EarthSavers, LLC

A mattress and box spring set are made up of easy-to-recycle materials, such as steel coils, wood, and fabric.  Additionally, it makes good sense to keep these items out of the landfill, both because the flame-retardant chemicals on  mattresses are terrible for the ground water, as well as because the mattress coils easily get caught up in the landfill earth moving equipment, wreaking havoc.  But until recently, it was hard to find a place to responsibly recycle these goods without looking 3 states in another direction.

Spring Back mattress recycling is changing all of that.  Located in Nashville, Spring Back has sprung up out of good will and hard work.

Belmont University students have been working to find a win-win-win with Spring Back.  The first win includes utilizing job seekers from Isaiah 58, a local non-profit that assists former offenders in finding their first post-incarceration job.   Now that there are employees, add in a much needed mattress recycling service – and the earth is winning.  Put it all together and it is an amazing, successful  learning experience for students.

To learn more,  go to their website at www.springbackrecycling.com

In today’s economy it’s important to distinguish your business from the competition.  One way to do this is to tell your green story – show your customers and potential customers what you are doing to conserve our natural resources and protect the environment.  To help you display your company’s commitment to recycling, EarthSavers will send you free stickers to place on your window, your counter, your vehicle, or wherever you would like to display your company’s commitment to recycling.

Email us with your sticker of choice, quantity, and mailing address and we’ll send them to you.  You can also request digital images for your marketing materials.

WE RECYCLE – Leaf

WE RECYCLE – Burst

Christmas seems to generate its own peculiar mix of waste, which means special recycling issues for residential customers.  Below are details about some common holiday waste and what EarthSavers can and cannot accept.  (Remember that these restrictions are from the recycling processor, and have to do with details of the reclamation process.)

Wrapping paper – alternatives

First things first – of the three environmental “R“s, (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), Recycle may be the least important.  If we can reduce the amount that we consume, and reuse what we already have, we can avoid the recycle altogether.  Here’s another R for you as Christmas approaches – Reconsider using wrapping paper.  Some alternatives:

• If you take the newspaper, save all of the green & red color ads (that will be most of them) beginning now and wrap your presents in them.  They’ll be just as colorful and interesting as any wrapping paper you buy in the store.

• Use gift bags, then reuse them over & over & over

• Wrap your gifts in decorative cloth.  They’ve been doing it in Japan for centuries (see Furoshiki).

What to place in your recycle bin:

YES:

• bows, ribbons, wrapping,  etc. made from paper
• cardboard boxes
• tissue paper
• Styrofoam peanuts (please bag!)

NO:

• bows, ribbons, wrapping, etc. made from metallic foil

• bubble mailers

• plastic wrap, twisty ties, misc. packaging (unless marked with a recycle symbol)

There’s a lot more info on how to keep your holiday celebrations eco-friendly at Earth911.com and Use Less Stuff.com

Click image for larger version

What’s the deal with 5th Mondays / 5th Wednesdays /  5th Fridays?  Since they only occur every two or three months, EarthSavers does not collect on these days.  But they can still confuse our sense of timing when it comes to the recycling schedule.  Here are some hints to help you avoid 5th week confusion:

• Think in terms of “once-per-month” or “twice-per-month
• Do NOT think in terms of “every two weeks” or “every four weeks”.  This  will throw you off when the fifth weeks come around every so often
• Mark every collection day to the end of the year on your calendar.
• Set up your own email reminders in your email program.  For example, if your collection schedule is the 2nd & 4th Monday, schedule emails to come to you on the Saturday before.  Here are some links to email reminder tutorials for several common email programs:

Outlook

Hotmail

Google

Yahoo

COLUMBIA RESIDENTS:

Sign up by July 15th, 2010 to receive one month of recycling free.  Offer extended to July 25th!

Upon sign-up you pay for the first three months of service. We will not charge you again until the beginning of the fifth month – your fourth month will be absolutely free!

Click here to access the sign-up page.

• For every residential customer you refer to us who signs up for service we will credit your account for the fee of one collection. Just send them to www.earthsavers.org, and make sure they enter your name in the referral field when they sign up:

 DOWNLOAD a flyer for your neighbors, friends, anyone – open one of the flyers below, then right click and save, print it, post it, upload it, email it…    

Davidson & Williamson County residents – Click here for a flyer  

Maury County residents – Click here for a flyer  

• There is also a $25 credit whenever a business mentions your name as a referral and signs up for service.

Fall 2010 Newsletter

(click image to view full newsletter)

Fall  2009 Newsletter

(click image to view full newsletter)

Fall 2009 Newsletter

(click image to view full newsletter)