Green

Promote recycled products such as plastic picnic tables at schools, stores and parks to raise awareness

Offering plastic picnic tables and plastic benches made with recycled materials for use by the public can be one of the keys to promoting conservation in your town.  Rather than just talk about the benefits of recycling, you can walk the talk and show the real, tangible rewards of green living.

If you look on the web at various governmental programs to promote recycling, most of them focus on promoting the concept of recycling.

For example, with the Municipal Government Toolkit from the US Department

Litter impacts property values. Add more commercial trash cans where necessary. Photo by WoodleyWonderworks - Flck

If you are a park or site facility manager who needs to justify adding more commercial trash cans or park trash cans, consider the loss in property values caused by unsightly piles of garbage.

Excessive litter is not only ugly; it will cost homeowners and businesses some major money in the long run.

According to a Keep America Beautiful study conducted in 2009, here are the indirect

Standing by one of their recycling receptacles are (from left) Kristin Hall, City of Cleveland Sustainability Manager, Anand Natarajan, City of Cleveland Energy Manager, Rita McKenzie, West Side Market Administrator and West Side Market intern. Source: City of Clevelan

Placing recycling receptacles where people see them every day has paid off in a fantastic way for the City of Cleveland Mayor's Office of Sustainability.

The Office's mission is to promote green strategies throughout city departments and with local citizens.

So they thought, sure most people practice recycling at home. But what about when they are away from home? They are certainly generating plenty of trash that has recycling potential.

The solution? The department decided to bring recycling to where

Dog owner using a dog waste statio

We all love dogs. Our canine brothers and sisters. Who doesn't? But there are a number of very important reasons why owners should have access to a dog waste station in any public area so we can still appreciate our furry friends. It's THE most essential piece of dog park equipment.

Sure, as a dog owner you might pick up after Fido does his business. Well, maybe most of the time. But here's a startling fact: About 40% of people in the US don't pick up

From PreventCigaretteLitter.or

An outdoor ashtray can have a huge impact on a common misconception when it comes to the state of litter in America.

Why? Because most people don't realize that discarded cigarette butts are the No. 1 source of litter. If you think about the number of smokers out there and how easy it is to toss a finished smoke, it starts to make sense. But did you know that discarded butts are nearly DOUBLE the next closest source of trash? DOUBLE. That includes every McDonald's wrapper and empty Mountain Dew bottle and a million other disposable items.

Those little burned down cigarettes are contributing in a major way to making part of your local park, shopping area, university, etc. into an