The recycling drive, primarily at local schools but also at some community gathering points, will run through early November. Its goal is to encourage people to think critically about how much waste is produced during holidays.   JUNO BEACH — Through early November, Loggerhead Marinelife Center is offering an alternative to throwing away your Halloween candy wrappers.   The Juno Beach sea turtle rehab, research and conservation center is coordinating a wrapper recycling drive called Unwrap the Waves across 34 schools from Martin County to Miami-Dade and other drop-off points in Palm Beach County.   For the fourth year, Loggerhead staffers will collect the wrappers and send them to New Jersey-based recycling company TerraCycle, which will refashion them into school supplies and other goods.   The goal is to get people thinking critically about how much waste they create, particularly ahead of the year-end holiday season, said Lindsay French, Loggerhead’s STEM education coordinator.   “We’re trying to encourage people to reduce the waste they’re producing or buy things that have some more sustainable packaging,” French said.   Different wrappers are fine to be recycled at the drop-off points, French said. Everything from Hershey bars to Smarties, just make sure the candy is no longer inside and that it is a true candy wrapper — not packaging for snack bags, for instance, she said.   The project is particularly centered on schools, French said.   Recycling bags have already been dropped off to schools and will be collected Nov. 11, about the time the community drop-off points will stop accepting wrappers, French said.   French described it as a successful project that’s growing. Last year, Loggerhead collected more than 19,000 candy wrappers. They expect more this fall.   “By having kids collect these wrappers, they get a firsthand account of how much waste is produced in a single holiday,” French said.   Community drop-off points in Palm Beach County include: FPL’s Manatee Lagoon, Florida Atlantic University’s Pine Jog Environmental Education Center and Boca Raton’s Office of Sustainability at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.   There also will be wrappers collected at Lion Country Safari’s Spooky Safari Halloween and Hobe Sound Nature Center’s Creepy Creature Feature, both on Saturday; Palm Beach Zoo’s Boo at the Zoo from Friday to Sunday; and at Sugar Sand Park’s Shriek Week from Thursday to Saturday.   Loggerhead Marinelife Center has published a list of participating schools on its website.  

Loggerhead Marinelife Center’s  #UnwrapTheWaves candy wrapper recycling program is back! Partnering with 29 Palm Beach County Schools and 7 community partners, LMC will collect and recycle #Halloween and fall-inspired candy wrappers through TerraCycle‘s zero waste program. All candy wrappers will be 100% recycled and used to make school supplies and other repurposed items. Last year we recycled 19,000 candy wrappers! Do you think we can beat our record this year?! Please consider dropping off your candy wrappers at one of our locations through Nov. 11. Drop-off locations: Loggerhead Marinelife Center, Manatee Lagoon, FAU Pine Jog Environmental Education Center, Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, Inc., and Sandoway Discovery Center Along with 29 schools in The School District of Palm Beach County listed at: marinelife.org/2019-candy-wrapper-recycling/  

While many individuals may be rightfully concerned with what’s inside their beauty products, it is equally important to consider the packaging surrounding those products. Consumers have made the push for all-natural, organic ingredients in cosmetics, but it’s time to examine the environmental impact of the product as a whole, too. The beauty industry has been widely criticized for its excessive use of packaging. The culture surrounding beauty products often revolves around the idea of luxury; whether it’s excess plastic wrappings, paper inserts, cardboard sleeves or just over-the-top use of materials for bottles and tubes, the beauty industry was founded on the idea of aesthetic surplus. Cosmetics, hair, and skincare products are responsible for enormous amounts of packaging waste, much of which is, unfortunately, not recyclable. As reported by Zero Waste, more than 120 billion units of packaging are produced every year by the global cosmetics industry. Even worse, it’s reported that only 9 percent of plastic packaging is actually recycled. Additionally, only 14 percent of Americans are recycling their bathroom bottles, while more than half of American households recycle kitchen items. Meanwhile, our oceans are becoming saturated with plastic waste.  Earth Day reports that by 2050 our oceans will have more plastics than fish, by weight. All industries need to re-evaluate their relationship with plastic waste, and the beauty industry is no exception. While some plastic use is inevitable, it’s important to be aware about its impact and to have a plan in place to reuse and recycle as much as possible.    Several beauty companies have already made efforts to prioritize sustainability in packaging. My startup Beautiac uses 100 percent fully recyclable packaging for its makeup brush subscription service. We’ve also joined TerraCycle’s zero waste program, which turns our old disposable products into community beautification projects like park benches, planters, and picnic tables. LOLI is another beauty startup using sustainable packaging, from its food-grade, glass yogurt jars (that can be reused for food storage) to certified compostable labels, bags, and boxes. Sustainability is not just for startups though; corporate giant Unilever is also working towards eco-friendly packaging. By 2025, Unilever is committed to using 100 percent recyclable plastic packaging across its entire line of products, including cosmetics. These brands among others are beginning the revolution when it comes to eco-friendly packaging.   Consumers can send a message to larger beauty brands by giving their patronage to companies that embody sustainability, which is why it’s so important to incorporate environmental awareness as a part of your brand from the ground up. Purchasing power can be a huge asset in the movement for environmentally-friendly beauty packaging. According to one study, most consumers are willing to switch brands and/or try new packaging to decrease their waste. I believe that when armed with the proper knowledge, customers will act sustainably when it comes to both the outside packaging of a product and the product itself. If companies in the beauty industry can educate their customers, with honesty, about the importance of sustainability in cosmetics, a shift will occur. It’s up to us to help the industry reverse the idea that “luxury” in beauty equates to excess. Less truly is more when it comes to beauty product packaging.

From U.S. Trails, Parks and Waterways JULIE BACON 15 HOURS AGO   Two Harbors, MN — October 22, 2019 — Trash talk. For a Granite Gear Grounds Keeper, it happens regularly. This team of 30 Grounds Keepers, alongside Granite Gear’s local Two Harbors Team, is on a serious mission to clean up the planet. This year, Granite Gear expanded its program to include the cleaning up of waterways and lakes in addition to trails and parks. Alongside sponsors Klean Kanteen, Backpacker’s Bistro, Recover Brand, Altra Running, and Kula Cloth, Granite Gear supported 30 passionate hikers and paddlers who committed to cleaning up our wild places in 2019. The 3rd class of Grounds Keepers removed over 4,680 pounds of trash from our country’s trails, parks and waterways. Since 2017, Grounds Keepers members have removed over 9,670 pounds (and counting) of trash from our public lands. A large portion of the trash picked up has been micro trash like bottle caps and wrappers.     “Being a part of the Granite Gear Grounds Keepers 2019 has impacted my life in ways I couldn’t have imagined,” says Perry Cohen, Founder of Venture Out Project. “From the most simple things like giving me a reason to get outside and hit the trails on rainy days when I might prefer to lounge about inside, to noticing just how much micro trash there is - especially near trailheads, to seeing just how much toilet paper is left in our natural spaces. But perhaps the thing that impacted me most about being a Grounds Keeper was the way that it helped me see that natural spaces are so much more than just trails on big mountains. I learned to find trails within cities and neighborhoods. I learned just how much green is in a park. And I met so many people who, though they didn’t consider themselves outdoorsy, would go outside each and every day for a walk in a green space.”   Perry continues, “I met people along the trail who’d ask what I was doing, who’d offer to help pick up trash, or take a photo of me. I found that by stopping on a trail to pick up a stray wrapper or bag of dog poop, I made the trash visible to others. I noticed they would stop and pick up micro trash. It seemed as though seeing someone else caring for the trails made people take pause and think about their own impact, even if it was only for a second.”     A sincere thank you goes out to the inspirational 2019 Grounds Keepers team who worked tirelessly to clean up our wild spaces and to promote the “leave it better” mission: Gabriella Allen, Tim Barton, Jason Batson, Marissa Bluestein, Austin Breen, Ethan Brown, Perry Cohen of Venture Out Project, Tyler Davidson, Kate Emmons, Alexa Everson, Britany Freeman of 11 Essential, Patrick Ganpath, Christina Hickman, Josh Johnson, Michelle Martin, Katie Martinez, Chris Mejia, Lance Ness, Aaron Oschea of Midwest Color Camp, Zach Rohe, Deirdre Rosenberg, Sunshine State Seekers Chelsey Warren and Chris Stevens, Jen Theisen, Patrick Thoits, Agnes Vianzon of Eastern Sierra Conservation Corps, Quang Vo, Doug Walters, Alex Wehrle, Thea Wingert. To our Two Harbors Team: Julie Hukriede, Derrick & Cheryl Passe, Rachel Batt, Heidi Dean, Carrie Coan, Alyssa Hastings, Erin Mecklin, Eli Hastings. # GroundsKeeper4Life   The application for the 2020 program is currently live and will close on November 15th. In 2020, Granite Gear introduces the Grounds Keepers “Legacy Team” including ten previous year’s rockstars, alongside twenty new team members. Sponsors include Klean Kanteen, Food for the Sole, Recover Brand, UCO, TerraCycle and Kula Cloth. New for 2020, Grounds Keepers will be encouraged to recycle their collected waste streams via TerraCycle's services. TerraCycle supports the Grounds Keeper passions, goals and mission fully and looks forward to being a resource for Leave No Trace practices.   Visit www.thegroundskeepers.org to learn more about the program and follow along at #TheGroundsKeepers and the Grounds Keepers Instagram. Granite Gear (@GraniteGear) and all brand partners share stories from Grounds Keepers often. For more information on the Grounds Keepers program or sponsors, please email Julie Bacon at jbacon@granitegear.com.

It’s no secret….my toddler is the pickiest eater. Like, legit – she hardly eats anything. She’s not quite 2 yet (she’ll be 2 in December) but baby girl is so set in her ways already and definitely hitting those terrible twos ahead of time #sendhelp.   Because she’s so picky, on a daily basis I try to find a healthy balance between giving her foods that she actually enjoys while still making sure that they’re nutritious and as organic as possible.   When it comes to snacks, it’s no different. As a stay at home mom, I feel like my little one is asking for snacks ALL DAY LONG (anyone else in the same boat?), so I love having healthy toddler snacks available for her at all times.   That’s why I’m loving these NEW Nature’s Heart products we recently tried from our local Publix!   PSA!!! —-> Publix is offering a deal! SAVE $.75 off ANY TWO (2) Nature’s Heart® Organic Baby Food Items! For this offer you will need to download the coupon from 10/7-12/31! This coupon expires 1/30/20. Download that coupon and get to saving, yay!!       Not only are they super convenient, but Nature’s Heart is made with organic ingredients, and while they’re packed with nutrition, they’re still really tasty. How do I know? Because my picky toddler begs me for them lol.   Mom hack- keep these Nature’s Heart pouches in your diaper bag at all times. They’re perfect for on the go snack time.       Anyway, I love being able to give Riley food that she enjoys while still knowing that it’s good for her. All ingredients in these Nature’s Heart products are USDA Organic certified and there are no added sugars or artificial flavors.   Now don’t get me wrong, Riley still eats her fair share of processed foods (girl loves herself some cheese doodles), but when I can find healthy foods and snacks that she actually likes, I try to make sure they’re as clean as possible.       Something else that’s great about these pouches? Riley can sip on them WHILE she plays! Ain’t nobody got time for a sit down kind of snack time lol. I’ll usually give her the jars during breakfast, but for snack time, it’s usually the pouches.   She’s always on the go, always playing with her toys, so I love that I can open up one of these pouches and she can keep doing her thing while getting the nutrition that she needs.   Oh and fun fact – beginning November, these pouches will be 100% recyclable through TerraCycle. Love that!   As far as easy toddler snacks go, here are a few other things Riley enjoys when I have a little more time to prepare them for her:   TODDLER SNACK IDEAS  

• Bananas
• Berries (all kinds)
• Watermelon
• Raisins
• Crackers and almond butter
• Crackers and peanut butter
• Honey oat cereal
• Apple slices
• Veggie sticks
• Apple sauce
• Snap pea crisps
• Sweet peas (depending on her mood)
• Smoothies (she likes them nice and tangy)

  So whether your little one is a calm unicorn of a toddler or a crazy little human like mine who won’t stop and sit down for snack time, I highly highly recommend these Nature’s Heart products.           What do you think? Think your little ones will like these? I’m pretty sure if Riley eats them, yours will too! Any other easy toddler snack ideas you wanna share? Let me know down below because this mama can use all the help she can get!

A spooky Halloween doesn’t have to be a horror show for the planet. Join the Earth911 team as we talk through how to reduce the waste and garbage produced by the scariest holiday of the year.   First off, a green Halloween can be a budget Halloween with these ideas about making, renting, and recycling costumes for kids and adults. You cosplay enthusiasts out there can bring the environmental ideal to your fun, too. Making your own Halloween decorations is another way to take the old and make it new this year. We share ideas about how to reuse household items as All Hallow’s Eve decorations.   Torn over the prospect of handing out processed sugar packaged in single-use bags and boxes? We have some suggestions for greener alternatives to candy and their wrappers.   We also answer your Earthling Questions. This week, we address how to recycle the #7 plastic bags for bird seed, the best way to replace a private-labeled battery — many companies, such as ADT, provide their own batteries with their products — and the challenge of recycling pens and markers. TerraCycle has a convenient, but somewhat expensive, office zero waste box that can help with marker and pen recycling.

The scale of Halloween in America is staggering.   According to an article in Redbook written by Kelly Marages and distributed through MSN, Americans spend about $3.8 billion on Halloween candy every year. Annual candy purchases include 35 million pounds, or about 9 billion pieces, of the candy type most associated with the holiday, candy corn, which Marages writes was invented in 1898.   A few differences between this year and 1898 help explain the incredible volume of candy distributed on Halloween.   Daylight saving time and street lighting give treat-or-treaters more hours to collect candy, and urbanization and infill development enable most kids to visit many more houses per hour.   Perhaps the biggest change boosting the velocity of candy distribution is an end to an old tradition; kids in the past had to entertain homeowners with a song, dance, joke, or poem in exchange for treats. Now, the only qualifications for receiving candy before running to the next house are the ability to knock on a door, hold a bag, say “trick or treat,” and perhaps show at least the hint of a costume.   Costumes are another feature of Halloween leading to mass consumption. According to Marages, Americans spend about $3.4 billion a year on Halloween costumes for themselves and $370 million dressing up their pets.   In addition to candy and costumes, Halloween is the impetus for massive production of ornamental pumpkins. In fact, according to Marages, 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins are produced on more than 90,000 acres in the U.S. each year.  

What are the solutions?

  Of the waste resulting from these activities, candy wrappers are the least amenable to a solution. Etsy projects cleverly upcycle or reuse folded wrappers in items such as bracelets, and recycling can be accomplished through TerraCycle, but these are not viable options for many people.   Reuse projects for candy wrappers generally require painstaking folding work, and recycling through TerraCycle requires mail-in and payment of a $43 fee for the smallest mailer pouch.   If you distribute something other than candy for Halloween, you risk disappointing trick-or-treaters, but you can avoid buying a product packaged in non-recyclable wrapping and possibly transported thousands of miles to serve no nutritional purpose.   I found I can satisfy trick-or-treaters by giving out handfuls of nickels instead of candy, probably because, in the dark, kids cannot be sure if they got any quarters. In previous years, when I cared less about neighbors’ opinions, I gave out pencils and small toys from thrift stores.   Halloween waste from costumes can also be reduced. Cheap, plastic, disposable costumes will quickly become waste, but durable, reusable costumes look better and last longer. Shop at thrift stores for high-quality, low-cost costumes, and donate your used costume to a thrift store when you are done with it.  

YMCA costume exchange 

  The Camarillo Family YMCA, at 3111 Village at the Park Drive, will host a costume exchange program from Oct. 22-31, and it is open to nonmembers. In the lobby, the YMCA charges just $10 per costume and $1 for accessories such as masks, hats and magic wands. If you drop-off a costume, you get a $10 voucher for a new costume. According to Paige Harris, youth programs department head, the YMCA will have costumes available, left over from last year, even on the first day of the program.   The exchange will relocate to the Halloween at the Y event on Oct. 26 from 5:30-8:30 p.m. This free community event, also open to nonmembers, will feature an outdoor movie, “Hotel Transylvania,” on the lawn field starting around 6:30 p.m., so bring a lawn chair. The event will also feature a costume contest and food trucks.  

Pumpkin planning

  Pumpkins, the last of the three main Halloween wastes, can be easily managed. Pumpkins, including seeds, may be recycled in your curbside yard waste cart. Compost site operators bring the temperature of compost piles up over 130 degrees for several days, preventing seeds from sprouting in finished compost. Composters do this regularly anyway to kill seeds that cause weeds. Pumpkins, like fruit from landscape trees, are an exception to the general rule against food in yard waste carts in Ventura County.   Even better than putting your pumpkin in your yard waste cart is to compost it yourself in your own compost pile or worm box, saving the seeds for replanting next year. However, put pumpkins in your garbage cart if you have attached self-adhesive plastic rhinestones, glue-gunned beads, studs, rivets or other unnatural decorations. No one wants Halloween pumpkin bling contaminating the compost of their spring flower beds.  

Here’s a consolation

  Fortunately for the cause of local waste reduction, one Halloween tradition is limited to other parts of the country. In New England, the night before Halloween is known as Mischief Night; kids “T.P.” houses, throwing streamers of toilet paper over tree branches and landscaping. Even this waste and annoyance is tame compared to an older tradition. According to Marages, teens used to “throw stinky cabbages at their neighbors' houses or leave other rotting produce on their doorsteps.”   Eco-Tip is written by David Goldstein, an environmental resource analyst for the Ventura County Public Works Agency. He can be reached at 658-4312 or david.goldstein@ventura.org.

Awareness of good management and waste reduction in Manicouagan will be in the foreground from October 19 to 27 on the occasion of the Quebec Waste Reduction Week (SQRD), which is held on the theme "I can, You can, We must, Together Reduce".   As usual, the Manicouagan Residual Materials Management Board (RGMRM) will contribute to the theme week. This year, it will take the form of two days of activities offered to the population.   Considered as a unique model of reduction, reuse and recovery both in the immediate region and throughout Québec, through its Phase 2 re-use store, the RGMRM will open the doors of its ecocentre on October 25 to a guided tour that will start on the stroke of 10 am.   This visit will include the transfer center where the recycled materials are compacted and the workshop where a second life is given to certain objects. As places are limited, you must book.   "The goal is to raise awareness about good consumption habits and raise awareness about the cycle of the object, which too often is directed too early to burial," said the organization in a statement.   Zero waste   In addition, the Phase 2 re-use store will be distributing zero-waste samples free of charge on October 22, a way for it to promote its Zero Waste section and its suppliers, including some of the Manicouagan such as Cadelli beauty products. natural and artisanal.   Three local companies are also becoming ambassadors for the cause by launching the first TerraCycle Zero Waste Boxes. Tim Hortons, Provigo and the Côté Goulet Lamarche Dental Clinic are providing the citizens with boxes to collect what can not go in the blue bin. These include coffee pouches, baby food bags and toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes and dental floss containers.   Other initiatives are included in the programming of the Quebec Week for Waste Reduction. Cynthia Lebel, owner of Cadelli, a zero-waste company, will offer visitors free coffee and a demonstration of soap making with coffee residue from October 22-25 in the afternoon.   Serge-Bouchard High School, an institution recognized for its achievements in the management of residual materials, will send students to the re-employment store at 1:30 pm on October 22 to inform and educate visitors about good recycling and composting practices using a quiz. Prizes will be at stake.   Finally representatives of the project MAVIE will also be on hand at the same time to address a section of the circular economy with the manufacture of biscuits for dogs that they make from the recovery of the drought resulting from the manufacturing activities of beer from the microbrewery St-Pancrace. A box for recovering baby food bags is available at Provigo. We can see here his director, Luc Thibault, director at Provigo.

1. Show your Halloween spirit with durable, reusable, and recyclable decorations.
   • Choose decorations that you can use year after year.
   • For recyclable decorations, look for plastics that are #1-5 or #7, as #6 and unlabeled plastics are not recyclable. Avoid metallic or glitter-coated decorations, as these cannot be recycled. Questions? Check out icgov.org/recycle.
2. Create an eco-friendly costume.
   • Get creative with what you already have around the house to create a costume.
   • Share costumes with friends.
   • Shop secondhand. Check out our great selection of local secondhand and consignment stores for costumes.
3. Offer sustainable treats.
   • Consider candy options with less packaging, organic or Fairtrade status. Alternatively, offer a treat other than candy.
   • Sometimes individually-wrapped candy is the easiest and safest option. In this case, you can still make a difference by recycling the candy wrappers through Terracycle. Connect with your neighbors to fill up a box to send to Terracycle.
4. For trick-or-treating, collect your candy and treats in a reusable or durable option.
   • Consider a reusable cloth bag, pillow case, or wicker basket (among many other options) to carry your candy around while trick-or-treating.
5. When the festivities end, remember to compost your pumpkins and gourds.
   • To compost at the curb, remove any candles or lights from inside your pumpkin and place it in your organics container (City cart, or personal 20-35 gallon upright container), or in a paper yard waste bag, and then set it at the curb by 7 a.m. for collection on your normal service day.
   •  Residents can also take pumpkins to the Iowa City Landfill’s compost facility to be composted at no charge.

Questions? Call Resource Management Customer Service at 319-356-5151.

Have fun this Halloween season while keeping the environment in mind.

Have fun this Halloween season while keeping the environment in mind. Here are a few tips to consider as you prepare for your Halloween festivities:   1. Show your Halloween spirit with durable, reusable, and recyclable decorations.

• Choose decorations that you can use year after year.
• For recyclable decorations, look for plastics that are #1-5 or #7, as #6 and unlabeled plastics are not recyclable. Avoid metallic or glitter-coated decorations, as these cannot be recycled. Questions? Check out icgov.org/recycle.

  2. Create an eco-friendly costume.

• Get creative with what you already have around the house to create a costume.
• Share costumes with friends.
• Shop secondhand. Check out our great selection of local secondhand and consignment stores for costumes.

  3. Offer sustainable treats.

• Consider candy options with less packaging, organic or Fairtrade status. Alternatively, offer a treat other than candy.
• Sometimes individually-wrapped candy is the easiest and safest option. In this case, you can still make a difference by recycling the candy wrappers through TerraCycle. Connect with your neighbors to fill up a box to send to Terracycle.

  4. For trick-or-treating, collect your candy and treats in a reusable or durable option.

• Consider a reusable cloth bag, pillow case, or wicker basket (among many other options) to carry your candy around while trick-or-treating.

  5. When the festivities end, remember to compost your pumpkins and gourds.

• To compost at the curb, remove any candles or lights from inside your pumpkin and place it in your organics container (City cart, or personal 20-35 gallon upright container), or in a paper yard waste bag, and then set it at the curb by 7 a.m. for collection on your normal service day.
• Residents can also take pumpkins to the Iowa City Landfill's compost facility to be composted at no charge.

  Questions? Call Resource Management Customer Service at 319-356-5151.