Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle

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How To Recycle Everything Wrong

December 1, 2009 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | 1 comment

Recycling is not all that tricky, but some people waste a lot of time doing stuff they shouldn’t. For example below are some surefire ways to recycle incorrectly…

recycle wrong

  • Crush all cans carefully – waste o’ time. Nowadays you don’t need to do this step. Recycling centers take un-crushed cans happily.
  • Toss greasy and food ridden cardboard into the recycling bin. Sadly, this can mess up an entire load of recyclables. Recycling center machines are fit to take on grease and grime. If you’ve got sticky, messy, greasy paper you need to toss it not recycle it.
  • Don’t sort the recycling – some recycling centers will sort if you don’t but others will just toss bins full of mixed goods which does no one any good. Set up a home recycling center and sort your recyclables.
  • Be a perfectionist about food in jars – the machinery at the recycling center will zap that excess mayo or peanut butter out of a jar. In fact, if a lemon is stuck in a beer bottle or you can’t remove food from inside a narrow container you can still recycle it.
  • Fail to recycle glossy paper – most recycling facilities do take old magazines and other glossy paper now. Check to be sure, but don’t just assume you can’t recycle it.
  • Recycle before you re-purpose – recycling actually uses a fair amount of energy. IF you can re-purpose an item first, you should.
  • Toss anything into the bins – many items need to be recycled in a different manner than your recycling center can deal with. For example, toys and dishes and the like should go to the thrift store, CFLs need to go to a CFL specific center, hazardous waste is a whole other issue, and food can be composted. Don’t recycle willy nilly.

And the number one best way to recycle wrong – don’t bother at all – who cares if you trash the planet?

Recycling old magazines

November 30, 2009 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

Magazines are one of those items that confuse folks when it comes to recycling. I think it’s their glossy quality. However, take heart because most recycling centers do accept glossy magazines for recycling. Check with your local recycling center to be sure.

recycle old magazines

That said, if you’ve got a surplus, recycling at a center is not your only option. There are plenty of ways to creatively use those old magazines…

With the holidays right here upon us you can make some killer recycled gift bows with magazines OR simply choose the most colorful and festive pages to wrap gifts with.

Organiz an excellent full color cookbook on the cheap.

Hand them over to your kids for a cool recycled dollhouse.

Make stylish furniture. If teens can do it so can you.

Crumple it up and use it to ship holiday gifts with.

Make the coolest garbage can ever! I love this ironic plan because you’re keeping magazines out of the trash by making a trash holder with them!

Are Pay-As-You-Throw trash programs fair?

November 6, 2009 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

As of 2006, the last time the EPA took down stats, about 7,095 communities were participating in Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) programs. PAYT programs are unit pricing or variable-rate pricing programs for trash disposal. Basically, residents are charged for the collection of their solid waste, i.e. what ends up in their trash can instead of a flat rate. For one thing this creates an economic incentive to recycle and so far programs like this result in communities that recycle more and trash less.

However, one common argument I’ve heard is, “Are these programs really fair?” In my opinion they are, because if we don’t charge people for larger amounts of trash, someone has to pay for it, which means even if you recycle diligently, you may still be subsidizing your neighbor’s trash by means of taxes. IF your community has a good recycling program in place, that’s easy to manage, it seems fair to me.

Plus of course excess trash harms the planet, so it’s tough to argue that programs like this suck – they do encourage recycling.

Problems that may make the program unfair:

Communities that have bad recycling programs in place. It’s impossible to get people on board with recycling when it’s nearly impossible to manage. For example, in New Mexico I had to make special trips, in my car, simply to recycle. Here in Oregon, it’s terribly easy with curbside pickup weekly.

Rural communities where the cost of curbside is prohibitive. The EPA notes that this is an issue in some communities but some have changed to monthly vs. weekly recycling pick-up which has worked well.

Too little education: Recycling, like any task is a learned task. People aren’t born knowing how to discard of their recyclables properly and plenty of communities don’t make this easily accessible public knowledge. I mean, when was the last time you saw a good deal of how-to-recycle commercials on television, or got some mail about it? Rarely. In fact, I live in one of the so-called greenest places in the U.S. and I meet people all the time who have no clue about recycling. I think that of all the unfair arguments, this one is the most valid. As a country, we really need to push for greener education initiates that are also accessible to everyone.

What do you think? Are PAYT programs a great way to encourage recycling or just a way to get more money out of a community?

Newspaper as far as the eye can see

September 20, 2009 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

Many homes have the newspaper delivered daily without thinking twice. However, you should think twice. On the plus side the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), the average newspaper contains 35% recycled fiber content and they also note that 73% of all old newspapers in the U.S. are recovered and recycled. However, other sources note that only 55% of ALL paper in the U.S. is recycled, so it seems overambitious to say 73% of newspapers are recycled.

Whatever the numbers newspapers also take energy to make and  use up gas and create plenty of emissions to transport. Your first green task is to consider how much you read the paper. If you’re not really reading it, cancel your subscription to save cash and paper. Secondly, see if you can subscribe online. Many local and national papers are available with the click of a mouse. Lastly, if you still want to get the paper make sure you create a home recycling center for old papers OR put those old papers to use. Recycled newspaper can be used for the following household tasks…

  • Remove odor: Place it in a trunk or chest when you store clothing, or crumple it into an unused suitcase to avoid that musty smell. Scents are absorbed by newspaper which keeps the smell off your stuff.
  • Wash windows: Streak-free cleaning! PLUS no paper towels used.
  • Wrap it: With the holidays coming up, now is the time to save that paper to use for gifts.
  • Burn it: You can make newspaper logs that work really well for fires.
  • Mulch it: You can use newspaper in the garden as mulch; it’s not the optimal choice, but does work.
  • Shape it: Use crumpled newspaper inside of shoes or hats to help them hold their shape.

Of course there are tons of uses for old newspaper. What uses can you come up with?

Recycle Your CFLs Safely

September 15, 2009 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

Compact Fluorescent Bulbs (CFL) may be better for the earth than standard bulbs, but there are some dangers to be aware of when handling your bulbs. These safety issues can make recycling your bulbs a problem and you should note that CFLs are considered a hazardous household item.

The first thing you should do is buy Energy Star CFLs – ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs have a two-year warranty so if the bulb fails within the warranty period you can return it to your retailer.

Secondly you’ll want to make an effort to recycle your bulbs safely. Earth 911 or Lamp recycle will have local recycling centers who take old bulbs – which means no mailing. When you take your CFLs in, just be sure to place it in a box or bag before carrying your bulb to the center.

Other places that accept CFLs include:

  • IKEA offers recycling stations for CFLs.
  • True Value – some for sure, not sure about all (call your local store)
  • You can take CFL bulbs to the Home Depot for recycling.
  • If you’d like to get a CFL recycling option set up, contact The Green Action Project. This organization is a program that allows non-profits, schools or community organizations to offer environmentally safe compact fluorescent recycling at no charge to the community, event attendees or students.

ECOlunchbox Kit – Gorgeous Waste Free Lunches

July 28, 2009 in On-the-Go, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | 1 comment

I tend to stick to home topics here, but since back-to-school time is rapidly approaching, and because I know some of you must take a lunch to work, we’re going to be looking at some cool waste-free lunch kits over the next couple weeks.

Why bother?

Waste-Free Lunches estimates that the average kid’s lunch creates 67 pounds of waste per school year (that’s about 19,000 lbs of waste per each average elementary school). It’s not just kids either. How many adults carry a lunch to work each day? How many college students. When you get thinking about the numbers it’s insane. Bagged lunches are full of all sorts of waste that end up in the landfill. Some typical waste…

  • Paper bags
  • Plastic bags
  • Plastic containers
  • Cracker and cookie snack packs
  • Yogurt tubes and cups
  • Drink bottles
  • Juice boxes
  • Plastic baggies, foil, and plastic wrap for all sorts of foods.
  • Lunchables and other building lunch kits.
  • Paper napkins
  • Plastic silverware.

It’s not pretty and it’s a huge waste. Many people won’t or can’t take the time to recycle either. That said, you can still take a lunch anywhere but make it waste-free. There are plenty of safe and reusable lunch kits on the market right now.

I wanted to start of with something extra yummy so we’ll kick off our look at waste free lunches with ECOlunchbox Kits. These lovely lunch kits come with almost everything you need to pack the perfect waste-free lunch.

This lunchbox kit is 100% plastic-free, waste-free, lead-free, BPA-free, PVC-free and vinyl-free. It includes:

  • A handmade ECOlunchbag that’s machine washable and 100% cotton. Sewn from fabrics that are hand block printed by artisans in India, and oh so pretty. Many color and style choices available. The bag is fully reversible and adjustable to fit children and adults. It converts to a backpack, sling bag, shoulder bag and hip bag. I just wish it was organic – but it’s still pretty cool.
  • A two-tier stainless steel food container that’s dishwasher safe. Comes with closures that are kid-tested and will not snap little fingers. The container is designed to fit three different foods. The bottom layer is 1 inch deep and fits a small whole sandwich while the top layer is 1 1/2 inches deep and fits cut fruit, dry snacks, pasta or salad. There is also a small inner box, which contains 1/2 cup, and is good for thick yogurt, thick applesauce or cut fruit. They didn’t use any plastic or gaskets so the lids are not 100% leak-proof.
  • Three cloth napkins designed for use as placemats or napkins.
  • A spork is made of sustainably grown bamboo.

The only thing bad about this set is since it’s cloth a typical ice pack will sweat in there and make a mess. However, you can get a very nice non-toxic ice pak and sweat free cover to remedy that situation. It also doesn’t come with a water bottle, but there are plenty of good ones on the market.

Learn more at ECOlunchboxes.

How to make recycling easier for your kids

July 26, 2009 in Children & Babies, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

Recycling should be a family affair but to kids, especially young ones, it can seem super complicated. Which recyclables go in which bin, which stuff is actually recyclable vs. trash, and which items can be reused or donated before you recycle.

How to help:

  • First crank up a dialogue with the kids – talk about recycling objectives for the home. They may not get all of it in one sitting, but eventually small conversations start to add up in their thirsty little brains.
  • Make a poster – set up a handy poster with visuals of typical items your home uses – i.e. cans, glass jars, paper, and so on. Have the kids help with this project. You can search old magazines for images to use on your poster.
  • Label your bins – once you have your home recycling center set up, make sure to label to bins with text for older kids and pictures for younger kids.
  • Make it meaningful – plan a trip to your local recycling plant so your kids can see their actions in well, action.
  • Make sure they understand reuse vs. recycling. For example, their old toys and book would go into a reuse/donate bin but an old used up piece of art paper should be recycled.

Are you involving your kids in the recycling process?

How long will my junk sit in a landfill?

July 18, 2009 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | 1 comment

I hope you are recycling. Many items we use often will never biodegrade OR will take tons of years to do so. In fact, many items if tossed will take longer than your lifespan to decompose. That won’t do. Worldwise used to have this cool chart at their website about how long things take to recycle. The chart is gone, but I had the facts saved so here you go…

If you fail to recycle an item then how long will said item sit in the landfill?

Cotton rags
1-5 months

Paper
2-5 months

Rope
3-14 months

Orange peels
6 months

Wool socks
1 to 5 years

Cigarette butts
1 to 12 years

Plastic coated paper milk cartons
5 years

Leather shoes
25 to 40 years

Nylon fabric
30 to 40 years

Tin cans
50 to 100 years

Aluminum cans
80 to 100 years

Plastic 6-pack holder rings
450 years

Glass bottles
1 million years

Plastic bottles
Forever

In other words, WAY too long. If you don’t have your recycling plan organized, read What You Can’t Recycle and learn about how to do a trash audit. Then get your home recycling center organized with some Attractive Recycling Bins for Your Home.

Are you recycling as much as you can? What could you be doing better?

Six Ways to Re-purpose Common Household Items

June 20, 2009 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

One of the greenest things you can do is purchase long-lasting products and then find ways to re-purpose them once they’ve served their usefulness. After re-purposing, there’s recycling. However, if you’re creative, you can first find new uses for almost anything before recycling. Here are ten ideas…

[image via Sprig]

Re-purpose coffee cans: Use old larger cans to make amazingly lovely planters. See how! See even more Recycled Garden Containers at Mother Earth’s Garden.

Re-purpose that old spice rack: You know those sit-on-the-counter spinning spice racks? Most folks don’t want those anymore because they take up valuable kitchen real estate. I know that many folks have switched to in-cupboard or wall mounted spice storage which means there’s a ton of these spinning spice racks hanging around. You can re-purpose yours to hold beads, sewing odds and ends, stickers for the kiddos, rock collections, little kid hair supplies (barrettes, rubber bands), and more.

Re-purpose bubble wrap: Obviously, you can reuse bubble wrap to send new packages, but you can also use it in your fridge veggie and fruit drawers as a liner to prevent tossed in produce from becoming bruised.

Re-purpose a tablecloth: Vinyl or oilcloth tablecloths aren’t so eco-friendly, but if you’ve moved to cloth tablecloths, how do you re-purpose your old ones? By making a lunch bag of course. Or make three or four for the whole family – also makes a great gift.

Re-purpose a leaky old garden hose: Into a much better, more eco-friendly, soaker hose.

Re-purpose old bedsheets: I like the idea of making a body pillow, because they’re cozy, but you can also use them to save energy in the summer if you live in a humid area. Take your old sheet, dip the whole thing in water, wring out so it’s not drippy, and hang across your window in the early morning. The air coming through the cool, damp sheet will take the sting out of summer heat and maybe allow you to turn down the AC. See 20 more ways to use old bedsheets.

You also might like… How to reuse toilet paper tubes – handy reuse tips for kids, criminals, and more – not completely a household item, but I bet you’ve got lots.

What are some of your best ideas for re-purposing household items?

Where you can recycle CD & DVD cases

May 7, 2009 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | 1 comment

CD and DVD cases are a nuisance. You can cut them out of your world entirely by going with digital music and renting movies, but because I know some folks won’t give up buying CDs and others love their movies, here are some ideas about how you can recycle the cases. This is also a great space saver. You can consolidate all your discs into a folder, and ditch the bulky cases.

WHERE TO RECYCLE YOUR DISC CASES:

Some people want your old cases. In fact, some people LOVE them for projects, art creations, and other ideas. Sign up on Freecycle or Craigslist and offer your cases up for free.

You can ask around the neighborhood. Local libraries, schools, computer shops, and other non-profit organizations may be able to use your cases.

Most cities now have recycling centers that take old cases. Don’t just set them on the curb though. Recycling CD and DVD cases are different than recycling water bottles, paper, or tin foil.  Ask your local center IF they allow curbside pick-up. If not visit  visit Earth 911 – they have an easy and fast form you can fill in and it will locate you a center that takes old cases off your hands.

ACT Recycling accepts old CD cases and other computer media.

How To Choose Greener Body Products

February 24, 2009 in Healthy Green Home, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | 4 comments

When considering how to green your home, it pays to check out your bathroom habits. Body care products can cramp your green style in a major way, such as…

  • Many cosmetics and body care items are tested on animals.
  • Many of these products are over-packaged and often their packaging can’t even be properly recycled.
  • Most contain chemicals, artificial colors, weird fragrances, and more that you don’t need on your body or let out into our water supply.
  • Many antiperspirants contain aluminum salts; which yes makes them work (they clog your pores – thus blocking icky smells) but they’ve also been linked to health problems like Alzheimer’s.

To green up your beauty & body care routine try the following… Read the rest of this entry »

Cloth Napkin Pros – Green Home Reusable Cloth Napkins

February 19, 2009 in Eco Kitchen, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

This week we’re taking a look at cloth napkins. So far we’ve discussed basics of why you need to use cloth napkins, and looked at some places where you can get some for your home.

Now for some pros:

  • Cloth napkins feel better and work better than paper napkins.
  • Cloth napkins are very cost efficient. Even if you buy a super nice set, cloth napkins will still save you money over paper napkins.
  • Cloth napkins are much healthier for the earth than paper napkins or paper towels. Paper napkins not only create waste because they’re made with paper, but they also come in wasteful packaging, take gas to ship, and are extremely hard to recycle.
  • Cloth napkins last forever and serve other purposes. While paper napkins are a use and toss product, cloth napkins can be used to death, then switched over to cleaning rags. I still have good cloth napkins from over five years ago. My now scrappy and unusable napkins are used for dusting and cleaning. Pretty soon they’re going to biodegrade right at my house they’re used so much.
  • Cloth napkins are NOT that much more work. To keep them looking good throw them in a wash when you do a load of cold delicate items. If you don’t care if they lose a little color, toss them in with any load of laundry.
  • Cloth napkins, contrary to popular belief are still better for the environment than paper, even though it takes water and energy to wash them. Cloth napkins are so small – even if you have a big family, cloth napkins will only run you about one load of wash per week. If you wash on cold, hang dry, and use eco-friendly laundry soap, they just don’t add up to the same eco-badness as paper napkins.

Are you still using paper napkins?

Where in the heck can you find cloth napkins?

February 18, 2009 in Eco Kitchen, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | 3 comments

In the last post I had myself a little rant about how My family (and maybe your family) are killing trees in one fast swoop. I.E the cloth napkin vs. paper napkin rant. In any case, there are loads of cloth napkins on the market. AND they’re at all price ranges. There is no reason ever to use paper.

Where are all the cloth napkins…

  • Thrift stores.
  • Department stores.
  • Trendy eco-stores.
  • Antique sales.
  • Ask for them on your wedding (or other) registry.
  • Make some.

Some options… Read the rest of this entry »

My family (and maybe your family) are killing trees in one fast swoop

February 17, 2009 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle, Save Money by Jennifer | 2 comments

The other night I went to a family dinner at my dad’s house. There were maybe 15 people there. We had pizza (good), salad (good), ice cream cake (even better) and LOADS of paper napkins. Oh my.

At my own house, all we use are cloth napkins. We’ve never used paper napkins, and we don’t even use paper towels. I was a little shocked about all the paper napkin use at dinner the other night, and almost considered wiping my hands on my jeans just to cut down on the excess. On a given day, (not a family dinner night) there are still about 5-8 random people at my dad’s. If you do the lowest math that’s about 5 people x’s three meals and snacks a day. That’s possibly:

  • 20 paper napkins a day.
  • 140 paper napkins a week.
  • 7,280 paper napkins a year! For ONE household. Not to mention the family dinners.

Wow right?

How many trees is that affecting? Let’s use a basic bulk pack of Bounty Quilted Napkins, 100-Napkin Packages (Pack of 20) for our calculations. If you buy in bulk, that’s about 12 pounds of paper napkins. In my family, you’d need about 3.5+ bulk packs for the year.

Semi-fuzzy math calculations: Read the rest of this entry »

Sustainable Paper for Your Home Office

February 17, 2009 in Home Office, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

I recently read that Americans use about 580 pounds of paper per year. That is a ton of paper and tree waste if you’re using new virgin fiber paper and not recycling.

Easy tips for more sustainable paper use:

Switch to a mostly paperless office – use your computer calender, electronic fax, pay bills online, and don’t print out emails. Cut paper use wherever you can.

If you have to print, make sure you REALLY need to print. For example, as a writer, I can’t proof on my computer, it just doesn’t work as well for me as a print out and a red pen. However, I know this about myself, so I make sure I’m close to an end proof draft before I print out copies. I never say, print out a first draft.

When you do print, use both sides of the paper.

When you do print out something unimportant (say like my proof drafts I mentioned above) use old scrappy paper you’ve got laying around. You’re the only one who is going to see it.

Recycle all your paper after it’s been used.

Buy the best eco-friendly paper. You want to look for 100% post consumer waste paper, chlorine-free paper, acid-free paper, and paper with smart eco-packaging (soy inks, paper not plastic, and so on).  You can snag some earth-friendly paper from the following companies:

NOTE: Even places like Office Depot and other mainstream office stores carry recycled content paper nowadays, so if you don’t want to shop online, you still can find eco-paper.

Learn more!

How are you greening your home office? Do you recycle all your paper?

Where to Stash Your Plastic Grocery Bags

February 13, 2009 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

Hopefully you’re using reusable grocery bags when you’re out shopping. Reusable bags are far more eco-friendly than plastic toss-away bags. However, if you’re not using cloth bags, the least you can do is reuse those plastic bags you bring home.

One thing that makes reusing plastic bags easier is having a smart storage area for them, then you won’t be tossing them in the trash. Some ideas…

upright bag holder

Stainless Steel Grocery Bag Holder

Hold-A-Bag Grocery Bag Holder

Don’t forget, after you’ve used your plastic bags to the extreme, make sure you recycle them.

Cancel Your Random Catalogs

February 10, 2009 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | 1 comment

Everyone is always talking about stopping the insane influx of junk mail, but catalogs are a better place to start.

Why?

Catalogs aren’t simple junk mail – catalogs are HUGE mounds of paper that most of use don’t need or read.

One source notes that 17 billion catalogs were distributed in the United States in 1998 and that 3.35 million tons of paper were used for catalogs in 1999. Catalogs have become more and more prevalent in recent years – you do the math.

Often catalogs are made up of glossy paper that’s not recycled or as easily recyclable as plain old paper.

Nowadays you can find almost anything you might find in paper catalog online instead.

What to do:

  1. Head over to Catalog Choice.
  2. Catalog Choice is a free service that helps you to limit what ends up in your your mailbox.
  3. You sign up, choose which catalogs you’d like to stop and then the company contacts the catalog providers on your behalf, requesting that you don’t get anymore of their catalogs.

Catalog Choice is a sponsored project of the Ecology Center. It’s endorsed by the National Wildlife Federation and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Do you need the catalogs that come to your house? Why or why not?

Attractive Recycling Bins for Your Home

February 7, 2009 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

In the last post we looked at some key points surrounding your ideal home recycling center. In this post, I’ve got some nice looking bins that will help you sort out the trash from the recycling, but won’t compromise your decor.

Simplehuman is rocking the recycling bin market. They have some of the best looking bins I’ve ever seen. This will cost you a little more than plain old plastic, but your decor will thank you. Three good choices include the fingerprint-proof rectangular recycler (seen above) or the pretty and modern front load recycler bins and the pullout recycler (seen below). Read the rest of this entry »

Create Your Dedicated Home Recycling Area

February 7, 2009 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | 2 comments

One way to control your trash is to stock up on smaller garbage cans for your home. Another is to set up a decent recycling center in your house.

Key points:

Set up your recycling area in a high traffic part of the house. Recycling bins on the porch or in the garage will get used less frequently. The kitchen is ideal.

Make sure you have enough bins for your local recycling center. Some cities need you to separate plastics from cans, others don’t care. In Humboldt I had to separate cardboard from paper, but here in OR you can toss those in together. Read about Recycling in Your Community.

If you have kids, make sure they know which bin is which. If you have small kids (pre-readers) you can tape a visual to the bin, such a picture of a soup can.

Aim for attractive and easy to move. Unless you have a dedicated area; such as an in-drawer recycling unit, you may want to move your bins at some point. Attractive bins just ensure that you won’t hide them away. And yes, there are attractive recycling bins. In the next post we’ll look at some.

Do you have a dedicated recycling area?

Cell Phones vs. Landlines for Energy Saving

February 6, 2009 in Green Your Home, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle, Save Energy by Jennifer | 1 comment

Today, most of the people I know have cells. Many don’t even have landline phones anymore. However, some people I know have both.

Is this a wise use of energy and resources? Or should you ditch the landline phone?

Eco cons of landlines:

  • Landlines use more energy. Most need to stay plugged in 24/7; even cordless, because of the charger. Leaving anything plugged in drains energy resources.
  • Landline phones are tough to recycle. Some parts can be, but in many cases, you’ll be hard pressed to find a decent recycling center for basic phones.

Eco cons of cell phones

  • Cell phone batteries, for the most part are not eco-friendly. Some companies are working on more eco-friendly phones though.
  • Cell phones are outdated quickly and don’t last as long as most landlines.
  • Cell phones are lost often – another way cell phones cause waste.

The upsides:

Landlines don’t have those toxic batteries, and last a long time. Cell phone recycling programs are becoming very common, and they’re easy to find. Cell phones also use fewer materials to make, and can be unplugged plus charge quickly, using less energy.

What to do:

Some estimate that landlines will soon be obsolete anyhow, which is something to consider. Another fact is that you really don’t need both. If you already have both, it’s probably a smarter eco-choice to ditch the landline. The flip side is if you’re concerned about cell phones causing cancer. This is up for debate, but something to consider. If you’re worried, and having a landline will ease your concerns, it may be healthier stress-wise to have both and only use your cell on the go.

Do you have both landlines and cells in your family? Have you considered ditching one?

Floors Made From Recycled Leather Belts

January 27, 2009 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle, Sustainable Building by Jennifer | No comments

This is one of the coolest re-purposing projects I’ve seen in a good long while – belts as floors! This just goes to show you that with a little creativity, you can re-purpose just about anything.

The floors made by TING with recycled leather belts are part of their HOME line. The HOME line stats follow:

“Brightly coloured seat belts are woven into floor and scatter cushions, oversized cubes and hammocks. Deceptively simple in design and incredibly durable, these distinctive accessories have become a modern classic, adding sleek sophisticated glamour to stylish interiors, including bars, restaurants, boutique hotels and film and fashion shoots. Inghua is currently expanding this range and the new, extended HOME collection will be launched at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York this Spring 2008.“

Very nice. TING also makes items like luggage, belts, wallets using salvaged materials.

Visit TING to learn more.

Thanks to my pal Peggy who first posted about this at Junk Creation. Since I ruthlessly stole this tip from her, check out one of her other green home inspired posts.

What do you think of these hip floors?

Better and Smaller Garbage Cans for Your Green Home

January 24, 2009 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

Most people have a garbage can in the kitchen and one in the bath at the very least. If you go with a smaller, garbage can, you’ll be more likely to recycle because there won’t be as much room for trash. Look for a small can with a lid. I like some without lids, like the profile open can shown above, but a lid makes you stop and think before you toss, so a lid will encourage better recycling habits. A smaller can also saves you money as their bag refills cost less (if you use bag refills).

Smaller garbage can options:

plastic step can

mini semi-round step can

mini plastic lid step can (great for the bathroom).

Amish Made Small Oak Flip Top Wood Trash Bin – very cool smaller handmade wood bin! See more styles at Trash Cans Unlimited.

Red Steel Trash Can 8gal/30L – so retro and adorable I almost can’t stand it.

Which small can is your favorite?

Your Successful Green Home Trash Audit – Tips for Success

January 24, 2009 in Green Audit, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

If you want to have a successful green home trash audit, here are some useful tips…

Get a smaller garbage can – preferably on that’s good looking. I don’t know what it is about aesthetics but pretty stuff can help to convince you to be more careful. A smaller can leaves little room for trash which encourages you to put that trash elsewhere (i.e. recycle).

Keep recycling bins nearby – not all recycling bins are ugly. Some are very nice, nice enough for use out in the open in your kitchen. If you hide your bins far away in the garage or on the porch, people will be less likely to use them.

Hang signs – sometimes visual reminders are very useful. Hang little signs by the garbage bin that say things like “No aluminum and paper!” If you have kids who can’t read use visuals like a can with an X over it.

Check with your local recycling company before starting your trash audit – it helps to know which categories you should be sorting your recyclable into. Some cities are picky, some don’t care, know your city’s rules.

Work on slimming down what comes into your house – stopping stuff before it comes in means less sorting of trash and recyclables overall. For example, stop your junk mail, buy fewer prepackaged foods, and only buy what you need.

Buy greener garbage bags – if you’re greening your trash you may as well go all the way.

Later some attractive garbage cans, compost bins, and recycling bins to consider.

Are you considering a green trash audit?

How Green is Your Trash?

January 23, 2009 in Green Audit, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | 1 comment

Trash audits are icky, but actually one of the easiest green home audits you can do. The point of a trash audit is to find out what’s in your trash, and to figure out ways to better dispose of the items you find.

Why do an icky old trash audit:

To be ethical: Tossing stuff into a landfill is completely irresponsible when other choices are available. You’re making a huge mess for future generations, and that’s not cool.

To help the planet: In order to keep the planet healthy, save spaces for parks, and reduce greenhouse gases, we all need to be trash aware. No matter what you hear, recycling is worth it.

To save money: Most trash companies charge by the bag or can – you CAN reduce your trash to under one bag a week – I promise you. You are tossing stuff that could be recycled. Most everyone does, even me and other green advocates. Everyone make slips and could be better. Think of how little you’ll pay for trash service with just one bag. Bonus money savings – team up with a neighbor or two. Everyone split on trash can.

To be more attractive: Your kitchen will look better without a HUGE ugly trash can. Your street would look way better without so many ugly bins. I think trash aesthetics, or their total lack of I should say, are way overlooked

To complete a trash audit: Read the rest of this entry »

Green Sex Tip Ahead – Look Out

January 20, 2009 in Healthy Green Home, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

Ok, greening your sex life is not totally related to your green home, the main focus of this blog. We all know you can have sex any old place not just at home. However, I bet that if you have some um, sex toys, you likely store them at home. I sure hope you’re not dragging them around in your car or laptop bag anyhow.

If you are saving up one or more sex toys at home, maybe toys that are out of commission, broken, or otherwise boring at this point, you have a better option than mass collecting now. Recycling! That’s right. Just last week, news broke about a new sex toy recycling program, which is, I think, pretty cool. Green to the extreme for sure. Read the rest of this entry »

Recycle Your Cell Phone

December 16, 2008 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

Most people I know don’t even have a home phone anymore. Many folks have cells only nowadays. While cell phones are smaller, thus create less waste than a big standard phone, they still do create a lot of waste. Especially when you consider their short life span. While you may have had a big cordless home phone for years and years, typically folks go through a new cell every one to two years.

Some studies note that about 65,000 tons of landfill waste is created by cells alone – each year. Some of this waste is toxic too – from mercury and lead that cells can have.

You can cut down on this large number by using your cell until it’s lifespan is over and or recycling it.

Where to recycle your cell phone:

Collective Good

Check with Earth 911

Call To Protect

Phones 4 Charity

Sprint Project Connect

Recycling for Charities

Don’t forget that the places above may be able to help you recycle all kinds of cells – from pda phones, to Blackberry, to camera phones, to Trio to your basic cell.

Recycling Car Tires

December 1, 2008 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

I know car tires don’t exactly live at your house. However, they do live in your garage and many get tossed each year; more than 250 million in the U.S alone. Consider all the other places that have cars, consider the fact that tires won’t decompose, and we’ve got a big old problem.

Solutions:

Don’t own a car: Not practical for everyone, but the absolute best option if you live in a mass transit friendly city.

Don’t own more than one car: Way more practical then most people think. If you’re one person with more than one car – why? That’s a waste of so many resources. If you’re a couple or family with two cars – also why? Plenty of families manage quite well with one vehicle to share. It’s not totally practical for every situation, but car sharing is more easily done than many people think.

Keep your tires in great shape: Expanding the life of your tires is a great way to conserve resources. To get the most out of tires be sure to rotate them every 8,000 miles, and keep them inflated and balanced.

After they die – recycle: You can locate a tire recycling place through Earth 911, or you can use some to make other things. A tire swing, a sandbox, a garden planter, and more.

Have you been keeping up with your tire care?

Learn How to Make Your Own Paper

November 19, 2008 in Home Projects, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

Just in time for the holidays – how to recycle paper! If you recycle your old paper you can make great custom gift wrap for smaller gifts, or if you have a large frame, bigger gifts. You can even make a lot, and bind it into a journal. Homemade eco gifts rock.

I’ve made paper in the past, and good additions include natural plant dyes, small flowers and leaves, and even some herbs and spices. All of these additions, added while your paper is drying can turn plain recycled paper into a work of art.

Watch this video and learn how to recycle your own paper into new and improved paper.



Green Toilet Paper Tips

October 29, 2008 in Green Your Home, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle, Save Money by Jennifer | No comments

Green toilet paper has many pros, and one major con. The con – cost. Recycled toilet paper is a lot more than basic toilet paper; especially if you have a large family and go through many rolls a week. We’ll look at how you can save money further down. First the pros…

Green toilet paper pros:

Green toilet paper is actually recycled toilet paper. Seventh Generation, one manufacturer of 100% Recycled Bathroom Tissue, notes that if every home in America replaced one 12 pack of 400 sheet virgin fiber toilet paper with 100% recycled we could save 1.7 billion gallons of water annually and more than 1,000,000 trees. Also purchasing recycled toilet paper can reduce overall pollution and drastically reduces the chemicals in the environment and on our skin, (there’s chlorine in normal toilet paper).

What to look for in green toilet paper:

  • Chlorine free.
  • Made from 80-100% recycled content.
  • No added dyes or fragrances.
  • Safe for low-flow toilets.

How to save money on recycled toilet paper:

Seventh Generation offers coupons for their recycled toilet paper and other products. They change periodically though, so you have to stay tuned to their site.

Buy in bulk – places like Amazon.com and warehouse stores sell bigger packs of recycled toilet paper for less.

Look at size. Many recycled rolls have more squares than typical toilet paper, so the initial sticker shock may be uncalled for. Although this depends on brands.

Order online direct from a company vs. buying in a store. Check with various companies to see if you can get a deal for buying a lot at one time. Go in on the purchase with another family.

Places to buy recycled toilet paper

Read some green toilet paper reviews

The Urban Kitchen Compost Bin

October 10, 2008 in Organic Gardening, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | 3 comments

[Stainless Steel Kitchen Compost Crock from Real Goods]

Just because you don’t live on a farm, or even somewhere with a small yard, doesn’t mean you can’t compost. No matter your size of home or land, you can compost easily with a basic kitchen compost bin – even if you live in an apartment in the city. Your local parks or community gardens, or your own potted plants can use the compost. Bonus; in recent years, kitchen compost bins have even gone down in price.

Composting basics:

  • Composting is simply allowing organic matter to decay and return to the soil, rather than tossing it in the garbage.
  • Composting can reduce household waste (i.e. what ends up in your trash can) but plenty – up to 30% or more.
  • If you have a  yard or even potted plants, compost is the perfect natural soil additive. Composting (adding compost to) your plants will reduce or eliminate the need for chemical fertilizers and can even be used as mulch.

Items to compost:

  • Produce -veggies and fruit scraps or produce that’s gone bad
  • Coffee grounds
  • Eggshells
  • Fireplace ashes
  • Yard clippings, and cut grass
  • Bread, pasta, old beans

To learn more about what can and cannot be composted, visit Compost Info Guide or Composting at the EPA.

Now about kitchen compost bins…
Read the rest of this entry »

Reduce the Junk Mail Coming to Your House

October 8, 2008 in Home Office, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | 1 comment

Junk mail is a big bad; not eco-friendly at all. About 4 million tons of junk mail arrives at U.S. homes each year. Some of us recycle, but not all of us. Also, not all areas even have proper paper recycling. What to do?

Stop junk mail: This is obviously your number one option. Unless you find junk mail an exciting read (I sure hope not) then why not cancel it?Over 100 million trees are used up to create junk mail, and you really don’t want to be a part of that.

How to stop junk mail:

Contact companies personally who send you junk mail, and tell them to take you off their list. If they don’t listen, I’d start sending it back.

Join Green Dimes. Not only will they stop junk mail cold, but they’ll plant 5 trees in your name when you sign on as a premium member.

Register at Mail Preference Service.

Try the Stop the Junk Mail Kit.

If you’d like to put the junk mail you already have to work, save it up for holiday wrap.

Junk mail is annoying and an eco-baddie, but that doesn’t mean you have to take it.

Make Your House A Reusable House

October 8, 2008 in Green Cleaning, Green Your Home, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

You can apply green building features to your house. You can invest in eco-friendly furniture. You can even landscape with the environment in mind. However, one of the best ways to go green at home, is to make your house as reusable as possible.

First of all make sure that you’re only bringing goods into your house that you really need. Purchased goods take energy to manufacture, and most come with too much packaging. When you do purchase goods, make sure that they’re both recyclable, and if possible reusable. Look for items that can perform more than one duty. For example, no one needs a food processor, a blender, and a food grinder. One of the above will do the work of all three.

Items that can make your home reusable:
Read the rest of this entry »

Recycling Hazardous Household Waste

October 6, 2008 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

It’s easy to recycle cardboard, paper, and plastic, but what about recycling hazardous household waste? It’s a little tougher. However, you can’t just toss icky stuff in the trash, or down the sink. Hazardous waste is called hazardous for a reason; toss it out and it’ll pollute groundwater, soil, and streams.

Hazards you might have around the house include things like:

  • Paint and paint thinner
  • Varnish or wood stains
  • Motor oil, antifreeze, and other automobile fluids
  • Toxic cleaners
  • Weed or bug killer
  • Some adhesives, caulking, and other household fix-it supplies
  • Batteries
  • Some arts and craft materials

Some items like paints or art supplies can be donated rather than tossed. Get the full scoop on paint recycling here. Other items are more tricky. Follow these steps:

  1. Use up what you can. What you can’t use, should be donated when possible, and if you can’t give it away (think old batteries) move on to step two.
  2. Call your local community disposal or recycling company and ask. Most of the time, these folks will know where to send you and your toxic recyclables.
  3. Look up hazardous waste drop-off sites in your community. To locate these drop-off sites, a quick trip to your online city or county website will do the trick. Look under headings like waste disposal or recycling until you find what you need.
  4. Visit Earth 911. If you’re at a dead end, Earth 911 can usually help. Earth 911 has a super fast recycling search guide; all you do is enter your zip code and the item you’re looking to recycle.

You may also be interested in learning about Aerosol Product Recycling.

At Home Recycling – What You Can’t Recycle

September 13, 2008 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

When recycling at home, it’s smart to know what is recyclable, but just as important to know is what’s not. Sometimes placing non-recyclables in a bin can get a whole bundle of actual recycling goods tossed, because not all facilities have the time or inclination to sort.

Sorting recyclables is something you need to do at home, before your recycling bins are picked up and emptied. Following are some items you don’t want to toss in your recycling bins…

Wet cardboard can jam recycling sorting machines at recycling facilities and may mess up an entire load of recyclables. It’s better to allow wet cardboard to dry before placing it in your bin. Also, covered recycling containers or bins with slotted covers can protect your cardboard from getting wet curbside.

Plastic lids on juice containers, jelly jars, soda, and more cannot be recycled. These lids are made of a different sort of plastic than the bottle itself. Remove all lids so that your bottles don’t end up being trashed by the recycling facility.

Special items like batteries, old car parts, computers and more can’t usually just be stuck in a recycling bin and carted off. These items need to be specially handled. Most of the time facilities are available that can recycle special items, but you’ll need to look for a specific local recycling center.

Stuff you think you can’t recycle – but can: Recycled items don’t have to be soapy clean. Rinsing your jars, cans, and bottles in water is good enough. If you say add a lemon to a bottle of tea or beer, and you can’t get it out, it’s still ok to recycle. You don’t need to crush cans (as people did in the past) and you also can leave labels on.

To learn more about recycling at home read; What Can & Can’t be Recycled

Quick Tip for Water Savings

August 16, 2008 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle, Save Energy, Water by Jennifer | No comments

Showers and baths use an insane amount of water. To conserve more water, cut five minutes off your daily shower. To double your efforts, try placing a small plastic bin in the tub as you shower. Use that water to water plants, wash the car, or mop the floors. The two easy steps above can save upwards of 375 gallons of water a month!

Past Green Building Resources & Green Living Tips

August 15, 2008 in Alternative Energy, Green Building, Green Cleaning, Green Your Home, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

In the post, Green Building Resources & Green Living Tips I noted that 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. We looked at about half of these posts in the first recap, and here’s the rest…

green building

Green building:

Green home interiors:

Save energy & resources:

Fun:

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.

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.