Did you know that the average American family produces nearly 125 pounds of waste every week? That’s a lot of garbage! I think about the amount of trash we generate every Sunday evening as we roll an overflowing garbage can to the curb for pickup the following morning. Although our recycle bins are generally filled, I continue to be amazed each week by the amount of garbage our family of 5 continues to produce. It’s time to change that.

TerraCycle uses these disposable urns which they put in key locations downtown where people discard their cigarette butts.

There is a new program in Grand Rapids that helps to keep the city clean by recycling cigarette butts... The butts get sent to a company called TerraCycle, which turns the butts into plastic pellets that can be made into a variety of products.

Although more than half (53 percent) of small-business owners do not view climate change as a serious threat, the majority still embrace eco-friendly practices, according to a Manta survey of 1,174 small-business owners. The survey found 93 percent of owners believe sustainability is important to their business. Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of owners say they try to reuse or donate items and 58 percent recycle.

More than 90 graduating students at Collinsville High School signed commitment letters during the school’s third annual Academic Signing Day. Much like with athletic signing days, the students were joined by family, high school faculty and college representatives in the school’s library/media center for the signing. “Athletes work hard to earn their college scholarships, but so do academically-focused students. We wanted to find a way to honor their achievements in an equally celebratory manner,” said Karen Olsen, a guidance counselor at Collinsville High School.  

Grand Rapids city officials are hoping to cut down on cigarette butt litter with new disposal urns scattered throughout downtown. Melvin Eledge, operations manager and ambassador for Downtown Grand Rapids Inc., says the city is starting out with 17 of the urns, and 12 more are on the way. In the United States alone, 195 million pounds of cigarette butts are thrown onto the ground every year.  Smokers like Marc Matthews will think twice about throwing it on the ground now that Grand Rapids has the receptacles. "I think  it's a good thing.  Smoking is definitely a bad habit and it's nice to see that something good can come out of it," Matthews said.

The company doing the recycling is a global company called TerraCycle which just installed sixty-two cigarette receptacles as well.

When it comes to trying to save the Earth, Park Forest Elementary School is at the forefront. The school was recognized Friday by the U.S. Department of Education as a Green Ribbon School. On Earth Day, they were also congratulated by the state Department of Education for being among 73 institutions and education agencies nationwide working on environmental issues. “

If we all take the time to recycle it could save the planet and sustain the community for future generations. The US Environmental Protection Agency says that 75 percent of solid waste is recyclable, but only 30 percent of it is actually recycled. Some may not recycle, but frequently people throw away items they do not know are recyclable. Take a moment do a “trash audit.” You would be surprised by the amount of things that you could prevent  from ending up in landfills.

The secret to joy? Getting rid of your stuff. So promises Marie Kondo in her latest best-seller,Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up, which is a companion to her first best-seller, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. In Spark Joy, Kondo elaborates on her “KonMari Method” of de-cluttering your home: discard the items that don’t bring you joy, and you will begin to create your ideal lifestyle. You will also take better care of the items that do bring you joy, and, almost incidentally, tidy up your home. But when you’re going through your belongings, how can you dispose of all of those joyless objects in a mindful, yogic way?