Think Green Rewards Earned
3,516,833
Total Tons of WMRA Recycled
5,356,676
Recovered by GreenOps
1,873,563
Bookmark Us! Facebook This! Subscribe to RSS Feed


Joe Laur

Planet Earth
" Each of us can act to make a difference. Acting together, we make THE difference! "
Greenopolis Points Tracker:
Joe Laur is:
Significant Other:
married
Age:
57
Interests:
I'm Senior Manager of...Read More..
Location:
Planet Earth
 


Joe Laur Blogs

03/21/2010 - 7:41am

Thousands of farmers in Kenya are first smallholder tea growers to receive Rainforest Alliance group certification


1

2

Over 12,500 smallholder - small independent operations-tea farmers have become the first group to get Rainforest Alliance Certification, and the two largest tea merchants are buying it. The group is part of the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) and its green leaf tea is supplied by small farmers through a network of collection centers.

Rainforest Alliance has focused on large operations until now, but by certifying the group, they can reach a vast amount of smallholder farmers - each covering approximately half an acre - and ensure the environmental, social and economic benefits that Rainforest Alliance certification brings.

3

Each of the farms has had to consider and implement ecosystem conservation, worker rights and safety, wildlife protection, water and soil conservation, agrochemical reduction, decent housing and legal wages and contracts for workers. Kenya produces around 320,000 tons of tea and is the world’s largest exporter.

And two big buyers have already lined up: Unilever - think Lipton Tea - and Tetley, the world’s second largest tea company, have committed to sourcing all of their tea from Rainforest Alliance CertifiedTM farms. People, planet and profit-a holy trinity.

4

Lipton is the world’s largest tea seller, and 75 million cups of Tetley tea are consumed globally each day. The companies’ commitment to buying from Rainforest Alliance Certified tea farms will benefit both the environment and the lives of the tea farmers and workers on a large scale.

Tensie Whelan, Rainforest Alliance president said: “The tea industry has faced many challenges, from declining prices to poor farming and environmentally damaging practices. The Rainforest Alliance certification program assists farmers in addressing these issues and in reaching new value-added markets as well as focusing on improving productivity and significantly improving their quality of life.

5

All farms that are Rainforest Alliance Certified™ have met the environmental, social and economic standards of the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN). The SAN standards cover ecosystem conservation, worker rights and safety, wildlife protection, water and soil conservation, agrochemical reduction, decent housing, and legal wages and contracts for workers.

The Rainforest Alliance began working with tea farmers in 2006 and is now active in Kenya, Tanzania, Argentina, India and Indonesia. Today 215,000 acres (87,000 ha) are Rainforest Alliance Certified, producing 125,000 tonnes of tea and benefiting 170,000 tea workers and their families. Recently 38,000 tea smallholders in Kenya achieved Rainforest Alliance certification.

So feel good at tea time. You’re helping small farmers, and conserving the landscape and a way of life.

6

03/20/2010 - 2:34pm

No? Well, good, cause they’re not selling any reused stuff.



1 1But Safety-Kleen is. We’re all familiar with recycling newspapers, aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles, but most folks are not aware that motor oil can be and is recycled. Recycling used oil keeps it out of soils, waterways and ground water supplies and gets it back into action lubricating parts and improving efficiency.

Your old motor oil has value even after it’s been drained from your engine. It can be reprocessed and used in furnaces for heat or in power plants to generate electricity for homes, schools, and businesses. Better still, it can be sent to a refinery for reprocessing re-refined into new engine oil. This saves new oil from being pumped from the ground.

Safety-Kleen collects used oil from thousands of places and recycles every gallon of the dirty oil back to its original state. If you have a lot of used oil, they’ll come to you to get it. If you have 5 gallons or less you can get detailed information on drop-off locations and other useful recycling tips for used oil and used filters on usedoil.com.



According to their website, Safety-Kleen returns more than 140 million gallons of used oil to the marketplace as fresh new motor oil every year. Their state-of-the-art processes allow them to recycle and reuse oil indefinitely with no loss of quality. Oil re-refining saves greenhouse gases and heavy metal emissions when compared to burning used oil as fuel. Re-refining is a much better way to manage used oil. It’s easier on the environment and transforms oil into a renewable resource.

Here’s how it works:



More than 200 million gallons of dirty, used oil from auto garages and factories arrives at their re-refinery each year. The trucks disgorge their loads and the recycling process begins. The oil is tested to weed out chemical and physical contaminants. Water in the oil is evaporated out and cleaned.

Lightweight chemicals are extracted for reuse. Then the used oil goes to tall recovery towers where glycol and light fuels are atmospherically separated and collected. The glycol is eventually reprocessed as an automotive grade fuel. Then heavier fuels are removed for industrial use. The used oil is then subjected to heat and vacuum processes which extract middle weight oils to make fuel for industrial heating. Then heavy materials are reclaimed for multiple uses. The heaviest impurities are removed in a complex series of processes. The used oil is actually vaporized in an extreme vacuum and then condensed. Different materials are then separated from the oil like heavy oil for industrial use, such as asphalt extenders. Finally, the remaining oil is treated with hydrogen to remove sulfur, nitrogen, chlorine, heavy metals and other impurities. This step also corrects any issues with odor, color and corrosion performance. The purified oil is then separated by weight – cleaner than the day it was first refined and ready to return to the marketplace.

1Safety-Kleen manufactures everything from recycled automotive motor oil to a wide variety of diesel, engine and lubricant oils, all to like new specs.

So whether you are a mechanic with lots of used motor oil coming out of cars every day, or a "do-it-yourselfer" your oil can be sent into the used oil recycling system. Next time you change your own oil, remember, you can make a difference by recycling the oil from your car, truck, motorcycle, boat, recreational vehicle or lawnmower. By dropping off your used motor oil today you help prevent pollution and conserve energy for a safer and healthier tomorrow. And you don’t have to buy a barrel of oil from those other guys up at the top.


X
Enter your Username.
Loading