Stupid Criminal Story

Dillon Co. suspect stuck under trash bin for hours

DILLON, SC (AP) - Authorities say a man who was trying to steal $10 worth of copper spent 12 hours stuck under a trash bin at a Dillon County landfill.

Deputies tell WBTW in Florence that 56-year-old Gibson Cook broke into the landfill Tuesday evening, then got stuck as he tried to crawl underneath the large container.

Landfill workers found Cook about 12 hours later with his legs sticking out from under the bin.

Emergency workers used air bags to lift the container and free Cook.

Employee Charlie Brown says the landfill has seen several thefts over the past six months but nothing like this.

Cook says "it was right disgusting" under the container.

Jail officials say Cook was waiting for a bond hearing. It was unclear if he had an attorney.

For Some Really Edgy Stuff

Check Factory Green.

Here's one of my favorites!

Recycle Your Safety Footwear with Soles4Souls

Shoe charity offers new footwear recycle program direct from your facility

Soles4Souls(TM) Inc., the shoe charity, and Lehigh Safety Shoe Company, one of the largest and most respected safety footwear companies in the world, are teaming up to provide an easy way to trade in 'gently worn' safety shoes and boots to help people in need. Each pair of boots and shoes will go directly to a person in need while keeping the footwear out of American landfills.

"This is a unique way for hard-working Americans to reach out to other working men and women to provide a vital resource quickly," said Wayne Elsey, Founder and CEO of Soles4Souls Inc. "In order for this program to work well, we need safety directors, plant managers, and HR personnel from all industrial companies in the country to answer our call to action and join the Soles4Souls + Lehigh Trade-in Program," he said.

"We're excited to partner with Soles4Souls to implement a grassroots plan that will redirect our customers' gently used shoes and boots to people in need. Lehigh would like to see these shoes on people's feet rather than being dumped in a landfill," stated Richard Simms, Sr. Vice President and General Manager of Lehigh Safety Shoes.

Industrial companies currently hosting shoe fairs or shoemobile events at their plants can easily participate by signing up with Lehigh and Soles4Souls. Each participating location will receive donation boxes, brochures and advertising materials for the event, and PR coverage in their local market highlighting their company as a partner in the recycling program.

For more information or to sign up, visit www.giveshoes.org . You may also email Pattie Graben at pattieg@giveshoes.org or call (615) 391-5723.

Pearl Fryar's "Junque Art"

I took a trip to Bishopville, SC today to see Pearl Fryar's topiary gardens. Throughout the gardens, there were fabulous pieces he made from scrap metal - pieces he calls his "junque art." Check out "A Man Named Pearl." It'll blow you away. For now, check out these great pieces.

Walking Directions from Google

Google just announced a great new feature: walking directions to help you find the most direct and flat route from Point A to Point B! The function works for trips up to 6.2 miles long. Just in time for my upcoming trip to Pittsburgh.

Here's how it works:

Go to Google Maps.

Click get directions.

Enter your Point A and Point B.

Click "Get Directions."

When the directions come up, select walking.

Lint Busters: From Budget Ecoist

Using a clothes dryer isn't the greenest way to dry your laundry, but they haven't been phased out yet, and even with increased usage of clotheslines and drying racks, dryers are not going anywhere anytime soon.

So when you do use your dryer, and remove a fuzzy layer of lint from the catcher, can anything be done with this lint instead of throwing it away? The answer is yes, and not too surprisingly, many suggestions can be found on the Internet.

Some lint from natural fibers can be composted. But like dryers, synthetic fabrics aren't going to be phased out anytime soon. What to do with those?

As is often the case on the world wide interweb, some of the suggestions are dubious. Dryer lint is highly flammable, so one site recommends using it as a fire-starter for home fireplaces, charcoal grills, and campfires. However, burning bits of synthetic materials doesn't sound very friendly to the environment, so let's pass on that one. It's good to know that the lint is so flammable, though, so don't you crafty types go using it as stuffing for home-crafted toys, or batting for quilts!

Our clothes and our rugs are part of our lives, and life becomes art. You can donate one wash load's worth of lint to Pittsburgh artist Cheryl Capezzuti, including what you washed and what it means to you, and your donation will be transformed into a little figurine that will be sent back to you.

For crafty folks who prefer the do it yourself approach, lint can also be used in making clay, paper, and papier mache. Directions are here.

1-2-3-4, Do All You Can to Recycle More

Climate change no gangsta's paradise for this rapper
Coolio to educate students about global warming

Grammy-award-winning rapper Coolio is on a fantastic voyage ... to spread the word about climate change to historically black colleges and universities across the country. As an official spokesdude for the Environmental Justice and Climate Change campaign (a partnership with Gore's "we" campaign), he'll aim to engage students in the climate justice debate and educate them on why global warming is no gangsta's paradise.

Green Gaming

From The Budget Ecoist, one of our favorite new sites!

Tired of the same old video and computer games? Wanting to do something with your brain other than numb it? Hulalagirls.com just may be your answer. Hulalagirls.com allows you to play online games - starring princesses of the sea, earth and sky - that raise environmental awareness.

Hulalagirls is dedicated to conserving and protecting nature through their Hulala Naturality initiative, where they strive to balance conservation with good business practices. With a mission dedicated to helping kids learn from nature, who doesn't want to see this little gaming company that could, succeed.

The game revolves around the wonders of Mother Nature, along with her built-in laws for recycling and rebuilding. The creators of the game believe a greater awareness of the environment is the first step toward building a deeper understanding and respect for the environment. This foundation will instill strong eco-friendly values in our children.

A portion of profits from Hulalagirls is donated to programs and causes that are designed to educate and inspire young minds about Mother Nature's principles, laws and magic. They also pledge to support environmental efforts that are aligned with our values. As a first step, Hulalagirls has integrated resource conservation into their products and operations. For example, they eliminate superfluous product packaging and use safe, recycled packing materials.

Cook Green with Emeril

Discovery’s new channel - Planet Green has been working hard to ensure a wide audience. The latest news from the eco-friendly station is the addition of a new cooking show starting Emeril. The show, Emeril Green, will introduce viewers to the world of healthy meals and fresh ingredients. It will be shot on location at Whole Foods stores around the country.

MLB pros parade the green carpet for All-Star Game

July 15 -- Major League Baseball dignitaries are walking the green carpet today in Manhattan as part of All-Star Game activities.

The carpet is actually red, stretches along 18 blocks of Sixth Avenue in Manhattan and is part of a parade featuring folks like Hank Aaron, Yogi Berra and Willie Mays.

But the 95,000-sq.-ft. carpet also is made from 100-percent recycled fiber, and all of the electricity used to make it came from renewable resources, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

That environmental group has teamed up with the baseball league on a variety of environmental initiatives.

"Major League Baseball takes great pride in showcasing these environmentally friendly practices on one of the biggest stages ever -- All-Star Week in New York City," said John McHale, executive vice president of administration for Major League Baseball. "With the guidance of our partners at the NRDC, these efforts surrounding the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium are Major League Baseball´s grandest demonstration of our commitment to going green."

Global Warming May Raise Kidney Stone Cases

Editor's Note: As someone who suffers from these, THIS is serious business!

By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One more unwanted consequence of global warming may be an increase in cases of kidney stones in areas with rising temperatures, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

Kidney stones -- excruciatingly painful hard deposits of minerals and salts that can form in the kidneys -- tend to be more common in hot climates, with dehydration a key risk factor for the condition.

The researchers used two mathematical models linking temperature to kidney-stone risk in the United States, and found that regions where the condition now is most common will expand in coming decades due to predicted rising temperatures.

They forecast increases of up to 30 percent in kidney stone cases in some areas -- meaning millions more people would get the condition. The annual cost in the United States of treating kidney stone cases could increase by 2050 by about $1 billion per year -- 25 percent more than current levels, they added.

Kidney stones currently are most common in the southeastern United States, but this "kidney stone belt" is forecast to grow to the northward and westward, the researchers wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Other parts of the globe could experience similar trends.

"There's every reason to anticipate that it would be happening worldwide," urologist Dr. Margaret Pearle of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, one of the researchers, said in a telephone interview.

Not drinking enough water and other fluids or losing too much fluids through dehydration -- more likely in hotter climates -- can leave one's urine with higher concentrations of substances that can form kidney stones.

This is just the latest negative health consequence to be predicted due to climate change. Others include an increase in the many diseases spread by mosquitoes and other insects.

In the United States, about 12 percent of men and 7 percent of women experience kidney stone disease at some time.

The fraction of the U.S. population living in high-risk zones for kidney stones could grow from 40 percent in 2000 to 56 percent by 2050 and to 70 percent by 2095 if temperatures rise as predicted, the researchers said.

One of the two models used by the researchers predicted increases by 2050 concentrated in California, Texas, Florida and the East coast. The other model predicted an expanded concentration of cases in a geographic band stretching from Kansas to Kentucky and northern California, they added.

Do Americans Know How to Go Green?

More than 90 percent of Americans are recycling — but fewer than 5 percent have taken recommended green actions such as driving less or reducing their utility use, according to a new Harris Poll on green living.

The poll — for which The Nature Conservancy provided input and advice — found that 53 percent of those surveyed have taken steps to green their lives.

But it also found a substantial lack of knowledge about how to go green — and skepticism about whether greening one's life makes a difference to the environment:
34 percent of those surveyed said they hadn’t changed their lifestyle because they “did not know what to do.”
29 percent of respondents believe that greening their lifestyle won’t make any significant difference on the environment.

“This poll shows that green living is certainly at the forefront of our minds,” says Stephanie Meeks, the Conservancy's acting president and CEO.

“Yet people are getting lost in the maze of information on how to lessen our environmental impact. The bottom line is that even the smallest lifestyle change can have significant impact in the long run.”

While recycling is widespread in the United States and 73 percent of those polled are paying their bills online to save paper, other often-recommended ways to green your life are going largely ignored:
5 percent are driving less by combining errands, walking more, etc.
4 percent have reduced their utility use.
3 percent have purchased hybrid cars.
3 percent have changed out incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescent ones.

Yet if every American home switched out just one incandescent light bulb for a compact fluorescent one, the United States would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for an entire year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy.

“Making small changes to help save the planet can help your pocketbook as well,” adds Meeks.

“In the case of compact fluorescent light bulbs, you’re paying more on the front end, but the cost savings in the long run will beat out the incandescent bulbs, hands down.”

Other poll results:
49 percent are trying to buy locally-produced food and/or goods.
47 percent are buying green household products.
39 percent are bringing their own reusable bags to stores instead of using paper or plastic.
16 percent are carpooling.

The poll also found noticeable optimism on environmental issues among the American public.

Seventy-two percent of the poll’s 2,605 respondents believe their personal actions are significant to the health of the environment.

And although only 42 percent of U.S. adults were initially familiar with the phrase “environmental sustainability,” two-thirds believe that it is possible to live in an environmentally sustainable way.

The phrase "environmental sustainability" was more familiar to younger poll respondents than older ones. More than 45 percent of those age 18-43 understood the term's meaning, while only 30 percent of those aged 63 and older knew the term.

To help cut through all the noise, The Nature Conservancy offers easy ways to make science-based green changes in your life:

Check out our Everyday Environmentalist home page to find a list of innovative and easy changes you can make to help save the planet.

Use the Conservancy's carbon footprint calculator to determine your carbon footprint — and find simple ways to reduce it.

Consider offsetting your carbon emissions by participating in The Conservancy's voluntary carbon offset program.

25 Reasons to Go Reuseable...

Sierra Club granting $1M to green homes for injured veterans

The Sierra Club Foundation will provide a grant of as much as $1 million over the next three years to help another nonprofit group incorporate green building practices into homes it constructs for severely injured veterans.

The money will be awarded to Homes for Our Troops, a charity that builds homes adapted for severely injured and disabled veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The money will pay for incorporating energy saving and green energy technologies, including geothermal heating systems and photovoltaic solar panels.

"We hope this project will demonstrate how easy it is to save energy at home," said Peter Martin, executive director of the Sierra Club Foundation. "We can lower our energy bills, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and create jobs in the green building sector at the same time."

The money can also be used to incorporate other green building practices and to participate in the Energy Star and LEED programs.

Information about the Homes for Our Troops organization that provides veterans with new homes or adapts existing homes is available at www.homesforourtroops.org.

WOW!

Someone just brought me the coolest wine bottles - they have metallic monkeys embossed on the bottle! The bottles are clear - one has a bronze monkey, the other gold. I can't wait to make lamps from these!

Recycle Your CDs

CDs: You listen to them on your stereo, play them in your computer, or watch movies on them. And now you can recycle them!

“Each year over 30 billion CDs and DVDs are still being manufactured, while millions of unwanted, damaged and obsolete discs end up in landfills and incinerators every month,” states Bruce Bennett, founder of The Compact Disc Recycling Center of America. “It is important for those individuals or companies that use, sell, manufacture or promote compact discs to also responsibly promote how and where to recycle them.”

When compacts discs are placed in the trash, it is harmful to the environment. When discs are recycled properly, it will help stop unnecessary pollution, conserve natural resources, and slow global warming. The plastic used in compact discs can be recycled into other everyday items, including household products, building materials, and auto parts.

Adds Bennett,"I feel the main reason people are throwing out unwanted CDs and DVDs is that they simply don’t know what else to do with them. Now they can learn the importance of disc recycling, and also have a place to send them. They can send us one or one million discs and we’ll accept and recycle them.”

Bennett also notes that the Recycling Center will accept discs still in their original packaging. The center will separate and recycle any paper components of the package as well. The Center asks that new members place The CD Recycling Center logo on any new compact disc releases, thus promoting to the end user how and where to recycle the disc when they are finished using it.

How does it work? The Center asks that people visit their recycling website, http://cdrecyclingcenter.com/, and sign in as a supporter. They would then print out a mailing label and simply mail or ship their disc waste to the collection center. Once the center receives the discs to recycle, it will post on their website the receipt of the discs, and list that supporter as a official Registered Member of The Compact Disc Recycling Center that has actively recycled disc material. The center encourages members to use and promote The CD Recycling Center logo, which will help actively promote the awareness to recycle compact discs.

The Compact Disc Recycling Center was founded in 2006 by Bruce Bennett, owner of The American Duplication Supply Group, including Superdups, New England Compact Disc and American Duplication Supply. After manufacturing millions of discs for thousands of customers, Bennett decided it was equally important as a manufacturer to educate people on the importance of disc recycling. The Compact Disc Recycling Center provides consumers and companies education, consultation, awareness and options for easy CD and DVD recycling, with a location to send the discs to.

The website, www.cdrecyclingcenter.com offers a range of articles, research, products and profiles of their growing number of supporters and members, all to be applauded by the recycling conscious consumer.

TerraCycle Fashions a New Life for Old Wrappers

Is a tote bag forged from old CapriSun pouches fashionable? What about an umbrella constructed of used Chips Ahoy! wrappers?

Each year, billions of food and drink wrappers encasing popular brands end up in landfills because their multilayered materials -- which keep products fresh -- are tricky and expensive to break down and recycle. This waste has presented a challenge for manufacturers eager to reduce their environmental impact and buff reputations among eco-conscious consumers.

But that's changing due to an unusual alliance between a growing number of food and beverage bigwigs -- including Kraft Foods Inc., Kellogg Co., Clif Bar & Co. and Coca-Cola Co. -- and a tiny company in Trenton, N.J., named TerraCycle Inc.

In recent months, TerraCycle, which made its mark as a purveyor of fertilizer made from worm castings, has signed deals or is in talks with these and other companies to collect some of their packaging waste and sew, fuse or weave it into new products such as shower curtains, umbrellas, pencil cases, totes, lunchboxes and backpacks -- a process known as upcycling. Many of these items -- produced from old Oreo, Kool-Aid and Bear Naked granola packages among others, are now shipping to Target Corp., OfficeMax Inc. and Walgreen Co. stores or are part of discussions for future sale at retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Home Depot Inc.

And the small company stands to profit well beyond what it sells in stores. In some cases, manufacturers, including Kraft, say they will begin putting TerraCycle's logo on some of their products' packaging to encourage upcycling -- a move tantamount to free advertising on millions of items.

That a five-year-old company like TerraCycle knit together contracts with such heavy hitters so quickly underscores the entrepreneurial potential of locating an industry's Achilles' heel -- and figuring out how to mend it.

"Obviously, this isn't our core business of upcycling," says Jeff Chahley, senior director for sustainability at Kraft, which has signed a multiyear contract with TerraCycle for upward of $1 million. "We'd rather partner with folks who have figured this out...and [TerraCycle has] a nice, unique business model that we really liked. We'll work with them until they can't handle it anymore." Kraft's Nabisco business alone sells approximately 597 million packages annually, with Chips Ahoy! and Oreo packages making up about 60% of that total.

Over the years, as food makers moved to create lightweight packaging that used fewer raw materials, they embraced technology that fuses super-thin layers of plastics and other polymers to protect food from moisture, air and sunlight. But for recycling companies, which are often paid by the weight of their collection, it's difficult and not particularly cost-efficient to separate those fine layers for reuse.

A lighter wrapper is "environmentally good because it uses less material and less energy per package," says David Cornell, the technical director of the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers in Washington, D.C. "This is all fine and dandy until the package gets to the end of its life."

And that's where TerraCycle comes in.

The company has set up nearly 4,000 trash-collecting brigades across the country, mostly from schools, churches and other nonprofit groups. They are paid two cents per wrapper or pouch. TerraCycle covers the cost of collection, including shipping, by securing sponsorships from the various food manufacturers; typically $150,000 to $350,000 per year depending on how many brigades are sponsored. TerraCycle then sends the trash to its factories in Mexico to be refashioned into new products for retail.

"We want to lock up every waste stream," says Tom Szaky, the 26-year-old co-founder and chief executive of TerraCycle. "Then you own the infrastructure and create momentum."
In 2008, TerraCycle expects $8 million in revenue, with 20% to 30% coming from the upcycled products. In 2009, the company expects that percentage to double on revenue of $15 million.

Last year, TerraCycle had revenue of $3.5 million.

Keeping brigades operating seamlessly will be critical to Mr. Szaky's ambitions. The company needs a steady stream of waste to meet retailer orders, but without sponsorships, the brigades are too expensive.

TerraCycle recently suspended a similar cadre of bottle brigades for its fertilizer product, which the firm had funded on its own dime, until it can find a sponsor.

And because brigades are dependent on volunteers, collection can ebb and flow. "Drink pouches are a little bit slow," says Steve Krajewski who leads a new brigade for the Trevose United Methodist Church in Trevose, Pa. "Our members are drinking sodas." He estimates collecting about 200 CapriSun packages -- or $2 worth -- since starting the program. His two-year-old bottle brigade, by contrast, pulled in a couple hundred dollars in the past two years before TerraCycle put the program on hiatus.

Still, Mr. Krajewski says, "every bit counts, and we are trying to teach our kids that we live in a throw-away society."

To augment the brigades' efforts, TerraCycle also is collecting what's called postindustrial waste from many manufacturers -- which includes excess labels or packaging with misprints that never makes it to market. With Coca-Cola, for instance, the company is working to develop a line of products designed from reclaimed Coke billboards, misprinted labels and cans, and old glass bottles. It will then act as a licensee to sell the Coke-branded merchandise, according to Coca-Cola.

While it's too soon to determine how many consumers will plunk down cash for rebranded trash, retailers are banking on novelty and the green hook.

"What TerraCycle has done so well is they've created products that aren't boring," says Ryan Vero, chief merchandising officer at OfficeMax, which stocks TerraCycle's CapriSun and Kool-Aid binders and pencil pouches and has ordered computer bags for the fall. "That's cool for back to school. We even have executives carrying them around this building."

Mr. Szaky believes the story behind his upcycled products will help them compete.

"We're able to retail at the store for the same price as a normal Hanna Montana backpack," he says. "Except ours is made from garbage collected by American kids. And each pouch represents a little donation. And parents are captured by this."

Slow Down and Green Up

by Susan Donohoe (Friday, July 4, 2008)

If you're looking to live a simpler life, then next week is for you! U.S. National Downshifting Week is a way to care for the environment and focus on the things that really matter. Embrace your inner Thoreau.

Are you familiar with U.S. National Downshifting Week? Well let me tell you all about it.

It’s a voluntary simplicity awareness campaign sponsored by the non-profit organization Conscious Consuming. U.S. National Downshifting Week builds on the work of Tracey Smith, the founder of National Downshifting Week in the UK. U.S. National Downshifting week is scheduled for next week – July 7-13, 2007 – and is designed to help participants "Slow Down and Green Up."

As you may know, downshifting involves cutting out unnecessary expenditures, cultivating a simpler lifestyle (thus leaving a lighter environmental footprint), and making more time for the things you want to do. Data from the mid-90's from the Trends Research Institute shows that about 10% of Americans identify with downshifting, voluntary simplicity, and simple living. Duane Elgin, author of several books on voluntary simplicity, calls this a "conservative estimate."

Many Americans are cutting back consumption this year due to higher food, health care, and fuel prices. The freefall in the housing market has also been a factor in reducing consumption, as home equity credit tightens and people feel a loss in their net wealth. Instead of feeling down about buying less stuff, many Americans celebrate their decision to downshift.

Smith says, "A positive approach to living with less helps you re-think ways to enjoy time with your loved ones without reaching for your wallet."

The dates for National Downshifting Week (July 7-13th) were chosen to coincide with the birthday of America's most famous downshifter, Henry David Thoreau (born July 12, 1817).

"Modern downshifters don't have to move into a cabin in the woods to simplify their lives. Happiness depends on knowing when you have enough, and finding ways to do the things you love to do without spending a ton of money," says Susan Donohoe, of Conscious Consuming.

"Downshifters can live deliberately, leave a lighter footprint on the earth, and have even more time with their families and friends."

To learn more and to see how you can celebrate Downshifting Week, visit their Web site.

Crazy Crayons

Check it out - Crazy Crayons! You can buy neat shaped recycled crayons and/or donate old, brioken ones. LOVE IT!

Go Green on a Budget

GREAT new site: The Budget Ecoist!

The Budget Ecoist helps you go green on a budget. Check out tips for recycling and reusing everyday items, reviews of eco-friendly products, and share your tips in our green chat.

Attitude Angels - Buy Now and Save

These three-inch angels, made from recycled soda cans, are perfect gifts for co-workers, volunteers, green friends and YOU!

Besides being recycled and affordable, the angels impact the Zulu students who made them, providing them with food, clothes, education and a sense of pride and self-worth.

These limited edition ornaments will be available while supplies last; they sell quickly, and we're not guaranteed to get more between now and Christmas. Now through July 15, we're offering them to TRASHformations Blog readers for $4 each, twenty percent off regular price. Click here for more info and/or to place an order.

Egg on Your Floor

by Sam Davidson Tuesday, July 1, 2008
From Cool People Care

We all want to increase the miles-per-gallon of our vehicle, both as a cost savings measure and as a way to reduce carbon emissions. And while carpooling or biking is your best bet, you can also gradually accelerate after stopping to get more out of each tank of gas. "Jackrabbit" starts and stops use more gasoline than easing into forward motion does. So, the next time you're taking off, imagine there's an egg under your gas pedal and softly press down in order to speed up. Taking it easy (and carefully) is better for the environment (and your safety).

That Holds No Water

Mayors resolve to phase out city spending on bottled water

The U.S. Conference of Mayors passed a resolution last week to phase out city spending on bottled water.

"Cities are sending the wrong message about the quality of public water when we spend taxpayer dollars on water in disposable containers from a private corporation," said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, adding, "The fact is, our tap water is more highly regulated than what's in the bottle."

Millions of barrels of oil go into plastic-bottle manufacturing, and cities spend some $70 million annually on bottle disposal. Though the new resolution is not binding, it received strong support, and more than 60 mayors across the country have already canceled bottled-water contracts. The American Beverage Association is entirely unamused by the trend.

"We believe that common sense will prevail when mayors return to their communities," says the ABA's Kevin Keane, "as most recognize more pressing challenges are facing their communities than concerns about a healthy water beverage."