Garden State Green's First Petition! Demand Recyling @ the Rockaway Mall!

Marc A. Reynolds - Garden State Green

Have you ever noticed that the Rockaway Mall has no recycling?  Well, a few weeks ago, I did.  I went straight to the information desk and asked where I could recycle my bottle.  The woman behind the counter made a phone call to check if there was anywhere in the mall that I could recycle...nope.  I was surprised and disappointed.  Right at that moment I wrote a brief request to the management of the mall requesting recycling receptacles.  It will be a much stronger fight if we pull together and sign the petition.  Local shopping centers have to do their part to help us do ours.  It's only right to provide recycling, especially where businesses sell drinks in cans, bottle and plastic containers.  

Please help with this cause and take just 30 seconds to sign the petition.  If you are worried about writing in your address, you really shouldn't be.  It's extremely hard to keep your address private these days so you won't be giving away information that isn't already out there.  Also, your name and address does not show up on the petition page.  Only Simon Property Group, Inc. will see the final result. 

Thank you!

Garden State Green

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Marc A. Reynolds - Garden State Green

I can remember it well, I was 19 years old and I had just received my first store credit card. It was a 19" TV that I was after and it was just over $300. And so began my long life of needless spending. The more money I made, the more "stuff" I bought. When I was younger I never really thought about what would become of the stuff once I grew tired of it.

Sometime after the late 1980's electronics became more and more easier to obtain. They were cheaper and there were more choices. The compact disc was a new novelty that we all had to buy, VCRs later gave way to DVDs and now Blu-Ray. Along the way home computers and mobile phones became so cheap that most people could afford them. Instead of repairing electronics, they become disposable.

Once electronics reached the level of being cheaper to buy new then to fix, the problem really started getting out of control. The problem I am referring to is e-waste. Wikipedia explains such waste as Electronic waste, e-waste, e-scrap, or Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) this describes loosely discarded, surplus, obsolete, or broken electrical or electronic devices. Environmental groups claim that the informal processing of electronic waste in developing countries causes serious health and pollution problems. Some electronic scrap components, such as CRTs, contain contaminants such as lead, cadmium, beryllium, mercury, and brominated flame retardants. Activists claim that even in developed countries recycling and disposal of e-waste may involve significant risk to workers and communities and great care must be taken to avoid unsafe exposure in recycling operations and leaching of material such as heavy metals from landfills and incinerator ashes. Scrap industry and USA EPA officials agree that materials should be managed with caution, but that environmental dangers of unused electronics have been exaggerated by groups which benefit from increased regulation.

The impact of where all of this waste winds up is something most people would like to ignore or just not think about. Once you're educated about what's really going on, it gets harder to ignore.   Below is just one video, but there are more like it exposing the truth about where our once "gotta have" items wind up.