Creative Recycling

I know that I haven't been posting any pictures of my own recycling projects, but that will soon change! I have a ton on my camera just waiting to be uploaded and posted! As I look around my house and since I have started paying closer attention to the things that I toss out all willy-nilly, I keep wanting more creative recycling projects to do beyond the few that I've already come up with on my own.

So today I decided that I would go out into the world to see what other people are doing to get creative with their recycling. The kinds of articles that I was looking for were few and far between, but here are a few that I might think about using at some point in my own life.

• This site has lots of ideas separated by the item you want to recycle
• I liked the ideas that this article brought to the table.
• JACKPOT! Not only does this blog post have a great idea for recycling boxes, it has tons of links to other great creative recycling ideas! Be sure to read some of the similar articles that are listed under the blog post.
• I found this article on my other favorite website Gather.com. It talks about gardening with old containers that you may think about throwing out.

So now that you have some more wonderful ideas to reduce, reuse, and recycle, get out there and create!! Please send pictures of your projects as well as any ideas you have for creative recycling projects you might come up with! I would love to post them here!

Can Smoking Be Eco-Friendly?

Since I have decided to look, or at least do my best to look, at every aspect of life and try to make it a little greener, I thought I might take a look at cigarettes and see if there were any that tried to say that they were 'green' or at least earth friendly.

Well, so far no luck on that 'green' cigarette but I did find an interesting article on cigarette filters that dissolve in rainwater. Makes you think about the possibilities huh? Unfortunately, I'm sure that big tobacco will claim that it would cost waaaay too much money to make these filters and that keeping their production methods just the same as they are now would be much more Earth friendly.

You can read here about how big tobacco is claiming the their production methods and products are Earth friendly. Although I feel obligated to tell you that I got the article from a blog. I will do my best to find an article from a newspaper or something so that this guy's claims can be backed up a little.

I also discovered a new term, seeing as how I'm pretty new at this whole green thing, called greenwashing. It's when people claim that a product is organically grown or is sustainable to make more money. I found this article that gives ten tips on how to avoid purchasing greenwashed products and it even has a link in it to a greenwash guide that looks like it could be a good read.

Happy 4th!!

What a wonderful day! You can celebrate America and your right to live a green and Earth friendly lifestyle!! Have fun and be green all at the same time with these awesome products ...

• 7th Generation is great stuff that's affordable. They have great products like napkins and trash bags (and tons of awesome cleaning products to help you clean your house after everyone leaves)
  
• Gaiam.com is where I found a lot of green living products like these recycled cutlery and plates that would look great on your table!

I know that my grocery store carries 7th Generation products in the "health market". If you don't want to order them online, and given the fact that Friday is the 4th you might not have time to get your things by then, check out the stores in your area! Even if it's not 7th Generation, I bet that you can find some kind of eco-friendly brand to buy instead.

Have a wonderfully safe and neon green 4th everyone!!

Greenie Love - Beth

A Closer Look at the 3 R's

You've had it beaten into your head since you were a kid. The three R's: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. And while it's wonderful that you know your three R's by heart, do you really understand what they mean? Do you know where you can access the information you might need in order to actually apply the three R's to your life?

Yes, I had them beaten into my head as a child too. But I realized the other day that although I knew what I was supposed to be doing, I didn't really know how to go about it. So I've decided that I will travel out into the world of the internet and bring back for you all the relevant information you might need in order to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

My first article will focus on the most publicized of the three R's: Recycling. Sure, you put the green bin out by the trash every week but is there more that you could be doing? There sure is. Did you know that you can recycle just about everything? You can even recycle oil and batteries is you know where to take the stuff.

Stay tuned to learn about how you can take your recycling beyond your regular paper, glass, and plastic.

Nalgene Concern

You may have already heard about this on the news, unless you live under a rock like me, but I thought it was worthy to write an article about. There is concern that BPA, a chemical used in the making of Nalgene bottles and other plastic containers could cause cancer in humans. I found this article on the subject from the Washington Post. I thought it was an easy read and did a good job of summing up the big issues of the argument.

I don't know what I think right now. I love my Nalgene bottle ... I drink out of it ALL the time (yes, I'm sipping out of it while I write this). It's sturdy and cute (mine is lime green) and I know how much I've had to drink when I finish two of them (about 64 oz.). When I have it near me, I want to drink out of it because I think it's so cool. So I don't think I'm ready to toss it out quite yet. But if you are wanting to trade up, Nalgene is now making the BPA free version of its product and you can find them here.

While reading up on these articles, I thought I would also look at the normal care that you should do for your bottle. I wanted to know how often you should wash it and even how often you should change out your straw (if you're like me and you use one. It makes me drink more, faster). And after much time and effort, I located a page on the Nalgene site that gives cleaning instructions (although not recommendations on how often you should clean it) and you can read it here. I'm to go ahead and just assume that it would be a pretty good idea to wash it out every two weeks or so. Same with changing out your straw.

Being the neon green person I know you are, you might even consider washing your straw and using the same one until it completely wears out. This is something that I plan to start myself in the coming week. I spent a few minutes looking around for reusable plastic straws online, but I am quite partial to the bendy kind so I think I will just keep washing mine.

Keep sipping out of those reusable bottles! You are doing a little part to keep your landfill contributions to a minimum! Way to go!