The New Year is a time to take stock of your life, focus on your goals, and improve yourself however you see fit. Sometimes this means resolving to adopt healthier habits, like eating more vegetables or joining a gym. Other times it means setting a goal to improve your life, such as watching less television or spending more time with your family. At Carolina Fibre, we also encourage everyone to make “recycling” resolutions—that is, to set goals and intentions that will make the world a better place for all of us.
In this post, we’ve rounded up some easy ways to work more recycling into your day. Together, we can make 2016 our greenest year yet!
Pull the Plug 
In the average home, 25% of electricity is consumed while products are plugged in—even when they’re not on! This is known as a “phantom load” and is a waste of energy and money. While you can’t unplug everything in your house (we recommend keeping your refrigerator plugged in at all times!) it’s easy to pull the plug on appliances and tools you use once or twice a day. Phone chargers, blenders, toasters, and coffee makers are great places to start.
Waste Not, Want Not 
According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, the average American family wastes $2,225 every year on food they don’t eat. Leftovers that don’t get consumed, fruits and vegetables that go bad, and expired goods are all part of this problem. Not only is this a waste of money, it’s also a waste of resources, energy, and nutrition. In 2016, make an effort to buy only what you need, use what you have, and freeze the extra. Your wallet—not to mention the planet—will thank you!
Green Your Coffee Routine 
Don’t worry, we’re not going to tell you to give up coffee or cut back. After all, coffee has many health benefits, in addition to helping us get to work on time! Our suggestion for “greening” your coffee habit is much less painful. Instead of stopping at Starbucks on your way to work, brew your own coffee at home. If that’s too much trouble, then invest in a travel mug. Not only will this keep hundreds of disposable coffee cups out of the landfill, you’ll probably get a discount at your favorite coffee shop just for bringing your own.
Go Digital 
Many places, including utility companies and banks, now offer paperless statements and bills. Instead of receiving a bill in the mail, it’s delivered to your email. Going digital is especially easy if you have a tablet, Kindle, or iPad—you can use it to subscribe to your favorite newspapers and magazines. These digital options are an easy and convenient way to cut down on paper, saving precious resources.
Get a Tune Up 
It would be great if everyone was able to bike or walk to work, but unfortunately we live in a world where automobiles are necessary to our way of life. You can, however, lessen the impact your car has on the environment. Properly maintaining it—think clean air filters, inflated tires, and an empty trunk—will help it run more efficiently, causing less pollution and saving you gas. If it’s in your budget, feel free to go to a car wash instead of cleaning your car yourself. Professional car washes tend to use water more efficiently than us amateurs, which is a great excuse to treat yourself!
We hope this post inspires you to set a few recycling goals this year. Not only will you save time and money, you’ll also save the planet. Not a bad way to spend 2016! If you decide to make any of these resolutions, or if you have one to add to our list, let us know on Facebook. In the meantime, Happy New Year!
 

At Carolina Fibre Corporation, we don’t see recycling as an individual thing a single person does. Instead, we view it as a process that can be explained by the five Ps—People, Product, Place, Price, and Promotions. Today we’re going to explain how each of these Ps plays a part in the amazing process of recycling.
PEOPLE
Recycling is accomplished thanks to an interconnected web of relationships between all the people who make the magic happen. There are many people who are a part of the recycling journey. This includes individuals, small and large companies, project managers, and waste management companies at the city and county level who have recyclable materials. Many of these people and businesses are able to earn money off these materials, which is much better than paying to dump it or adding it to the landfills. Other people who are involved in this process are those who want to purchase these materials, those who transport materials from one place to another, and companies like Carolina Fibre Corporation, which facilitates the whole process.
PRODUCT
While paying for what amounts to trash might seem strange, these products are actually very valuable. There are many customers who need post-consumer materials for their processes, such as paper mills, plastic manufacturers, and aluminum processors. When something is good for business and the planet, it’s a win-win!
The other part of product equation is connecting suppliers with customers, so that everyone gets what they need. Carolina Fibre coordinates these agreements one sale at a time, based on supply and demand.
PLACE
Getting these products from one place to another isn’t easy, and requires a lot of cooperation and manpower. This is accomplished by trucking companies and brokers that provide timely and competitive pricing for pick-up and delivery of loads with weights between 20 and 25 tons. Carolina Fibre works with domestic truckers that haul 40 foot trailers to paper mills in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama and as far away as Arizona. We also work with export truckers that haul containers from our suppliers to ports at Norfolk, VA, Wilmington, NC, Charleston, SC, Savannah, GA and Miami, FL. Thanks to these trucking services, Carolina Fibre is able to help fulfill purchase orders from our worldwide network of trading partners.
PRICE
Our price guidelines are published monthly by the PPI Pulp & Paper, and they reflect the regional supply and demand perspectives of companies in the Northeast, Midwest, Southeast, Southwest, LA-SF and Pacific Northwest. Pricing for 17 products is tracked in this way. Because of these guidelines, we’re able to guarantee fair pricing on all the products we buy and sell.
PROMOTIONS
Our promotions are designed to build Carolina Fibre’s business. They include word of mouth, branding with logos, PR collateral, magazine articles, tradeshows, website, blog, Pinterest and Facebook. Since 2003, over 1000 inquiries have been received through the Internet alone from individuals worldwide who have materials to sell or seek a recycling solution otherwise. The ability to promote our business in fun and innovative ways is essential to keeping our business growing and thriving.
We hope this helps you understand how Carolina Fibre Corporation works, and the role we all play in the recycling process. For more insider information, recycling tips, and ideas for how to live a more environmentally friendly life don’t forget to follow us on Facebook!
 
 

Paper. Plastic. Glass. Aluminum. When we think about recycling, these are the materials that first come to mind. In reality, there are tons of wacky and wonderful things that can be given a second life—if we’re willing to think outside the box and get creative. Below are five things you probably didn’t know were recyclable. Check them out, and take your green lifestyle to the next level!
1. Running Shoes
After you cross the line of your next marathon, don’t toss those old, stinky, broken down sneakers! Instead of throwing them in the trash, give them a second life by dropping them off in one of Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe recycling bin. This innovative program takes old running shoes and turns them into Nike Grind, a versatile material used to make everything from sports courts and to zippers. Find a drop-off location near you and breath new life into your running shoes.
2. Wine Corks
Drinking a bottle of wine is only half the fun. The other half is turning those wine corks into fun and creative projects that brighten up your home and keep that cork out of the landfill. You can use corks to make everything from clever bulletin boards to chic trivets. We’ll toast to that!
3. Yoga Mats
Yoga is a path to enlightenment, but there’s nothing enlightening about a trashcan filled with old yoga mats. Instead of sending your mat to that yoga studio in the sky, you could always turn them into a pair of flip-flops. While they may not be the most fashionable shoe you’ll ever wear, they’re fine for getting to and from class. If you need more ideas, Treehugger offers up 21 ways to repurpose your old yoga mat. Now that’s dedication!
4. Toothbrushes
Your toothbrush should be replaced every three to four months, which means the average person will go through approximately 156 toothbrushes in their lifetime! That’s a lot of toothbrushes. Keep the earth as clean as your pearly whites by recycling those toothbrushes. Luckily, the organization TerraCycle has teamed up with Colgate to create a free recycling program for oral care products. Visit their website to join the program and participate!
5. Pet Hair
If you own a dog or cat, then you know pet hair is a truly sustainable resource—there’s always more to sweep up! Instead of throwing away all that pet hair, you can donate it to a group called Matter of Trust, which uses it help soak up oil spills. You can also create sweaters from it, which sounds weird until you consider most wool sweaters are make from the fur of sheep. (Actually, never mind—it still sounds weird!)

It’s summer, which means the odds are good that you’ll find yourself at a beach some time over the next few months. From white sand to warm breezes to refreshing ocean water, the beach is a wonderful place to relax, unwind, and appreciate nature’s gifts. Which is exactly why it’s so important to keep our beaches and oceans clean—so that we can enjoy them for years to come!
Leave No Trace
It may seem like common sense, but you’d be surprised. If you bring it to the beach, no matter what it is, it’s your responsibility to pack it back out. This goes for paper, plastic, cigarette butts, and even leftover food. You pack a beach bag because you want to bring some of the comforts of home to the sea. Make sure the sea remains comfortable for the creatures that live there year round, and take those things back home!
A Clean Ocean is a Happy Ocean
As the film Finding Nemo put it, “All drains lead to the ocean.” This is why it’s important to properly dispose cleaners, solvents, motor oil, pesticides, and other chemicals that can pollute or run off into the waterways. Better yet, stop using these things completely and switch to organic, all-natural cleaners and solvents! It’s a great way to protect the oceans, even if you live inland.
Clean Up After Your Pets
There’s nothing like watching a dog run in the sand, frolic in the sea, and chase the waves as they roll in and out. The dog’s happiness will bring a smile to anyone’s face—until nature calls and the dog answers. If you plan to bring your dog to the beach this summer, make sure to bring bags so you can pick up and pack up
 Practice Fire Safety
If you want to have bonfire on the beach, the first step is to make sure fires are allowed. Once you’ve secured permission, make sure you only burn natural, untreated wood—a fire is not the way to dispose of trash or plastics! Finally, make sure the fire is completely extinguished before you leave the beach. The best way to do this is to drown it, not bury it. So borrow a sand pail and get a bucket full of water when it’s time to turn out the lights.
 Participate in a Beach Clean Up Day
These are held regularly throughout the year, and they’re a great way to take direct and immediate action while beautifying the local beaches. Can’t find a beach clean up day near you? It might be time to start your own! The Ocean Conservancy has some good tips on beach clean ups—check them out here.
We hope these tips help you have a safe, happy, and healthy summer at the beach! If you have any tips we’ve missed, feel free to share them on our Facebook page. See you at the beach!
 

At Carolina Fibre Corporation, we pride ourselves on providing extensive recycling services to those living and working in the Greensboro area. One of our most popular services, especially for businesses, is our confidential document destruction service, also known as Confidential Shredding. Not only does this important service help you dispose sensitive documents in a responsible way, it also protects the people you work with and serve.
Identity Theft
Most people are aware of identify theft these days, but in this case being aware of an issue doesn’t stop it. According to a recent CNN article, identity fraud hits a new victim every two seconds, and the average amount of money stolen from a single person as a result of identity theft is $1500.
One of the biggest sources of identity theft are data breaches by businesses and corporations. For example, nearly everyone remembers the Target debacle of 2013. When Target revealed that their data has been compromised, it caused a huge backlash and a loss of trust in the brand. While Target was able to rebuild their reputation thanks to a massive marketing campaign, it’s safe to say that most small businesses lack Target’s resources and wouldn’t be nearly as lucky. Rather than take an unnecessary risk with your data, confidential information, and employee and customer records, it’s far better to dispose of them properly and rest easy, knowing your bases are covered.
What Should You Shred?
When it comes to anything that contains confidential, sensitive, or personal information, shredding is the appropriate choice. Recycling alone isn’t enough—copies of these items must be completely destroyed once you’re done with them. (Note: originals should never be shredded! Keep those in a locked, fireproof box or filing cabinet.) The list of documents that should be shredded includes, but is not limited to:

• Address labels on junk mail and magazines
• Bank statements, loan applications, and receipts
• Copies of birth certificates, driver’s licenses, and passports
• Anything that lists a name, phone number, email, and/or address
• Anything containing banking information and/or passwords
• Anything that lists a person’s social security number
• Resumes, transcripts, and report cards
• Tax information, paystubs, and pension plan documents
• Medical and dental records

Protection… Guaranteed
While desktop shredders will get the job done, they can be time consuming to use, especially if you have a large amount of paper to shred. That’s where Carolina Fibre Corporation comes in.
To help protect you, your business, your employees, and your customers from identity theft and fraud, enlist the help of our Confidential Shredding services. When we’re done, we’ll even provide you with a certificate of destruction, backed by the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID). This group’s mission is to promote the information destruction industry and the standards and ethics of its member companies. (See? We’re not the only ones who take the destruction of information seriously!)
If your business handles any amount of sensitive or personal information, don’t cut corners. Instead, contact Carolina Fibre Corporation and we’ll make sure your documents are properly destroyed.