According to David Abel at the Boston Globe, “Some chemicals were found at levels four times higher than New Hampshire’s new standards for safe drinking water.” For years water from Spring Hill Farm Dairy has been sold at Whole Foods, CVS, Stop & Shop, Market Basket, Roche Brothers, and elsewhere. It is also sold by Cumberland Farms and Garelick Farms.

Once New Hampshire state health officials alerted their analogs in Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health put out a “consumption advisory.” While health officials did not require stores to warn customers or to recall the water, some stores have done so voluntarily.

Nancy Sterling, spokeswoman for Spring Hill Farm Dairy, defended the company’s decision to sell the water, citing that the chemical levels in the water were within federal guidelines. Yet former EPA scientist and current director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility in New England, Kyla Bennett, disagrees: “People think that if a product is on the shelves, it’s safe. That is simply not true.” 

Data from the state Department of Environmental Protection shows that less than half of Massachusetts’ municipalities have had their drinking water tested for PFAS chemicals. In Massachusetts, there are 181 state-permitted bottled water companies. Only three test for PFAS chemicals. While bottled water has fewer testing requirements than public water supplies, more can and should be done to test for and disclose PFAS chemical contents.

Source:

Abel, David, “Tainted bottled water is being sold at supermarkets throughout New England,” The Boston Globe, July 29, 2019.

Hurricane season kicks off this week. A new report, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Tuesday, estimates that 4,635 people in Puerto Rico died Hurricane Maria last year. The official death toll is 64.

A caveat: this report is not definitive. In fact, the report says, “This number is likely to be an underestimate because of survivor bias.” Still, one-third of these deaths are attributed to “delayed or interrupted health care.”

The report raises the question of how Puerto Rico will prepare against future hurricanes. While much of the country is still without power from Hurricane Maria, hurricane season is here again. To help, donate to The María: Puerto Rico Real-Time Recovery Fund.

Montclair, NJ

Clean Water Action has partnered with local Montclair restaurants to reduce the use of disposable straws. The project, Straws by Request, advocates that restaurants serve drinks without disposable straws unless the customer specifically request them.

Two outcomes of the project are the heightened awareness of pollution associated with disposable plastics and the reconsideration of disposable plastic use. Once people are aware of the environmental impact of disposable straws, it becomes much easier not to use them.

StrawFree.org estimates that 500 million straws are thrown away every day by Americans. Multiply that by one year and you get 182.5 billion straws. According to Straw Free, that’s enough to wrap around the world twice. More than anyone needs, right?

To help reduce disposable plastic use, the next time you order a drink, request no straw. Or ask your local restaurant whether they participate in the Straws by Request project. For environmental overachievers, plastic straw alternatives, such as paper and bamboo, may be the way to go. Yes, bamboo straws are a thing. They come with a naturally wider mouth, which means you get more beverage every time you sip.

To learn more, visit cleanwateraction.org or strawfree.org.

As the weather turns warmer, it’s a perfect time to talk about solutions to climate change. Below are three easy steps you can take to mitigate climate change and reduce its effects:

1. Shocking for a waste management app, we know. But did you know that recycling half of your household waste saves 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year? Remyndr makes recycling easy by telling you the right bin for each article and by notifying you when the recycling is picked up in your neighborhood.
2. Not only does walking reduce carbon emissions and save on gas, it also gets you into shape. Walk down a new street and explore your town. You might find a great little shop or a park you never knew existed. And hey, it’s spring. You can literally stop to smell the roses.
3. Plant a tree. Trees absorb carbon dioxide and emit oxygen, so they’re a natural antidote to carbon dioxide pollution created by traffic, manufacturing, and daily human life. Go to your local nursery to pick up a sapling. Find a spot in your yard and dig a hole roughly two times wider than your tree’s root ball and no deeper than its height. Place the tree, fill the hole, and tie it loosely to a stake in order to ensure upright growth. Water your tree once a day and watch it grow!

Happy Spring from Remyndr. We hope you and your family enjoy the season!

We at Remyndr hope that you and your family enjoyed a fun, safe, and happy holiday season.

The New Year is a time of reflection and resolution. Remyndr’s 2017 resolution is to keep you better informed on events and issues in your town or city as they pertain to waste management and the environment.

We hope that you will continue to follow us through the new year via Facebook and the Remyndr mobile app.

Here’s to a greener 2017!

Experiential gifts are fun, memorable, and require no packaging. They also teach children that experiences are just as special as material gifts. Some of our favorite holiday moments are spent cooking, playing games, or taking trips to the ice-skating rink, the movies, the theater, or the new museum exhibit!

Carpooling with friends and relatives means more time spent together and a smaller carbon footprint. Wherever you travel to spend your holidays, see whether you can offer a ride in the spirit of the season. And for last-minute errands, try to combine several into a single trip.

Shopping bags are unnecessary for small and oversized gifts. For those that tread the middle of the road in size, combining multiple gifts into a fewer reusable cloth bags will help unclutter your trunk and reduce the impact of shopping bags on landfills.

Your dish- and silverware are lovely. Why not bring them out for the special occasion? Reusable dish- and silverware go a long way in reducing the total impact of waste during the holiday season. If your relatives prefer to use paper or plastic ware, offer to provide it and opt for recycled and compostable materials.

We’ll be sure to post more tips on how to clean up from the holidays on December 26^th.
Happy holidays to you and your loved ones from everyone at Remyndr!

Costumes

It’s fun to buy costumes. The technicolor wigs, the super hero capes, the vampire teeth – it’s a blast! Yet so often costumes are a one-and-done affair. Instead, why not buy costumes you love and save them for the future? As a kid, I lived in my Superman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costumes year round – separately, together, didn’t matter. As an adult, there’s always a themed costume party around the corner. Why not mix and match your costumes to make your own DIY costume creation?

If you’re not into the whole Halloween costume-buying scene, there are still plenty of pieces from your current wardrobe that you can pull together to create a killer costume. DIYers will agree that the ingenuity involved with DIY costumes is half the fun! And you might just win the contest for “Most Creative” at your next Halloween party.

Trick-or-Treat Bags

Old pillowcases are one thing. Redecorated bags are another. If you’ve kept any old purses, backpacks, or totes, why not (let your kids) repurpose them for the night? A little puffy paint and glitter go a long way. Even a pack of color markers are a delight. Not only is this a fun activity leading up to Halloween, but most bags hold a lot less candy than a pillowcase.

Pumpkins and Jack-O-Lanterns

From the pumpkin patch to the carving table, jack-o-lanterns are a classic part of the Halloween tradition. Buy local if you can. Grow them yourselves if you have a garden. Salt the seeds and bake them for a healthy autumn snack. Keep the discarded pumpkin pieces to bake bread or make ice cream. With a little bit of thought and planning, you can get a lot of mileage out of your pumpkins. Jack-o-lanterns make great compost. Uncarved pumpkins can be painted or glittered to make pretty decorations throughout the winter.

Have a happy and a safe Halloween!

At the core of what we are and of what we do, you will find Mother Earth. There is no other recognized day that better describes Remyndr’s passion than Earth Day. We believe it is our duty to leave the world better than how we found it. At Remyndr, we stand for recycling, composting and educating, all done in an efficient way. Our app is just the start of it, but our mission is so much greater. Join us today and download the app: iOS/ Android

Earth Day Back Then
Earth Day was born out of the modern environmental movement of 1970, when war was raging in Vietnam and many were opposed to it. According to earthday.org, the idea for a national day to focus on the environment came to Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, he realized that if he could infuse that energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” to the national media; persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair; and recruited Denis Hayes from Harvard as national coordinator. Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land. April 22, falling between Spring Break and Final Exams, was selected as the date.”

Earth Day Today
Today the focus has turned toward global warming and a push for clean energy. This green holiday is celebrated around the world by more than 1 billion people. It is a day of action, policy changes and that one alters the human behavior by bringing together opposing political parties, the old and the young and everyone in between— all fighting peacefully for one common good. A good that each of us shares, beautiful Mother Earth.
Join the movement.

Tom Cherry, CEO and Founder of Remyndr

With St. Patty’s Day around the corner, we felt that providing you with a list of 5 ways to “go green” was quite fitting. Take a look at the list below and let us know which idea you like best!

Drink Green
If you’re looking for an environmentally-friendly “green” beer, here are a couple of options: Goose Island’s Green Line Pale Ale or Samuel Smith’s Organic Lager or Ale. And if you want some tips on what to look for when buying a “green” beer, you can check out this Green American website. Buying local is also a great way to make a greener beer choice. Read more.

Eat Clean
This means buying organic produce and proteins. The definition of organic can be a little confusing, but food labels can help. Certified organic foods are grown and processed using farming methods that recycle resources and promote biodiversity, without the use of synthetic pesticides, bioengineered genes or petroleum- or sewage-sludge-based fertilizers. (Weird. Who wouldn’t want their food grown in sewage sludge?) Though their benefits to the environment have a long-term payoff, organic foods can be pricier — if you’re on a budget, find out which foods are most worth buying organic, and limit your organic purchases to the ones that make the biggest impact. Read more.

Go Lean
Instead of driving to work, try biking! This way you can also burn those calories green beer calories ahead of time. If work is just too far away, make it a point to start a carpool and pick-up some green bagels for everyone to enjoy in the morning. Read more.

Be Seen
What better time than the start of Spring to get outside and do some gardening? Plant a fruit tree, or perhaps that herb garden you’ve always wanted. While you’re at it, keep a close eye out for Leprechauns and their pot’s of gold! Read more.

Glean a Nearby Park
Sure, glean is a stretch but hey, it rhymed! What were saying here is you should consider visiting your local park with your kids, and while you’re there, encourage everyone to put on pair of thick gardening gloves (from all the planting you’ve been doing), and compete to see who can pick up the most trash in 5 minutes… Five minutes, that’s it! And then everyone can go home and enjoy some organic shepherds pie. Read more.

I hope this list sparked an idea or at the very least gave you a chuckle… I will now leave you with an old Irish saying:

“May good luck be your friend in whatever you do and may trouble be always a stranger to you.”

Have a great St. Patrick’s Day!

Tom Cherry, CEO and Founder of Remyndr

Help preserve the beauty for future generations so they can fall in love too… learn about how to properly recycle by downloading the Remyndr app today. Have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.

Tom Cherry, CEO and Founder of Remyndr

Did you know that every person in the United States creates about 4.5lbs of garbage every day? That is equivalent to 1,643 pounds a year! But where does it all go once you throw it away? Introducing Trash Unwrapped. A blog series dedicated to getting your garbage or recycling questions answered.

So, once your throw your trash away and take out the garbage, now what? Well simply put, it’s in your neighborhood trash man or lady’s hands. From there, your trash typically makes its way to a Transfer Station, or in some cases, an Energy Recovery facility. If taken to a Transfer Station, the trash will be sorted and then re-transferred to its final destination. Sometimes this is a landfill where waste is buried and left to decompose. This process can take hundreds if not thousands of years.

Another option is an Incinerator or Energy Recovery Facility. This is where your garbage is burned into ash and heat—often times to generate energy. For every 10 garbage trucks filled with trash, only one will remain (filled with ash) after going through the burning process. The hot, burning trash heats up pipes overhead filled with water, which then turn into steam. This steam activates generators that give the plant, (and sometimes those nearby, residents or hospitals), energy to use.

The last option is that trash is taken to a recycling center where it will be transferred to a manufacturing plant so materials can be used to make new products. Pretty cool right?

If not properly disposed, waste can end up harming the environment and polluting our air and water. Who wants that? This is why it’s so important that we put our trash into the proper containers.

Here are 10 simple everyday things you can do to lessen your trash build-up:

1. Recycle Glass. Recycled glass reduces related air pollution by 20 percent and related water pollution by 50 percent. If it isn’t recycled it can take a million years to decompose.

2. Use one less paper napkin.
 During an average year, an American uses approximately 2,200 napkins—around six each day. If everyone in the U.S. used one less napkin a day, more than a billion pounds of napkins could be saved from landfills each year.
3. Use both sides of paper. 
American businesses throw away 21 million tons of paper every year, equal to 175 pounds per office worker. For a quick and easy way to halve this, set your printer’s default option to print double-sided (duplex printing). And when you’re finished with your documents, don’t forget to take them to the recycling bin.
4. Recycle newspaper.
 There are 63 million newspapers printed each day in the U.S. Of these, 44 million, or about 69%, of them will be thrown away. Recycling just the Sunday papers would save more than half a million trees every week.
5. Rethink bottled water.
 Nearly 90% of plastic water bottles are not recycled, instead taking thousands of years to decompose. Buy a reusable container and fill it with tap water, a great choice for the environment, your wallet, and possibly your health. The EPA’s standards for tap water are more stringent than the FDA’s standards for bottled water.
6. Plant a tree.
 It’s good for the air, the land, can shade your house and save on cooling (plant on the west side of your home), and they can also improve the value of your property. Make it meaningful for the whole family and plant a tree every year for each member.
7. Recycle unwanted wire hangers.
 Wire hangers are generally made of steel, which is often not accepted by some recycling programs. So what do you do with them? Most dry cleaners will accept them back to reuse or recycle.
8. Recycle aluminum.
 Twenty recycled aluminum cans can be made with the energy it takes to manufacture one brand new one.
9. Reduce junk mail (including paper bank statements). Feel like you need to lose a few pounds? It might be your junk mail that’s weighing you down. The average American receives 40 pounds of junk mail each year, destroying 100 millions trees. There are many services that can help reduce the clutter in your mailbox, saving trees and the precious space on your counter tops.
10. Plastic bags stink. Each year the U.S. uses 84 billion plastic bags, a significant portion of the 500 billion used worldwide. They are not biodegradable, and are making their way into our oceans, and subsequently, the food chain. Stronger, reusable bags are an inexpensive and readily available option.

Do you have any additional suggestions on how to cut down on waste? If so, let us know in the comment section.

Tom Cherry, CEO and Founder of Remyndr

Sources:

50 Ways to Help the Planet

The Lifecycle of Garbage