Live Greener Life

Paper Recycling - A learning experience for students

2011-10-25T21:15:00.000+05:30

Paper is required and used for anything and everything one can think of. With hundreds of final uses, paper satisfies many important human needs. In fact, it is an integral part of everyday life. The technological advance with computers and photocopiers has increased the consumption and wastage of paper. Indian consumption of paper is five kilograms per capita, with an expected growth rate of 6-7% per annum over the next five years.

By using paper carelessly, we contribute to the depleting forest cover, drastic climate change and water pollution. For every ton of paper, the paper industry guzzles up 2.8 tons of dry timber and 24,000 gallons of water, besides electricity and other resources. Pulp and paper industry is a major contributor in terms of air and water pollution.

Recycling of paper not only saves trees and minimises pollution, but also reduces the waste problem by utilizing waste material like used paper, cotton rags and unwanted biomass.

Benefits of paper recycling

Waste reduction

Paper accounts for a significant amount of municipal waste

Recycling paper means less waste and disposal problem

Energy conservation

60-70% energy savings over virgin paper production

Resource conservation

Recycled paper uses 55% less water and helps preserve our forests

Pollution reduction

Recycled paper reduces water pollution by 35%, reduces air pollution by 74%, and eliminates many toxic pollutats

Livelihood creation

Recycling of waste paper creates more jobs

If each child saves one sheet of paper a day, then 40,000 trees are saved per year by students alone!
It is with this mission that a few schools in Delhi have installed the TARA Mini Paper Recycling Plant withsupport from Department of Environment, NCT Delhi. The students have done significant work in reducing the paper waste generated in their schools. Secondly, the students themselves are involved in the recycling process, which helps in understanding the various resources and efforts put in for making paper.
The TARA Mini Paper Recycling Plant is an appropriate system to turn waste paper, cotton rags and other such waste into paper for all purposes. The plant is based on an effective and yet simple technology, with which even a child can turn waste paper and cotton rags into valuable products.

The plant is a self contained system for recycling small quantities of waste material i.e. upto ten kg per day.The basic raw material for manufacturing hand made paper comprises cotton rags, denim waste, waste paper and draft waste. The various steps involved are sorting, chopping, dusting, pulping, sheet formation, pressing, drying, calendering and cutting.

Students are also trained on making paper products like folders, penholders, material for display board, lampshades, teaching/learning aids etc. Students have creatively made their own cards, files, folders, invitation cards and certificates for the school. Working on a paper recycling plant demonstrates the concept of recycling waste into ‘wealth’.

The real success of the programme is visible in the seemingly simple acts like: students exchanging books in a new academic session, indirectly saving paper and thereby trees. Students of various Delhi schools have been enthusiastically involved in segregating paper waste, collecting and recycling the same. The Department of Environment, NCT Delhi has also helped some environmentally active schools like Green Fields School and many others to set up the plant.

Remember - to use paper is to have an impact on our environment. Our greater goal should be to promote reduction of consumption.q
Recycle Paper at home!

Shred the waste paper and soak it overnight in water.
Blend it in a mixer-grinder with a paste of fenugreek (methi) seeds. For colour, add natural colouring agents like Turmeric powder (Haldi), etc.
Put water in a pan with a wire-mesh inside.
Pour a cup of the blended paper pulp over the mesh and spread it evenly.
Lift the mesh and drain the water.
Place the mesh on one side of an open newspaper and close the newspaper.
Carefully flip the newspaper so that the mesh is on top of the pulp.
Press a flat wooden board on the newspaper to squeeze out water.
Open the newspaper and take out the mesh.
Keep the newspaper open for drying. Dried leaves and petals can be spread on the sheet while it is wet.
Once dried, peel off the sheet from the newspaper.
Lightly iron the sheet under a piece of moist muslin cloth.

Save Our Planet Earth

2010-12-14T22:45:00.000+05:30

Yeah, you have read it absolutely correct, our planet needs help, so people from different sections of society have started giving a thought over the slogan “save the planet”, masses in large numbers are now-a-days getting conscious about their lonely planet, which has been found by a recent online polling where people actively participated. You might be familiar to the fact that everything we perform in our daily routine has some or other impact on our sensitive planet. The occupation we indulge in to earn our and our family’s bread and butter to the comfortable ride we take, everything sets to deteriorate our planet’s health.

Each of our acts imposes a heavy burden on the environment. Human beings are the one who love their freedom be it the freedom of speech, freedom to move anywhere or anything else. Yes, they also love the freedom of traveling, they move anywhere or everywhere, but this travel costs a heavy expense, not to the human beings, but the environment. The environment has to go through the adverse conditions. This ground reality was in the past an unknown myth to everyone, you too are conceding to this fact.

But today, conditions are not the same as they were before. Today, quite lot commuters are very well familiar with this bitter truth; they are becoming more and more conscious of the consequences of their activities. Perception of the travelers has evolved over years. They are willing to choose a different course of action to rectify their mistakes and the main reason behind this change is the consciousness to protect the environment.

The recent online polling of more than 24,500 consumers from 144 countries, conducted by the guidebook publisher Lonely Planet has ultimately come out to a conclusion which says that the number of people willing to consider offsetting carbon emissions has increased. Visitors understand the outcome of their actions, might be they have understood the famous phrase “Precaution is better than care.” Therefore they have left the alternative of airplane and adapted to the least affecting transport. They have come up with new innovative ideas like using annual personal carbon allowance, lessening usage of air travel or by chance if they are in extreme need for its usage, then they pay more for that by means of usingcarbon tax. So, this awareness has helped in a massive way because people have turned skeptical in discourse of their actions because they don’t want that there actions should be paid by the caring environment.

There are some people in the society who find rail-travel as unreliable because it consumes a lot of time as well as it is costly. People are putting off by the high price of tickets. But, there exists some people who are comfortable with rail travel and find it an appropriate option. However, I appreciate the efforts bestowed by the people who are ready to compromise with easy but rather dangerous modes of transport. Hence the efforts endowed by the travelers for positive results give a way to ray of hope that we may be successful in our joint initiative of saving the planet earth.

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How to Make Your Own Recycled Paper

2010-12-06T07:53:00.001+05:30

Don't throw away your old newspapers. Try making your own recycled paper!

Recycled paper can be made from old newspaper, following the instructions below. Recycling paper uses cellulose (plant fibers) over and over again, it uses less electricity, less water, a lot less pollution, and it saves trees from being cut down!You will need:

a food processor or an old blender
an electric iron
an old wire hanger
an old pair of panty hose
newspaper or other paper, torn into 2-inch squares
white glue
water
an insect screen or strainer (optional)
food coloring (optional)
a big sink or tub filled with 4 inches of water

Make sure you have a place to work where you can make a big mess!
Step One:
Make a frame out of the coat hanger. You'll need a frame for each piece of paper you make. Stretch the hanger and bend it into a rectangle/square shape. Take one leg of the panty hose and stretch it carefully over the hanger frame. Make sure it is tight and flat.

Step Two:
Put a handful of the torn up paper and some water into the food processor or blender. Blend the mixture on high until it becomes mushy. Keep adding paper and water until you have a big gray blob. You may have to add a little more water to keep things moving smoothly. Keep the food processor on until all the paper has disappeared. Then leave it on for 2 minutes.
For some color, add a handful of brown or red onion skin (not the onion itself, just the papery outer skin).

Step Three:
Put 2 tablespoons of white glue in the sink water and add all of the paper pulp you just made. Mix it really well. Use your hands.

Step Four:
Scoop the frame to the bottom of the sink, then lift it slowly. (Count to 20 slowly while you are lifting.) Let the water drain out for about a minute.

Step Five:
Hang the frames on a clothesline or put them out in the sun. Wait until they are completely dry with no dampness at all. You can then gently peel off the paper.

Step Six:
Use the iron, set on the hottest setting, to steam out your paper. You can keep making paper until the pulp is all strained out of the sink. Mix up the sink every time you make a new piece.
Try other things like using in insect screen over a wood frame, or a strainer instead of the pantyhose and hanger. Try adding lots of food coloring, for colored paper, or try adding lint or leaves to the food processor. Your paper will have an interesting texture.
Making your own paper can be fun, and it's a great way to re-use old paper. You can recycle all kinds of paper for re-use. Sometimes paper printed from color-inkjet printers will run, that is, the color will bleed off and become part of your new paper, but that can make for an interesting effect!

How To Recycle Paper (homemade Letter Paper) - Click here for funny video clips

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Why to conserve electricity?

2010-11-29T13:07:00.001+05:30

Unplug when not in use!!

Most visitors to Live Green Life come looking for ways to save energy in their homes - and many of those want to save electricity. We've had over 425 pageviews in the past one months, and more than half of those were on pages covering electricity use - from air conditioners to electric heaters to fridges to freezers to lighting.

Why are people so eager to save electricity? Is it because costs keep rising? Is it because the economic downturn is making people more focused on cutting costs? Or are people motivated by concerns over climate change, pollution, or dependence on foreign energy imports?

Save Electricity Logo

Our family wanted to switch to solar electric power, to cut the CO2 emissions and nuclear waste produced on our behalf by our utility. Since cutting use up front means you don't have to spend as much on solar panels, we cut out the fat and got our use down to half what it was before. Then we realized that we could just buy our power from a green electricity supplier, and still wind up paying less, even with the green energy premium, than we used to pay before when we used more. So we were motivated both by environmental and money concerns.

What is your motivation for wanting to save electricity? Is it:

Wanting to cut back on smog in the air you breathe?
Opposition to nuclear power?
CO2 emissions and climate change?
Struggling to make ends meet?

Let us know your motivations, and what you're doing (or planning to do) to save electricity. By filling out the form below, you'll get your own web page on our site, complete with your idea and any comments others care to add. You can also comment on other people's submissions - just click on someone else's submission below to rate it or add a comment. To backup us follow us on facebook. click on the like button right under this post !

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Methods of Water Management in Apartment

2010-11-19T17:53:00.002+05:30

Water Management is a growing trend that enables in bringing down the water bill, saving money, water and environment. Intense competition among water users from agriculture, industry and domestic sector is pushing the ground water table deeper. Proper water management in your apartment helps to make your layout complete sustainable for water without depending on private or corporation water. The more educated you are regarding water management, the better decision you are likely to make. Water consumption in your apartment complex can be reduced by following ways.

Important Methods in Water Management

Many communities accept that there is growing demand for water and thinking ahead about water security or management. Methods of water management can be classified as Conservation, Allocation, retrofit program and Behavioral practices.

Conservation

Conservation or water conservation helps to recharge ground water by reducing consumption and using alternative source of water. This method includes rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge, reuse of Greywater and recycling wastewater.

Rainwater Harvesting System: Rainwater harvesting system is collection of rainwater from the surface which directly receives rainfall. Rainwater harvesting system can be rooftop rainwater harvesting or artificial groundwater recharging. Rooftop rainwater harvesting is quite popular since it can either be stored in a tank or diverted to artificial recharge system.

Groundwater recharge: Groundwater recharge is a hydrologic process where water moves downward from surface water to groundwater. Recharge occurs both naturally and artificially. In natural groundwater recharge, groundwater is recharged naturally by rain and snow melt and to a smaller extent by surface water such as rivers and lakes. Artificial groundwater recharge is a successful method in order to purify surface water and to improve the water management. Artificial groundwater recharge is the infiltration of surface water into shallow aquifers to increase the quantity of groundwater. The volume-rate abstracted from an aquifer in the long term should be less than or equal to the volume-rate that is recharged.

Greywater System: Greywater is wastewater from non-toilet plumbing systems such as hand basins, washing machines, showers and baths. Most Greywater is easier to treat and recycle than blackwater, because of lower levels of contaminants. The method and standard of treatment in a Greywater system will vary with the size of the system. Pipes and supply points on the Greywater system must be clearly labeled in order to avoid confusion with the mains drinking water. Greywater systems can help you save 35% to 40% on your annual water bill.

Recycling wastewater/ STP system: Recycling wastewater involves Greywater system and blackwater system. Greywater is easier to treat and recycle than blackwater. Blackwater contains bacteria that can cause disease. That’s why communities build wastewater treatment plants and enforce laws against the release of raw sewage into the environment. Sewage Treatment plant system are used to recycle blackwater. In recent years, there has been growing interest in waste-water reuse as a major component of water demand management.

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The Benefits of Planting Trees

2010-11-16T11:03:00.001+05:30

Most often we plant trees to provide shade and beautify our landscapes. These are great benefits but trees also provide other less obvious benefits.

Environmental Benefits

Trees reduce the urban heat island effect through evaporative cooling and reducing the amount of sunlight that reaches parking lots and buildings. This is especially true in areas with large impervious surfaces, such as parking lots of stores and industrial complexes.
Trees improve our air quality by filtering harmful dust and pollutants such as ozone, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide from the air we breathe.
Trees give off oxygen that we need to breathe.
Trees reduce the amount of storm water runoff, which reduces erosion and pollution in our waterways and may reduce the effects of flooding.
Many species of wildlife depend on trees for habitat. Trees provide food, protection, and homes for many birds and mammals.

Economic Benefits

Well placed trees can reduce your cooling costs in the summer by shading the south and west sides of your home. If deciduous trees are used they will allow the sun to pass through and warm your home in the winter.
Evergreen trees on the north side of your home and shrubs around the foundation of your home can act as a windbreak to reduce the cooling effects of winter winds.
The value of a well landscaped home with mature healthy trees can be as much as 10% higher than a similar home with no or little landscaping. (Topping will reduce the value of your trees)
Some indirect economic benefits of trees are that if we reduce the energy we use then utility companies will have less demand placed on the infrastructure, thus reducing operating costs which can be passed on to the consumer.

Social Benefits

It has been shown that spending time among trees and green spaces reduces the amount of stress that we carry around with us in our daily lives. Trees make life nicer.
Hospital patients have been shown to recover from surgery more quickly when their hospital room offered a view of trees.
Children have been shown to retain more of the information taught in schools if they spend some of their time outdoors in green spaces.
Trees are often planted as living memorials or reminders of loved ones or to commemorate significant events in our lives.

Communal Benefits

Even though you may own the trees on your property your neighbors may benefit from them as well.
Tree lined streets have a traffic calming effect, traffic moves more slowly and safely.
Trees can be placed to screen unwanted views or noise from busy highways.
Trees can complement the architecture or design of buildings or entire neighborhoods.

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Recycle your old mobile phone with Nokia and Plant a tree

2010-11-11T23:02:00.001+05:30

Are you planning to change or dump your cell phone? Then i am sure you must be thinking about- Where to do with your old mobile phone? Well, now you can do more better than throwing a mobile phone. Nokia is now planting a tree for each mobile phone you recycle with them. I am sure you must have seen Recycle Information on the back of your mobile phone battery or on the mobile phone box.

Why Recycle mobile phones? According to Nokia last survey “Only 3% of people recycle their mobile phones globally. If every Nokia user recycled just one unused phone at the end of its life, together we would save nearly 80,000 tonnes of raw materials.”

Recycling gives your phone a second life

Is your unused phone cluttering up your desk drawer? If you no longer need your mobile device, then bring it back to us for recycling and we can put it to good use - 100 percent of the materials in your phone can be recovered and used to make new products or generate energy.

We work with carefully selected companies who reclaim materials from the phones and accessories we pass on to them. These companies are assessed on a regular basis to make sure they’re doing things properly and that anything handed to them is recycled responsibly.

Nokia has always been at the forefront of environmental initiatives. With their Take-back campaign, they have proved that they do care.

With this campaign, Nokia aims to encourage handset users to dispose off their unusable or old handsets and accessories of any brand at recycle bins installed at Nokia Care Centres and Nokia Priority Dealers.

According to Nokia.com Recycling provides benefits such as:

• Efficient recycling starts by getting the products back and consolidating/sorting/pre-treating them to maximize the efficiencies of the recycling

• End-of-life handsets contain many valuable materials which can be recovered and reused in manufacturing new products

• Up to 80% of the materials in an old phone can be reused in this way

If you have a mobile phone lying in a corner of a drawer or cupboard wouldn’t you rather give it to Nokia to be successfully recycled and help a great and necessary cause?

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Re-cycled papers : The best choice

2010-11-10T11:00:00.000+05:30

Historically, paper was made by recycling cotton and linen rags. The first paper mill in the U.S. colonies, built near Philadelphia in 1690, was a recycling mill. Papermakers learned how to make paper from trees in the mid-1800s, allowing a dynamic expansion in communications and business paper usage. At the time, people considered forests and energy to be unlimited, and air and water infinitely capable of cleansing and renewal. Today, we recognize the limits of resource demand and the necessity for environmentally sustainable production systems. That's why recycled paper is a critical part of our vision for a healthy global environment.

The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) environmental labeling guidelines require only "recovered materials" for papers labeled as "recycled." There is no postconsumer content required, so papers containing only mill scraps could qualify. Any paper labeled with the chasing arrows symbol is required to both have 100% recycled content as well as be recyclable in a reasonably available collection system. If the paper does not meet one or both criteria, text must accompany the chasing arrows symbol explaining what qualifications the product does meet. If the label does not indicate postconsumer content, you should assume there is none until investigating further.

You can get just about every kind of paper now with recycled content, providing high quality papers for businesses, billing, magazines, catalogs, books, advertising, direct mail and many other uses. Grades available include:

letterhead, stationery and envelopes
business cards
brochure papers
high quality copy paper
offset
text and cover
book printing papers
opaques
all grades of coated papers
bristols, index, translucent, tag and board, drawing, and specialty papers

Aren't Recycled Papers More Expensive?

In the past, recycled papers often cost considerably more than virgin papers. Today, many grades such as text and cover (often used for letterhead, brochures and publications) and some coated papers are cost-competitive with virgin papers or even cost less. Copier and offset papers still tend to cost somewhat more, but the price differentials are smaller than ever, usually only a few percent.

When there are cost differences, they are primarily caused by many recycled papers being made on smaller paper machines than virgin papers (creating a difference in economies of scale), by virgin paper mills dropping their prices because of vagaries in the market, and by imbalances caused by a newly capitalized and still-developing recycling system vs. a well-established and industrially integrated tree-pulping production system. Additionally, recycled paper incorporates all its costs into the product, including providing an alternative to disposal, and is not rewarded for its significantly lower energy and water use. Virgin paper costs, on the other hand, are masked by generous government timber, energy and water subsidies and do not incorporate responsibility or costs for the product's eventual disposal.

Lets Use and Aid recycling of papers !!

Save Water Resource

2010-11-06T11:06:00.002+05:30

Water is the base of life! know the importance of water and conserve it !

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Happy Diwali; But stop Global Warming

2010-11-05T06:22:00.001+05:30

The word eco means environment. The upcoming Diwali is termed as Kali Diwali. The reason is the excessive use of crackers. There was the recent news of Mumbai spenting Rs 6

00 crores on crackers. That is only Mumbai, think of the rest of India. For the enjoyment of a few

people and for few hours is it worth wasting so much money? When many poor people sleep with empty stomachs, many are dying without medicine, many are sleeping in the cold on the footpath, I do not understand the logic behind spending so much money on crackers.

The whole world is concerned about pollution and global warming. Crackers increase pollution and increase the temperature as well. The poor are the biggest sufferers. Rich people enjoy and poor people suffer as they do not have a roof above their heads and poor nourishment, thus making them suffer more. The administration also banned the sale of crackers in congested markets, narrow lanes and crowded areas. Even licensed fire cracker sellers would not be allowed to sell cra

ckers in public places. They have been restricted from storing crackers in residential areas or private houses, failing which action would be taken against them.

Crackers are an essential part of Diwali. However, pollution level in the air shoots up drastically during Diwali. Instead of selecting traditional chemical cracker this Diwali go for eco-friendly crackers. Eco-friendly crackers are made up of recycled paper and the sound produced by these crackers is under the decibel limit defined by the Pollution Board. These crackers produce paper fluffers and different color lights instead of sound on bursting. There are a number of grounds designated for sale of crackers, to buy Eco-friendly firecrackers.

Save Electricity! Resources are Precious.

2010-11-02T12:51:00.002+05:30

Are You a true citizen?

2010-11-01T18:17:00.003+05:30

Original article written for : www.inspringindianism.blogspot.com

Being in the second largest country, many people in India takes it as a privilege to do small small mistakes. As you all know this website aims at turning those irresponsible citizens into perfect Indians. The small mistakes that you do in public places (such as splitting in public places, throwing wastes on roads, etc) accumulate into a big mistake. The people those who so these sorts of mistakes only blame that India is not neat and compare India with foreign countries. Instead, they can aim at making India cleaner and they can influence people who do those activities not to do them.

Next, think within yourself, list out the things that you have done for your country. Could you think of 10 items that you have done to your country, being a citizen? If you have not, here is a turn for you to do a huge contribution to our country. The major problem in our country is power production. Imagine a day in your life without electricity? It is every citizens’ duty to conserve power in their country. Because you are over using electricity, someone else would be definitely suffer without power. Use only eco-friendly products. You may think, me being a single person may not do a huge make over to this, but think a 1 million people going eco-friendly, it would definitely do a huge change to the society.

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Save Electricity @ your house

2010-10-31T09:13:00.003+05:30

Saving Should start at your doorstep. These are simple and ordinary steps by which you can save power consumption by 20-30% at your house.

Switch off lights, fans and other gadgets when not required.
Don’t even leave your computer or TV on standby.
Use a liquid crystal flat screen monitor for your computer or TV, it uses ¼ of the power of a tube monitor and is better for the eyes
Don’t set your washing machine for a hot water wash-90% of the energy used in operating a washing machine goes toward heating the water that washes and rinses the cloths. Use warm or cold water instead.
Set the AC in the economy mode so that it switches off when the room cools to the required temprature
Don’t set the thermostat of your refrigerator too high. Lowering the temperature even one degree can make a difference
Buy energy efficient home appliances like LED lights and CFL lights.
If you can’t switch to solar water heaters, get timers for your geysers

These are simple ways where we are careless and loose most of our money. So follow these steps and contribute towards conservation !!

Facebook link

2010-10-29T21:10:00.001+05:30

This blog is now easily accessed from Facebook. All you need to do for that is click on the like button at the bottom of this post and you can get the latest update in this blog through facebook.

The Purpose Behind This Blog

2010-10-28T20:38:00.001+05:30

Well this post explains about how the idea of creating a blog originated. Like most of us I was also careless like when we leave a room, not turning off the fans and lights. but now, I get irritated when I see a light glowing at a place where there is no one. Let me explain you how this transformation occurred within me.

One year back my house’s electricity would be around 1500 – 1800 INR. But all of a sudden one summer, the current bill was 3200 INR. My mom and dad started blasting me saying that because of excessive usage of computer by me and because of my carelessness only the electricity bill was raised. I totally got pissed off and decided to show them that I am not the cause of that electricity bill, and that I can conserve power too.

So from that day onwards I started turning off each and every switch I saw in my house so that I can conserve power. To all of our surprise the next month bill was only 1200 INR, which was 500 INR lesser than our average. So I did a simple calculation. Our average power consumption every month was 720 watts. But that month it was just 590 watts. Assuming that I saved 110 watts per month, I would save 1320 watts every year. That is 1.32 KW per year single handed. Then if I turned off power at some public places like college, common area in flat, etc, I could save over 2 KW per year. If I stir this thought in minds of some 10 people, I would save over 20 KW power. For this reason only I have opened this blog. Hoping that this would be a small step towards a large conservation! Looking forward for your support for development of this blog as well as saving our Mother Earth!!