Take your notes on already-printed-on-one-side paper instead of using notebook paper. The Recyclers offer free RECYCLED NOTEPADS made from one sided printouts from the computer labs. Look for the "Nothing Personal" boxes in the computer labs, and put your one sided printouts blank side up in them. These sheets will be bound into notepads and made available. Normally, the notepads are in Wilder and both bookstores downtown, as well as in our office. Stop by one of these locations or email us.

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The EPA reports that 2.1% of municipal solid waste in landfills is direct mail and catalogs. That's over 3 million tons a year. There are two ways to limit the amount of junk mail you receive:

1. You can opt out selectively by requesting specific companies do not make your name and address available to other businesses.
2. To opt out nationally, you can write to the Direct Marketing Association's (DMA) Mail Preference Service (MPS), a free service established in 1971, and have your name removed from most national mailing lists for five years. Send your full name and address, including apartment number and ZIP code to;
    MPS, c/o DMA
    P O Box 9008
   Farmingdale, NY
     11735-9008
   

This can also be done with JUNK MAIL CARDS which are available through the recycling office to help eliminate your name and address from mailing lists. If you send in one of these cards, your address will not be used on new junk mailings and your address may be eliminated from junk mailings you currently receive. Companies you continue to do business with, however, will continue to send you mailings. It takes approximately three months before your address will be eliminated from lists. It will remain off lists for five years. This does not affect mail sent to businesses.

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Although packaging 'peanuts' are difficult to recycle, many packing or moving companies will reuse them. Plastic Loose Fill Council sponsors a nationwide recycling program for loose-fillpolystyrene peanuts. Consumers can drop off peanuts at more than 3,900 Mail Boxes, Etc. stores.

Go to the Oberlin store, located at 55 South Main across from the post office, along the sidewalk going to the library. For the Oberlin store, call 774-7447; to find out about different locations, 1-800-828-2214.

For larger, polystyrene blocks in large quantities, contact the Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers at 1-800-944-8448.

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St. Jude's Ranch is a non-profit home where troubled youth are provided with counseling, business experience, and a sense of purpose. Kids at the ranch operate a business where used greeting cards are remounted on new backs and sold.
You can send your old greeting cards with or without backs in bundles at the 'bound printed matter' postage rate to:
St. Jude’s Card Recycling,
  100 St. Jude St.
  Post Office Box 60100
  Boulder City, NV, 89006.

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During Fall semester of 2001, 601,349 pages were printed on library computers, averaging 5,466 pages per day. (That's almost a tree a day, used just by students printing in the library. See the tree to paper statistics at Conservatree.)

When printing in the computer labs, use the double sided option:

• On a Mac, go to Print and in the General popup menu, select Layout. Check the Print on Both Sides box.
• On a PC, select the Properties menu in the Print box, and choose the Flip on Long Side option.

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When making copies, choose to make double sided copies by selecting the DOUBLE SIDED OPTION located on the left-hand side of the copier. It often says, "one-sided originals" and has two sheets with a number one on them with an arrow to a sheet with a two on it. Ask the people who work near the copier, they'll know. Also: look for the copiers that use recycled paper.

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Read the newspaper online!
Newspapers and newsletters of every type, political orientation, and depth are available on the web. Here are a couple of newspapers to start with. If your favorite paper isn't listed here, be sure to search for it on the web. Hint: if objective information is what you're looking for, corporate media generally isn't your best bet.

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AND SMALL HOUSEHOLD ITEMS

Locally, the best thing to do with clothing and small household goods you no longer have use for is to bring them to local thrift stores, like Good Neighbor (3105 Pearl Ave in Lorain, 440-277-9944) or Goodwill (989-2224), or local flea markets, like East Oberlin flea market (774-4312, 43433 Oberlin-Elyria Road, open Friday-Sunday 10-5) or Jamie's flea market (440-986-4402, 46388 Telegraph Road in Amherst, open Wednesday and Saturday 8-4).

OR.. Have a yard sale with your friends! OR...At the end of each semester, you can bring your unwanted clothes to the Recycling Assistants' CLOTHING SWAP, usually held in Wilder (maybe you can pick out some new duds for yourself!) Look for the signs near the end of the year.

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There are three ways to avoid landing your old shoes in the landfill: mending, recycling the materials to make other  items, or donating to charities for redistribution. The choice depends on the condition of your shoes. Locally, shoes can be repaired by Frank at Frank's Shoe Repair, 192 Park Avenue, Amherst. Take route 58 north, make a left on Park Ave.; (440) 988-4999.

Rather than buying a new pair of Birkenstocks, send worn-out shoes to the Birkenstock repair department for new soles and resealed cork ($29), new suede foot liner ($23), or a complete overhaul, everything except the straps ($60). You can contact the company by email, phone (1-800-BIRKS-4-U/1-800-247-5748), or snail mail (P.O. Box 6140, Novato, CA 94948).

Several companies collect old shoes and grind up the rubber and fiber. The rubber can be granulated and reused and the fiber fluff can be used for bedding, padding, or home insulation. For instance, Nike (this is not an endorsement!) runs the Reuse-a-Shoe Program. They mix ground discarded tires and shredded worn out running shoes to make athletic playing surfaces donated to city parks. Go to the website to find out the closest collection location (closer is better: less environmentally harmful transport, even if you pay the same postage!).

Several companies collect old shoes for redistribution to the needy. Locally, shoes can be brought to thrift stores: see the clothing section.

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Every year in the US, more motor oil is dumped by individuals than spilled in the Exxon Valdez catastrophe. It is essential to reuse this oil. Old motor oil can be refined and reused numerous times. Considering that one gallon of motor oil can contaminate up to one million gallons of fresh water, the need to recycle motor oil becomes clear. If all the motor oil that is dumped annually were recycled instead, enough power could be produced to power 360,000 homes for a year.
To recycle motor oil, keep it separated from other substances and drain it into a reusable, resealable container.  Locally, you can bring your used motor oil to: Oberlin Marathon, 141 South Main Street, 774-2730. Also, ask at gas stations you go to: many will recycle used motor oil or will know other locations that do.

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If your TV doesn't work anymore, cut off the top with a hacksaw, take out the innards, and make it into a planter! OR... paint pictures on it for a more creative kind of television experience. But if you're REALLY attached to it, take it to Bill Baker's (15 East Ave, Elyria; 245-3420) for repair.
Vinyl, CDs, tapes, and VCRs can be bought and sold at two area flea markets: To reach the East Oberlin Flea Market, take 511 east and make a left onto the Oberlin-Elyria Road; or for Jamie's Flea Market, follow 58 north and take a left on to 113 west. See above for more information.

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Use old eyeglasses(with or without lenses) for costume parties, or give them to your friends without lenses to help them look as smart as you. OR... Old eyeglasses can be brought or mailed to: Lenscrafters, 4690 Midway Mall, Elyria, OH 44035. Lenscrafters runs a national eyeglass collection program which redistributes glasses to people outside of the US in need of glasses. The demand for used glasses is tremendous.

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Over 200 million passenger car tires are tossed each year along with 40 million truck, bus, and tractor tires. Tires are difficult to landfill because of their size and shape. If stock-piled, they not only form an excellent breeding ground for mosquitoes, they also form a fire hazard because of the fuel and oxygen available.
Recycling rubber is much more energy efficient than obtaining rubber from new materials. When dealing with a tire store, ask how they dispose of old tires and support efforts to use tire parts in road resurfacing.
Locally, a tire collection is conducted every year by the city and county. Public announcements will be made.

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Floppy disks are completely reusable! To remove old data and viruses from a used disk do a 'full' or 'unconditional' disk format:
Macintosh: use 'initialize' command under 'finder'
Windows 95: right-click on drive icon and select format. Select 'full' format.

Greendisk manufactures new discs made out of recycled plastic.

Damaged CDs can often be repaired. Slight damage may be corrected by using a mild abrasive like toothpaste and making radial strokes outward from the center of the disk.
For more substantial repairs, CDs can be sent to professional refinishers such as AuralTech CD Refinishing for about $3 a CD:
1555 127th Place NE, Bellevue, WA, 98005, (888) 454-3223 or (425) 454-1426.
If the CD is hopelessly damaged, or the material on the CD is no longer useful to you, CDs can be recycled. CDs are often recycled into automotive parts while their cases may end up as egg cartons. Send them to whichever of these locations is closest to you (fewer resources will be used to get them there):

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The  city of Oberlin encourages its residents to participate in special recycling collections offered by the Lorain County Solid Waste Management District.  Generally, these include: