Tag Archives: reuse

Getting Wise(r) About Waste

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Green Goes Simple: Family Footprints

Getting Wise(r) About Waste

By Amy Levin-Epstein for Green Goes Simple

You already know to carry around a reusable tote. They’re not only better for the earth, but also cuter to carry! But there are so many other small changes that can make a big difference in the amount of waste we create. Here, green lifestyle expert Sara Snow, author of Sara Snow’s Fresh Living: The Essential Room-by-room Guide to a Greener, Healthier Family and Home, shares her five best tips for adhering to the adage “Waste not, want not.”

Use Reusable Pouches

Plastic baggies are super-convenient — and super-wasteful. But cute reusable baggies (such as Posh Pouches) are the equivalent of lunch bags for your leftovers. You buy them once and use them over and over.

“These are fully lined in a BPA-, lead- and phthalate-free lining that allows you to wash out PB&J spills, with a strong Velcro closure that will keep even the crumbliest cookies in place,” says Snow. “Use them for snacks, lunches — even makeup and art or craft supplies.”

Buy in Bulk

Plastic, metal and paper packaging is a huge contributor to household waste. “Instead of buying another box of cereal, simply fill a reusable bag with the cereal of your choice from a bulk bin and slip that back into the original box,” suggests Snow. “You can do the same for pasta, beans, rice, crackers, dried fruit, nuts, olive oil, vinegar and many other items.” Bonus: You’ll likely spend less money in the process!

Recharge Your Batteries

Nope, we’re not talking about a day at the spa. Bottom line? Stop buying disposable batteries. “Batteries are a tricky little trash number because they’re tough to recycle and not supposed to be tossed with your regular trash,” says Snow. “A simple way to solve the dilemma is to invest in reusable, rechargeable batteries.”

Go E for Everything

Paper bills, bank statements, greeting cards, business cards, magazines, newspapers, letters — oh my! If it seems like you’re perpetually recycling or throwing out paper, go paper-free, suggests Snow. With computers — and maybe tablets or smartphones — at your fingertips, sending your paperwork through cyberspace has never been easier or safer.

Share Your Treasure

Ever heard the expression, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”? Make sure you’re sharing the wealth. “The next time you clean out your basement or attic, think twice before you declare something garbage; it takes just a little effort to drop those bags at Goodwill instead of in your garbage can,” says Snow. “If you live in a neighborhood, try leaving it at the end of your driveway for a day or two. Most things will disappear overnight, off to a good home where someone has the skills and time to fix that broken wheel, mend the tear or replace the electronics.”

Amy Levin-Epstein is a freelance writer who’s been published in magazines like Glamour, Self and Prevention, on websites like AOL, Babble and Details.com and in newspapers like the New York Post and the Boston Globe. You can read more of her writing at AmyLevinEpstein.com. Her articles have previously appeared on Green Goes Simple.
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Reusing and Recycling 101

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Green Goes Simple


Green Goes Simple: Conservation at Home

Reusing and Recycling 101

By Dana Goeglein for Green Goes Simple

You want to be green, but it’s hard to know the difference between reusing and recycling. Fortunately, it’s not that complicated. Recycling and reusing have the same goal: to keep items out of overflowing landfills. The two tactics just go about it in very different ways.

Recycling involves reprocessing an old item — such as a can, glass or newspaper — and turning it into something new. Recycled paper products may be reprocessed into toilet paper and old tires may become a compound used to resurface roads.

Reusing, on the other hand, means avoiding the reprocessing plant altogether. Old items like containers, bags and appliances can be used again in their current condition for a similar — or completely different — purpose. Takeout containers can be turned into food storage (think: free plastic containers!), and plastic bags can be transformed into waterproof liners for planters or drawers.

“Reusing extends the lifetime of a product, from the time it is purchased to the time it goes to a landfill [or recycling plant],” explains Janine Kubert, director of operations at iReuse, a company that helps businesses and individuals become better reusers.

When you extend the lifetime of a product, you not only reduce the need to buy something new (which takes energy to produce), but you also save on the energy it would take to recycle that product. “Reusing allows us to get the most out of our virgin products and raw materials, and aside from reducing consumption entirely, it is our best resource for waste reduction,” says Kubert.

Whether you’re an avid recycler or new to waste reduction, here are some simple ways to reuse and recycle every day:

Reuse

  • Reuse bags, boxes and containers. For example, turn old shoe boxes into storage containers, packaging for gifts or a treasure chest (have kids cut out pictures from magazines and glue them to the outside of the box for a customized container).
  • Rather than buying a new product, borrow, rent or share items you use infrequently or for a short period of time.
  • When babies and kids outgrow toys, books, cribs, high chairs and strollers, sell or donate the items rather than throw them away.
  • Invest in quality, durable products. You may spend more initially, but they’ll last longer, which saves you money over time.

Recycle

  • Become a full-circle recycler. Buy products that can be recycled; sort and discard them according to your community’s standards; and finally, purchase products made from post-recycled materials.
  • For more information about recyclable materials, check out the EPA’s website: Epa.gov/waste/conserve/rrr/recycle.htm.

Going Above and Beyond
While waste reduction starts at home, communities nationwide are forming around the premise that less is more. Freecycle (Freecycle.org) — started in Tucson, Ariz., before spreading throughout the U.S. — helps people be the best possible reusers. Through the Freecycle network, members are able to donate — or pick up — used products, such as appliances, furniture, toys and bikes.

In need of a reduce, reuse and recycle tutorial? Companies like iReuse (iReuse.com) give personalized consultations to help you reduce waste, donate reusable products and save money.

If you’re not sure about your community’s procedures or standards for reusing and recycling, check your town’s government Web site or ask a neighbor. Through community boards, donation banks and home and school recycling programs, it’s getting even easier to do more to waste less.

Dana Goeglein received a bachelor’s in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College and a master’s in food studies from New York University. She is a writer, yoga instructor and whole foods educator in New York City, where she strives to help others create harmonious, connected lives.
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Conservation in the Classroom

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Green Goes Simple

Green Goes Simple:

Conservation in the Classroom

By Elizabeth Barker for Green Goes Simple

Raising environmentally savvy kids is one of the most powerful ways to help them enjoy a protected planet. To foster your children’s eco-education, encourage their schools to go green.

As part of National Green Week (an annual program developed by the Green Education Foundation), schools can devote any week from now until Earth Day (April 22) to projects that help create a more sustainable classroom and community. “One of National Green Week’s goals is for schools to start making environment-focused changes they can stick with for the rest of the year and beyond, so that the program can truly have a lasting impact,” says Green Education Foundation president Victoria Waters.

To spark each child’s green spirit, says Waters, it’s crucial to let students take charge in choosing which environmental issues they’ll hone in on during National Green Week. Parents and teachers can check out the Green Education Foundation for a wealth of resources and tips on making the program fun and meaningful for kids. You and your kids can get inspired with Waters’ suggestions for fun National Green Week projects:

Waste-free Snacks
In 2010, National Green Week participants eliminated 300,000 pounds of trash by packaging their snacks more sustainably. With a goal of slashing snack waste by 500,000 pounds during National Green Week 2011, the Waste-free Snacks project prompts kids to ditch plastic baggies and juice boxes and start using reusable containers and bottles. With all the fun, kid-friendly container options out there, this challenge is sure to be a hit with your tikes!

The Green Thumb Challenge
By growing their own garden, kids can connect with the earth and foster a lifelong fondness for fresh fruits and veggies. For schools seeking to transform their grounds into a bountiful green space, the Green Education Foundation suggests using National Green Week as a garden-planning period.

Keep it easy by focusing on cultivating easy-to-grow goodies like watermelons and radishes. This project highlights sustainable gardening practices that help nurture the planet. “Lots of schools taking part in the Green Thumb Challenge have gotten into working with earthworms for use in composting, which helps cut the amount of waste that ends up in landfills,” says Waters.

The Green Classroom Pledge
Designed to give schools an eco-makeover, the Green Classroom Pledge includes 10 simple steps for fighting pollution and reducing the use of natural resources. Along with paper-preserving strategies and energy-saving initiatives, the pledge involves cleaning up classroom air by switching to nontoxic supplies and adopting plants that help purify the indoor environment.

To shore up your school’s National Green Week efforts, the Green Education Foundation offers a sustainability-centric curriculum for each grade — from kindergarten-friendly lessons on making Solar Sweet Tea to a middle-school-level guide to growing hydroponic flowers. But no matter which activities schools select, National Green Week should ultimately serve to inspire students.

“When kids hear about the doom-and-gloom of what’s going on with the environment, it’s easy for them to feel helpless,” says Waters. “But once they take part in hands-on projects where they actually see a positive outcome, it really empowers them and gives them the sense that they can make a difference.”

Elizabeth Barker is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and executive editor of fashion blog NoGoodForMe.com. Her work has appeared in Body + Soul, Natural Health, Vegetarian Times, Variety and Kiwi.
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Green Fatigue – Who Do You Trust?

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I have seen the phase “Green Fatigue” mentioned a few places and to be honest I have felt it a bit myself. Maybe it’s the economy or maybe it’s because to many brands say they are “green” and turn around and do something unethical.

After reading about what “organic” “natural” and “free range” mean in the United States I don’t know who trust.

Has being “Green” become a marketing ploy versus a real life way to live?

“There are more important things then money” – My Grandma Cherry

Who do you trust? be it Brands? Bloggers? News?

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An Eco Chic Must Have – Reusable Produce Bags!

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Are you tired of having loose fruits and veggies roaming around in your reusable grocery bag? Or worse feeling guilty for using one of the plastic bags off the roll in the produce section?

Carebags can help, they are reusable bags for produce. I love them. Here’s why

  • Machine washable
  • Can clean produce while it’s still in bag
  • Reusable – super eco-chic
  • Perfect for snacks on the go
  • Great for grains

For more information check out their site http://www.carebagsonline.com/

Win Bags!

Great news! I was given a couple bags to test out and a handy pouch of three GotIt bags to giveaway(see photo).

If you want to be entered in the giveway please email alesha@ecochicmommy.com with Carebags in the subject line.

Friday, November 26th at midnight I will randomly pick a winner. Good Luck!

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Conservation with Kids

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Green Goes Simple: Family Footprints
Conservation With Kids

By Cynthia Ramnarace for Green Goes Simple

“Mommy, you’re not saving the Earth.” Mira folded her 6-year-old arms at me as I cleaned the stove while the water ran idly in the sink.

She was right. I told her so and turned off the tap.

My kids — Mira and 3-year-old Miles — have turned out to be excellent ambassadors for the three R’s: reusing, recycling and reducing. They know that a pair of scissors, a rubber band and some markers can transform a paper towel roll into a fashionable set of binoculars. And when we’re out and about, we never toss an empty water bottle in the trash simply because a recycling bin is out of sight; Mira, for one, advocates bringing the plastic bottle home and disposing of it properly.

These are great first steps, but I’m continually in search of new ways to encourage earth-friendly activities around the house. After all, just last summer I still fielded requests to fill the kiddie pool daily, and I often caught a little one standing in front of an open fridge leisurely assessing its contents.

So I asked some eco-minded moms for tips on encouraging conservation and reducing waste among the younger set. Here’s what they said.

1. Enlist your kids’ imaginations.
Before you recycle a soda bottle, cardboard box or glass jar, ask your kids if they think there’s a way to reuse it. For inspiration, consider what Sheri Amsel’s kids created with a 2-liter plastic bottle. Amsel, author of 365 Ways to Live Green for Kids: Saving the Environment at Home, School, or at Play — Every Day!, helped them create terrariums filled with plants and the occasional small creature. They also used them to store marbles, rocks and action figures.

2. Give them responsibility.
Looking for the perfect starter chore for your young kids? Put them in charge of recycling. Let them decorate each bin — paper, plastic, glass — with pictures, stickers and designs. Then make a game out of recycling, suggests Morgan McKean, blogger at TheGreenChick.me and mother of 5-year-old Jamil.

“Gather several disposable items from around your house, hold them up in front of your children and ask, ‘Recycle or trash?’” says McKean. This teaches kids about recycling, but it also shows them how much waste winds up in the garbage bin. And that might spark ideas for ways to use less!

As kids get older, they’ll outgrow sorting games like this one. Amsel suggests putting older kids in charge of collecting the redeemable recyclables. Their incentive? They can keep whatever money they make at the recycling center.

3. Make it fun.
To get her 5-year-old son to use less water, McKean uses a game called Beat the Timer. Whenever he’s watering plants in the yard or using the shower or sink, McKean sets a timer and challenges him to finish before the buzzer goes off. “This makes water conservation fun and establishes a pattern for respecting water and our limited supply of it,” she says.

“The same can be done with the refrigerator door, I realized. Now my kids count to 10 once they open the door. If they haven’t figured it out by then, they get what mommy picks.”

4. Lead by example.
Last but not least, be a good model. “As much as we want kids to do it on their own, they really model after us,” says Amsel. “So if we reuse things and talk about why we’re reusing them, kids pick up on that.”

Cynthia Ramnarace is a freelance writer in Queens, N.Y. She is a regular contributor to iVillage.com and AARP Bulletin. Her work also appears frequently in American Baby and Kiwi magazines.

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The Planet Friendly Kitchen

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The Planet-Friendly Kitchen

By Cynthia Ramnarace for Green Goes Simple

Without a doubt, the kitchen is the most popular room in my house. From meal prep to mealtime, homework to crafts, it’s the center of our family life — and the ultimate candidate for a recent eco-makeover.

In the interest of increasing my sustainability IQ, I first took inventory of what I knew about conservation in the kitchen:

1. Don’t leave the water running. (This one’s easy — if I slip, there’s a 6-year-old water watchdog always ready to remind me.)
2. Recycle.
3. Stock up on non-disposable plates and utensils and embrace the durability of reusable shopping totes.

This is a good start, but my kitchen — and I — clearly needed professional assistance if we were going to take it to the next level. This is where green living expert Annie Bond came in. The author of Home Enlightenment: Create a Nurturing, Healthy and Toxin-Free Home shared some surprising tips for transforming everyone’s favorite room into an environmentally savvy space:

The Dishwasher is a “Do.” A full dishwasher uses less water to clean a day’s worth of dirty dishes than hand-washing them in the sink.

DIY Dishrags. “Let’s say you’ve got a pair of old, unused pajamas made from beautiful soft fabric,” says Bond. Grab a pair of scissors and give them new life as dishrags and hand towels. But get ready for a bigger laundry basket — these need to be washed daily to prevent bacterial growth.

Compost your Scraps. Vegetable peels, fruit rinds and coffee grinds make excellent garden fertilizers. If you have an in-house compost bin, you can keep unwanted odors away by cleaning it out every couple of days.

Downsize your Oven. When you can, bypass the energy-guzzling oven and stove in favor of smaller cooking appliances. Look beyond toast, and you’ll find that a toaster oven is ideal for heating up or cooking small amounts of food. Slow cookers and electric kettles are also everyday energy savers.

Use Natural Critter Control. Bond recommends trading chemical pesticides for the homemade variety. Drop a few cotton balls into a small glass jar and fill it halfway with a mixture of 1 part Borax (a natural pesticide), 1 part sugar and 3 parts water. Watch as the ants go marching one by one into the jar, where they take their final swim.

I took Bond’s suggestions for my kitchen and found an added bonus: These tips are time savers too! Filling the dishwasher is faster than washing dishes, and toaster oven cuisine is refreshingly speedy. Saving time and the earth — what’s not to love?

Cynthia Ramnarace is a freelance writer in Queens, N.Y. She is a regular contributor to iVillage.com and AARP Bulletin. Her work also appears frequently in American Baby and Kiwi magazines.

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Product Review – Mimi The Sardine Lunchbugs

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Last week I received an adorable Mimi the Sardine Lunchbug. We got the Propeller Lunchbug, a very cool design with helicopters and airplanes on it.

We have used the bag a few times now and I can tell it is going to be our favorite lunch/snack bag from here on out. It is super study and easy to carry.

Mimi’s lunchbugs are easy to clean: just wipe, or machine-wash and tumble dry on low. They are equipped with a sturdy zipper and soft handles, children and adults alike fall in love with the fun and colorful patterns, and everyone appreciates its eco-friendly and safe fabric. They are lined with an adorable complement dot or stripe acrylic-coated fabric.

I highly recommend this product for everyone with a young one(or adults) that need to pack food for on the go.

Buy this awesome lunch bag here.

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Transform Your Trash

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Green Goes Simple: Conservation at Home

Transform Your Trash

By Marisa Belger for Green Goes Simple

The jars came first. Instead of sending my growing collection of empty glass receptacles to their usual fate at the bottom of the recycle bin, I did something unexpected — something wild. I peeled off their labels and plopped them in the dishwasher.

I wanted to see just what would happen if I gave these jars another chance. Full disclosure: I was motivated not only by the thought of transforming trash into something new, something useful, even something cool, but also by the fact that jars were clogging up my kitchen. You see, we’re a jar-centric family, tearing through what I’m starting to believe is an abnormal amount of pickles, mustard (the spicy French and yellow varieties), sauces of both apple and tomato, and jams and jellies.

Bright and sparkling, fresh from a wash, empty jars were exactly what I was missing. Without their labels and sticky contents, these vessels found instant new homes as beverage glasses (drinking jars are big on rustic charm), loose-change receptacles, pen holders, and — my all-time favorite — vases. Nobody can resist a mason jar filled with daisies. Nobody.

Not a fan of pickles? No problem. Jars aren’t the only way to reuse that which you’d otherwise throw out. Paper towel tubes, shoe boxes and detergent bottles are all contenders for a useful second act.

Paper Towel Tubes
Pulling the last paper towel from the roll used to signal the end of something, but now it’s the start of something new. Paper towel tubes in their natural state are the ultimate building blocks for art projects — they provide hours of rainy day entertainment with kids — and they serve practical purposes too. Try these ideas:

  1. Glue on a pair of paper wings or a tail, then draw on a face for an instant cardboard-tube animal.
  1. Attach two tubes and decorate with paint and stickers for a pair of homemade binoculars.
  1. Turned upright and outfitted with orange and yellow paper flames, paper towel tubes make fantastic fire-free candlesticks. Decorate them in orange and black for Halloween, or choose a Christmas or Hanukkah theme.
  1. Adults can put paper towel tubes to good use by employing them to prop up droopy windows or to hold silverware and sharp knives when camping or picnicking.

Detergent/Fabric Softener Bottles
Empty, clean detergent and fabric softener bottles can be transformed into hand-held shovels or scoops (simply use a utility knife to cut off the bottom off the bottle). Adults and kids can use these in the garden and at the beach. Bonus: remove the cap and you have a funnel!

Shoe Boxes
Yes, shoe boxes are ideal for household organizing (think: recipe cards, old love letters, office items, sewing supplies, Legos, electric cords and much more). But they’re even more versatile than that. Moving? Shoe boxes are ideal for packing smaller, loose items like tchotchkes, silverware, medicine bottles and the like. Gifting? Cover them with decorative paper, and you’ve got a homemade (and let’s admit it — more meaningful!) present package.

Marisa Belger’s work has appeared in Travel + Leisure Family, Natural Health, Prevention and on the TODAYShow.com. She was a founding editor of Lime.com — which specialized in wellness and sustainable living — and she collaborated with author Josh Dorfman on his bestselling books, The Lazy Environmentalist and The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget.

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