Weekly Trivia on Plastic: 2010 Statistics of Plastic Use and Recycling

"In the year of 2010 alone, Americans use 14 million tons of plastics in containers and packaging, 11 million tons in durable goods, and almost 7 million tons in throw-away items. Only 8 percent of those plastics used was recycled." 

 - The Environmental Protection Agency -

With that kind of statistics, we are still so far away from protecting the environment. It's hard to ignore how important the role of plastic is. It was first invented to make our life easier and it still is now, except that we understand that certain types of plastic take hundreds of years to decompose if they are simply wasted in the landfill.

So what can we do to make things better, without completely cutting off the use of plastic in our daily life?

I suppose we can do what the environmentalists suggest. REDUCE, REUSE, RECYLCE. We can reduce, for example, the single-use plastic goods; like coffee cups. Why not use glass cups instead? We can always wash them after using and reuse the cups another time.

Have you ever thought of reusing your used plastic bottles? Check out some of the coolest things people make using used plastic bottles.

Then the most obvious one is to recycle the recyclable plastic goods we have. Simply send the plastic things you have finished using (that are eligible to recycle) to the nearest recycling curb, and let them do their magic by turning the recycled plastic into something useful, like this T-shirt.

Start recycling today. Teach your kids to do it so that they can pass that around to the next generations to come. By acting responsibly to everything we do, we can hope for a better future for everybody.

New Item: Green Shipping Labels

One of our latest new items is Green Shipping Labels. The envelopes are made from 100% recycled polyethylene and reproduced using absolutely green methods.

The green envelopes are environmentally friendly products, given to the fact that the company manufacturing these use only renewable energy in their production. The combination of both wind and solar power cut off their need of traditional electricity use - the one run by unrenewable coal power.

The pressure sensitive envelopes protect your shipping documents. The hot melted adhesive backing enables the labels to stick easily and strongly on paper or corrugated materials. Choose from two options: preprinted with "Packing List Enclosed" type or clear envelopes; each is available in two sizes: 4.5" x 5.5" and 7" x 5.5".

The green shipping labels are not only made of recycled goods, but they are also recylable as they reach the end of their life. Simply recycle these packing list labels together with the corrugated carton. Use these green shipping labels and contribute to saving the environment from now on.

Useful Packaging and Shipping Tips

Packaging and shipping are two of important parts of having successful business. Ensuring that a purchased item is well-packaged and safely shipped earns your business a good reputation and most likely repeat clients. Not to mention that these clients might refer you to their friends and acquaintances. That is why you need to pay good attention to the way you package and ship your items. Below are some useful packaging and shipping tips for your business.

• If the item is considered valuable, get an insurance to go with it. Accidents do happen during shipping. It could accidentally fall of the delivery vehicle, or be crushed and damaged from rough contact with other shipped goods. If this occurs, insurance would put your mind and your client’s at ease that there is possible refund for the damaged shipping.

• For breakable items, make sure you do the packaging properly. Even if it’s covered by insurance, the company will not refund it if it breaks due to bad packaging. Choose the right packaging boxes (make sure they are not too big or the content will wobble inside and get damaged), filling and cushioning, and stick the “FRAGILE” warning stickers on all sides.

• Use plastic to wrap the package in case of wet deliveries. An inexpensive option will be to use economical trash liners. Other plastic options to wrap around the shipped item can be browsed here.

The tips make sense, don’t they? By ensuring that the goods are well-packaged and they arrive in mint condition to the hands of the customer, it makes you a responsible and trusted seller. Keep doing that and you’ll gain better reputation and hopefully more new clients in the future.

Video of the Week: How to Build EarthBox Container under $20

If you like gardening, you must have heard of Earthbox. Earthbox is a self-watering garden container, which allows you to grow plants even at your small patio. It's especially liked for those who live in apartments or don't have any spacious garden space. The video below shows how to make your own Earthbox container at home by using plastic storage container. It costs less than $20 and it's surely useful to "green" your living space.

Decorated Rain Barrels

Rain water barrels have become an important part of today's water conservation life, recycling movement and care for the environment. More and more Americans (and the rest of the world) realize how important rain barrels are for them, especially when it comes to saving water and money. By conserving the rain water by using rain barrels, the lawn can be easily irrigated without additional cost on water and electricity use. However, for some people the original look of rain water barrels could be quite unappealing. While one can always cover them with shrubs, another way to proudly state that you have rain water barrels - and thus participating in water conservation - is by decorating the rain barrels. Look at a few examples we pick up from people's blogs below and see how attractive decorated rain barrels could be.

Adkins arboretum recycles plastic barrels formerly used to contain food products and turn them into rain water barrels. They decorated some as seen above and they sure look quite nice!

Rain Barrels and Gardens blog has a few tips for painting rain water barrels on your own. 

Victoria Barth decorated these 5 rain barrels for The Common Ground NRH Community Gardens.
Source: oureverydayearth

The Tennessee Aquarium, working together with The United Way, Ace Hardware and Chattanooga Coca-Cola Bottling company held a rain barrel workshop where 5th graders at CDESA had fun creating sustainable art with rain water barrels.

The University of Florida also takes part in campaigning for the use of rain water barrels.\
These decorated one looks awesome for the people who see it.

Evansville Indiana celebrated the Earth Day by auctioning decorated rain barrels at Mesker Park Zoo and Botanic Garden.

Tampa mural artist, Vanessa Fernandez, painted these beautiful rain water barrels.
Source: brandtampa

Some of these rain water barrels were individually constructed from used plastic barrels. Some were readily purchased like offered here. All one needs to do is to decorate them to look nice and suit the taste of the owner. Isn't it a great idea to conserve the nature at the same time decorating our lawn? 

Padded Mailing Bags

1 - poly mailers
2 - bubble-lined poly mailers
3 - kraft dunnage bags

Whether you are in the field of publishing or in the photography business, there will come a time when you need to deliver your end product to the clients/customers by shipping. Although postal envelopes could work for most paper documents, some other shipped items need special attention in the packaging to protect them from punctures and moisture. This is when the padded mailing bags come in handy.

The obvious feature that padded mailing bags offer is to protect contents. However, we have different types of padded mailing bags designed for different types of items. For example, bubble-lined poly mailers have bubble cushioning inside which is perfect to contain CD or DVD and protect them from puncture. The poly mailers have clear front, allowing a nice display of the inside content. They’re absolutely great to send catalogs or monthly magazines that your clients subscribe. The kraft dunnage bags can be air-expanded up to 18” wide, giving the content nice, intact placement when shipping is expected to be a little rough. These bags are perfect for international shipping by air, ship, train, etc. There are also padded mailers with or without self-seal for your general shipping use.

Browse our rich options of padded mailing bags here and ensure the safe deliveries of your products to the customers for possible repeat transactions. 

1-Gallon Can Shipper Boxes

Do you package your product in one-gallon cans? Then you might as well want to check out these can shipper boxes designed specifically to contain 1, 2 or 4 one-gallon cans.

Shipping cans could be quite tricky with their cylindrical state. The 1-gallon can shipper boxes make it extra easy to ship and post them. They also make your products look neater and more professional-looking.

The single wall corrugated boxes are very sturdy with 275 lb. burst strength. They are marked with “THIS END UP” sign on two sides and are offered in 1,000 pack order. Choose the 1-gallon can shipper boxes that contain one piece of 1-gallon can, 2 pieces of 1-gallon cans, or 4 pieces of 1-gallon cans.

With 1-gallon can shipper boxes, your can shipping problem is solved.

Weekly Trivia on Plastic: Plastic on Earth Day

Plastic Container Chandelier
Source: Arts World Financial Center

Yesterday, 22 April 2012 was the Earth Day. It was time to recap how well we have been treating our earth in the past year.

• A study conducted by Moore Recycling Associates Inc. shows that more than 91% US citizens can recycle their plastic bags locally; while other types of plastic, like flexible plastic wraps, can be recycled in their communities. There are about 75% Americans have the recycling access to the latter one.
• Some big companies, like Target Corp. and Honest Tea were participating in the effort of encouraging people to recycle more. Target Corp has been giving discounts on sustainable products in the whole month of April and Honest Tea is holding a national event called “The Great Recycle” on April the 30^th in NYC’s Times Square.
• On April 15, a 21-foot tall 15-foot wide chandelier made of thousands of used plastic containers was displayed at NYC’s World Financial Center Winter Garden. The artist Katharine Harvey – who is well-known of turning plastic wastes into art – was the creator of this amazing chandelier.

Source: http://www.plasticstoday.com/blogs/How-should-the-plastics-packaging-industry-celebrate-Earth-Day-0416201201

5 Top Reasons Why People Like All-Fiber Drums

Apart from the traditional plastic drums and steel drums, there is another type of drums that is growing in the liking of some plant owners – fiber drums. Fiber drums are made of dense paperboard that are strong, yet easy to cut and formed. There are a number of reasons why there is increased interest on fiber drums, as described below.

Inexpensive

Due to the materials used in making the paperboard (or cardboard), fiber drums are offered in a lot more affordable prices than plastic or steel drums. For example the 30-gallon All-Fiber drum is priced at $34.95; that is way cheaper than other 30 gallon barrels made of steel or plastic, which can reach over $100 for each retail price.

100% Recyclable

With the big fuss on which things are environmentally sounded and which are not, it is always wise to take the safer alternative. When the situation allows, one should always choose something that doesn’t hurt the environment. All-fiber drums are made of sustainable virgin kraft or recycled cardboard. They are also 100% recyclable. In case one day you decide to stop using them, you don’t have to feel guilty that the drums will be at the end of their lives as well. Simply drop them off at the recycling curb and let them do the rest.

UN-approved for transportation of hazardous material

When handling hazmat goods, one has to be extra careful as to not endangering people’s lives in the process of handling and transporting. All-fiber drums are approved by the UN for hazmat transport.

Stackable

Drums that are stackable save space! All-fiber drums have both round and square shapes and both are stackable on top of each other. There is an added advantage if you choose the square ones, since this shape should save even more space in your limited working area.

Low weight

Low weight drums are easier to handle than the heavier ones.  Fiber drums, due to the materials used in the making, are low weight. They’re perfect to contain powders, pastes, solids, hazardous products and granules. That’s why fiber drums are mostly seen used by the pharmaceutical, chemical, food and waste companies.

If you deal with the types of products mentioned above, you might want to consider switching to fiber barrels. They save money, space, energy and they are also eco-friendly. Who doesn’t want to have all those?

Related post:

Fiber Cardboard Drums for Fluorescent Light Recycling

Reconditioned Plastic Barrels under $50

As promised, this week we’ll list inexpensive reconditioned plastic barrels under $50.

Why buy new if you can use used?

Our used repurposed plastic barrels were of FDA juice, soft drink or pepper drums. They have been used only once and then triple washed and leak checked. They are in excellent condition and look nearly new. So if you need barrels for storage of non-food products, reconditioned plastic barrel is the answer.

Did I mention that the used barrels are a lot cheaper than the new ones? Check out some repurposed plastic drums under $50 below.

55 gallon drums

Reconditioned open-head 55 gallon drums are offered at only $49.95. The same price is also offered for reconditioned closed-head 55 gallon drums.

20 gallon drums and 15 gallon drums

Reconditioned 20 gallon closed-top barrels are also offered at $49.95 while the 15 gallon closed-top drums are priced $10 lower at $39.95.

Another good news? These reconditioned plastic barrels are offered with FREE shipping! Also available in quantity discount.

If you prefer new plastic barrels, check out our recent blog post on 10 Bay Tec New Plastic Barrels under $100.

Video of the Week: Building Barrel Root Cellars

Here's an awesome idea to build your own root cellars out of 55 gallon barrels. It's great to keep harvested crops nice during winter. Watch out for the mice, though!

Uploaded by DeanLeatherman on 9 Jan 2010

This is a project building small root cellars out of 55 gallon plastic drums patterned from the information in Purdue Extension Application note HO-125. This is my nephew Ben lending me a hand. It is January and they are working great. Additional info: you do have to put a drain hole in the bottom for condensate. Just pour some water in the bottom and drill a 1/2' hole in the center of where ever the water pools. The lids are uninsulated and in Jan and Feb with nightly lows in the teens, the temperature inside was 34F. This was with 4" of straw thatch and 18" of course thatch, covered with a tarp. Note that 34 degrees is ideal for a lot of vegs like cabbage. However, potatoes and fruits like it around 40-45F. I would recommend additional insulation on the exposed barrel and also insulating the lid. Also fruits like it drier and right now the barrels are at 95% humidity because I didn't put the heavy thatch on until later. I would recommend for fruits to thatch the barrels completely from the start so the temperature is does not go up slightly during the day - which causes it to breath in humid air at night when the barrel top cools. Over time this condenses driving the humidity up.

Spring Project: Painted Glass Bottles

Although glass bottles are easily recyclable, there is nothing wrong with reusing them for a different purpose at the end of their first life. Painted glass bottles could be a great idea to spark a corner of your house or office. Whether they are plainly painted with monochrome colors or you decide to put bursts of colors and practice your art skill, painted glass bottles will make a super nice interior decoration. Look at some of a few painted glass bottles we’ve found on people’s blogs below.

Monochrome painted glass bottles

These are so easy to make, yet looking absolutely adorable. Everyone can do it. Find the DIY instruction of these painted glass bottles here.

Painted wine bottles

These painted wine bottles take some creativity to make. Artist James Reka from Melbourne, Australia, hand-painted the wine bottles for Adelaide’s R Wine Bar for display.

Spray painted glass bottles

The glass bottles here are also monochrome-painted, but the method is slightly different, so is the final result. Spraying (especially originally colored) glass bottles with vibrant paint colors is a good idea to welcome the spring.

India-Inspired painted glass bottles

Feeling like having something exotic? Opt these India-inspired painted glass bottles. The riot of colors will surely sparkle the room where they are displayed.

Painted glass bottles and jars

You want to do your own DIY project with painted glass bottles but you don’t want to block the whole bottles with paint. This type of painted glass bottles and jars should do for that. What do you reckon?

Spring is here. It’s a good time to spark up some colors at home or at the office. Painted glass bottles and jars have to be a great inexpensive project to do.

Spring Sale: Colored Buckets and White Gamma Seal

**Preferred Customer Special**
	INTO SAVINGS NOW!!         Save 10%!  Type in Coupon Code Spring12 *Valid through 4/30* Made of High Density Polyethylene (BPA Free) Fits all Standard 12"O.D. Buckets. Color Code your food products with our various  Colored Buckets and White Gamma Seal. ~Buy them in Case Quantity and Save $$$, Now Only 4.59 per pail~ The Gamma Seal Lid comes converts a plastic bucket into a unique reusable plastic container. These Heavy duty bucket lids are made of (HDPE) and come in a variety of colors. Food Grade Plastic material, which creates a leak-proof and completely airtight seal. Gamma Seal Lid is a two piece seal system comprised of: 1) A Universal Ring 2) A Threaded Center Lid Get a Case of 12 White Gamma for only $65.88 each. ~Shop around and you will see the best prices on the Internet~ Visit us Today!    Order by Phone              1-800-560-2334                    Order by FAX   1-888-563-8481                        sales@baytec.net
	This Sale Ends Midnight April 30th, 2011 and is based on available stock- no back orders

Weekly Trivia on Plastic: 3 Misconceptions about Plastic Recycling

Below are 3 general misconceptions about plastic recycling.


The chasing arrows symbol means that the plastic is recyclable. 



Not necessarily. The arrows symbol you find at the bottom of plastic goods doesn’t necessarily convey the meaning that the plastic item is recyclable. What is more important is the number inside the cashing arrows. These numbers tell you whether the plastic you are using is recyclable or not. Learn more about these plastic resin numbers here.


Plastics that are collected in the curbside get to be made the same plastic product they were before.

Not necessarily. There is little chance that the plastic bottles or plastic containers collected in the curbside will be recycled into plastic containers again. They are more likely turned into secondary products like textiles, lumber, etc. that are – unfortunately – unrecyclable.


The existence of curbside collection will make an impact on less plastic wastes at the landfills.


Again, not necessarily. If recycling plastic is done just for the sake of making you feel good that you’re not throwing away plastic goods, and then you keep buying new plastic things, there’s perhaps no decrease in the plastic wastes at the landfill. Unless you participate in plastic recycling in all senses, reducing plastic wastes at the landfill won’t work. Recycling plastic in all senses means you’re not only getting the plastic transferred to the curbside, but you need to also REDUCE the use of these plastic packaging or things (say goodbye to plastic bags!) and REUSE the existing plastic containers, if applicable.

If you had these misconceptions before, I hope the article clears up the confusion. Happy recycling!

Plastic Wall Guards for Building Protection

All plants need all-around protection. Protection to the workers (eye protection, hearing protection, safety clothing, insurance, etc.), protection to the products (container liners) and protections to the assets (including tools and building). For building, there are a number of protection things that a plant should have; one of which being plastic wall guards.

It’s easy to guess. Plastic wall guards are to protect the walls in your plant from damages made by forklift or hand truck during operation. Accidental bumps do happen, but damages can be prevented. Simply apply these plastic wall guards around the working area, and you can minimize the possible damage caused by these actions.

Plastic wall guards are made of unique energy-absorbing high density polyethylene in high visibility yellow. They resist cracking and chipping on the walls, saving them from needing repaint. These wall guards are offered in a package of two, each of which measures at 6” wide, 42” long and 2” in diameter. The two wall guards can be mounted end to end.

If you use forklift and hand truck in your plant activities, you might want to consider buying these plastic wall guards to protect your interior walls.

10 Bay Tec New Plastic Barrels under $100

Do you need plastic barrels but you have very tight budget for them? This blog post will list 10 Bay Tec new quality plastic drums priced under $100.

New barrels

Some selections of the new open-top barrels include 30-gallon open-head plastic drums offered at $99.95 per piece and a similar 30-gallon open top blue plastic drum with free shipping at the same price. Then we also have the new 55-gallon open top plastic drums for $99.95 each.

For the closed-top barrels, we have 55-gallon closed-top plastic barrels only for $69.95, 30 gallon closed-top plastic barrels for $59.95, 15 gallon closed-top plastic drums for $39.95, 35-gallon heavy duty closed-top plastic barrels for $89.95, 30-gallon heavy duty closed-top plastic barrels for $79.95, 20-gallon heavy duty closed-top plastic barrels for $69.95, and 15-gallon heavy duty closed-top plastic barrels for $67.95.

Not bad, right? In the coming week, we will list reconditioned plastic barrels under $50. Come back often!

Video of the Week: 8 Ways to Recycle 2-Liter Water Plastic Bottles

The video shows 8 awesome ways to recycle 2-liter plastic bottles. Either they used to be water or soda bottles, they're better reused than ending up in the landfill waiting to degrade in hundred of years. Watch the video to see what you can do with your plastic bottles before tossing them up in the rubbish bin.

Piggyback Safety Cabinets

Every plant that keeps hazardous materials should have safety cabinets. However, those that have only a small amount of hazmat products don’t necessarily have the big safety cabinets that take up a lot of space. A piggyback safety cabinet or two already addresses the issue.

First of all, we need to remember why we should have safety cabinets in the first place. In case of fire, hazardous materials will make the matter even worse when the fire reaches it. Explosion may happen and damages are more likely to be even more irrecoverable. These hazmat products should be kept away and safely within the plant, inside the safety cabinets. Safety cabinets are normally made of materials meeting NFPA and OSHA standards that prevent fire to reach the contents inside. This could buy the plant personnel time to stop the rampaging fire before the coalition between fire and hazmat happens. That is why every plant should have this safety cabinet to further protect both workers and assets.

For storage of small amount of hazmat products, you don’t need large safety cabinets. Piggyback safety cabinets are already enough to contain these hazardous materials. The cabinets can be stacked on top of 30 to 45 gallon cabinets and they can also be mounted on wall or countertop to save floor space. You’ll need optional bracket to mount the cabinets on the wall.

Other features of piggyback safety cabinets include Sure-Grip EX Handle and tri-lingual warning label in English, Spanish and French. These safety cabinets are available in various sizes; namely 12 gallon piggyback cabinet, 17 gallon piggyback cabinet, 20 gallon piggyback cabinet, 4 gallon countertop cabinet, and self-closing 4 gallon countertop cabinet.

Which safety cabinet suits you? Decide yourself or contact our helpful representatives to get some suggestions.

Container Liners for the Longevity of Your Containers and the Protection of Stored Products

Good plant maintenance always includes container liners for drums or cans to protect two things: the container itself and the product stored inside. By providing these liners, not only can you have the containers for longer period of time, but you can also be sure that the stored products don’t get direct contamination from the outside or in any way leak out.

We have Rubbermaid Container Liners of various sizes. There are 45 gallon and 55 gallon liners for big containers like barrels; and there are smaller ones for cans (20 gallon to 32 gallon liners). The latter works absolutely well in housekeeping purposes. A hospital may find the liners very useful to contain wastes that aren’t supposed to be in contact with people and a hotel may want to line their containers to keep the bed sheets nice and tidy. In a plant, it’s definitely versatile to keep stored products in good condition before shipping. It also works to protect the interior of the barrels from degrading in quality.

The Rubbermaid container liners are high quality liners for various types of applications. Made of linear low density polyethylene, it doesn’t break easily, it stops leaking and it’s flexible enough to handle. There is strong “star seal” bottom to prevent gaps along the seal where there could be leaks. Packaged in dual-dispensing feature to allow us to dispense from the top or the side of the liner.

Have you got container liners at your workplace? If you haven’t, perhaps it’s a good time to start having some.

AMPCO Hazmat Response Safety Tool Kit

Any plant that deals with hazardous material has risk of (accidentally) spilling off a drop or two of the dangerous products; this is why they absolutely need hazmat response safety tool kit. The versatile kit is not only a plant’s first response to hazmat spills, but it also gives comfort knowing that the handy kit is available within close reach.

The said hazmat response safety tool kit is from AMPCO consisting of 17 pieces of safety tools to hazmat spill. These tools include:

1.       Round wire shoe handle brush

2.       Crate opener

3.       Claw hammer with 12 ounce head

4.       Common knife

5.       Putty knife

6.       Groove joint pliers

7.       Needle nose pliers with cutter

8.       Combination pliers

9.       Deck scrapper

10.   Spray booth scraper

11.   Standard screwdriver

12.   Phillips screwdriver

13.   Tin snips

14.   Adjustable end wrench of 8” L

15.   Adjustable end wrench of 12” L

16.   Aluminum adjustable pipe wrench

17.   Bung wrench

All those FM-approved non-sparking, non-magnetic and corrosion-resistant tools are contained in plastic 5 gallon bucket with screw on lid that ensures used contents are sealed and isolated until they can be properly cleaned.

Do you own a plant dealing with hazardous products on daily basis? You’ll most likely need this AMPCO hazmat response safety tool kit in case the unexpected happens. Keep things safe around your plant and make sure you’ll run the business for a very long time. 

Weekly Trivia on Plastic: Making a Greenhouse from Plastic Bottles

Some of you may have read our blog post on cool creative ways of reusing plastic bottles and seen this plastic bottle green house as you see on the image on the left.  The next question is: how can we make it on our own? Can we?

The answer is yes, we can. True it takes some time to collect all the plastic bottles and the process might be very time-consuming. But if you make it as a school project or a weekend project together with other people, this might be easier than it sounds. You can even ask the kids to do some of the easier tasks; such as peeling off the labels and separating the bottles from the caps.

Check out this PDF file uploaded by the state of Jersey to see the step-by-step instruction. Make sure you make strong foundation for this plastic bottle green house and save some substantial space in the landfill from being filled in with more plastic bottles (the fact that Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour is more than enough to hurt the environment). So why not build that useful plastic bottle greenhouse in your back yard? Ask the children to participate too so that they can learn from early age how important it is to recycle.

Happy recycling!

Happy Easter!!!

Photo credit: Stiefen Schlingen

Easter Pails

Tomorrow is Easter. Happy times! Are you prepared with fun things to do on Easter day? Or you have but you don’t feel like you’ve had enough? Here is a last minute easy idea: make Easter Stainless Steel Pails!

Etsy seller BrodderTubs came up with a creative scheme of making Easter baskets from galvanized pails. Offered here if you don’t feel like making them yourselves. Aren’t they super cute?

Easter Egg Hunt Pails made by Brodder Tubs

But if you have the time and think that this could be a fun project to do with the family and the rest of the family members, perhaps you should still give it a go! All it takes is just some stainless steel pails (or plastic buckets if you wish), some cutout paper or gift wraps, scissors, glue and your eager kids to help you out.

When the big day is over, you can still use the pails to contain the kids’ toys so that nursery looks brighter and more organized.

Happy days!