufactured every year.

• Like aluminum, glass can be reused an unlimted amount of times.

Batteries, Plastic, Paper, Glass, Aluminum, Steel, Motor Oil, Tires, Toxics, Refrigerators, Computer Printers, False Claims, Curbside Recycling Tips.

These items are just a few examples of what can be recycled.  For a complete more thourough list please visit here.

• For every ton of paper that is recycled, the following is saved: 7,000 gallons of water; 380 gallons of oil; and enough electricity to power an average house for six months.
• You can run a TV for six hours on the amount of electricity that is saved by recycling one aluminum can.
• By recycling just one glass bottle, you save enough electricity to power a 100-watt bulb for four hours.

Throwing away items that could be recycled diminishes energy, water and natural resources that could be saved by recycling.

Do your part in helping your planet and community….Recycle!

- The White House Task Force (on Recycling)

Did You Know That Compost Can…

• Suppress plant diseases and pests.
• Reduce or eliminate the need for chemical fertilizers.
• Promote higher yields of agricultural crops.
• Facilitate reforestation, wetlands restoration, and habitat revitalization efforts by amending contaminated, compacted, and marginal soils.
• Cost-effectively remediate soils contaminated by hazardous waste.
• Remove solids, oil, grease, and heavy metals from stormwater runoff.
• Capture and destroy 99.6 percent of industrial volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) in contaminated air.
• Provide cost savings of at least 50 percent over conventional soil, water, and air pollution remediation technologies, where applicable.

• Turn lights and computers off when they are not in use.

• Clean your refrigerator coils. Dust on the coils located in the back of a refrigerator makes it less efficient.

• Change or clean the filters in your air conditioners and heaters.

• Use sleep mode on your computers at home and at the office. Turn them off at night.

• Open the dishwasher and air-dry dishes instead of using the hot air dry cycle. Only run the machine with full loads.

• Dry your laundry on a clothesline.

• Wash clothes on warm or cold cycle, not hot.Wash only full loads.

• Turn down your hot water heater to 120F.

• Shorten showers by a few minutes to conserve hot water.

• Adjust thermostat when you leave the house (10F down in winter, 10F up in summer).

• Keep up with basic furnace maintenance. Have it professionally tuned and cleaned, and replace air filters regularly.

• Cook more efficiently. Cover pots, use a pressure cooker when appropriate, keep burners clean, cook several dishes at a time in the oven, and use a microwave to heat food.

• Keep drapes or blinds closed at night in winter and during the day in the summer to reduce heating and cooling needs.

• Install faucet aerators in sinks to reduce hot water use.

• Insulate the 4 ft of hot water pipes closest to hot water heater.

• Insulate all hot water pipes.

• Caulk and weatherstrip all your doors and windows.

• Have a professional seal your heating ducts to reduce the loss of heated air.

• Install a programmable thermostat.

• Replace appliances–dishwashers, refrigerators, washing machines–that are more 10 years old with an Energy Star model. The older models are less efficient than newer ones.

• Replace your old furnace with efficient Energy Star model.

• Install a solar hot water heater.

• Eat one less beef meal per week. It takes far more energy to produce meat for consumption than it does to raise a crop.

• Recycled-Content Products are made from materials that would otherwise have been discarded. Items in this category are made totally or partially from material destined for disposal or recovered from industrial activities-like aluminum soda cans or newspaper. Recycled-content products also can be items that are rebuilt or remanufactured from used products such as toner cartridges or computers.

• Post Consumer Content refers to material from products that were used by consumers or businesses and would otherwise be discarded as waste. If a product is labeled “recycled content,” the rest of the product material might have come from excess or damaged items generated during normal manufacturing processes-not collected through a local recycling program.

• Recyclable Products can be collected and remanufactured into new products after they’ve been used. These products do not necessarily contain recycled materials and only benefit the environment if people recycle them after use. Check with your local recycling program to determine which items are recyclable in your community.

• Buying Local Products: purchasing locally produced products is another way to help offset the carbon emissions of transporting products.  Further, purchasing products from local merchants who use recycled materials in their packaging can also help set a greater demand for recycling.

Here are 3-Steps you can take to reduce unwanted mail:

1 – Write or call organizations requesting that your name and address be removed from their mailing list. If there is a pre-paid postage return envelope, insert a note requesting removal of your name and address from mailing lists. Be sure to include the original mailing label with your name and address and account number, if there is one.

2 – If there is an 800 telephone number listed, call to request removal of your name and address from mailing lists.

3 – Write or call mail list brokers and ask to be placed on their “suppress” files.