Welcome to the Summer Edition of "The LOOP" Newsletter!
1.Facts about Close the Loop's Products It takes 400 gallon-sized milk jugs to produce one 2-rail section of plastic post & rail fencing. It takes 100 tires to make 1 ton (2,000 lbs) of rubber mulch ~ covers of an average home playground. It takes 4,000 beer bottles to make 1 ton (2,000 lbs ~ about 1 cubic yard) of glass mulch. It takes 100 beer bottles to make 1, 50 LB bag of glass mulch.
2. How do you feel about most of the recycled (#1PET) bottles going to China manufacturers?
This is interesting, of the 30 MILLION tons of plastic generated annually in the US, only about 4% are recycled plastic bottles (PET & HDPE), and less than half of the PET (#1) collected goes to US manufacturers of recycled products, the majority goes overseas to China and other countries.
This is the 1st time in 5 years we have not had an order waiting to be filled for our virtually maintenance free 100% recycled plastic post & rail fencing...prices just lowered ~ If you never want to paint or replace rotting posts/rails again please contact us! Also available: raised garden beds.
Close the Loop offers a wide variety of plastic fencing options, from plastic posts that look like real wood texture to a composite plastic and wood post, all made from recycled plastic (mostly milk jugs).
4.Group of small PA recycled product manufacturers meet with state officials
Recycled Product manufacturers met with the PA state procurement officials to call attention to the ARRA (AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT OF 2009) jobs that are being funded in PA, but are NOT specifying recycled products.According to the ARRA, projects should "maximize the use of...materials with recycled content". We need the state (or architects, contractors, engineers, PENNDOT & other DOT's) to specify these products. We're loosing small manufacturing businesses at an alarming rate! Many people mistakenly believe that if you are a manufacturer, you are financially stable, have million dollar businesses & hundreds of employees, but many of these guys (and gals) are hanging on by a thread with a handful of workers. We cannot lose these recycled product companies...please buy recycled ~ made in the USA! These truly green businesses cannot grow without demand for their products.
5.GasLand, the movie ~ get informed about FRACKING
Josh Fox’s documentary, which won a Sundance Film Festival award, depicts numerous environmental disasters he claims are caused by fracking, including water taps bursting into flames. For more information about the Marcellus Shale gas wells and drilling for natural gas, watch www.gaslandthemovie.com documentary. Get up to speed on FRACKING:
Editors at the World Environmental Organization have located over 1,000 of the most useful environment related web sites. These sites have been arranged into several categories, each containing 100 web sites.
7.Waste Problems and Alternatives to Landfilling or Burning
Although each recycling center has its own rules & regulations, this writeup has a ton of good information on waste problems and alternatives to landfilling or burning these items.
When God told Horace Burgess to build a treehouse, he promised that Burgess would never run out of materials. So far he hasn't. Using tons of reclaimed wood.
NEW is a nonprofit community-based organization that trains women for nontraditional careers in the construction, transportation, energy and facility maintenance industries. For the 1st time ever, Close the Loop got a call from a WOMAN-owned/operated tire recycling company in NC...Made my day!!!
NEW holds information sessions every Tuesday morning and Wednesday evening. NEW Employers - How You Can Help. Are you interested in helping NEW find more opportunities for our graduates?
Check out the recycled blue glass mulch on these portable propane gas fire pits, very cool additional to a deck or patio, nice for an RV or camping trip ~ no more worries about wet wood or heavy smoke!
Close the Loop offers portable propane fire pits that come with glass mulch and are very easy to install, just hook up a 1 LB propane tank (campers variety), and turn on!
