July 2008

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Earth Friendly Beverages

July 31, 2008 in Food & Drink, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle, Water by Jennifer | No comments

It’s summer, it’s hot, and I bet your household is going through water like crazy. Here are some tips to make sure that you stay hydrated and green at the same time.

green drinks

The best thing to drink is tap water – so far as greenness goes. Now, this assumes your tap water is safe. Many people have perfectly fine tap water; but the bottled water and water filter folks want you to think otherwise. You can check the quality of your drinking water by checking with your local water authority. Visit this link to start learning more about how to find out if your water is safe.

Don’t forget to use refillable and recyclable water bottles for your water. See reviews on some typical bottle choices:

If your tap water is no good, tastes funny, or you’re paranoid, your next best bet is to get a company to bring you water in reusable jugs. You do need to make sure the company you choose is close by, or all that gas wasted creates another issue. After water delivery, water filters are an ok choice. There are some major problems with water filters. I’ve never found any that are recyclable, and they come with some major packaging flaws. Still almost anything is preferable to bottled water. Studies show that most people don’t recycle their bottles, even if they have the means.

Other tips:

  • Choose beverages bottled by local companies.
  • Buy clear plastic bottles as opposed to colored (not all cities recycle colored).
  • When recycling your bottles, remove the lids. Those hard plastic lids cannot be recycled, and some recycling centers will toss whole bottles rather than remove a lid. Sad but true.
  • Buy the biggest beverages you can and use cups. Smaller jars, bottles, juice boxes, and so on, only create more trash and take more energy to produce.
  • Lose the straws. Do you really need that extra plastic? Most likely not.

Greener Garbage Bags

July 31, 2008 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | 1 comment

green trash bagsTrash bags aren’t something you probably love to think about, but choosing the right one for your household trash can make a difference.

Plastic trash bags pose pretty large threats to the environment; both in terms of the sheer amount of plastic trash bags leave in landfills, and in terms of manufacturing these bags. Some bags break down some while hanging in the landfill, but most don’t, especially if they’re stuck at the bottom of a trash pile, not exposed to the elements.

Choices:

You have some choices when it comes to what to bag your trash in. Sadly, not many. Trash bags are a huge convenience for most families. The best choices are as follows.

Create less trash. This is an easy one; well not easy, but it does eliminate many trash bag issues. If you can compost old food, and recycle as much as you can. You can buy less stuff, which will help. You can also buy items in reusable containers or packaging.

Paper bags are a good choice for trash, except they don’t hold wet stuff all that well. You can compost (as noted above) to eliminate this wet food in a paper bag issue. Look for recycled content paper bags to use for trash.

Recycled plastic bags are another, better choice, than conventional bags. Many recycled plastic bags contain a large amount (sometimes 80% or more) recycled plastic. They aren’t quite so polluting to manufacture as new plastic bags, and use less petroleum as well. They aren’t perfect but are far better than brand new plastic trash bags.

Where to find recycled plastic trash bags:

So, all in all, thinking about your trash may not be fun, but it can help the earth.

Green Building Resources & Green Living Tips

July 29, 2008 in Alternative Energy, Decor, Save Energy, Sustainable Building by Jennifer | 1 comment

I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but Best Green Home Tips used to be located in a different spot, at the RiverWired network. Over there, we looked at many a green building and remodeling tip. I thought that if you missed these posts, it would be cool to catch you up to speed.

green living

Following are some of the best posts that you may have missed the first time around…

Green building:

Green home interior:

Alternative energy & energy saving:

This catches you up on about half of the green building blog. Later this week, I’ll post a second batch of great links that can help you to build and live green.

What Can & Can’t be Recycled

July 25, 2008 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | 3 comments

Yesterday we looked at Getting back to Basics – Recycling in Your Community – where to learn about recycling in your community and neighborhood.

Today let’s take a look at what can and can’t (in most cases) be recycled…

recycling truck

What you can, in most cases, recycle:

Paper

Glass

Plastic – you’re limited in what plastics you can easily recycle. You honestly should not be buying plastic drink jugs and milk jugs (paper or glass is better). Overall, the best plastic tip is to buy as little as possible.

Misc garbage – clothing, old paint, computers, and batteries are just some of the misc trash you can recycle. It depends on your area, but if you contact Earth 911 you can find a place to recycle these sort of items.

Metal – tin cans, soda cans, and foil items can usually be recycled.

Things that are difficult to recycle: (difficult, as in some areas offer recycling for said items, and some may not. Also people who are creative can recycle many items.)

Aerosol cans made from combined materials.

Some juice boxes.

Squeeze plastic bottles – like ketchup. Glass is a better option.

In some areas light bulbs, broken glass and pottery, foam, plastic silverware, plastic bags, carbon paper, and more can’t be recycled. Try to limit buying what can’t be recycled in your community.

Green Audit Your Yard and Garden

July 21, 2008 in Green Audit, Organic Gardening by admin | No comments

This week we’ve been going over some easy green audits you can try at home. So far we’ve looked at

Tonight let’s look at our last green audit of the week – your yard. Following are some tips you can use when green auditing your yard and garden.

green yard audit

Do you use a green lawn mower.

Are you using smart water tactics?

  • Watering in the early morning or at night.
  • Keeping your water where it needs to go, not running off into the street.
  • Consider having less grass, and more bark, patio space, or soil.
  • Mulch plants and trees to conserve water.
  • Plant like with like – you don’t need to plant water loving plants among plants that conserve water. You’ll waste water when watering.

Are objects in your yard and garden recycled and sustainable – think about decorations and planters you may have.

Use recycled bags for clippings.

Toss out any toxic chemicals and pesticides and use natural fertilizer, weed control, and pest control options. To learn more read:

Reduce Your Fertilizer Use with Grasscycling

Natural Ways to Get Rid of Garden Pests

Plant organic seeds and organic plants.

A big part of proper green gardening and yard tactics has to do with where you live. There are general tips you can follow, but water conservation is going to be different in New Mexico vs. Oregon, so it pays to learn regional tactics. Visit the National Gardening Association and check out their regional site which will connect you with a regional newsletter and regional gardening blogs.

Visit Mother Earth’s Garden to learn all about green gardening.