Previous Monthly Environmental Messages
| Limit Your Carbon Monoxide Exposure | Why Recycle? |
| National Pollution Prevention Week | Help Keep Our Coast Clean |
| Your Local Air Quality Affects How You Breathe | Got Water Quality |
Limit Your Carbon Monoxide Exposure
Exposure to carbon monoxide increases during the winter and hurricane seasons when people are more likely to use gas furnaces, heaters, and generators in their homes. The most common symptoms of carbon monoxide exposure are nausea, headache and dizziness which are easily mistaken for other conditions such as a viral illness. More severe symptoms are loss of consciousness, shortness of breath and loss of muscle control.
Strategies to Prevent Carbon Monoxide Exposure:
- Install a battery-operated carbon monoxide detector in your home and replace the battery when you change the time on your clocks each spring and fall.
- Have your heating system, water heater, and any other gas-, oil-, or coal-burning appliances serviced by a qualified technician every year.
- Do not use a generator, charcoal grill, camp stove, or other gasoline- or charcoal-burning device inside your home, basement, or garage or outside near a window.
- Do not run a car or truck inside a garage attached to your house, even if you leave the door open.
- Do not heat your house with a gas oven.
If the Carbon Monoxide detector alarm goes off:Check to see if any member of the household is experiencing symptoms of poisoning. If they are, get them out of the house immediately and seek medical attention. Tell the doctor you suspect carbon monoxide poisoning. If no one is feeling symptoms, ventilate the home with fresh air and turn off all potential sources of carbon monoxide.
Why Recycle?
There are more reasons than you may think. Recycling has many environmental as well as economic benefits.
Recycling:
- Saves energy and natural resources.
- Reduces pollution caused by the extraction and processing of raw materials as well as the manufacturing of products using raw materials.
- Decreases greenhouse gas emissions as well as our reliance on foreign oil.
- Turns material that otherwise would become waste into valuable resources.
- Recyclables have value. The recyclables that you place in your bin or take to the drop-off center end up on the market as commodities that are bought and sold.
- By turning waste into raw materials, recycling creates jobs, builds more competitive manufacturing industries and adds significantly to the U.S. economy.
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In South Carolina, more than 15,000 people work in the recycling industry. Overall, the industry has a $6.5 billion impact on the state's economy.
Recycling is the right thing to do. If you do not know what or where to recycle in your community, the
S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control's (DHEC) Office of Solid Waste Reduction and Recycling can help. Visit www.scdhec.gov/recycle or call 1-800-768-7348 to learn more.
National Pollution Prevention Week
National Pollution Prevention Week is September 15-21, 2008. This is the time when businesses,
environmental groups and citizens can join forces for a common cause. By sharing information
about pollution prevention (P2), businesses can become more competitive, businesses and
government can realize cost savings, and environmental quality can be enhanced.
The Center for Waste Minimization, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental
Controls (DHEC) non-regulatory pollution prevention and waste minimization program, is
promoting P2 Week through various events and activities.
Here are just a few initiatives you can do to prevent pollution, either at home, at work or at
school:
- Do not mow your lawn or fill your gas tank on Ozone Action Days.
- Minimize water use by purchasing efficient toilets, faucets, and showerheads.
- Buy less toxic chemicals or cleaners.
- Recycle plastics, glass, aluminum, newspaper, and used motor oil.
- Reuse grocery bags by taking them with you to the store.
- Carpool, bicycle, walk, or take mass transportation to work.
- Use reusable lunch containers instead of paper and plastic bags.
- Use reusable cups for coffee and other beverages.
- Recycle your Fluorescent light bulbs.
- Implement a Pollution Prevention Team.
- Reduce materials and recycle what is used.
- Perform a waste audit.
- Print copies on both sides of each sheet of paper.
- Use non-mercury-containing thermometers.
Remember…to reduce, reuse or recycle an item before throwing it away! For more information on P2, please visit out website at www.scdhec.gov/cwm.
Help Keep Our Coast Clean
The next time you visit the coast, take a moment to consider that plastics,
fishing gear and other litter are collected from our beaches and coastal
waterways every year. Most of this litter comes directly from beach and
boating related activities. However, litter that washes into storm drains,
creeks and rivers can also be carried to the coast. Litter not only looks
terrible, it also poses a serious and sometimes deadly threat to turtles,
birds and other marine animals when mistakenly ingested as food or when
animals become trapped or entangled.
Be responsible for your trash. When visiting the coast, be sure to:
- Minimize the amount of plastic wrapping and food containers you bring with you. Consider using re-usable food containers rather than plastic bags.
- Don't bring glass bottles and consider using re-usable beverage containers.
- Bring a re-usable trash bag with you and remove all of your trash when you leave.
- If trash cans are not available at the access point or boat landing, take the trash home with you.
- Be sure to recycle!
If your community or civic organization would like to take a more active role in keeping our beaches clean, consider joining the DHEC Adopt-A-Beach program. http://www.scdhec.gov/environment/ocrm/outreach/marine_debris.htm
Your Local Air Quality Affects How You Breathe
Your local air quality affects how you breathe and your overall quality of life. Like the weather, it
can change from day to day, or even hour to hour. Up-to-date information about ground-level
ozone allows you to make informed decisions about when to reduce outdoor exposure or adjust
your schedule in response to air quality forecasts.
EnviroFlash comes to you, notifying you about important air quality information so you don't have
to search for it. An on-line subscription page allows users to sign up, edit the reported
information, or cancel the service. Once you choose the type and frequency of service that you
would like, EnviroFlash will be sent to your email or pager as specified.
You can select from forecasts in the Central Midlands, Upstate, Central Savannah River, or Pee
Dee areas. Simply go to: https://enviroflash.epa.gov/.
Do your part to help reduce ground-level ozone: carpool, stay in for lunch, fill up your gas tank
after 6:00pm, and trip chain. For more information about ground-level ozone, go to:
www.epa.gov/ozone/.
This message has been brought to you by the EQC Education and Outreach Committee -
http://www.scdhec.gov/environment/Outreach/
Got Water Quality?
May 4-10 is drinking water week, and it's a great time to think about how our daily activities affect SC's overall water quality. Nonpoint source, or runoff pollution, comes from different activities going on in your community everyday. It happens when rain water runs over and through the ground. As the rain runoff moves, it picks up and brings pollutants into our water areas. These pollutants can be fertilizers from lawns, oil and grease from our cars, soil from construction sites, bacteria from livestock or dog and cat waste, and human waste from failing septic systems. States report that runoff pollution is the leading cause of water quality problems. Runoff pollution can negatively impact our drinking water sources, natural swimming areas, and the creatures that live in our lakes, streams and rivers.
The following tips can help you become part of the solution to runoff pollution:
- Keep litter, pet wastes, leaves, and debris out of street gutters and storm drains. These drains go directly to lake, streams, rivers, and wetlands.
- Dispose of used oil, antifreeze, paints, and other household chemicals properly. Do not pour them into storm drains.
- Have your septic system checked to be sure it's working properly.
- Use lawn and garden chemicals sparingly and according to directions.
- Be aware that many chemicals commonly used around the home are toxic. Use non-toxic substitutes wherever possible.
- Celebrate drinking water week on May 4-10, 2008, by contacting you local water provider to see how you can get help in protecting your drinking water. Also, check out EPAs drinking water website at www.epa.gov/safewater/dwh/getin.html