Earth Day:A Brief History

Chances are, if you are reading this blog, April 22nd is an important date for you; one that is synonymous with environmental care and awareness. It is, of course, Earth Day.

This important holiday has been observed for over 40 years, although many of us do not know how it began. Read on for a brief history of our planets' yearly day of appreciation and awareness.

 

Earth Day, as we know it, was founded in 1970 and initially began as a project put forth by Senator Gaylord Nelson, prompted by the antiwar protests of the late 1960s. During that time, Americans were becoming more aware of the effects of pollution on their environment. One of the bestselling books of the 1960s, “Silent Spring”, covered the dangerous effects of pesticides on America’s land and subsequently citizens.

Senator Nelson and supporters envisioned Earth Day as a “national teach-in on the environment”.  Nelson, who was elected to the US Senate in 1962 (D. Wisconsin), was inspired by the anti-Vietnam War “teach-ins” that were commonplace on college campuses at the time. According to Nelson, he wanted “to shake up the political establishment and force this issue (of environmental awareness) onto the national agenda.”

 

 

On April 22nd, 1970, the first Earth Day proceedings took place in the form of rallies held in Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and many other cities across the country. These events succeeded in raising public awareness of the growing pollution problem throughout America. Nelson had focused the events on college students and hoped the publicized, (if somewhat grassroots) events would bring environmental causes into the national spotlight, which they did.

 

 

 

 

 

Since then, Earth Day celebrations have grown exponentially. In 1990, Earth Day finally went global as “200 million people in over 140 nations participated in events” according to the Earth Day Network (EDN), a nonprofit organization that coordinates Earth Day activities.

Thanks to its founder, Senator Gaylord Nelson, first ever “Earth Day” which was observed 45 years ago, was a huge success that spawned numerous others like it and solidified April 22nd as the nationally recognized holiday we celebrate today.

As of 2014, according to the EDN, “More than 1 billion people are involved in Earth Day activities, making it the largest secular civic event in the world.”

 

 

Here at American Disposal, we pride ourselves on participating in multiple Earth Day events each year. This year we will be present at numerous different venues celebrating our planet and spreading the word on how to best care for it!

If you find yourself in the area this Saturday, come by and see us at one of the following events to help us celebrate this important environmental holiday!

 

Saturday, April 25th

 

•  Fairfax Spring Fest, 10am-4pm

Location: The Workhouse Arts Center, 9518 Workhouse Way, Lorton, VA 22079

 

• Alexandria Earth Day, 10am-2pm

 Location: Ben Brenman Park, 4800 Brenman Park Drive, Alexandria VA 22304

 

• Spring Mar Pre-School Touch-A-Truck, 10am-2pm

 Location: Lake Braddock High School,  9200 Burke Lake Rd, Burke, VA 22015

 

• Montclair Earth Day Celebration, 8am-12pm

Location: Montclair Community, Dumfries VA

 

Thanks for reading and HAPPY EARTH DAY!

 

 

A Trip to The American Recycling Center

An Inside Look at the Incredible Journey Your Recyclables Take on their Way to Becoming New Goods

Many people have heard of recycling processing facilities like The American Recycling Center, but wonder exactly what process their recyclable items go through in order to be made into new, recycled goods.

We would like to answer that question by taking you on a virtual tour through each of the steps your recyclables take at the American Recycling Center. From the moment the truck arrives, to the moment those items are baled and ready to be sold, this is your backstage pass to the entire sorting and processing journey.

 

* Although all recycling processing facilities follow a similar process, the below steps are the specific order that The American Recycling Center takes to process the material we receive. We understand that each facility varies slightly in their process.

 

Step 1: Tipping Floor

When trucks arrive at the American Recycling Center, they are first weighed on a scale to record the total weight of the recyclable material they are carrying. They then proceed to a large concrete floor, where they dump out all of the recyclables from the back of the truck into a massive pile of unsorted material on the ground in this area, known as the tipping floor.
 

 

To see this process in action, click here

 

Step 2: Pre Sorting

After the tipping floor, materials are fed onto the first sorting station on a series of conveyor belts called the pre-sort station. Here, recycling sorters manually remove items too large to be separated by the sorting equipment. They also remove materials that contaminate the sorting process or damage the equipment; including plastic bags and films, bagged shredded paper, sharp objects, tires, wires or simply unrecyclable trash.

To see this process in action, click here

 

 

 

*Glass Sorting:

Glass is removed from the sorting equipment early in the process for several reasons. Glass is damaging, dirty and heavy. For these reasons, glass is a very difficult material to recycle.

 

 To see the glass sorting process in action, click here.

 

Step 4: Steel Sorting

At this point in the sorting process, the stream (which contains mainly containers) continues on the conveyer belts to a section that lies underneath a large rotating overhead magnet. All ferrous metals (any metal containing iron), like steel and tin cans, get pulled up and out of the material stream because of their magnetic properties. At the end of the magnet's rotation, the bi-metal steel containers and other materials made from ferrous metals drop off the magnet and into a bunker where they wait to be baled.

To see this process in action, click here
 

  

Step 5: Optical Sorting

Next on the sorting line is a set of optical sorters, which are highly advanced machines that scan, identify and sort specific materials. Essentially a "robot eye", the optical sorter can separate these materials thousands of times faster and more efficiently than by manual means.

They are programmed to recognize different materials that appear in the stream at this stage of the process: namely PET plastic containers (such as water and soda bottles), HDPE natural plastic containers (such as milk jugs), HDPE colored plastic containers (such as detergent and lotion bottles) and all manner of cartons.

When the optical sorter scans a particular item, it recognizes what material it is and a targeted jet of air shoots out beneath the item, shooting it into its own bunker with the other materials of its kind, where they also wait to be bailed.

To see this process in action, click here

 

Step 6: Aluminum Sorting

The material stream continues on to a special conveyor belt built for sorting aluminum. A large rotor drum is located at the end of this conveyor, underneath the belt. When the magnets located within this drum rotate at high speeds, they create an energy field known as an eddy current. As the material stream travels over this electromagnetic drum, the energy field propels nonferrous metals, like aluminum, out of the material stream and into a bunker for baling.

To see this process in action click here

 

 

Bailing

Once the materials have been sorted and separated by the above processes, they are fed into one of two bailing machines; one for lighter, easier to compress fibers (paper and cardboard) and one for denser, heavier materials like aluminum and steel.

The bailers press the material together very tightly and expel the bales, which are large blocks of each material type.

Once the materials are baled, they are stacked and stored where they wait to be purchased and shipped all over America and the world to be made into new, recycled goods.

 

Thanks for Reading (Learning)!