The US alone produces more plastic waste than all EU countries combined

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The American way of life is putting the planet to the test. Since the NGO Global Footprint Network calculates the famous “overshoot day” every year, we know that it would take roughly five Earths to meet the needs of all humanity if we all lived like Americans.

A groundbreaking report released by the U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine lifts the veil on a particularly deleterious impact on the American way of life: the production of plastic waste. In this category, the United States are the world champions, reveals the study commissioned by the United States Congress to assess the national contribution to ocean pollution.

42 million tons of plastic waste per year: this is the dizzying weight of plastic waste in the United States. A production higher than that of all the countries of the European Union.

Production exceeds waste management capabilities

According to a new report mandated by the United States Congress, 52 million metric tons of plastic waste was emitted in 2021 in the USA. This corresponds to approximately 130 kg of plastic waste per American per year. That is a balance sheet almost twice that of China, as well as all the countries of the European Union. In comparison, the French each emit 43 kg of plastic waste each year on average.

Like the rest of the West, plastic production in the United States has been growing since the 1960s. The recycling infrastructure has failed to keep pace with the enormous growth of American plastic production, comments the report produced by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

A garbage truck dumped in the ocean every minute

The study highlights the urgency of putting in place a national strategy by the end of 2024 to reduce the United States’ contribution to global ocean plastic waste at every stage, as well as establishing a coordinated and extensive monitoring system at the national level to identify sources and track the trajectory of plastic pollution.

According to the report, 8.8 million tonnes of plastic waste ends up in the sea each year, equivalent to dumping a garbage truck of plastic waste into the ocean every minute. This is a serious concern as far as waste management is concerned.

At the current rate, the amount of plastic dumped into the ocean could reach 53 million tonnes per year by 2030, or about half the total weight of fish caught in the ocean each year, the study estimates.

Plastic pollution made in the USA is all the more impressive since the United States represents less than 5% of the world’s population. In relation to the number of inhabitants, an American thus produces on average around 130 kilos of plastic waste per year, i.e. eight times more than a Chinese (15 kilos) and three times more than a French person (43 kilos). Behind the Americans, the British (99 kilos) and the South Koreans (88 kilos) complete the trio of the biggest polluters.

Dumpster Rentals to the rescue

Americans use a lot of dumpster rental services to discard their junk and waste. But there is not enough of them in the country to balance the mass of garbage created every day (click here for more information).

Waste management must become a high priority everywhere in the United States including in Georgia, otherwise we are compromising our children’s future. The time of awakening has come, let’s all stop creating so much waste.

How Paper, Metal, Wood, Glass and Plastics Are Recycled

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With different rules for recycling in different places, we know that it’s not always easy to put the right thing in the right bin, including if you are renting a dumpster to discard your junk.

When there are a lot of different labels, regulations, and codes to keep up with, it’s tough to keep up this waste management process. That’s why we’ve put together this guide to help you make the best decisions for your recycling.

It includes best practices for plastic, glass, paper metal, and wood.

Plastic

Plastic recycling has one big problem: Plastic types can’t be mixed together for recycling, but it’s hard to tell them apart just based on how they look!

The improper kind of plastic, even in a small amount, can disrupt the whole process. In response to this problem, the plastic industries has bought up a series of markers that can be found on the plastic containers.

This does not mean that the plastics can be recycled or the containers is made from recycled plastic. Despite the symbol of arrows, these markers only show the type of plastic.

It must be virtually marked with the code on everything that is made out of plastic. All kinds of waste can’t be reused.

Types 1 and 2 are accepted Type 4 isn’t always accepted in bag form, but it’s sometimes. Code 7 is plastic that is layered or mixed and has little chance of being recycled.

Only the sorts of plastic mentioned by your local recycling organisation should be placed in your container!
Produce Bags, Grocer Sacks, And Other Packagings

Produce socks and Plastic grocery are often, not always, made of types 2 or 4 of plastic. These bags are often found in barrels at grocery shops, and they usually ends up as plastic lumber, which can be used to build things.

If you have a lot of bags in your house, what can you do? They may be used in many different ways, from storage units to litter box liners.

Glass

Bottles, Jars, Standard Glass And Much More.

Glass is fully recyclable & saves a lot of energy resources. Making things out of recycled glass takes less energy than making things from scratch. Recycled glass is turned into new bottles for drinks, food jars, insulation, and other things.

There are usually two types of recycled glass: clear glass that can be turned into new clear glasses, and coloured glass that can be turned into new coloured glass items.

Recycling programs could ask people to separate glass container by color because they want them to do this. It’s called “single-stream recycling.” Many curbside recycling programmes will pick up both clear and coloured glass containers & separate them.

Metal

According to Philadelphia waste management service specialists, American people use more than hundred million steel cans & more than 200 million aluminium cans every day.

You could rebuild the entire US commercial airliner fleet each 3 months with that amount of money. The content of almost all aluminium & steel products can be reused over and over again without sacrificing its strength. Listed below are a some of the most widely used recyclables:

• Aluminum
• Cans of soda
• Appliances
• Parts for cars
• Windows

Paper

No, you don’t have to take out the screws and other things that hold things together in notebooks.

These are pushed out when paper is turned into pulp. Any paper that is dirty or greasy, like napkins, can’t be recycled!

You might not be able to recycle papers that are waxed, composite, or laminated. This includes fast food wraps, milk cartons, and drink boxes. A type of paper that can’t be recycled, like fax paper, can’t be turned into new paper.

Can Wood Be Used Again?

Yes, most wood trash can be used to build things, recycled into mulch or pulp for paper, and used as a fuel. Also, reusing & recycling reduces the need to cut down trees, which saves trees.

It’s called wood waste recycling when you turn old wood into new things that can be used. Paper, panel board, wood pellets, energy, and many other things are made from scrap wood that has been recycled.

Waste wood recycling is becoming more important because it costs more to dispose of waste and because people are more concerned about the environment.

Often, people think that by recycling wood trash, there will be less demand for “green timber.” This is good because it will help the environment.

Waste Management in Los Angeles

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Waste collection at home

The diversity of habitat encountered within the same city requires different collection methods, such as:

  • Residential area collected in individual or collective bins;
  • Vertical housing in collective bins (with layout of the premises cleanliness) ;
  • Isolated dwellings in collective bins….

In 2019, for a population of 3,936M4, 845,843.63 T of O.M. and 334,723.64 T of bulky items have collected in Los Angeles. The waste produced by families is dumped in wheeled bins in the framework of three service contracts; a collection of bulky and large waste
plants is also carried out door to door.

This collection is made in part by the staff and resources of the city with rented trucks and partly by refuse tampers 16 m3 housewives which have the advantage of having a yield of at least three times superior to others but they are expensive. Then the waste is deposited at the recycling transit centers, then picked up and transferred to the warehouses of waste operated by the state: 498,232 tonnes of waste
from all over the territory are buried at a cost of $130,510,395 including tax.

In 2018, in order to better manage waste management in Los Angeles, the number of households dumpsters has gone from two garbage bins, one for recyclables (1505.51 T i.e. 27.05 kg / inhabitant / year) and the other for waste produced by households.

Composting of fermentable waste in the garden

This method of waste management consists of extracting the waste fermentable products (garden plants and kitchen waste) from the production of household waste by providing them with a bio-composter.

This has been operational since 1999. As of December 31, 2019, 670 biocomposters with a capacity of 350 liters as well as 1,930 bio-composters of 750 liters capacity are in service on the territory, of which 534 and 1,395 in the territory of the municipality of Los Angeles.

In total, 222,600 households and establishments are concerned. Since the distribution of these bio-composters, plants, sent to the local waste reception centers, passed 2,085 m3 in 2019.

However, this operation, carried out since 1999, is running out of steam as the as the staff hired to promote this equipment is not properly trained in modern waste management techniques.

In addition, the population no longer adheres to this practice. To succeed the compost, the population must scrupulously respect the fermentation process of its waste, which is not acquired even if it has been sufficiently sensitized and this approach requires, in particular, regular monitoring in order to avoid possible foul odors.

The residents of Los Angeles must be more aware of sustainability, pollution and recycling. It is the duty of the government to spread the word about best waste management practices. Use less plastic, consume reasonably, rent a dumpster for Spring cleaning to declutter the house, etc.

Many local residents do not know that it is very easy to remove old junk from your home or office. Type dumpster rental near me in google and they can find local providers in recycling and waste disposal services.

FIFA 21 to Herald Playstation 5

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ps5 FIFA21
With the new release of FIFA 21 just at the corner in less than 10 days, it is also the arrival of Playstation 5 on the market that is building a growing impatience among gamers all over the world.

With the current pandemic and people less tempted (or sometimes not allowed) to go outside, online gaming is making a real boom in 2020, and the end of the year festivities will see many new releases. The top players in this market are expecting to make massive profits this year.

Social engagement is getting crucial for gamers and is increasing. FIFA 21 and ps5 both promote social interactions, and a lot of expectations have been building up about their upcoming releases.

PS5: a marketing campaign with Doritos

Sony is actively preparing for the launch of the PlayStation 5 for the holiday season. Even though the PS5 can already count on thousands of fans, ready to buy it upon its release, Sony is nevertheless determined to reach more and more potential buyers for its next-gen console.

For this, the Japanese firm has teamed up with the famous cracker brand Doritos as part of a major marketing campaign, as can be seen from recent images shared on Reddit.

Is Sony preparing a PlayStation 5 Pro?

A few weeks ago, users of the PS5 subreddit shared images of Doritos “Chilli Pepper” flavor packets that display the profile of the console’s DualSense controller. Posts on Reddit claim that the famous packages are currently available in Europe, but no mention has yet been made of the US and the rest of the world.

A contest to win a PS5

This is a really big hitting marketing campaign: indeed, Doritos packages don’t just feature the PS5 logo. Chip lovers are also invited to enter a contest to win a brand new PlayStation 5, just that!

The campaign also promises more than 2,000 other prizes up for grabs for those who buy bags of “Chilli Pepper x PS5” chips from the famous cracker brand.

For now, no specifics have yet been released on the exact details of how to participate in the famous competition, but it should be soon. Unless the instructions are indicated on the Doritos packages?

A launch on November 13 for the PlayStation 5?

Doritos is not at their first campaign!

As one of the most popular chip brands, Doritos is not doing its first marketing campaign involving the world of video games. Indeed, seven years ago (in 2013), the brand had already participated in a vast promotional campaign similar to that of the PS5, but this time in collaboration with Microsoft for the launch of the Xbox One.

A few months earlier, Doritos had also made the buzz by promoting the game Call of Duty Cold War on its packets of chips, although the game had not yet been officially announced!

In any case, as regards the partnership between Sony and Doritos, there is no doubt that it will benefit both the Japanese giant and the famous American brand of chips.

Get Some House Renovations Ideas

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house renovation
A home improvement project provides your home with many benefits.

Improving your home can make your home a nicer place to live and make it sell for more money. Having expert knowledge is not always necessary for home improvements. Even for big projects, it is easy to get the job done with a little knowledge and the right advice. Here are some tips to get great results in home improvement.

Why renovating your home

You may have occasion to repaint your porch. You should use a high quality exterior paint. Make sure you use the same paint type as the existing paint. It’s best to use oil-based paints for trim, since it’s more durable. It should not, however, be used on decks or other outdoor flooring, as it tends to become very slippery when it snows.

If you want a project that takes minimal effort and makes full impact, grab a fresh bucket of paint. A new coat of paint makes your house feel fresh and new without the costs or headaches attached. It ensures buyers will be interested in moving in.

Any home improvement project will be hard work. Create a list of all the tasks you must take care of. You may also want to get an additional opinion to ensure you didn’t miss anything during your assessment. It will provide you with a complete plan of what will be done and allow you to get a good idea of what it will look like upon completion.

Located above eye level and therefore out of mind, gutters, chimneys, and downspouts are often ignored during home improvement and maintenance projects. It is essential to make repairs if necessary. A dirty chimney presents a very real fire hazard, and letting your downspouts and gutters get clogged can cause water intrusion and serious structural problems.

Visit open houses to find ideas of what may look in your home. Doing this will allow you to check out modern looks so that you will better be able to imagine the look of your home with these options. This is much better than simply looking at the modern options at your local hardware store. You’ll find many homes have the touch of an interior designer, ideas you can take for free.

Don’t omit any detail

Every bathroom, kitchen and laundry area needs an exhaust fan. This keeps moist air headed outside and stops mold growth indoors. Exhaust fans can also reduce the humidity that causes rot.

Caned chair seats are naturally subject to sagging as time passes. This is easily correctable, however. Using a sponge, wet the underside of the sagging caning on the chair. Make sure to use warm water. Allow the water to sit overnight, drying out the caning. Keep doing this until you completely fix the caning.

Today, you need to watch for sub-par drywall when considering home improvement projects. Never utilize sheet rock or wall board that was made in China. Much drywall has been made in China since 2005. Most of it is of terrible quality. In some cases, drywall from China can emit harmful gases, which can corrode wires.

Completely changing the flooring in a room can be very expensive, no matter whether the new flooring is tile, wood or carpet-based. An affordable option is to remove the flooring and use colored stain on the concrete. The stain makes the concrete have a new industrial look that can match any decor.

Replacing your outlet covers with new ones will add a fresh look to a tired room. As time passes, outlet covers frequently start to age and discolor. Replacing your outlet covers helps refresh your home’s appearance.

Don’t forget the yard

If you are not able to take good care of your yard, try changing it to a low maintenance version to make it less work. Plants that don’t require much water and rock beds are very popular for this purpose. A low maintenance yard will save you time, and low water requirements will save you money.

When you use these tips you can get rid of any hassles or extra expenses that might happen if you do not plan. It is time to approach your next project confidently.

You might now always find the information that you need to make home improvements, but you should be looking for it. This article is a great place to start.

If there are some cracks in the roof, buy a roll of tape made of aluminum. Peel the paper backing from the sticky take before you apply it to the cleaned surface. This ensures a waterproof seal over any cracks.

If you door still squeaks despite your best efforts to remedy the situation, it may just need a new hinge. Your local hardware store will carry what you need. Just take the hinge off and attach the new hinge on the door and then the frame. Try aligning the hinge and replacing the pins.

Before you pop open that can of paint and get your brush out, remember that you need to protect your flooring. This will help ensure wet paint doesn’t ruin them. A cheaper way to get this done is to layer old newspapers. Drop cloths and plastic sheeting are also available to protect your floors from paint drips.

Consider insulating your residence during your next home improvement project. Use weather stripping along all the exits to the outside world. Your heating and cooling systems will be more efficient if you can reduce the amount of outside air entering your home. That is going to mean savings on your utility bills.

Whatever your home improvement project, you need a designated space for all waste and debris that piles up as a result of your projects. Removing the materials can be costly, so planning ahead is a great way to realize substantial savings and keep the project moving.

Exhaust fans should be installed in cooking areas, in the laundry room and in every bathroom. Venting moist, humid air outdoors reduces the chances of mold or mildew forming inside your home. Lowering indoor humidity will also prevent the trapping of condensation in the walls, thereby preventing rot.

Stop Selling Dreams to Your Prospects

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Making your customers dream is one thing … delivering what you sell is another!

Make people dream by telling the story of their company, their product, staging themselves or their company, that is the art of storytelling. You become the hero of your own story, humanize your communication and demonstrate your values. The approach then arouses the support of a community which will then attach itself to this representation.

You capture the attention of your prospects and retain your customers. If storytelling is an art rather practiced by marketing experts and requires increased vigilance so as not to fall into manipulation, overselling is practiced more commonly at all levels of the purchasing cycle, mostly by selling power.

Overselling the Dream

To oversell is to make a promise and not being able to keep it, knowing full well that the probability of fulfillment will be low. Promise of deadlines, functional promise, price promise, product promise, result promise … This desire to sell at any cost naturally translates after the purchase into a customer disenchantment which can cost the company dearly, in the end.

Customers and prospects regularly share with previous experiences with service providers that ultimately led to a gap between promise and reality. Why is this damaging to their business?

Selling needs to be always positive and reactive towards the needs expressed by prospects. But wanting to sell at all costs simply to say yes to each request from your prospects and customers is a mistake in positioning. Do not sell unattainable dreams if you can’t deliver.

When we say “no” to our customers or prospects

Because we don’t have a magic wand or a crystal ball. If the telephone remains today the best channel for acquiring truly qualified prospects and making appointments, cold telephone prospecting requires more rigor and perseverance than ever. By adding digital to our offer, we simply allow our telemarketing team to call warmer prospects, improve the ratios on the outgoing call, make a warm call and gain in quality on the potential of conversion by our customers of the appointments delivered.

To make appointments, generating leads via digital is not enough. Having a website is good. Having a website that converts (landing page, form, call to action, etc.) is great. Having inbound contacts is very good. But even if your inbound contact is a web form to book an online demonstration of software, or a request for a quote on a service … what do you really know about the prospect?

Does he have a project? Is he the only decision maker? What about the purchasing cycle? What is his budget? So many questions necessary to qualify the lead before transmitting to the sale. And rare are the B2B meetings that are taken without picking up the phone. The telephone exchange remains the only way to qualify and convert your lead into a sales opportunity.

This is why we should say no to prospects who want an appointment only with digital prospecting. The reason is not to do digital to make digital because it is trendy, but to deliver appointments!

Digital without social networks and without content, is mission impossible.

Because you don’t attract flies with vinegar. Yes, digital prospecting works. Yes, a well thought out multichannel acquisition strategy and with the right tools, it works. Yes, generating qualified prospects and incoming leads is possible. But a strategy of content without content is impossible.

The content is: blog articles, videos, testimonials, infographics … in short, materials on the internet to establish your expertise and reassure your know-how. So that the prospect selects you and not your competitor when looking for a provider.

The main thing is not just to have a Linkedin profile or a blog, but to participate and to be active on the internet.

You can support clients in defining their content strategy and their multi-channel acquisition, without being a purely content agency. Define what they must produce as content (type, format, frequency, etc.) and the involvement of customers then becomes essential in the implementation.

Multichannel prospecting without the right tools is complicated.

Who says multichannel says multiple points of contact and not just a linkedin profile and emails. It is a question of having a tool which centralizes and manages all the points of contact, to know which message to send, to whom, when and by which channel.

Combine marketing and commercial performance and efficiency. Align marketing and sales efforts. Scale your marketing and commercial approach. Of course, prospecting without tools is possible. But automating tasks saves time and efficiency.

What may be obvious to some is not necessarily obvious to others. To say no to a prospect is to guard against his future disenchantment as a customer if he was sold dreams, to have a clear promise, to commit, to respect his positioning and to deliver what has been sold.

Home-made ways to beat pollution in Texas

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When black smoke escapes from the refinery across the road, local residents have only one way to protect theirlungs from this toxic attack: they are closing the door. South of the United States, Texas is the state that emits the most greenhouse gases in the country. This record is explained by the massive combustion of coal to produce electricity and by an economy which rests essentially on dirty industries like petroleum and chemistry.

What makes people sick is part of the picture, and for many officials such as Governor, it is even local folklore. The latter has just declared that he would abolish the Ministry of the Environment if he accessed the White House. His opponents point out that the legislation is lax, light controls and companies have little incentive to comply with environmental rules, fines of anecdotal amount being rarely applied.

Wild emissions of contaminants

State control bodies respond that results on the ground are the best way to judge the effectiveness of environmental measures. If everything they say was true, the air quality would not improve according to the spokesperson for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. But if greenhouse gas emissions are actually decreasing, they are still at a worrying level, as is the number of illegal dumping. Recently there were 2,553 wild emission acts that released 2.73 million kilos of contaminants into the sky. The State initiated proceedings in 123 of these cases and drew up an offense report in 172 other cases.

The decision by oil tanker BP to continue refining after the Texas City facility fire burned out pollution controls for 40 days last year. Rare fact, it also pushed the State to introduce civil penalties, beyond the fines generally limited to 10.000 dollars per day. However, in this example, no action was taken to ask BP to cease operating, rather than simply burning the gas flares, or reporting to local authorities on the progress of the pollution.

The local authorities encourage people to recycle and employ better waste management practices. Residents and businesses can rent a dumpster in Tyler and other cities in Texas like Houston and Austin, so they can discard junk in bulk. This is a way to reduce pollution. Another way is also to consume more responsibly and use less plastic bags .

A small band of environmental activists take samples

Since regulation is very loose in matters of the environment, the people who are supposed to monitor all this, do not examine the situation adequately according to the director of the Texan antenna of the defense organization of the environment Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. On the strength of this observation, the inhabitants of Port Arthur, a city tainted by its centuries-old refinery industries, decided to take matters into their own hands. Armed with air monitoring devices made with buckets and plastic bags, a small band of environmental activists take samples for testing in independent laboratories.

And they have already reaped some substantial victories, such as forcing Motiva to install new pollution control procedures, funding an annual air test, and setting up a $ 3.5 million economic development fund. But children remain sick while factory owners postpone maintenance that would reduce the frequency of toxic air emissions. At least three times a month, one of these factories will be damaged which will release tons of toxic products into the air according to environmental activists.

Most of the time, the state looks elsewhere and tells us that it is nothing. Even if the locals are forced to put a wet towel over their faces just to breathe. People are concerned about the long-term consequences. But at the same time, they do not want the closure of refineries, a major provider of jobs in the region.

Why Marketing Your Mattress Company With Coupons Is A Good Idea

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nice bedEverybody needs a good night sleep. This is why mattress businesses can be very successful. Most people are willing to spend extra money just to ensure they are going to enjoy a restful sleep each and every night. However, as mattresses aren’t cheap, acquiring a nice market share can be difficult, particularly if your mattress company markets high-end products.

This is where coupons should come into play to help your business grow. If you haven’t considered using coupons to market your mattresses, you definitely should. There are a few good advantages to using this marketing method to make your mattresses appealing to a wider category of people. Let’s take a look into some of these benefits your business could take advantage of.

The first advantage is that you’ll attract more clients by offering them the opportunity to use coupons to get discounted mattresses. As this is a very competitive market, enticing consumers into committing to a specific brand or company is a difficult thing to do. They would use your website to do their research, but there’s no guarantee they aren’t going to buy their mattress from one of your competitors. By creating and offering coupons, you help keeping these potential customers close. Many of them would save these coupons to make use of them by the time they will make the purchase. Furthermore, they might pass on these coupons to their friends. Either way, coupons will help you gain new clients.

The other advantage of coupons is that they can help you spread the word about your company and about the best features of your mattresses. Coupons are excellent for brand recognition and brand awareness. People who come across them might remember the name of your company whenever they will talk about mattresses with their peers. Word-of-mouth is a very powerful marketing and communication vehicle. If you can stimulate it by issuing coupons, you’ll be able to enjoy free publicity. Even those who don’t need a mattress right away will remember your brand, so that would be money well spent.

A mattress coupon can be an invitation for people to buy more stuff from your store, just look at laylamattresscoupons.com and how well it attracts new customers. People would come to take a look at your discounted mattresses, but they might end up buying bed sheets, pillows or other such products. You’ll make a nice profit, whether they decide to purchase also the mattress or not.

The most important thing is that they’ve got to visit your store due to the coupon they found on a website or in their local newspaper. Besides, you may not have to pay huge fees to have your coupons advertised in media. Many websites and magazines are happy to publish such offers for free, as they know their readers love coupons. You’ll spread the word about your business without having to spend an arm and a leg on marketing and advertising.

In order to keep your business profit under control, always make sure that your coupons have an expiry date. The last thing you want is to have people asking to redeem their coupons one year after the promotion is over. Limit the availability period of these coupons, and you’ll be able to estimate how many mattresses you’d sell at the discounted price. Although such projections may not be extremely accurate, they should be able to help you figure out the health of your bottom line.

If you do your research before taking action, you’ll be able to find the ideal value of your coupons. Remember that you should measure your outcome, as that’s the only way you can assess the success of your campaign.

Visit Charleston and South Carolina

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Discover South Carolina and enjoy the cuisine, history and charm of the Southern United States.

From the Blue Ridge Mountains in the west to the Atlantic Ocean in the east, South Carolina is as varied in its relief as in its attractions and activities. The state is divided into three regions. The northern part of the state, centered around Greenville, a growing city, is popular for its outdoor activities and quaint mountain villages. The Midlands (Piedmont) is home to Columbia, the state capital, known for its year-round summer weather. The South Carolina coast includes historic little jewelery like Charleston and Fort Sumter, as well as golf courses and heavenly beaches, including Hilton Head Island and Myrtle Beach.

Southern stories

Wherever you go in this state, South Carolina is steeped in the history of the United States. It was at Fort Sumter near Charleston that the first shots of the American Civil War were traded in April 1861. Four years later, Confederate President Jefferson Davis acknowledged his defeat at the Burt-Stark Mansion in Abbeville.

History buffs will be delighted to discover Charleston, a scenic city founded in 1670 and voted the # 1 city in the United States by Travel + Leisure magazine for five consecutive years, and # 1 in the world in 2016. In addition, along the coast, you will discover the history and culture of the Gullah, descendants of African slaves who have historically inhabited the Lowcountry and have developed a distinct culture and language still preserved today.

Nowadays while the city maintains its traditional look, it is also booming with new construction and renovation projects. That makes the local Charleston roll-off rentals busy as there is a lot of cleaning up going on. As the residents like to keep the city clean and tidy, waste management has to be run smoothly, for the benefit of all visitors.

The taste of life

Impossible to visit South Carolina without having some mouth watering sensations. At a beachfront restaurant, savor the freshly caught seafood from this oceanfront state, which also includes dozens of lakes and rivers. Share with the locals a Low country boil, a traditional dish consisting of a generous mix of shrimp, sausage, potatoes and corn cooked to perfection and served in a dish garnished directly at the table. Help yourself! Do not forget the barbecue! There are four different sauces to try: vinegar and pepper, mustard, light tomato sauce and thick tomato sauce at more than 200 grilling restaurants across the state.

Golf and beach on the program

Bring your clubs, because South Carolina and its 360 golf courses will allow you to satiate your passion all year long. You are sure to find land, no matter where and when you visit, but the best greens in the state are usually concentrated along the coast. Remarkably, the Ocean Course Golf Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort is one of four national courses that have hosted all the major PGA events and is consistently ranked among the top courses in the world.

If you are more sandcastles than quicksand, the 301 kilometers of coastline that South Carolina offers are worth a visit. Families tend to congregate at Hilton Head Island, which offers a wide selection of bike lanes and delightful white-sand beaches, as well as Myrtle Beach, home to affordable beachfront resorts and boardwalk attractions. Walkers can also visit more private sites such as Isle of Palms, Folly Beach and Kiawah Island.

US real estate market returns to pre-crisis highs

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DenverIn most US cities, real estate prices have returned to their 2006-07 level. But opportunities still exist for investors looking for a strong rental return.

Denver is the American city that has experienced the largest influx of workers in the last twelve months: 706,000 people looking for a job have settled there. At the same time, the average home price in Denver jumped 11.5 per cent during this period to $441,500.

In the United States, the real estate market is spread everywhere. The price of more than half of the homes now exceeds their pre-crisis level. The real estate crisis caused by subprimes, these questionable mortgages granted to poor households to gain ownership, is indeed over in the United States.

The recovery in the real estate market is mainly due to the strength of the job market.

A strong market

In twenty-one of the top thirty-five US cities, prices are reaching a historic high, reveals a study of the real estate site Zillow. And in seven major cities (Dallas, Seattle, Denver, San Antonio, San Jose, Austin and Portland), the price of over 95% of housing is above the peak of 2006-2007.

For the 12 months, the average price of a home in the United States has increased by 8.3% to $217,300. This is 8.4% above the previous peak. Beware, some cities remain devastated though: in Las Vegas for example, less than 1% of homes have regained their pre-crisis value.

While interest rates have begun to rise in the United States, they remain at a favorable level: an average person can borrow at 4.5% over thirty years. For now, the slow rise in interest rates has had no impact on the property market. Another driver of the increase in price is the decrease in the stock of homes for sale, which contracted 4.8% last year. But it is mainly the strength of the job market that explains the rebound in the real estate market. In May the US unemployment rate fell below 4% of the labor force, a level not seen for decades.

Like Denver, other lesser known cities remain accessible and much more profitable like Nashville (Tennessee), Oklahoma City (Oklahoma) or San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Austin (Texas), even San Diego (California)

In the United States however, there is a close link between the labor market and the real estate market. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a US citizen changes jobs on average every four years. According to a study by the National Association of Realtors compiling data from Linkedin, Denver is the American city that has seen the largest influx of workers in the last twelve months: 706,000 people looking for a job would have settled there.

Meanwhile, the average home price in Denver jumped 11.5% during this period to $441,500. In the capital of Colorado, the median value of a home reaches $397,700, 65% above its peak in 2006-2007, and 99% of homes are worth more than at the time of the housing bubble!

If rates remain accessible, many Americans will be unable to borrow, which is why rental demand remains strong.

Be selective

New York, San Francisco or Miami – the favorite cities of Europeans in the United States – now seem too expensive to allow an investor to obtain an attractive rental return. At best you can expect a gross yield of 5% in these cities. In New York for example, it is difficult to have better than a big studio if your budget is between 500,000 and a million dollars. For a two-bedroom apartment, you need more than a million dollars, and you will not be in Manhattan!

In contrast like Denver, other lesser-known cities remain accessible and significantly more profitable like Nashville (Tennessee), Oklahoma City (Oklahoma), Atlanta (Georgia), San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Austin (Texas) or San Diego (California). These cities are all the more interesting because the rents have increased much less than the purchase price: it is therefore crucial not to buy too much to obtain a satisfactory rental return. In Dallas a very large house in perfect condition sells between $180,000 $250,000 and yields between 5% and 6% annual yield.

Rents which have increased by only 1.3% in median value in the last 12 months should continue their catch-up, because the rental demand is strong in the United States. But if rates remain accessible and the subprime crisis is over, many Americans will remain unable to borrow. Owners whose property has been seized by a bank can not apply for new credit until at least seven years have passed. Likewise most students who have taken out a student loan to finance their education cannot buy a home until they have finished repaying their loan.

The same is true for those who have fallen into the trap of revolving credit cards. This explains why the average age of first-time buyers in the United States now exceeds 35 years. For those who plan to buy a property to rent it, this is a favorable situation, as it will take many years for these tenants to become homeowners.

Get good advice

What advice to give to those who are considering investing in the United States?

It must be remembered that an owner can evict any unscrupulous tenant in less than a month, but it must however return the property in perfect condition between two occupants, which has a cost. Another American specificity is that some homeowners’ associations can set binding rules. For example they can prohibit short-term rental, or even visiting children or young adults. In many buildings, it is possible to rent an apartment only once every twelve months. The foreign buyer has an interest in carefully reading the rules of the condominium before committing.

If you are interested in purchasing real estate in one of the most affordable cities like Chicago, consult a specialist like Kale Realty. There are opportunities but risks as well, and if you are investing from abroad you need a local broker well aware of all local angles and aspects to consider.