2008
Back to Basics: Recycle
The final post in a series of three on the basic principles of green living.
Category : Featured
Category : Featured
2008
Call to Action
Will you help save the earth with only one hour of your time? www.EarthHour.org
Back to Basics: Reduce
The first in a series of three posts on the basic principles of green living.
Back to Basics: Reuse
The second in a series of three posts focusing on the basic principles of green living.
Category : Featured, For the Greenhorns, Health & Beauty
No one really knows how to talk about toilet paper. Those of us in the modern world think of this as a simple necessity while many of those around the world do not have such a luxury (ever wonder why you’re not supposed to shake with a certain hand in some countries?). But why spend lots of money that you are just, er, flushing down the drain anyway?
Well, recycled toilet paper to the rescue! What a great idea! Recycle all the paper we use anyway and recycle it into something we’ll also use. The problem, however, is at most grocers the recycled toilet paper is often more expensive than the regular paper. So what is an eco-friendly apartment dweller to do short of purchasing a bidet?
Well, you can buy Trader Joe’s 100% Recycled Toilet Paper – twelve rolls for only $3.99! It is 80% post-consumer product recycled and scored an impressive “green” rating with the Environmental Resources Defense Council tissue guide. For that price, I can purchase a four-pack of recycled toilet paper at my conventional grocer. Hm, twelve versus four for the same price…
Thank you Trader Joe’s for yet another fabulous product, not to mention the amusing bathroom reading.
Once upon an early-90s jingle, kids were taught to “Reduce, reuse, recycle and don’t pollute!” by a singing cartoon. It was cute and kind of clever, but it may not have quite hit the message home. What that catchy tune didn’t explain was the importance of doing things in that order – reduce, reuse and then recycle.
But why that order?
1. Reduce
Here is a great example we have all come across: if you can get one one-hundred-ounce bottle of concentrated laundry detergent why buy two fifty-ounce bottles? It is a simple answer: you shouldn’t. A general rule when purchasing a product is that if it will not go bad or go to waste, get the economy size. It reduces the packaging used and often, the burden on your wallet.
2. Reuse
I have a confession: it has been awhile since I have purchased food storage containers. Why? Because I reuse those huge glass pasta sauce jars for my pastas, soups, and side dishes. For main courses I have large glass bowls with a plastic lid that have served me nicely for years.
Another confession? I have reused cereal boxes to ship my eBay items which are cushioned by ripped up magazines I have already read and junk mail flyers. An old tea pot that was stained and burned beyond repair? That can quickly become a colorful planter for a houseplant. In fact, you could even reuse that one-hundred-ounce jug that had laundry detergent in it as a jug to water your plants with (after a thorough cleaning, of course).
The key to reusing is to “think outside of the box” and ask yourself how you can reuse what you already have to fulfill the needs you have elsewhere. This also helps save you money and time by not having to shop for new items!
3. Recycle
Now we finally come to recycling. The milk jugs you did not turn into bird feeders should be recycled. The glass jars you just can’t use, recycle them. But since you have already reduced your waste and reused what you can, even the amount you recycle will be reduced. Less money spent and less stress on the environment – go you!
Image courtesy of Stock Vault.
Category : Headline
In this series, “Back to Basics”, I am covering the essentials of “going green” by focusing on the basic principles of green living. First in the series was Reduce, the second was Reuse, and today we will cover Recycle.
The purpose of recycling is similar to reusing, except that recycling is usually done to create new products of old ones to not waste useable resources such as wood, plastic, glass, etc. This obviously reduces our need for virgin materials (such as wood or rubber) and allows us to give new life to our old items.
Today’s post will not have 3 tips each. Instead, being inspired by the simplicity of Earth911.org’s recycling site, I am giving their suggestions labels according to green dedication.
Newbie
This is super easy and I don’t want to hear any excuses!
Take five bags or bins and place them in a convenient location in your apartment. Label them “paper”, “plastic”, “aluminum”, “glass” and “tin/steel”. Sort your various garbage into these containers and once a week or two take them to your local recycling center for cash. Yes, cash. You save the world one can at a time and get paid for it!
Amateur Environmentalist
I’m assuming you already are recycling the “Big Five”, so now I’m going to ask you to take it a step further. Recycle your electronics – cell phones, old computers, televisions – as well as their various paraphernalia like ink cartridges, batteries, and even remote controls! Click on the item you’d like to recycle and it’ll take you to a link to find out the location nearest you (please note these suggestions are just one possibility, not an endorsement or sole choice for these types of programs):
Certified Tree-Hugger
Finally, the ultimate recycling program is that of composting. You’re already sorting out the recyclable “Big Five” and have prepped other large items for recycling, but now we’re talking coffee grinds, lemon rinds and tea bags, baby!
In an apartment, there are several ways to compost. You can get a small composter like this one found on the Apartment Therapy website or you can go to the vermin: vermicomposting. It is the most hygienic and easy to maintain composting method while living in an apartment. There are better authorities on the subject than little ol’ me, so I’ll direct you to them: see Wikipedia, StopWaste.org, and Journey to Forever.
Also, you can purchase vermicomposting bins (“ideal for apartment dwellers”) at StopWaste.org’s site and around the web, including Amazon.
I hope you were inspired to get down to what matters by this “Back to Basics: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” series. I know it has made me re-evaluate and even measure my patio for a “worm box”. My kid is gonna love that one!
—–
Like the tips but have an even better one? Leave it in a comment!
Category : Headline
In this series, “Back to Basics”, I am covering the essentials of “going green” by focusing on the basic principles of green living. First in the series was Reduce and today we will cover Reuse, or as I like to call it, repurposing!
The very point of reusing items to take a once useful item and use it again to suit your new need – you’ll quickly see what I mean. It’s remarkably easy and extremely frugal. And if you’ve been reading this site for awhile, you know how much I love to save time AND money!
Before I go on, I must say that I have an obsessive love for Real Simple’s New Uses for Everyday Things column in their monthly magazine. I clip out these tidbits, scan them into my computer and then reuse the clips for packing paper in eBay sales and the like! That column has massively improved my creativity in repurposing the various items I come across into new useful items.
Newbie
1. Instant Tupperware. You know that glass spaghetti sauce jar you were about to throw away? Why not wash it and use it as instant Tupperware for that chicken soup you made for the sickie in your life? You already have it, it’s still perfectly good and if you’re giving it to your sick friend across town, you can tie a ribbon around it to make it more present like. Viola! Instant love.
2. Newspaper makes for a streak-free shine. That’s right – spray your mirrors and glass with a white vinegar and water mix, then wipe clean with regular black-and-white newspaper. I don’t know what it is – the ink or the paper’s consistency – but my glass is nice and shiny. Plus my Sunday paper is reused after reading!
3. Old t-shirts and pajamas make excellent bedding for dogs and cats. Take a large t-shirt, tie the sleeves and stuff with other old clothing or rags and toss in the kennel or crate. Not only does your smell stay and comfort them, but it’s soft and doesn’t cost you the exorbitant prices pet stores charge for pet bedding. And if the cloth gets ruined, it’s easily replaceable.
Amateur Environmentalist
1. Illuminate with repurposed lighting. Instead of purchasing costly candlesticks from Crate & Barrel, why not reuse some empty wine bottles for tapers or those mismatched martini glasses you inherited with some tea lights and sand? You’d be surprised what could be made into a lamp with a simple kit purchased at any hardware store – an old saxophone, a seasonal tin, or even an old inherited silver candlestick!
2. Rethink your packaging. This one I use all the time for eBay sales and gift containers. Old cereal boxes are great for shipping books or gifting a sweater or t-shirt. Instead of buying bubble wrap, I use the plastic bags that seals the cereal in the box as well as magazine clippings I’ve already scanned into my computer to save and the wrapping from popcorn packets. Old maps make great gift-wrapping for kids too!
3. Fancy indulgences can be practical. I am a candle nut and will occasionally splurge on a few expensive candles like White Barn New York’s Cinnamon & Clove Buds or even a spa essential like a good foot soak. The only way I can justify these purchases is that I later reuse the containers for toiletry items. Apothecary jars like the ones the candle and the foot soak come in often sell at more than what the candle and soak cost – so I get my pampering AND some fancy decor out of the deal!
Certified Tree-Hugger
1. Shop at thrift stores, Freecycle and Craigslist before hitting up the chain stores. When you’re looking for a new piece of furniture, be willing to go cheap and repurpose an old item. For example, when we moved last year my Mom had a microwave stand similar to this one that she no longer had room for. I was in desperate need of a good printer stand and cabinet for my home office supplies. A little paint and ta-da! I have a repurposed printer stand with cabinet and all it cost me was $10 for paint.
2. Think outside the cabinet. Old silverware makes fun coat and towel hooks, old plates can be painted and reused as chargers for candles or pieces of art, broken dishes can be used as bits in art projects or aerators at the bottom of the soil in your potted plants.
3. Before tossing, consider a giving the item second or third life. Have an old book that you’ll never read but love the way it looks? Make it into a secret stash for cash by cutting out the middle. How about that toothbrush caddy that is painted olive green from the ’70s? A bit of paint and you can use it as a small vase, using the toothbrush holes to perfectly line up the flowers. An old bookcase can easily become a storage cabinet, a locker with the addition of a few old cabinet fronts, a trophy display case and if deep enough, a dresser with the use of canvas boxes.
Essentially, the fun in reusing is to be creative and see what life you can give the items you already have. Waste not, want not my friends!
—–
Like the tips but have an even better one? Leave it in a comment!
