Morgantown West Virginia Is Expanding Its Recycling Program!

Late last week, I received a letter in the mail from Morgantown's City Office Manager, Terrence Moore, announcing some incredible news. Morgantown has launched a full scale curbside recycling program. This is outstanding news and a big leap forward for our community’s efforts to take better care of the planet.

Why am I so excited about this? For a long time, recycling has been something I have cared about (to varying degrees). When I was a kid, I used to walk along river banks and through neighborhoods to pick up aluminum cans. Part of this was good for the environment, and part of it was good for me to have some money for baseball cards and things like that. When I was a freshman at WVU, I worked hard to get a recycling program initiated in the residence halls. It had some fits and starts during my undergraduate era, but now, I’m excited to say that the university has an incredible focus on recycling and sustainability efforts.

Separately, in 2006, I found out my mom had breast cancer. She went to be with Jesus about a year later. Incidence of cancer has risen drastically over the last 20-30 years. My wife’s mom was diagnosed with breast cancer last year while we were on our honeymoon. Three of my dad’s living siblings have had cancer. My sister has had cancer. I’m sure you can think of folks who are close to you as well. In my reading, one of the leading contributors to cancer is believed to be environmental issues. When I made that discovery, I began to look really closely at my own energy consumption habits as well as the amount of waste I was producing.

At the time I lived with roommates, and we had gatherings at our house on a regular basis. We produced a lot of materials that went in the garbage. We started recycling back then. It would take 2-3 weeks to fill our garbage can after we started recycling. It occurred to me as I made trips to the local recycling center that my roommates and I could reduce the speed at which landfills would fill by choosing to recycle. From everything I’ve read, it takes significantly energy to recycle some materials than it does to produce new materials. Some materials take a really long time to begin to break down, and those same materials can be recycled fairly easily.

Now, my wife and I continue to recycle. As a result, we fill an eight-gallon trash bag with non-recyclable material about one or two times per month.  Our recyclables require us to fill our car once per month to take it to the recycling center.

All that being said, the biggest reason I’m excited about this recycling program is that it appears to be really easy. During the week of December 10, 2012, residents will receive a 65 gallon recycling cart. Service will start the week of January 7, 2013.

The program will recycle just about everything. Aluminum cans, all colors and shapes of glass, corrugated cardboard, newsprint and inserts, steel cans, plastics #1-6, paperback books/phone books, magazines, catalogs, junk mail, office paper, pizza box lids, and even dry food and tissue boxes.

I’m excited for this incredible new development for the city of Morgantown, for the environment, and for future generations who will appreciate the efforts of our generation to wisely steward the resources which which we have been entrusted

SustainU Clothing

Change your clothes. Change your world. from sustainU on Vimeo.


Not too long ago, a few of my friends embarked on a pioneering journey to encourage people to think about the clothes they wear, how the production of those clothes impact the environment, and how it could all change for the better.  Out of this journey, SustainU clothing was born.  SustainU is a company who specializes in making clothes here in the United States and they work specifically to produce their clothing line from recycled materials.  This company is headquartered in Morgantown, WV and many members of their team are from this great state.

Right now, they are embarking on a campaign to save about 150 tons of clothing from landfills through a campaign called the ONEshirt campaign.  They are encouraging college students across the country to participate in a clothing drive to reduce waste, and encourage all of us to think a little more deeply about our choices when it comes to what we wear.  There are currently over 100 campuses involved in the campaign.  By the way, did you know that 10% of the content of landfills is clothing?

Take a little time, and watch the video, and think about how changing your clothing just might change the world.  Maybe it's time to get rid of some of those clothes you haven't worn in the last two years.  Let someone else give em a try.  And maybe, next time you are looking to purchase clothing, consider making a statement and grabbing something from the Sustain U catalog.

Can One Person Really Make A Difference?

Morgantown Community Recycling Center, originally uploaded by chanchanchepon.

On Saturday morning, I participated in "Tire Amnesty Day" in Monongalia County by taking a few old car and bicycle tires to Sam's Club in Granville to be recycled. Usually there is a small fee associated with such efforts, but this past Saturday, it was free. I thought I would take advantage of the oppportunity to rid myself of some of the tires that various roommates have left at the house over the years, and do a good turn for the environment.

While I was there, I received an info packet containing ways to recycle virtually everything I might ever want to get rid of. Unfortunately it was packaged in what looked like a non-recyclable (at least locally) #4 plastic bag. Bummer if so, but maybe it is a compostable bag. In one of the pamplets it listed the top ten myths about recycling. The #1 myth is "One person can't make a difference."

Here's the Monongalia Solid Waste Authority's response to that statement.

In [Monongalia county], one person makes a big difference in the recycling rate. Each day, one person in WV generates 4.07 pounds of trash, which becomes 1485 pounds over a whole year. About 48% of this trash is recyclable.

This means, in one person has the potentialto recycle:
332 pounds of cardboard and paper products
74 pounds of metals
193 pounds of plastic
116 pounds of glass

Averaging current yearly recycling rates over the county population, one Monongalia County resident actually recycles:
49 pounds of cardboard and paper products
3 pounds of metals
3 pounds of plastic
12 pounds of glass

Even though a very small percentage of this county's population is currently recycling, in the past year, this small effort has saved:
1.9 million kilowatt hours of energy (enough to power 174 homes in WV)
171,596 gallons of oil
81,797 trees.


One person really can make a difference. Imagine if you recycled. Imagine if your business recycled. Imagine the possible energy savings and the positive good that YOU would be doing for future generations, whether you live in Monongalia County, WV or some other part of the world.

Today, may you take the time to begin to make your contribution to bettering this world.

Earth Day

Earth Day, originally uploaded by chanchanchepon.

Well, yesterday was Earth Day, and I took a short afternoon trip with my old friend Matt Thorn and his friend Tuyen. This lioness was posing so perfectly I had to take a picture.

So since it was earth day yesterday, I thought I would share a few practical ways you can practice better stewardship.

1) Practice Sabbath. It's good for your soul, and it's good for the earth to take one day each week and chill out. There will always be more work to do, so take a break one day each week and live simply.

2) Walk, ride a bus, or a bike. Of course this is sort of a no brainer, but it needs to be mentioned. If you live in town, even a small town like Morgantown, there's bound to be a bus route nearby. BIking and walking are great exercise too, and they sure beat sitting in traffic for a long time on warm spring afternoons.

3) Carpool. Here's a nifty idea. Next time you are going to a big event with other people you know, and you can't really walk or ride your bike, go together. Are you really that busy that you can't just enjoy the company of others, and let go of the independence that driving your own car offers you? Here's some great places to carpool--church, The Pittsburgh Zoo ;), sporting events, concerts, lectures, dinner, coffeeshops, and parties at friends houses. to name a few. Save $ and save on your footprint by carpooling.

4) Give the electric a rest.. Turn off lights when you aren't in a room. Set your entertainment center up so that it is on a power strip that is turned off when you aren't going to use it. (DId you know that stereos, TVs, etc. are using power all of the time so your remote will work when you point it at em--eliminate that waste of power from the "phantom charge.") You can also save a lot simply by switching to Compact Fluorescent bulbs. (Look at that One Billion Bulbs savings link down the sidebar). Switch out your bulbs, and join our group!!!

5) Give the heating and cooling a rest. Our ancestors didn't have a constant indoor temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Drop it to 65 or lower in the winter, and raise it to 71 or higher in the summer. You will reap dividends in savings, and you will help reduce energy waste. I'd even recommend getting a programmable thermostat. Then you can save even more because you can program it to shut off when your home is empty.

6) Get a reusable bottle. There's a lot of debates out there about Nalgenes vs. glass or metal bottles. Here's the deal. Regardless of what you use, if you aren't buying previously bottled water, you are reducing the amount of plastic that needs produced (most of which ends up end landfills!). So start using a reusable bottle, and make sure you keep it clean!

7) Recycle!!! It's not that difficult, and most towns are starting municipal pick-up. You will be amazed at how little waste you produce when you start recycling. It's kind of fun to take stuff to the recycling center too and see how much waste is being prevented.

That should do for now. I might write some more at a later time--we can all use frequent reminders, right? The most important thing to remember with all of these steps and more is that we do these things as an act of worship. We practice stewardship remembering that this whole world belongs to God, and when I take steps to care for it, I show my appreciation for the Maker of all things.

Happy belated Earth Day!

And also, if you have some practical tips you would like to share, leave em as a comment on here. If you start one of these practices, like joining my CFL group, let me know!