Recycling old Batteries and Computer Equipment

  I have a bunch of old batteries (AA, AAA, DD) and an old Dell laptop battery (li-ion) that are dead and I need to recycle them.  I went out to the internet this morning and I performed a Google search looking for places that recycle dead batteries.  I didn’t think I would find any place local (Greeneville, TN) that would recycle batteries.  But to my surprise, I found several places.  I was thrilled.  

It turns out that all of our dump centers through out our county (Greene) will take the following items for recycling:

Plastic, cardboard, newspaper, aluminum cans, used oil, 4 used tires per year, batteries, metal, demolition and used computers and monitors, along with your household trash. 

Awesome!  We already take our plastic, cardboard, newspaper, aluminum cans, used oil and household trash to the closest dump center to us, but I didn’t realized that they would take batteries. 

For dump center locations, hours and phone numbers, visit this LINK at the Greene County Chamber of Commerce (GCCC) web site.  The GCCC web site even has a link called “Keep Greene Beautiful”.  I’m so happy that our Chamber of Commerce is trying to be environmentally friendly.  I would like the next generations that follow us, to have a place that is healthy, green and beautiful.  If you have a moment and you care about recycling and leaving a better place for our grandchildren, check out the programs on the GCCC web site, by clicking here.  You may find something that you are interested in joining. 

I also found a web site called “Call2Recycle US”.  I was able to perform a search for places that recycle in our area (you supply your zip code for the search) and to my surprise again, there were several pages of places that will take your recycling material.  Wow, how awesome is that.  Another great resource for recycling.  I’m loving this and I am so glad that recycling is expanding. 

If you have an old laptop or smarthphone that you want to recycle, I found an interesting web site that perform this service for free.  The web site is “EraseMyLaptop.com”.  The process seems simple enough.  They send you prepaid packaging.  You mail back your old laptop or smartphone to them.  They erase everything on your laptop and send you a report on the results.  Then they redistribute or recycle your old laptop to cover their operating costs.  They operate on a Zero land-fill policy.  I really like this idea a lot.  

Now, I haven’t used EraseMyLapto.com before, so I can’t vouch for it, but it seems like a good idea.  If I used this service, I would wipe out  everything on my laptops hard drive before sending it them.  This way, I really wouldn’t worry and the service is free and your old equipment gets re-used or recycled.  Sounds great to me. 

My Google search results lead me to a really informative article on the Earth911 web site called “Get the most out of your battery”.  This article contains a lot of useful tips for getting longer life out of your batteries, what type of batteries work best in what electronic devices, etc.  I would recommend reading this online article.  It isn’t very long and you’ll find useful information in the article, I believe. 

If you have some time, take a moment and let me what your recycling experience has been and anything of interest and fun regarding recycling. 

Dell.com is doing some interesting Green programs.  To learn more about them, check out the links below:

• Dell using Bamboo Packaging
• Dell has a new environmentally friendly Ink Cartridge
• Dell has the Greenest Data Center 

Happy recycling!

What is Etsy.com?

Etsy.com is a web site that allows people to sell what they make, directly to the public.  It is like eBay, except that Etsy focus is on handmade items, helping people make a living, and working towards creating a new economy.  Their motto is “Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade”.  Pretty cool.

Etsy allows you to signup for a free store and it has a shopping cart and everything.  To learn more about what you can sell and to register at Etsy, check out this selling link. 

Etsy also has a blog and how to videos.  Check out these links for more details:

• How to videos
• Etsy Blog

If you hand make items or sell craft supplies and your are looking for an option to sell your items on the internet, Etsy may be a good fit for you.  Check it out and see.  Enjoy!

Google Places

Have you heard of Google Places?  If not, check out this link:  http://www.tugsearch.co.uk/blog/2010/04/20/google-places-announced/.  This is another great tool offered by the folks at Google.  Google Places allows a business to expand their their business information to include hours of operation, photos, videos, coupons, product offerings, etc.  You can also verify your business when you go through the setup process for adding your business to Google Places.

Google Places is a great tool and it is easy to use and the best part is - it is free.  There are some additional add-ons for Google Place and some them will have a fee associated with them.  Here is one add-on you may find complimentary with Google Places, it is:  How do I take advantage of the Google Tags 30-day free trial and this link:  How much do TAGs cost and this link for which has video on How to signup for TAGs.  This is one of Google’s advertisement options. 

Google Places is offering a free photo shoot for your business.  You can signup for a free photo shoot at:  Free Business Photo Shoot.  How cool would that be!!!!!!!

Google Places even offers some basic stats for your business.  Once you signup for Google Places, you can view your business listing stats on your Google Places Dashboard. 

To signup for Google Places, visit this link:  Google Places. 

Google Places is a way to help promote your business and hopefully pick up some new business.  It only cost you a small amount of your time.  Not a bad price in these lean times.  Enjoy

Google Wave is available to everyone

You may be asking yourself, what is Google Wave?  Good question.  It is a tool for getting things done in groups.  It tracks all the emails for a group (a WAVE) in way that shows how the conversation(s) flowed.  Check out the video below and it will introduce you to Google Wave.

For more information on Google Wave, check out Google’s blog post at:  http://googlewave.blogspot.com/2010/05/google-wave-available-for-everyone.html. 

Enjoy!

ITunes Playlist and Audio CDs for your music

Do you have your favorite tunes in ITunes and maybe you want to play them in your stereos CD player or maybe you want to play them in your cars CD player.  You can create audio CDs for this purpose.  I mostly use my IPod for playing my tunes, but sometimes I want to play my tunes in my stereos CD player in my living room and my husband doesn’t use a computer or an IPod, so I create audio CDs for him to listen to. 

Instead of writing all the steps down, I went out and searched the internet for video links that will show you step by step how to create playlist and audio cds. 

This first video link is on Apple’s web site and it shows you how to create different types of playlist in ITunes.  Here is the link: http://www.apple.com/itunes/how-to/#video-playlists. 

The second link is on youtube and it shows you how to create playlist and audio CDs.  Here is the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddBSUqu7KlU.

Once you have created your audio CD, test it out.  Sit back and enjoy your tunes!