/ By S. Smith / News/ • • • / 1 Comment

Making Waves: Imelda

Just two years after Hurricane Harvey’s devastating rainfall, southeast Texas once again faced costly flooding and loss of life. Such is the aftermath of Tropical Storm Imelda.

2019 – Images courtesy of NASA.
IMERG satellite technology estimated rainfall totals (left) and Tropical Storm Imelda (right).

Most of the areas hit by Imelda received at least 9 inches of rain from Tuesday to Friday, but in isolated areas, such as to the southwest of Beaumont, the hardest-hit areas saw up to 43 inches of rain. Imelda now ranks as the seventh-wettest tropical cyclone to impact the United States.

Texans will be picking up the pieces left by this storm for many years to come, though many have yet to fully recover from the last.

If you are a local of SETX, you’ll already know that some of the flooded areas are the very same as those already hit hard in 2017 by Hurricane Harvey, which dropped more than 60 inches of rain and 68 deaths with its historic flooding.

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Imelda cleanup is well under way here and we’re working hard to help everyone.

In the wake of this repeated destruction, we at 2S Companies wanted to share some helpful information about using any rolloff container, and not just give yet another update about the effect of Imelda on our communities.

Tips for Using Rolloffs During Disaster Cleanup

  • Do Not Over-Fill the Rolloff – It may be tempting to try and work around a dumpster that is too small by piling as much debris as possible into a container, but don’t do it. Debris piled over the top/rim of the rolloff is a road hazard and we cannot legally haul it.
  • Choose the Right Size – Stuffing 30 yards of debris in a 20 yard container simply doesn’t work. It can end up costing you way more because of multiple hauls. Do your homework and be sure to order the right sized container for your specific needs. It’s much cheaper!
  • Talk to Our Team – If you are unsure about your specific needs and want to avoid more headache during this devastating time, please express your needs when asking for a quote. Our team can be very helpful since having an understanding of roll-off dumpster sizes and their measurements is very important in choosing the right size container for whatever your project may be. We are here to help!
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Still hard at work!

As always, we are hard at work to meet your needs and are working overtime to help everyone we can. We love this community and, although times of hardship like these are never any easier, the visible outpouring of Local support and National assistance warms our hearts! Texas Strong!

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Texas Strong, Always.

To read more, visit the articles consulted for this post here, here, and here.

/ By S. Smith / News/ • • • • / 1 Comment

How to Declutter the Right Way

How to Declutter the Right Way

2018 – Source Pexels

Here are some small ways that you can reduce your household waste impact on the environment when cleaning and decluttering your home!

Be Mindful When Discarding Larger Items

When it comes to outdated furniture and appliances, or other additional items that take up more space than your average waste items, there are a few ways that you can lessen your environmental impact by making responsible waste disposal decisions by upcycling or reselling.

  • Upcycle! This has been a popular trend for years, if Pinterest boards are any indication. People love to find ways to reuse old furniture pieces in creative ways to give them new life. For example, you can transform old wooden shutters into a small decorative table, you can turn trash cans into garden planting pots for medium-to-large plants, and even turn old dresser drawers into adorable and rustic end tables.
  • Resell! Using classified ads to resell usable items has been around for ever, but with the advent of the internet and popular usage of social media sites becoming ever more popular, now is as good a time as any to give your items new life by using the second-hand economy. Popular places such as Facebook Marketplace have made it easier than ever to connect with locals seeking similar items or even looking to give away stuff rather than send it to a landfill. Whether you decide to adventure to a site like Craigslist, use an existing social media platform, or try your luck at local/regional websites such as SouthEastTexas.com, reselling or bartering items is a good idea!

Remove Paper Waste and Clutter

Have you ever noticed how paper waste from mail advertisements, important documents, and random paper notes tend to accumulate on common surface areas like kitchen tables, counters, and desk surfaces? For so many people, a big source of visible clutter in their life is in fact from paper waste they’ve collected over time.

  • Go Digital! One great way to reduce your physical clutter is to switch to digital storage for photo mementos and essential documents. Most of the photos we take are already digital, so storing them in that way is easier than ever. For older photographs, you may want to consider scanning and archiving them by using a common printer/scanner or even taking a “new” picture with your camera phone. For secure documents and paperwork, much of the time people are using PDF documents and sending/receiving through e-mail anyways. Unless you are a business owner, you should consider using a free digital storage platform like Google Drive or Dropbox, but there are many more options if you take a few minutes to look around the internet.
  • Cut out the JUNK mail! If you are like most people, you receive far too many unsolicited advertisements and “pre-approved” credit offers in the mail. Consider using an Opt-Out Service by having yourself removed from mailing lists and stop unwanted junk mail and magazines from accumulating in your life. There are several ways to do this online and it’s super easy! In the US alone, we accumulate 5.6 million tons of catalog and junk mail in landfills every year! The junk mail “industry” destroys 100 million trees per year.
2019 – Source Pexels

Clean Up Routines

Have you noticed the trend in retailers’ cleaning supply options where there are many e-friendly, perfume-free, and natural-based cleaners popping up? This is because of increased public awareness about common cleaners and their accumulated polluting effect on our environment. Some cleaners we have commonly used to sanitize, degrease, or whiten and wash clothes and surfaces have also been harming our water and air for years.

  • Switch to Eco-friendly! When harmful cleaning chemicals find their way into air and especially waste-water, thereby polluting soil and animal/plant ecosystems, it has a cumulative effect. Think about switching one of your common cleaners to a Natural alternative.
  • Reduce Plastic Use! Many cleaning tools and products come in plastic packaging or contain plastic as the base of the product (such as sponges and brushes). One way to mitigate this is to switch to reusable and washable cotton cloths for cleaning or using old bits of cloth from broken, unsalvageable clothing and fabric, using biodegradable loofah scrubbers, and by using classic “cleaning” items like lemons, vinegar, and bicarbonate soda AKA baking soda to help in your routine.

To read more, visit the article here.

/ By S. Smith / News/ • • • • • / 0 Comments

The Potential of Food Waste

Food waste is a critical global problem, with roughly 1/3 of all food going uneaten across the world. Apart from the obvious tragedy of having so much excess food go to waste when so many people worldwide suffer through insufficient food access, there are myriad additional reasons for us to pay attention to this reality.

As food breaks down and decomposes, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas that is 21 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. This is incredibly harmful to the environment and has a huge impact on global warming.

*But there are solutions to prevent this from happening and ways to use our global food waste for good.*

© 2019 BioGasWorld Media Inc. – Source BioGasWorld

Apart from the above hypothetical ways food waste COULD be converted into energy for use by human technologies, there are ways that we are currently ALREADY using such food waste for societal betterment.

Sweden, for example, converts much of its food waste into biogas, which is used as vehicle fuel for public transportation. The methane produced is also sometimes used in manufacturing processes. The biogas process generates a nutrient-rich digestion residue which can also be used as a fertilizer.

To read more and get the full story about Sweden’s biogas, visit SmartCitySweden.

Some facts about your food waste…It’s not garbage!

2016 – Source FocoCafe

It’s not just places like Sweden and the UK that are making simple changes which have drastic impacts on our environmental well-being. Here in the United States, other companies have prioritized finding a solution to the food waste problem.

For example, CORe® is an organic recycling process which creates a renewable energy to be used for electricity and heat. From efforts like those of Waste Management Organics, every ton of food waste results in enough electrical energy produced to power 8-10 homes.

To read more and get the full story about CORe®, visit WM Media.

LOVE FOOD, HATE WASTE

“Saving food means saving money, but look at the bigger picture, too. Reducing food waste is good for the planet, as it helps slow down global warming. If global food waste were a country, it would be third largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the US. By using up every edible bit of your food, you’re doing your bit to look after the environment; imagine what we could achieve if we all make a change?”

–Love Food Hate Waste
2016 – Source WindUpBattery

There are even personal Household Biogas digester systems which can be purchased, if you have the means and want to prioritize effectively using your family’s food waste. HomeBioGas is one such company offering private citizens the opportunity to make their own biogas at home.

© 2019 HomeBiogas Inc – Source

What do you think about the rise of BioGas and the state of food waste in the world today? Have you learned anything from this article that you didn’t know before? Let us know!

/ By S. Smith / News/ • • • • / 0 Comments

UNICEF Gives A Reason to Celebrate “Back to School” Season!

UNICEF Gives A Reason to Celebrate “Back to School” Season!

Construction site of a partially-built house made with bricks constructed from plastic waste at the UNICEF Côte d'Ivoire office.
©2018 UNICEF/UN0206949/Dejongh – Image Source

The school year is just around the corner for most of us here in Southeast Texas! It’s with hopeful hearts we share the recent news that bricks made from recycled plastic waste can be used to build a variety of sustainable materials!

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