Last month, on April 25th, Project Grow and Maxi Container partnered for a very successful Rain Barrel workshop. Project Grow is a nonprofit community garden in Ann Arbor. Joshua (Me) and Lucas (PG) planned the workshop during February. We had such a tremendous response that we needed a bigger room! I arrived to meet Lucas and a couple of happy to help volunteers. After unloading the barrels, people started to show up. I was amazed at the demographic, we had family’s with little ones and senior citizens, plus tons of young adults eager to build a rain barrel and Go Green! (Oops, I guess Go Blue! is more appropriate in A2.)
After the check-in and setup I demonstrated how to build a barrel and did a little lecture and opened the floor for questions. I really was amazed at how prepared the attendees were, full of good and important questions and eager to build. Quickly wrapped up the introduction session and broke out into small groups to build.
The building process went smoothly, as the entire workshop did and most importantly…
41 Rain Barrels found new homes.
If you don’t know about our Maxi Rain Barrel, they are previously used food grade barrels that otherwise don’t have much use… either slated to be land filled or turned into regrind (recycled) which used up fossil fuels. Turning these “pickle” barrels into Rain Barrels truly reduces your carbon footprint while extended the plastic barrels life cycle, help preserving our Great Lakes at the same time. Truly there is no better way (and simple) way to go green then installing a rain barrel.
Please check out all of the photos from the workshop below in a slideshow, or you can view them here on our Flickr.
My great grandfather, Charlie Rubin, was a founding member of the National Barrel and Drum Association. My grandfather, Max Rubin, was a strong supporting member as well, and looked to by many as a patriarch of the organization. He along with my father Richard is only one of two “Father & Son Duo’s” to win the Morris Hershson Award of Merit. I have been active in RIPA for about 2 years now, and it has proven to be interesting and fun. It is the coming together of our Industry from across the country to learn from each other, catch up on family happenings and more. The beautiful thing about this organization, though a decreasing faction, is the pride it takes in the independent family owned businesses that were the original creators of the group, as well as some of the most outspoken and active members. I could detail the history of our families involvement in RIPA for many pages, but I am not writing this article because of that. I actually want to shed some light on another Michigan Family Business, and their legacy.
Peter DeWitt of DeWitt Barrels won the Morris Hershson Award of Merit this year. I want to formally congratulate him on this award, as well as share my thoughts on both of our family’s impact on the Michigan economy. I do not think that it is a coincidence that the previous winner of the award was also a Michigan family owned business (My father Richard won the Morris Hershson in 2009). I also do not think that it is a coincidence, but rather an imperative statement of or our economy in Michigan, that despite a decrease in the amount of jobs and cutbacks in all sectors of government across the board, that these two family owned drum companies still thrived. Maxi provides over twenty families with jobs and benefits. We also try and provide a comfortable and fun work environment. (We even have office cats to lighten up the mood!)
I don’t want to get too far off topic here. Peter DeWitt, like my father, both have driven their respective companies forward at full speed during this most recent recession. Business leaders could learn a thing or two from these guys! DeWitt focuses on the reconditioning process and now Recycling, while Maxi has a broader product offering but doesn’t process drums in house. We do a lot of business back and forth, but more importantly we are both invested in competing with the bigger conglomerates for Michigan customers. It is a testament to both organizations that we continue to thrive in this highly competitive environment.
The message of this blog is too support your neighbor, your friends, and your fellow community members, whether you are competitors or complete strangers. The bottom line is the more you buy local and support your states economy, the more likely the benefits will come back to you. I want to again say that Peter has been a strong voice and active member of RIPA, standing up for reconditioners. Both past Chairman of RIPA, my father and Peter represent something that is dying in our industry:
A few years ago, when we set out to get involved in making Rain Barrels and selling other Home and Garden products at Metro-Detroit Green Fairs, we never thought it would turn out so incredibly well. The community involvement with green fairs, charities, school and churches has helped shape our business, continuing over a hundred years of Rubin family involvement in the drum and barrel industry. Now, at Maxi, as the summer comes to a close, so does a chapter of our lives. The Green season is over, there no more events until next Spring/Summer. We all set our sights on the numerous things we have neglected due to the hustle and bustle of the season. We won’t be hibernating this winter, but a part of us will. The Green part.
I thoroughly enjoyed all of the events we were involved in (a list is provided at the end of this post). However, certain moments, or days, stand out when looking back from the corner of the autumn and winter seasons. I want to share my favorite “highlights” from this summer with all of you.
Two tents down! Currently, both of our tents need repair. One, we have no idea what happened to, and the other a storm almost swept away! At the St. Clair Shores Green Fair in the Park it was a beautiful day until warnings of a oncoming storm started to spread across the fair (since the Dream Cruise was happening on Woodward Ave. simultaneously, we just checked their twitter feed) Even though the vendors and patrons were advised to leave a little early in hopes of missing the brunt of the storm, we were among the last out of there, and our tent nearly didn’t make it out at all. I went to grab the truck for our final load of Rain Barrels, and when I arrived to our location I find my father (Richard) holding onto a tent that was in shambles. He looked like he was holding onto it for dear life, in high winds and heavy rain. This was a very intense end to a great event.
HOT, HOT, HOT! All of you remember that heat wave in June? Well we can’t forget it. We had three events planned almost simultaneously for that weekend of heat. Friday I spent in Armada while the rest of the Maxi staff was at the Ferndale Live Green Fair. I guess this is one time I lucked out, since at the Lavender Festival in Armada we had a location in the shade and the fair was on grass, not pavement. The staff at the Live Green Fair said it was sweltering hot as the intense sun reflected up from the ground. Also, the way the booths were set up didn’t allow a lot of airflow. On Sunday, I made my way to Ferndale, my father and I did the best we could, but I was definitely suffering during tear down, and was afraid I was going to pass out. My Dad had to stick me in the car with the AC on to get me to stop acting loopy. I am pretty sure I was a second away from heat stroke.
We enjoyed all of the events this year, these two weekends were exceptionally interesting, check out the list below for all of our events this year, and watch out for even more next year! Hope to see you next summer at some of our Green Events!
I tried to remember them all and hopefully, got them all of them here. Click on each to learn more. This list doesn’t include all of the Rain Barrel workshops we have done, just a few of them.
If you know of an event in Metro-Detroit (really anywhere in Michigan) that you would like us to bring our sustainable living setup including Rain Barrels, Composting, and Container Gardening, please let us know. Drop me an email at joshua@maxicontianer.com with the details.
Enjoy this slideshow of photos from our “Green Fairs” Collection of photoset’s on Flickr!
In March of this year the American Beverage Organization brought suit against the State of Michigan claiming that the 2008 amendments requiring Michigan specific labeling on beverage containers sold in Michigan violate federal interstate commerce clause. Michigan has the highest deposit on beverages in the country at 10¢. A famous (or infamous) Seinfeld episode had Kramer and Newman attempting to profit by returning non-Michigan beverage containers to Michigan and make 5¢ a can/bottle. Apparently they were not alone and in 1998 the Michigan Legislature passed an amendment only criminalizing the fraudulent redemption of containers. In 2008 the legislature criminalized the knowing acceptance by retailers of fraudulently redeemed containers and required that Michigan specific labeling be placed on deposit cans and bottles sold in Michigan. The provision, M.C.L. § 445.572a., states:
“A symbol, mark, or other distinguishing characteristic that is placed on a designated metal container, designated glass container, or designated plastic container by a manufacturer to allow a reverse vending machine to determine if that container is a returnable container must be unique to this state, or used only in this state and 1 or more other states that have laws substantially similar to this act.”
The requirement of Michigan specific marks only apply to deposit beverages that sell over 500,000 cases in Michigan per year. In May 2011 The US District Court ruled in favor of the state and found that the Bottle Deposit law did not violate the interstate commerce clause of the constitution. Furthermore, the court stated, that due to the high threshold requirements, not every beverage maker is required to mark their bottles specifically for Michigan. The court noted, “For example, for 12-ounce metal containers, the non-alcoholic beverages subject to the provision are: Coca-Cola,Diet Coke, Caffeine Free Diet Coke, Sprite, Coke Zero, Cherry Coke, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Caffeine Free Pepsi, A & W, Dr. Pepper, and Vernors. While the District Court upheld the state specific markings, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to hear an appeal by the American Beverage Association of the Circuit Court’s ruling.
The proof the Michigan Bottle Deposit law works is that Michigan has the highest redemption rate of any of the states with Bottle Deposit laws. I am pleased that the Circuit Court upheld Michigan’s Beverage Deposit Bill, however I believe that it and similar laws in other states no longer accurately reflect current consumer tastes in bottled beverages. The Michigan law does not cover, bottled water, fruit juice and sport drinks. While Michigan residents can take pride in our high rate of redemption for those bottles with a 10¢ deposit, a Michigan Recycling Partnership study found that only 37% of Michigan residents have access to curbside recycling, the lowest in the Great Lakes region. I firmly believe that curbside recycling is the best method, moving forward, to increase recycling rates in Michigan. However, until cash strapped communities can convince their citizens to pay for curbside recycling, an expansion of the bottle to include, among other beverages, bottled water, is necessary.
As pointed out in the Kalamazoo Gazette, of the 70 million water bottles consumed each day, only 10 million are recycled. Most end up in landfills or littering our streets and walkways. An expansion of Michigan’s Bottle Bill is needed to motivate us to redeem the millions of bottles of water, juice and sports drinks consumed by our citizens. According to the Detroit Free Press, non-carbonated beverage containers now litter our roads and parks, making up to 50% of the trash picked up by park maintenance workers at public expense. Because non-carbonated beverage containers are excluded from the bottle bill, consumers have no incentive to recycle them, and only 20% of 1.4 billion non-carbonated beverage containers are recycled each year in Michigan.
The Free Press went on to say, public parks are a key component of the quality of life in every community. Keeping them beautiful and litter-free benefits every citizen. By getting all of the bubbles out of the bottle bill, we finally can get bottle litter out of our parks and reduce maintenance costs at the same time. All of us here at Maxi Container agree wholeheartedly. The Bottle Deposit Bill was originally passed in 1976. It is now time to update it, we need to expand the bottle deposit bill to include all of the various juice, water and other non-carbonated drinks that we now consume more frequently. You would be hard pressed to find a carbonated beverage in my home, but we have many types of juice, energy drinks and sports drinks. What about you, how has your beverage consumption habits changed? Do you commonly drink soda or fruit juice/sports drinks? please leave us a comment below.
There are many wonderful things about the city of Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan. I have many fond memories of my college days there. One of my favorite things both during and after my school days, is walking along the trails and enjoying the beauty of the Nichols Arboretum. For those of you that are not familiar with it, the Arboretum (or “Arb” as it is called by the students) the University of Michigan created a Botanical Garden and Arboretum in 1907 on the land between Geddes Road and the Huron River, just a few blocks from Central Campus on the site now known as Nichols Arboretum. At the time, the property consisted of approximately 80 acres. Today, more than 100 years later, the University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum manages over 700 acres of gardens, research areas, and natural preserves around the Ann Arbor area with a complex of conservatory, greenhouses, laboratory, teaching and meeting spaces at Matthaei Botanical Gardens and the James D. Reader, Jr. Center for Urban Environmental Education at Nichols Arboretum.
For me, the Arb was a place to get away from the stress of my studies and take a long walk on a sunny spring or fall day. In the winter, we went sledding, tubing or “traying” on it’s many hills. One such winter afternoon lead to one of my many encounters with the U of M Health Services as they x-rayed a sprained thumb brought on by an extreme traying session. (For those of you who are not familiar with the sport, traying is the sport of sliding down a steep snow covered hill on a tray from the U of M Food Services (i.e. cafeteria).
In the summers, we held numerous picnics, Frisbee games, touch football games or just spent a lazy afternoon laying on a blanket and reading a book. The Arboretum never failed to enchant or excite as it changed with each season. Now, my wife and I, after visiting our daughter, take long languid walks in the Arboretum. We talk about the past, plan for the future and just relax in a beautifully maintained natural space. One of my wife’s favorite parts of the Arboretum is the Peony garden. We make sure to visit the Arboretum in late spring and early summer to see the over 230 varieties of peonies in bloom.
You can imagine my pleasure at reading the other day that U.S Senator Carl Levin (D–Mich.) announced in a July 26 press statement that the Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum are among five Michigan museums that will receive federal grants through the Museums for America program to preserve local establishments.
“Michigan’s Museums are home to many important state and national treasures, and these grants will help share those resources with more visitors,” Levin said in the release. “I am proud these museums were selected out of scores of applicants nationwide, reflecting the great work being performed by these institutions.”
According to the press release, the University will receive $79,658 from the Museums for America grant as well as matching funds provided by the grantee to be used on the “Peony Initiative,” which will provide information on the Internet about the garden’s various peonies. The money provided by the Museums for America grants is only one piece of the peony project, which includes restoration and expansion, among other improvements, that are already several years underway. The Peony Garden was donated to Nichols Arboretum in 1922 by Dr. W. E. Upjohn, founder of the Upjohn Pharmaceutical Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Peony Garden is home to historic varieties of peonies that were introduced into gardens throughout the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century. Here is a slideshow of photos from Flickr that are tagged “nicholsarboretum” courtesy of cseeman
Peony Gardens at the Nichols Arboretum (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Peony Gardens at the Nichols Arboretum (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Peony Gardens at the Nichols Arboretum (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Peony Gardens at the Nichols Arboretum (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Peony Gardens at the Nichols Arboretum (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Peony Gardens at the Nichols Arboretum (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Peony Gardens at the Nichols Arboretum (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Peony Gardens at the Nichols Arboretum (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Peony Gardens at the Nichols Arboretum (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Peony Gardens at the Nichols Arboretum (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Peony Gardens at the Nichols Arboretum (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Peony Gardens at the Nichols Arboretum (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Peony Gardens at the Nichols Arboretum (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Peony Gardens at the Nichols Arboretum (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Peony Gardens at the Nichols Arboretum (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Peony Gardens at the Nichols Arboretum (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Peony Gardens at the Nichols Arboretum (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Peony Gardens at the Nichols Arboretum (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Peony Gardens at the Nichols Arboretum (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Peony Gardens at the Nichols Arboretum (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
I have written about two of my favorite natural places, the Coral Reefs off the coast of Eilat and now, the Nichols Arboretum, I would love to hear about some of your favorite natural places too?
This past May 25th Joshua Rubin from Maxi Container met up with GreeningDetroit.com at the Green School Awards in Pontiac, MI. Maxi has been a member of their online community for about a year now and have met many people through there green network. We often see each other at green events throughout the spring/summer season. That is how this collaboration came about, at the Plymouth Green Street Fair we decided to work together and donate a compost tumbler to the Michigan Green Schools at there upcoming award ceremony.
Maxi believes that education is key if you want to make a positive change for the future. (see our articles about recycling in the classroom and Michigan’s Green Schools.) This was our chance to get directly involved and meet representatives from different Michigan Green Schools. We delivered a fully assembled Compost Tumbler with custom spray painting of GreeningDetroit.com and Maxi’s Logos (plus a flat black finish on the wood frame to boot). The donation of the composter was announced during the ceremony and schools were asked to sign up for it if interested. It would be raffled of a lucky school and then handed around to others. Hopefully the schools will need more composters soon! Maxi loves to be involved with our local schools, helping students to learn about the many benefits of composting.
I recently got the chance to take a tour of Dart Container’s recycling facility. Dart has a statewide (and further) polystyrene (also known as Styrofoam) recycling program, where they collect used polystyrene from the food service industry, schools, county recycling drop offs; and people send them polystyrene to be recycled. Dart’s trucks go within a one hundred mile radius of Mason, MI (right outside Lansing), reaching forty-four county sites in twenty counties. Dart does this as a public service and they do not necessarily make money recycling, they do it because it is simply the right thing to do (being as they are primarily a new polystyrene manufacturer).
The process itself is quite amazing; they have a few employees who sort the trash before it gets processed. There are three different levels of polystyrene, which ends up as three different colors/qualities of usable resin. After being sorted the polystyrene is melted back down and then cooled in water. Little pellets are created, and they are slightly bigger than normal virgin plastic pellets and a little smaller than a pea.
Dart faces a few difficulties in this recycling system, first is transportation and second is finding suitable end-users, or basically what to do with all the plastic resin they reclaim. Lets start with transportation: recyclers get paid in weight; Styrofoam is 90% air and therefore, a truckload of polystyrene is not worth much to traditional recyclers. Long haul drivers are expensive because of this. For these reasons, getting truckloads of Styrofoam can become very costly.
Finding end-users who can use this product and put it back out into the mainstream is a whole task in and of its self. Currently their recycled polystyrene is being made into picture frames, rulers, Frisbees, toys, it has even been used as filler underneath concrete. Still it remains a continuous effort to find enough end-users to take their product because some industries cannot use it, such as the food service industry. The regulations will not allow post-consumer content unless they were returned to them within forty-eight hours for the original point of use, which is usually impossible. Ideally, Dart would like to go directly to the end user, knowing where and what their product is turned into. Since they cannot find enough end users, they have to occasionally sell to brokers. These are people who are in the business of buying from product and selling it to end users for a profit.
Next lets dispel some myths about polystyrene; all foam is simply not the same. At Dart, they deal exclusively with #6 polystyrene, which was created and patented by Dow Chemical. Though Styrofoam is petroleum based, it actually takes very little compared to other plastic products. Only twelve to fourteen little teeny tiny beads go into a coffee cup. If you are interested in learning more about polystyrene, it’s life cycle analysis and how it stacks up compared to paper, corn and other plastic products please visit their website.
For more information visit please visit Dart Environment on Facebook here.
Below are some pictures of from my tour of Dart’s recycling facility, enjoy!
Last weekend the Sierra Club Great Lakes Program hosted a Rain Barrel workshop on Detroit’s west-side in the Brightmoor neighborhood. The workshop was organized by the Sierra Club’s own Melissa Damaschke to teach fifty Detroiters, who had signed up for the event, all about water conservation’s benefits, and of course how to make a rain barrel. After all of the participants arrived, Melissa explained the workshop and then separated everyone into groups. An experienced Rain Barrel “Guru” led each group in the making of the Barrels. After all the drilling, caulking, and installing was done, the group discussed their plans to save rain water and for use in their gardens. It was an educational experience and fun afternoon project.
I had my video camera on me and have created a video showcasing the workshop, hope you enjoy!
For More Info on the Sierra Club Great Lakes Program please visit these links:
Maxi Container received an inquiry about a new 30-gallon steel drum and when we found out what it would be used for our interest grew. Steve Quinlan, the Director of Institutional Advancement for Advanced Technology Academy in Dearborn explained that a senior class of students taking the course Sustainable Energy II would build the heater. A Rocket Heater, otherwise called a Rocket Stove or Rocket Mass Heater, combines the air-intake with the fuel-feed slot in an opening terminated by the combustion chamber, which connects to a chimney and also a heat exchanger. Simply put, a rocket stove has a fuel magazine but primarily works like a wood burning stove which uses the exhaust to heat a adobe clay housing. They are simple to build and yield high combustion efficiency, all while channeling the heat into a specific (small) area. The design of stove means it uses half as much fuel as an open fire and can also use smaller diameter wood even twigs. The stove is insulated and raised from the floor which reduces the danger of children burning themselves.Some uses for a a rocket heater are:
Cooking (mostly third-world countries)
Space heater
Water heater
Advanced Tech is one of Michigan’s green schools, (see our article about Michigan’s program for schools to earn different stewardship levels for completing green activities here.) and they are also a charter school.
After working out the details we setup a meeting on Monday March 21 at 1:30 PM where I (Joshua Rubin, Creative Director of Maxi) would drop off the drum and take a look at what is going on over at Advanced Tech.
Maxi wants to encourage other schools to contact us with any “green” projects or initiatives. From recycling in the classroom (see our Oprep article) to energy efficient rocket heaters seen here, we love to help schools. If we want to help reduce the next generations carbon footprint, we have to teach them early on to reduce, reuse, recycle, buy recycled products and safely dispose of their hazardous waste.
Thank you Advanced Tech for choosing Maxi, we wish you the best with your rocket heater project. Looking forward to seeing the pictures of the completed heater.
Sustainable Energy II Class with Joshua Rubin (Creative Director) and their new steel 30-gal drum.
For more information about Advanced Technology Academy and their programs please visit their website or send Steve Quinlan an email.
Children learn best by doing. If we are to raise a generation of children who care about the environment and who are willing to reduce their carbon footprint, there is no better way than having them practice these activities as part of their daily routine. They can see recycling in action, help make compost from the food waste, learn to buy recycled products. They can incorporate the ideals of reuse and recycling into their daily lives.
Michigan Senate Bill 904, signed into law on December 16, 2010 by Governor Jeniffer Granholm, revised the activities that need to be done in order to designate a school as either a Green, Emerald or Evergreen school. These activities include recycling programs, composting food and organic waste, waste free lunches, buying recycled or biodegradable supplies, and buying locally produced food produce. It can also include teaching about alternative energy or using alternative fuels.
A good example of how to teach children that their actions affect the environment can be found at Gill Elementary in Farmington Hills, Michigan. As highlighted in a recent article in the The Oakland Press, the school’s green efforts which include recycling, composting, using less packaging and other waste-reduction efforts, have earned finalist status in the National Geographic Find Your Footprint contest. The Gill Green Team, which is dedicated to making the school more earth-friendly, entered the contest under the direction of fourth grade teacher Christine Wilson and Gina Adams-Levy, Gill parent and Green Team member. The Green Team already recycled plastic and other materials, but lunchtime still generated a lot of waste. To deal with that lunchtime waste the Gill Green Team kicked off Waste-Free Fridays in January 2011, showing skits that gave examples of waste reduction at an all-school assembly. The team also sent notices home to parents, encouraging them to pack waste-free lunches on Fridays. The result, on Fridays the amount of lunch waste goes from six trash bags to four.
Maxi Container believes in helping school’s recycle so much that we have previously donated fiber drums to Osborn Preparatory School in Detroit to help start a Recycling Program with City Year Detroit. We encourage other schools to contact us, whether about our rain barrels and compost tumblers or your school’s recycling initiative. When students put these DIY projects together, watch how they work and understand the importance of building towards a sustainable future. Hopefully we help create a lasting impression on the student, one which says, if we each do something everyday to help promote green living, we help protect and better the world around us while building a more eco-sustainable future for future generations.
The Michigan House Committee on Energy & Technology is looking into two bills in committee on Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 9am. HB 4265 and HB 4266 seek to return yard waste to landfills for minor energy production purposes. Both bills are sponsored by Rep. Kenneth Horn, sponsor and Rep. Paul Opsommer, co-sponsor. These Bills are a bad idea on many levels.
Michigan banned Yard Waste going to landfills in 1995. As a home owner, the impact of this ban was negligible. Instead of putting my yard waste out with my trash, I had to put it in low cost compostable paper bags availble at most hardware stores, supermarkets and big box stores in my area. In my town of Farmington Hills, MI the yard waste is collected by The Recycling Authority, and is taken to a large-scale compost site where it decomposes and becomes a rich, black humus. According to The Recycling Authority, each year RRRASOC residents generate 80,000 tons of waste. At least 30% of that waste can be composted.
Another good use for yard waste is composting at home. Composting at home reduces our dependence on trucks to haul yard waste to large-scale compost sites. It also provides us with our own source of rich humus to reuse in our gardens. Composting at home reduces the use of expensive petrochemically based fertilizers which find their way into our sewers, lakes and streams. It is less costly to produce than buying fertilizers, mulch or hummus at the local garden center. Also, composting at home is inexpensive and easy and creates a sense of connectedness with our natural world.
Here at Maxi Container we are so excited about the benefits of composting at home that we created our DIY Compost Tumbler Kit. We re-purposed a food grade plastic drum and provide all the parts and information necessary to begin composting at home.
The Michigan Recycling Coalition (of which Maxi is a proud member) is actively opposing these bills. If you live in the great State of Michigan, please call or write your representative and let them know how strongly you oppose these Bills. If you can, attend the next hearing on these Bills on March 1st at 9am, 519 House Office Building, Lansing, MI. Yard Waste can be a valued resource for the home owner. You should not be charged to give it away for free and bury it in a landfill.
On February 17, 2011, Nestle Waters North America announced it had hired a new Director of Sustainability. We wish Michael Washburn well in his new role and in his efforts “To increase recycling rates in the United States.” We applaud Nestle for hiring someone who has worked in the nonprofit sector, and held a senior position at The Wilderness Society working on public lands advocacy.
Here at Maxi Container, however, we still hold Nestle responsible for two of the most egregious environmental policies and practices of this era.
First, they sell millions of plastic water bottles, consuming inordinate amounts of energy and raw materials to deliver a product that most of us in the U.S. has at our fingertips, potable water.
Second, they are one of the largest companies diverting a precious resource from our home state of Michigan, paying little or nothing for it, and making a large profit by selling it at a ridiculous mark up.
Nestle Waters U.S. brands include, Arrowhead, Calistoga, Deep Park, Ice Mountain, Nestle Pure Life, Ozarka, Poland Spring and Zepherhills. Nestle has had a series of battles in and out of court in both Mecosta and Osceola, MI regarding its plans for its bottling plant to bottle over 720,000 gallons of water pumped from the Great Lakes Basin and aquifer per day. Water which is never replaced and has led to drying of wetlands and streams and lowering of lake levels. It has also severly affected nearby homeowners and farmers who depend on the aquifer for their drinking water and irrigation.
In 2009, after 9 years of litigation, Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation reached an out of court settlement with Nestle to reduce Nestle’s pumping to 218 gallons per minute. Over an 8 hour day that is still 104,640 gallons. Over 24 hours, that is 313,920 gallons of water per day taken from our precious Great Lakes and never returned. Add to that the cost of the resources used to bottle and truck that water all over the country and you now have the makings of one of the greatest environmental villains ever!
Maxi Container Inc. has recently started to participate in Eco-friendly community based events. We are excited to announce our participation in another event. In two weeks on July 24th tons of different Eco-friendly companies and enthusiasts will grace the streets of old Woodward Ave. in Birmingham, MI. After recently talking to the Community House who is coordinating the event, the fairs ending time has been moved from 7pm to 9pm. This is because of the large amount of attendees estimated to go to the fair. Check out the event page on the Community House’s website for more info by clicking below.
We have new redesigned rain barrels and composers going for very affordable prices. (check previous blog entries for pictures) Maxi hope’s to meet other people so excited about helping reduce waste, reuse, and recycling.
