More Green Giving with Recycled and Sustainable Gifts

If you read our last blog, you found some great tips about reducing your holiday gift waste. By opting for waste-free wrapping, embracing the e-card and buying rechargeable batteries, you’re taking some small steps toward reducing your carbon footprint and making the world a cleaner place.

As you put the finishing touches on your gift list this year, visit the following websites to find innovative, recycled presents to impress your recipients—and save a tree or two.

Shop thrift and consignment stores for cool, vintage items you won’t ever see at the mall. You’ll find chrome appliances, antique dolls, glassware, jewelry and more when you visit The Thrift Shopper online for thrift store listings by zip code.
Browse MakeStuff.com for a variety of homemade holiday gift ideas. The site also includes a list of crafty items you can make from recycled materials.
Buy beautiful, sustainable fabric by-the-yard for quilts, clothing and other gifts. Near Sea Naturals carries knit, woven and pre-cut fabrics made from natural fiber choices.
Check out Scrapile—one of our favorite manufacturing partners—for furniture created from recycled bits of lumber. Their stools, benches, tables and wood accessories make creative gifts for that hard-to-buy-for someone.
Don’t forget your pets when you’re buying recycled. Visit Planet Dog for Orbee-Tuff RecycleBALLS and RecycleBONES—made from Orbee-Tuff fiber waste that would otherwise go into the waste stream. Many of Planet Dog’s products are also guaranteed to stand up to aggressive chewers.

For those trying to live sustainably, there are hundreds more eco-friendly gift ideas online. Take the time to be ecologically responsible this holiday season—and join Cardella in our quest for a greener tomorrow.

Giving Green This Season

Estimates indicate that U.S. consumers dispose of millions of tons of additional trash during the holidays, making it a perfect time to think about conservation and recycling. But how can you remain festive while downsizing your carbon footprint? Use the following waste reduction tips to “green up” your holidays.

1. Opt for e-greetings over snail mail. While everyone enjoys holiday cards, they usually end up in a sea of wrapping trash by January 1.  Avoid paper waste by sending electronic greetings and holiday letters to computer-savvy friends and family. In addition to being eco-friendly, you’ll cut your holiday postage budget by 50 percent or more.


2. Think outside the wrapping paper roll. Companies like Delight.com and ReusableBags.com encourage consumers to go waste-free by enclosing gifts in holiday-printed, canvas shopping bags. Baskets, bins and buckets are also reusable—and become a creative part of the gift.


3. Give experiences instead of “stuff.” Tickets to a baseball game, theater performance or museum make great, green gifts—and offer the recipient and the giver a chance to spend time together.


4.  Pass around a box to collect reusable bows, bags and tissue paper. Even crumpled gift wrap can be shredded and reused to protect fragile items before they’re stored or mailed.


5. Don’t forget the rechargeable batteries. PDAs, gadgets and children’s toys seem to eat batteries, so get creative by adding a charger and some rechargeables to electronic giveaways.


6. Recycle Styrofoam peanuts rather than sending them to the landfill. Visit the Plastic Loose Fill Council for a drop-off facility near you.

Businesses and construction companies looking to become “waste-wise” this holiday season can call (800) 548-8001 to schedule a personalized recycling consultation. At Cardella, we urge all NY/NJ businesses to partner with us in creating a greener tomorrow.

More about Cardella’s Community Commitment

If you’re familiar with Cardella Waste—you know that we never hesitate to champion a worthy effort. We’re aggressively pursuing one of those efforts every day, as we make it our continued mission to contribute to a greener tomorrow. Through our state-of-the-art, 24,000-square-foot materials recovery facility, our innovative recycling technology and our impressive landfill diversion rates, Cardella is helping residents and business reduce their carbon footprints and protect valuable natural resources. And while we specialize in fulfilling LEED requirements for construction projects, our customers can rest assured that we recycle salvageable waste for all jobs—not just LEED-specific projects. If you’re new to Cardella, call us today at (800) 548-8001 for more information about partnering in our eco-friendly initiatives.

Cardella Sponsors “Cakes for a Cause”

Welcome to our blog! We look forward to connecting with visitors, and sharing information about our business, mission and dedication to our thriving community.

So what’s the latest? After completing a used cell phone drive for Raritan Valley Habitat for Humanity this summer, we were proud to sponsor “Cakes for a Cause” charity event at Gladstone’s Sublime Restaurant (Sept. 24). Hosted by Jerry Frungillo of TLC’s Masters of Reception, all event proceeds went to Raritan’s Habitat project. With over 50 participants donating $100+ per ticket, the event was a great opportunity to enjoy drinks, appetizers and networking opportunities. The highlight of the night was judging three decadent, inventive cakes (below), which were collaboratively designed by teams of reputable NJ architects and bakers. Congratulations to the winners – Studio 1200 and Sue’s Sweets.


Special thanks to John Covey and Kate Walsh—who spearheaded the cell phone drive and “Cakes for a Cause” as part of their Roman Jeweler’s Wedding Challenge. This committed couple has a great opportunity to impact the NJ community with their Habitat project, and we wish them the best of luck. To donate to Raritan Valley or find out more about the wedding contest, click here.

Cardella Joins Meadowlands Regional Chamber

We’re pleased to announce that Cardella Waste Removal, premier New York/New Jersey provider of container rental and recycling services, recently joined the Meadowlands Regional Chamber of Commerce (www.meadowlands.org). Representing the company are Bonnie Pfleiderer, sales manager, and David J. Cardella, vice president.

The Rutherford-based Chamber’s co-sponsorship of “The Meadowlands Challenge,” an initiative of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, particularly interests us. The Challenge encourages area businesses to examine their energy use and recycling practices and find ways to improve performance in those areas. Specifically, the Challenge suggests offices increase the variety and quantity of items they recycle.

As specialists in recovering recyclables from the waste stream, we can help area businesses in their improvement efforts. Cardella collects mixed waste, sorts for recyclables, and furnishes businesses with reports on types and quantities of materials recycled.

Visiting Garbage Truck Helps Drive Home the Importance of Recycling To Adlai E. Stevenson First-Graders

As part of their Earth Day observance on April 23, 2009, more than 100 first-graders at Adlai E. Stevenson Elementary School in Fairfield, N.J., listened politely as I talked to them about the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling. But they really got excited about seeing one of our shiny red and green garbage trucks up close!

I took one of Cardella Waste Services’ trucks to my seven-year-old son David’s school as the highlight of my Earth Day presentation about where garbage goes and how long it stays there.
Using slides illustrated with cartoons designed to appeal to my young audience, I explained that a banana peel’s landfill life might be only three to four weeks, an aluminum soda can might last a year, while a plastic jug could still be there a million years from now.

I told them that’s why it’s so important to reduce the amount of garbage we send to landfills by re-using containers, and recycling what we can’t reuse.
To reinforce my points, I gave the kids Earth Day tee shirts, stickers, coloring books and press-on tattoos—but the real hit was the garbage truck. Each first grade class had its picture taken beside the truck, and the driver and I demonstrated how it works. The truck clearly was the best part for the kids. They especially loved the horn!

Citi Field

We recently wrapped up our work on Citi Field, the new world-class home of the New York Mets. Working with Hunt-Bovis, construction managers, Cardella Waste recycled all of the waste material from the demolition of Shea Stadium (its former site is now a parking lot) and from the construction of the spectacular new stadium, which officially opened on the Mets’ 2009 Opening Day.