Earth Day is on April 22 but why wait till then

Recycle Bank and Burts Bees sent me a list of 10 Earth Day tips to use on this site. They're great tips, but as I was reading them over I realized (even before I got to their ending comment) - these are all things you can do any day, not just on Earth Day. 

As Earth Day approaches, I'll be talking more about what you can do in your own community to celebrate, but I thought this list was worth putting up because they are things we should be doing whether it's Earth Day or not. Here's what Recycle Bank and Burts Bees have to say.

In 1970, the first Earth Day motivated and energized people to take action and think differently about life on the planet. Now, with almost 39 Earth Day Celebrations under our belt, it’s time to up the ante and think about good ol’ Mother Earth each and every day.

RecycleBank and Burt’s Bees have come up with 10 easy ways that you can do to make a difference today, tomorrow, and every day.

1. Recycle: This Earth Day, take a good hard look at your trash. We trust you’ll fish out some recyclables in the mix (probably from others), but also remember E-Waste like cell phones, MP3’s and laptops can all be recycled and repurposed.
   
2. Freecycle: The above is sure to stir up some goodies that can be useful to those around us: clothes, books, electronics, furniture, etc.
   
3. Reuse. Reuse. And did we mention Reuse? Products have life spans. Leave behind paper plates, plastic forks and any other disposables. Reusable serve ware, portable mugs for that latte and a water jug for that necessary potable will lessen landfills and just make life taste better!
   
4. Wallet Activism: Look for products made from recycled materials, natural ingredients and minimal / biodegradable packaging. By supporting eco-friendly companies your green supports the greater green.
   
5. Park It: Celebrate the beauty of spring with a walk when you could have driven. Carpool, take public transport, ride your bike. If you can’t do it every day, try once a week. When you do drive, make sure you pump up your tires so you can deflate your fill-ups.
   
6. Junk It: Putting the kibosh on junk mail and catalogues will save you time, save landfill space and save millions of trees (and probably make the post office happy too).
   
7. Bills. Bills. Bills. We won’t advise not paying ‘em, but we wholly support going paperless for your banking, bill paying and at the ATM.
   
8. Live Life Locally: Support your local farmers while enjoying fresh produce and organically grown goodies. You can even try going veggie once or twice a week.
   
9. Say Y-E-S to CFL’s: You’ll save time, money and energy…but you may have to give up on the “How many _____’s does it take to change a light bulb?” jokes because you’ll change them so infrequently.
   
10. Spread the Word: Tell your friends how easy it is to shave off some carbon here, save some resources there and conserve a little energy here. And then they can tell their friends. And then they can tell their friends…
    

RecycleBank and Burt’s Bees are committed to finding clean, green ways of existing on this planet. These simple steps above can help you protect the environment, each and every day.

Image: Earthday.net

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Packing and Shipping Materials

Just about now during the holidays, if you shop online, you're being inundated with boxes full of gifts. But those boxes probably contain more packing materials than gifts. It's amazing the over packaging that some companies do.

What do you do with all of those packing and shipping materials that end up piled high in the dining room? There is on thing you shouldn't do with them. Throw them away. There are lots of ways to avoid them becoming landfill.

Reduce

You have no control over how a package that is shipped to you is packed. But you do have control over the packages you ship. Try to find appropriate sized boxes so you don't have to put more filler than needed in. You'll save money, and you'll save some greenhouse gasses? How?

It may seem miniscule, but every little bit of extra weight in a package means that the vehicles used to haul it needs to use more fuel. If you make your package as light as possible, and others take the same measures, fuel will be saved.

Another way to reduce when it comes to shipping is to ship directly to the recipient. Do you order gifts online for friends and relatives you live far away, have them shipped to your home, wrap them, and then re-ship them to the recipients? You're doubling the carbon footprint of that packages travels. 

If the company you order from offers gift wrapping, let them wrap it and send it directly. Or, if you're buying for kids who live far away, let their parents know you are sending some gifts and ask if they wouldn't mind wrapping them for you once you arrive. My in-laws do this frequently. 

Reuse

Packing and shipping materials can be reused over and over. I have a spot in my basement where I have broken down boxes, bubble wrap, air pillows, etc from items that have been shipped to me. When I need to ship something I never need to buy anything new (except packing tape once in a while).

What if you don't have the room to store these materials or you end up with more than you will ever use? Giving it away is easy.

Many packing/shipping stores will take things like packing peanuts, air pillows, and other fillers. They won't pay you for them, but it's worth it to donate them to keep them out of landfills.

If you have any friends who are ebay sellers, they will probably happily take these materials off your hands.

Another way to give these things away is to list them on Craigslist or to Freecycle them. If you have a collection of packing/shipping materials there is someone out there who wants them, and that someone is checking these places to see who has them. 

Last year, as the boxes came in with online purchases, I threw them all in the downstairs shower (we never use it - it's more like a closet). After the holidays, I put it all together and listed it on Freecycle. Within a couple of hours, someone had come to my house and collected it all. It felt really good to know that all of this stuff was going to get reused at least one more time.

Recycle

If any of these items truly are unusable, say a box has just gotten to beaten up to reuse, make sure it hits the recycling bin and not the trash can.

It's tempting during the busy holidays to just get these shipping/packing materials out of our way by sending them out for the trash men to pick up. It takes extra effort to make sure they end up being used and reused and disposed of responsibly. So decide now to be make a commitment to being responsible with them so you won't be tempted to put those evil packing peanuts in the trash can.

10 Easy Ways to Be More Sustainable with Your Home Organizing

In September my youngest goes to school full time. With that, I will be devoting more time to freelance writing. I plan on putting in 25 hours a week actually working instead of the 10-12 I put in now. If I want to be make those 25 very efficient hours, I need to be getting my office in order over the next three weeks. It's a disaster area. So home organization is on my mind.

I'd love to hire a professional organizer, have that person come in and put in cabinets and shelves and cute little color coordinating baskets and window treatments. But that wouldn't be sustainable or affordable. I'm going to have to get organized in a sustainable way. Here are ten easy ways I could do it.

1. The first step in organizing is always to get rid of things you don't need. Don't throw away anything usable. Donate or freecycle it.
2. Tackle the paper monster. If your home is anything like mine there are piles of paper everywhere, not just in the office. Gather it all up and put in several piles - recycle, shred (then recycle), file, reuse (if there is still a clean side to the paper and you don't need what is on the front) and perhaps another pile or two that you deem necessary. Then tackle the piles until all paper is where it should be.
   
3. Anything that is behind closet doors doesn't need to look pretty, it just needs to be organized. There's no need to buy matching boxes or baskets. Shoe boxes and other make shift organizing supplies are fine.
4. Pens and pencils can go in mugs. You don't need a fancy desk top pencil holder.
5. Use well washed glass jars and plastic jars to hold items.
   
6. Buy used. If you need shelves or containers, hit the thrift store or yard sales.
   
7. Repurpose things you already have. Do you have any unused furniture sitting in an attic or basement. Could an old chest of drawers be used to organize kids papers and craft supplies? Sometimes a fresh coat of paint and some new drawer pulls can do wonders.
8. Use old dresser drawers underneath beds to store items. If you are worried about dust, place a beach towel over the drawer that can be easily washed. There isn't a week that goes by that I don't see someone put an old dresser out at the curb.
9. Ask your friends, neighbors and family members for things that they aren't using. Let them know you're trying to get organized and e-mail them a list of things you'd like to have. You might be surprised at what people have stored away that they are happy to part with.
   
10. Once you're organized, stay organized. If you know what you have and where it is, you'll eliminate making the mistake of buying duplicate items.
    

What are your sustainable home organization tips?

Green Term of the Week - E-Waste

E-Waste is the waste that comes from discarded electronic equipment such as computers, mobile phones, mp3 players, televisions, and other electronic equipment. When these items end up in landfills or get burned in an incinerator toxic substances like lead, mercury and cadmium end up contaminating the land we live on, the water we drink, and the air we breath.

It's only been recently that there have been recycling programs for these items, and there are decades and decades of car stereos, old TV's, walkmans, pagers and other obsolete electronics buried in the earth. Even today, with the recycling programs that exist, not everyone recycles items that are no longer obsolete, just last year's models.

Before throwing away an electronic item, think of another way to dispose of it that is environmentally friendly. Cell phones can be turned in where you buy a new phone or donated to a charity who will recycle them for profit. The same with printer cartridges. Old computers can be donated to schools (especially private schools who often don't have budgets for technology) or given to a family who doesn't have a computer yet. And of course, you can always Freecyle any of your old electronics.

If you can't find any other way to recycle your E-Waste, most counties have recycling programs for E-Waste that are separate from their regular curb side recycling programs. Contact your county to find out where to take old electronics so they can be disposed of safely.

"Tis the Season to Freecycle

In my last post, I relayed how I was putting all of my shipping/packing materials left over from buying online onto Freecycle. Within 24 hours someone had come and picked it all up. I also was able to find someone who needed the kitty condo that our cat never uses. That was gone within 24 hours, too.

Over the next few days I'm going to doing what I always do the last couple of days of every year - going through the house looking for no longer used things to donate to Good Will. One last tax write off before the year ends. Every year there are things that can't go to Good Will because they don't accept them or they are too cumbersome to haul there. This year, I'm going to be freecycling those things instead of letting them sit around. As we make room for all the new things we got this Christmas, I'll be finding new homes for the things we no longer use but are still very useful. None of it will go to waste. None of it will end up in a landfill. 

I Hate Packing Peanuts

Packing peanuts have got to be on my top ten most annoying things ever list. Not only are they bad for the environment, they have malicious little minds of their own. They fly all over the place, stick my hands and my clothes, and take forever to scoop out of a box. There is no easy way to get a box full of packing peanuts emptied. And the entire time I'm trying to empty a box, my cat is jumping inside the box trying play.

Why this rant today? I just spent about 45 minutes gathering up all of the shipping boxes and packing materials that I had thrown in my downstairs shower (which no one ever uses) while getting ready for Christmas. I do a lot of shopping online. I'm always amazed at the huge box that one little CD can arrive in.

In the past, I've always recycled as much of the packing materials that I could, but this year I decided to go one step further. I've neatly put all the boxes, packing peanuts, air pillows, balled up paper, and anything else that can be used for packing/shipping together in the biggest shipping box and offered it all up on Freecycle. There has to be someone out there who sells on ebay or has other shipping needs who can use it all. This way, it can all get reused at least one more time before it is recycled.

Today is glass/plastic/paper pick up day in my town, and as I look down the block, I see tons of useful boxes put out at the curb. I'm not judging - it's being recycled and that 's a good thing. In the past, my curb would have looked just like the rest. But it feels good to know that I'm doing just a little bit to curb the waste instead of putting the waste out at the curb.