Recycling in a Box Kit. (picture to left)
Our free recycling in a box kit includes items you can use to educate students, co-workers, and others about recycling. The kit includes our Where Does Your Recycling Go poster; America Recycles Day (ARD) posters that promote recycling of cans, bottles, and paper; 25 pencils made from recycled newsprint; 50 pre-paid envelopes for recycling ink jet printer cartridges; and a fact sheet about environmental benefits of recycling. Click here to e-mail us to tell us that you'd like a kit, and give us your shipping address. (Sent to U.S. addresses only.) While supplies last.

"Recycling Works for Minnesota" Video
Fifteen minutes long and hosted by Stephan Reynolds of the Minnesota State Lottery's Environmental Journal television show, this video highlights just why recycling is so important to Minnesota. Throughout the video, we interview regular Minnesotans on the street to find out what they know about the environmental benefits of recycling. When they don't know, we fill in the blanks.

Recycling Works for Minnesota shows why recycling makes economic sense for Minnesota's business through interviews and site visits to Target's Minneapolis store. We also visit a Home Depot and a Cub Foods store to find recycled products that people buy every day. You can order a copy of Recycling Works for Minnesota in either VHS or DVD format. Send us an e-mail to request one. There will be a charge of $10 for one video. Bulk discounts are available. The video is free to schools in Minnesota.

Thanks to our video sponsors Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance, American Plastics Council, Great River Energy, and the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation.

Poster: "Where Does Your Recycling Go?"
This 23" x 30" color poster graphically shows some of the places in Minnesota where your recycling goes. Minnesota has more than 100 manufacturers that use recycled material as a feedstock. We feature 14 of them by listing a manufacturer's name, its product, the city in which the product is made, and a color picture of the product itself. It's great for putting by your office recycling bin or on a bulletin board in November! This item is free. Click here to E-mail us and we'll send it free.

Ink Jet Printer Cartridge Recycling Kits
This is one of our most popular items. Interested people take an envelope, insert their used cartridge, seal the envelope, and put it in the mail. The cartridges then go to a recycler in Tennessee that sorts the cartridges, refurbishes them, and sells them back to their manufacturers. It's a great way to keep some more stuff out of the garbage! The kit is very popular in libraries, break rooms, computer labs, and other public places. Click here and we'll ship kits to you for free if you send us an email.

Recycled Products Education Kit --(SORRY! We are currently out of kits. You can borrow one from our many partners listed on the Recycled Products Kit link above on the left margin).
Our recycled products education kits, produced in cooperation with the Minnesota Beverage Association, is very popular with kids and adults. The kit contains about 20 recycled products to help people understand what happens to their recycling after it leaves the curb. Click here to see a fuller description of the kits. These free kits are a bit like library books; they circulate around the state. We can't provide one to each organization that requests one, but we'll do our best to lend one to you.

Web Guides on Buying Recycled
Our nationally recognized web guides help consumers figure out just where to find recycled products. Check out our downloadable 36-page catalog of recycled products and two great web pages on finding recycled products at the grocery store and when shopping for home and garden by clicking here. Please feel free to link to these pages on your own web site.

Eye-Opening Graphic
Check out a graphic on the web entitled "Every American Born Will Need." It is a sketch of a baby with the subtitle "3 ¾ million lbs of minerals, metals, and fuels in a lifetime." Created by the Mineral Information Service, it includes statistics showing how many mineral resources a person needs, such as "42,581 lbs. iron ore" and "83,890 gallons of petroleum." Click here and you can find it at www.mii.org right on the home page. It is a great way to raise awareness about conserving our earth's resources!

Economic Benefits of Recycling
Did you know that the national recycling industry includes:
More than 56,000 public and private sector facilities?
1.1 million jobs?
$236 billion in gross, annual sales?
$37 billion in annual payroll?

The National Recycling Coalition (NRC) recently released the National Recycling Economic Information (REI) Study. This groundbreaking study of the nation’s recycling and reuse industry demonstrates the significant contribution recycling makes to our nation's economy. Check out the report, an executive summary, and other supporting materials here.

In Minnesota, the recycling industry creates 8,700 jobs directly but it is also responsible indirectly (as the "ripple effect") for an additional 19,000 jobs. The industry brings in $93 million in state tax revenue and creates $3.48 billion in gross estimated economic activity every year! You can download a fact sheet on the value added by Minnesota's recycling activities by clicking here. The Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance has a great web page on Minnesota's Recycling Industries: Economic Activity Summary.