Marcal's Small Steps paper products

I have a great job. Sometimes I get sent huge boxes of organic fruit to review. Some days I get to sit by the pool and work remotely. And sometimes I get sent free ... toilet paper.

Yep, toilet paper. I know there are some extreme greens who don't use it anymore, but my family still does, and I don't see that changing any time soon. A few year ago we used both toilet paper made from unrecycled materials and what we called grown up wipes - the Cottenelle wet wipe stuff. But we realized it was not good for the earth and got rid of the grown up wipes and switched to toilet paper made of recycled materials (as opposed to recycled toilet paper - ew!)

I was sent a box of Marcal Small Steps recycled paper products to review - toilet paper, paper towels, tissues and napkins. According to the Small Steps website, Marcal has been making its paper products from recycled paper, not from trees.

I didn't know that. I also didn't know that Marcal is located right here in New Jersey and "uses recyclables from more than 600 municipalities from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and New England. The company is one of the largest employers in New Jersey, employing over 900 people." Hey, my kids homework papers could end up as our toilet paper.

The products are made from 100% premium recycled paper. They are whitened without chlorine bleach and contain no dye or fragrance.

We've used the toilet paper. It's not soft and thick, but I don't care. It's toilet paper. We've always used the larger 1000 sheet type rolls anyway because they cost less and last longer. I saw no difference between the Marcal Small Steps toilet paper and any other 1000 sheet roll I've ever used.

The tissues are similar - not soft and thick, but they get the job done. Same with the paper towels.

I've actually used the napkins before. We had a large cook out, and I bought them. They work just like any other disposable paper napkin.

We do regularly use disposable paper toilet paper and tissues. We do not regularly use disposable paper towels or napkins. I use rags and cloth napkins in my day to day life. But, once in a while, I buy paper napkins - usually when I'm having a large crowd. I also buy paper towels and keep them under the sink to clean up stuff you really just want to throw out - like the cat's fur balls. I'd say I go through three rolls of paper towels a year. 

Whatever paper products I'm using, whether I'm using them regularly or once in a blue moon, I buy them made from recycled paper. The Marcal Small Steps are a great option when I do because they work well, and they aren't priced out of my budget like some other paper products made from recycled materials. 

Have you checked out the $1 charity fundraiser that I'm participating in with a group of other fine eco-bloggers? We're trying to raise money for an environmental group and those who donate get to vote on who gets the money. Please consider voting and donating a dollar.

e-cards vs paper cards

I got an e-mail yesterday. It was asking if I would promote an e-card website with a specific spin - since mother's day is coming up, shouldn't we honor Mother Earth and send our moms an e-card instead of a paper card. You know, save a tree.

Here's what I want to ask you. How would your mother respond if you sent her an e-card instead of an actual card for Mother's Day? Forget the fact that my mom doesn't use a computer, if she did, and I sent her an e-card instead of actual card, I would never live it down.

I do send e-cards when I think the occassion and the recipient call for it. Susan and I send Hallmark Hoops and YoYo e-cards to each other all the time. Hoops and YoYo can brighten anyone's day.

But e-cards and e-vites set a very different tone than paper cards and paper invitations. Every once in a while, I pick up a little extra work, ghost writing web content. I've written many articles you'll never see my name on about greening weddings, and one of the things I always offer up as an option is sending out wedding e-vites, but I always add that sending an e-vite instead of a paper invitation will set a certain tone for your wedding. A very casual tone. Send a wedding e-vite, you're more likely to get people showing up in clothes from the Gap.

I'm all for making this world greener. But I think that people are most important. So, if it's very important to my mom that I buy her a paper card, then I'm buying her a paper card (and if I can find one made on recycled paper, that's a plus). For other things, like inviting our friends to our annual Christmas party, e-vites are very appropriate. 

The environment is very important, but it's not everything. If you've got a hip, tree-hugging mom who would appreciate an e-card for Mother's Day, then go for it. If your mom treasures her cards, then give her a card. I don't think dishonoring your actual mother to honor Mother Earth is worth it.

Zumbox: sending you paper mail so you don't have to get paper mail

I received a press release e-mail the yesterday about Zumbox, the first free Web-based, all-digital postal system alternative to the USPS for sending and receiving paper mail.

Free for consumers and businesses (except advertisers and marketers), Zumbox
is a cost-effective, easy-to-use, and environmentally responsible new way to
send and receive mail. It is also a timely option - given the condition of
the present postal system.

Zumbox is based on the *current street address system* and operates within a
closed, secure system with bank-level security.

Zumbox will be free to you and me. We will be able to send and receive mail at no charge. It's the advertisers and marketers who will pay to use it.

Zumbox will derive revenues from charging advertisers and marketers that utilize the service. Zumbox is set to dramatically improve the efficiency of direct response marketing and enable real-time campaign measurement through powerful analytics tools, which are unavailable for traditional direct mail initiatives.

By using Zumbox, advertisers and marketers will enjoy lower customer acquisition costs and an enhanced digital offering, while benefiting from real-time distribution to consumers and prospects. The service allows for mail to be sent to a single address, a mailing list, or a geographic region, which enables targeting of all addresses on a street, in a building, within a radius or in a city, ZIP code, county or state.

I went to Zumbox to check it out for us all, I typed in my name and address, and was taken to my personal virtual mailbox, and surprise! I had mail - from Zumbox, of course. This is what I read.

This letter was sent to your street address electronically. It was not printed, folded, enveloped, and stamped. It was not picked up by a person, driven across town, sorted, re-sorted, and hand-delivered by another person to your mailbox.

In order to investigate any further, I need to enter my pin, which get this, will be mailed to my house in the next three to four days! I understand it's for security reasons, but it really struck me as funny. Once I receive my pin, I'll investigate further.

But here are my first thoughts. I'm all for going as paperless as possible. There are some things however, that I want to receive in the mail. Like letters from friends. Christmas cards. The journal that my college roommate and I mail back and forth to each other. Most of the rest of the stuff can be sent electronically.

However, I'm still not sure how different this will be from the e-mail system we already have. People and businesses that I chose to can already correspond with me through e-mail. This seems more of an opportunity for marketers to target me. All of those companies that despite my best efforts to get off of their lists still send me advertisements in the mail. It looks like with Zumbox that I will be able to delete their mail unopened, and even block their mail. So will they just go back to snail mailing me?

I'll know a little more in a couple of days. Until then, you might want to snoop around a bit yourself.

10 Easy ways to be more sustainable with your mail

Mail. It comes six days a week, and I throw 75% of it out immediately. I've got less to throw out now than I did in the past, however. There are some things you receive in the mail that you are never going to be able to avoid, but many of the things you do receive can be managed. Here are ten easy ways to curb the amount of mail that comes into your box and the paper waste that you generate.

1. Get paperless bank statements. Most banks will now e-mail you your monthly statements instead of sending them in the mail. If you want to make sure that you keep track of everything, you will need some sort of banking software that will allow you to download those statements.
2. Go paperless with your monthly bills. The phone bill, the electric bill, your insurance bills, your credit card bill - many of them can now be sent to your e-mail and then paid online. Not only does this keep paper from coming into your house, it saves you money in stamps.
3. Get rid of unwanted catalogs by going to Catalog Choice and opting out of individual catalogs.
   
4. Contact non-profit organizations that send you requests for donations (the ones you don't donate to) and ask them to remove your name and address from their mailing list.
5. Don't renew magazines that you never read.
6. Visit DMAchoice.org to get off of many direct marketing lists.
7. Go to privacyrights.org to find out how to opt out of all sorts of mailings such as credit card offers, flyers, advertising supplements, and sweepstakes.
8. Send e-vites for casual get-togethers instead of mailing formal invitations. 
9. Save the return envelops from mailings you do receive to use for things like making grocery lists on and sending money into school with your kids.
10. Recycle all unwanted mail. Anything with sensitive information on it should be shredded first then recycled.

Saving Paper a Half Inch at a Time

First of all, if you're new to A Little Greener Every Day, welcome. Last week saw 3 times as much traffic as I've ever had here. Most of that traffic came this way from Stumble Upon. I also want to say thank you to those who take the time to submit my posts to Stumble. I appreciate it.

Last week, I read a post on someone else's blog (and I can't remember which blog or I would certainly give them credit) that suggested that everyone change the margins on their Word documents (or whatever word processor you use) to help reduce the amount of paper used. 

I have always done this, but I've never mentioned it here. Of course, I didn't always do it to be green. I started doing it to save money. The less paper I used, the less paper I had to buy. When printing out documents that I needed to read over, I would adjust the margins to .5 inches. Sometimes I'd change to a smaller font, too.

If doing this is worth the effort for me, think of how advantageous it would be for a company to have their employees change the margins on their documents. It could save reams and reams of paper each year.

Next time you need to print something, go into the formatting section of your word processor and change your margins to .5. It's a small thing, but I believe that doing a whole bunch of small things can make a big difference.

Take Some Time to Cancel Your Catalogs Today with Catalog Choice

I don't know how many times I've mentioned Catalog Choice on this blog, but they are worth mentioning yet again. Last year, I spent quite a bit of time calling catalog companies to cancel over 40 catalogs. Shortly after I did that, Catalog Choice popped up and it would have made my job so much easier.

Despite having cancelled over 40 catalogs last fall, I've got a stack of holiday catalogs piled up that I just cancelled from Catalog Choice's website. Some of them I have never received before. Others of them, I was sure I cancelled. But those resourceful marketing people must have done their homework because of the ones I know I cancelled, they now have arrived in my mailbox under my husband's name.  Aren't they clever. 

Chances are you've got a pile of catalogs that you've received in the past month. And chances are you'll receive two or three more of the same exact catalog before December 25th. Oh, the cover might be different, and the items on the pages shifted a bit, but essentially, they'll be the same exact catalog. It's crazy. All that paper. All those trees. All that water. And the poor mail carriers who have to break their backs delivering them. 

I urge you to take a pile of your catalogs today and spend five minutes on the website canceling them. You'll probably receive one (possibly two) more of each before the cancellation makes it through, but come next holiday season, you'll have a much smaller pile.

Oh, and make sure your catalogs get recycled. I know you already know that, but I'm reminding you anyway.

Go Paperless Where You Can and Save Money

Green Saves Green 

Day 13

For many of us, one of our first steps in being green was recycling paper. It may not have even been a conscious green step. Our communities started a curbside recycling program and we participated. 

Paper comes from trees and our world needs trees to provide oxygen, clean the air, provide shade, keep topsoil from washing away, and a host of other really good things that trees do for our world and for us. So using less paper is definitely green, but how does it save money?

First of all, you've got to think beyond the paper that you use in your printer or to write letters on. Think about the other paper products you use in your home. Namely napkins, paper towels and plates.

Get rid of the paper napkins and get cloth napkins*. Cloth napkins don't need to be expensive. The majority of mine came from Ikea, and if I recall correctly they were $1.99 for a four pack. They aren't all cotton or organic, but they've lasted me for two years and so no sign of wearing out so I think they're a better option than the paper napkins. And not buying paper napkins every two weeks saves me money.

Not using paper towels saves me even more money. We use rags to clean up our messes. You don't even have to buy rags. You've got something around the house that can become a rag. Old t-shirts you never wear. Dishtowels that are no longer attractive enough to hang over the stove handle. I haven't bought a single roll of paper towels in about a year and a half. 

Paper plates are another costly habit. You most likely have regular, durable plates. It's not that difficult to use them or wash them. 

Over at Crunchy Chicken, she had a challenge ditch toilet paper and go with washable wipes/rags, but honestly, I'm not there yet. But it is an option. I do, however, buy toilet paper made from recycled materials (which I have to remind my boys often is not the same as recycled toilet paper!)

On the actual paper side of going paperless, opting for your banks and credit cards to e-mail you paperless statements and bills will help save paper and paying those bills online saves you money by saving the cost of a stamp. I can't keep up with the rising price of stamps these days.

*Note about cloth napkins: A lot of my friends ask about the difficulty of using cloth napkins - washing them, ironing them, getting out the stains. Honestly, I don't care about ironing or getting out stains. I have all white napkins, wash them each time I do a white load and hang them out to dry. If they are stained, oh well, we're only using them to wipe our mouths and hands. Wrinkles - who cares?

10 Easy Ways to Be More Sustainable with Books

I am a bibliophile. Always have been. I love reading, but I also love books in and of themselves. They are a beautiful thing. I really can't see myself reading digital books. You can't curl up with a Kindle. You can't write its margins or risk dropping it in the bathtub on one of the rare occasions you have a long afternoon bath.

But I've had to curb my book habit a bit and change it in ways. According to eco-libris "about 20 million trees are cut down annually for virgin paper to be used for the production of books sold in the U.S. alone." That's a lot of trees. It makes me think twice now before buying a book on the Barnes and Noble sale table just because I can. If you've got a serious book habit like me, here are ten ways to be more sustainable with it.

1. Use the library often - especially for books that you're just interested in reading once. If you have kids, take them with you and let them pick out their own books.
   
2. Buy used books. Unless the book has just been published, there are many places you can get used books easily - eBay, Amazon, Barnes and Noble's website, Alibris, and other online sites have used books.
   
3. Borrow books from your friends and lend them yours.
   
4. Have a book swap with friends - do it for both adult books and kids books. A book swap is when you give your books up but you get ones in return.
   
5. Try swaptree.com for swapping books. Swaptree is an online services that matches up the books you want to give away with the books (or DVD's or video games) you want.
   
6. Take advantage of library books sales. Many libraries purge once a year and accept donations from the public. Then they have a sale (my local library sells hardbacks for $2 and paperbacks for $1).
7. Purge your own library from time to time. If you've got books that are just sitting collecting dust that you will never read again, let someone who wants to read them have them. You can donate them to libraries before their books sales, senior citizen centers, the Good Will and other places.
8. Contact book publishers and let them know that you would like them to start using recycled paper when printing books.
9. Plant a tree for each book you read to help balance out the paper consumption your book habit causes. 
10. Read the eco-libris blog. They have a lot of good information about books and being sustainable with them.

Remember - Paper Has Two Sides, Use Them Both

A week and a half of school has gone by and already the paper is piling up. My kids are coming home with all sorts of papers that are used on only one side (and both kids came home with a thick student handbook. Isn't there some way, in a school of about 350 kids, they can figure out how to send only one per family?)

I figure now is a good time to remind everyone to not throw their papers into the recycling bin until both sides have been used. Here are ideas for reusing paper. I'm sure I'm repeating myself from a past post, but it bears repeating.

• Use it in your printer. So many many announcements come home from school on nice printer/copier paper with only one side used. Flip it over and use it in your printer when you need to print out something that doesn't need to be professional. Things like recipes, articles you'd like to read, something you wrote that needs to be proofread don't need pristine paper. 
  
• Cut it into fourths and make note paper to write phone messages or other notes on.
  
• Write your grocery lists on it.
  
• Send hand written notes to your kids' teachers on it.
• Draw on it.
• Paint on it.

Once both sides of the paper have been used, and you're done with it, then put it in the recycling bin.

In addition to papers that come home from school, be mindful of papers you get in the mail, papers that come from your church or other community type groups, and paper from when you're purging your filing cabinet. If the papers from the filing cabinet don't have sensitive information on them (which you should then shred before recycling), you can use the other side before recycling.

What other sources of paper or ideas for reusing the blank side of paper can you think of?

Off topic question. How many of you know it's "bears repeating" instead of "bares repeating?" I had to look that one up!

Swaptree.com

I often get press releases e-mailed to me from marketing companies asking me to mention their website/product/announcement on this blog. Up until now I've just kind of glossed over them, but I've decided to read them carefully and begin passing along the ones I think fit in well with what we're trying to do here.

I got this one today, and since it is about being green about your media (books, cd's, dvd's, etc), I figured I'd pass it on. I've been trying to purchase all of my media used if possible lately, and this is a way to get some it of it in a green and free way.

In honor of Earth Day this Tuesday, Swaptree.com, the website where you can trade the books, DVDs, CDs, and video games you have, for the ones you want, for free, will be donating $1 dollar for every trade made on Earth Day to The Sierra Club.

So if getting a free book, DVD, video game or CD was not enough, now by signing up and doing a trade, you will also be donating to America’s oldest and largest environmental organization on Swaptree’s dime!

One of the main reasons we started Swaptree was to promote the idea that we should all recycle more and throw away less. After all do we really need 20 million copies of each of the Harry Potter books? Can’t we just trade and share a few hundred thousand?

In recent studies, it was estimated that every book contributes 8.85 pounds of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, while every CD or DVD contributes 2.2 pounds. Furthermore, 100,000 pounds of CDs and DVDs (and their nasty chemicals) are deposited in US landfills every month, while the book industry chops down in excess of 19 million trees yearly. Pretty frightening numbers I am sure you’ll agree. Obviously reducing the consumption of these items would have a positive impact on the environment.

On Swaptree you simply list the items that you have to trade and the items that you want and Swaptree’s two and three-way trade algorithms instantly shows you all of the items you can receive in trade. Swaptree even simplifies the mailing process, by providing you with a perfect postage label that can be printed right from your computer, so you never have to go to the post office.

So there it is is. Check it out or not, but I wanted you to be informed. I think I'll check it out.

If Only I Had Known about This Eco-Friendly Site

So I write this column, "Green Like Me", for Primal Parenting, and in the Spring issue my column will be about catalog waste. I won't let you know what I say in the column. You can go to their website and subscribe if you really want to know.

But, I will say this. If I had known about a website I stumbled upon today, Catalog Choice, the footwork for my column would have been a lot easier. What a fantastic site! 

Here is their mission statement:

The mission of Catalog Choice is to reduce the number of repeat and unsolicited catalog mailings, and to promote the adoption of sustainable industry best practices. We aim to accomplish this by freely providing the Catalog Choice services to both consumers and businesses. Consumers can indicate which catalogs they no longer wish to receive, and businesses can receive a list of consumers no longer wanting to receive their catalogs.

Basically, you register - which is very easy - then you can type in the name of any catalog that you receive that you don't want, and if the catalog is in their system, you can ask to have the delivery discontinued. If the catalog is not in their system, you can suggest that it be added. They say it should take about ten weeks before you stop receiving the catalogs that you discontinued.

If you don't think you get a lot of catalogs, you may not be right. I thought I received about 25 catalogs (which I thought was a lot), but in reality, I was receiving catalogs from 60 plus companies. 

Please take a minute to check out the Catalog Choice website.

When it's Okay to Use Paper Products

We had a neighborhood Christmas cocktail party over the weekend. If you look our my back door right now the piles of beer and wine bottles along with the boxes they came in are enormous. They all must wait until Thursday for the recycling to be picked up.

We had so many people at the party, I simply did not have enough plates and cloth napkins to accomodate them. So this, I decided, is when it's okay to use paper products. I found festive Chinet plates that were made from recyclable materials and were biodegradable. I bought recycled paper napkins. I even brought the paper towels out from under the sink where I hide them out of site. I did use real silverware (well - not real silver, but you know what I mean). 

When I was planning the party, I started to think about how I could make the entire party green. I'm becoming known as the "green" expert in my circle of friends, and I didn't want to seem like a hypocrite by using paper products. But then I thought about how making the entire party green would be difficult. And I didn't want my party to be difficult - I wanted it to be fun. I didn't want to stress over planning it, and I didn't want to stress while the party was happening.

Part of what I write about is finding a way to make green fit my lifestyle. I know that if I don't, I'll probably give up somewhere along the way. So I decided to do the best I could. I made the decision to use some paper products, and you know what? In the end we used about 30 recycled, biodegradable plates, 50 recycled paper napkins, and perhaps 1/4 of  roll of paper towels. That is not so bad considering that the rest of the year, I'm very diligent about not using paper products.

So this Christmas season, as you are getting ready for guests, give yourself a break. If you must use some paper products, find the most eco-friendly ones you can, and then just let it go. Enjoy the party. 

Another Socially Conscious Christmas Idea

I just discovered another Christmas gift idea that can give back. Plow and Hearth has pewter Plant-a-Tree ornaments. For each ornmanet sold, the Canadian company that makes the ornament will plant a tree at a site around the world that needs reforestation.

There are 11 different ornments to choose from and they only cost $9.95 each.

Here's link to their website:
http://www.plowhearth.com/product.asp?pcode=6382§ion_id=2009&search_type=featured&search_value=4118&cur_index=1

I also noticed as I was looking through Plow and Hearth's catalog that they plant two trees for every one tree it takes to make their catalogs. They have my approval.

Reuse THEN recycle

I go through a ton of printer paper. As a writer, I need to proofread everything I write, and for me that means printng out a hard copy. Some writers can proof from the computer screen. I don't feel comfortable doing that. Sometimes I need to print an article out two or three times as I go through the editing process. These edited papers always end up in the recycle bin.

I have found a treasure trove of free paper - right in my kid's backpacks. Every day they come home with announcements from school - always printed on only one side of the paper. They also come home with graded worksheets (again - only one side of the paper is printed on). I used to put all this paper in the recycle bin - anywhere from 5-15 sheet of paper every night. It occurred to me at the beginning of this school year, that I can print on the back of those papers.

I know - not a particulary earth shattering realization. I should have realized that a few years ago. But sometimes I'm slow. So now, I put all of those papers in a bin on top of my file cabinet. When I need to print out something to proof, I let the local grammar school supply the paper. When I'm done with the proofed copy, then I recycle it. I reuse THEN recycle.

Not an original concept, I know. But one we all need to take into consideration more often. What else can we reuse before we recycle it?