Children around the world delight in the wonder that toys bring to their lives. Who can’t remember their favorite childhood toy? I suppose it is this nostalgic wonder that makes gifting a toy so heartfelt. During the holiday season toys abound. But where do many toys end up after the novelty wears off? Are you visualizing toys strewn throughout the house, stashed in the garage, or stuffed under the car seat along with remnants of birthdays and shopping trips past? Actually, within 3 months of receiving a toy, 41% of toys are broken and most end up in the trash. Ending up in the trash, means ending up in a landfill! (more…)

With the gift giving season upon us, we have lots of shopping alternatives: the local mall, big box stores, catalogue mail order, and the internet. No matter which shopping path we choose, it’s either “shop until we drop” or “pick before we click”. Hauling shopping bags around the mall, collecting shirt boxes for gift wrapping, or unpacking items we have ordered on-line, our holiday gift gathering techniques bring lots of extra packaging. Holiday shopping can be stressful – on us and on the environment! Please don’t get me wrong, I am not a “Bah Humbug” type of gal, but I do believe there is a lot everyone can do to cut down on excessive packaging. (more…)

When heading off to the mall for holiday shopping, make sure you bring along a large, reusuable shopping bag. Large reusable shopping bags are available at big box stores like Home Depot and IKEA. These reusable bags hold up much better than department store paper bags and are eco-friendly shopping alternatives.

When starting a school recycling program get the students involved. Have students search the web and browse for recycling bins; let students help to determine where the bins will be best placed. Involving students at the start will help to create excitement and support for the program. – R.G.

Getting a school recycling program off the ground seems like an easy task, but all sorts of issues can arise. To help make your effort seamlessly implementable and successful, I’ve put together a few pointers (or at least a few questions you can hash over) before you start. (more…)

Visit www.aveda.com to locate the nearest plastic bottle cap drop off location. Strive to collect your plastic bottle caps and recycle them with Aveda. Taking one more step in your recycling efforts will help to keep these plastic polluters out of our landfills and waterways. Recycle caps and save marine life!

Plastic as a Recycling Foundation

Is the time right for MRF World to take plastics more seriously? Should plastics be at the forefront of curbside recycling? Just as co-mingling of recyclables has made collection at curbside easier, the co-mingling of information on recovered materials may provide some answers. Trust me. We are not mixing apples and oranges; the markets do share some interesting parallels. (more…)

If your municipality does not offer curbside pick up for lesser recycled plastics, like PP(#5) or PS(#6), phone the depot’s office and ask where you can recycle them. Many times the town right next to yours accepts different recyclables. If you live in a city, chances are the recycling office can tell you where such plastics may be publicly collected.

Recycling household plastic containers can be a challenging endeavor. Since all plastics are not alike, we need to know which types of plastics our municipality accepts for recycling. Hair care products, beverages, laundry detergents, yogurts, margarines, salad dressings, frozen dinners, household cleaners, condiments, pet foods, body lotions … (you name it) are available in plastic containers. Since different plastics have different properties, the containers we so enthusiastically recycle often contain more than one type of plastic. Plastic properties such as strength, toughness, flexibility, barrier to moisture or gas, and melting point are all important factors which help to maintain the integrity of packaged goods. Piling these unlike containers together for recycling can be a problem not only for our local municipal recycling depot but for the commercial reclaimer who ultimately melts and reforms these containers. (more…)

Send a message to me below and I will do the best that I can to answer your question as quickly and thoroughly as possible, usually within a day.

See if your local supermarket has an in-store kiosk. Often retail kiosks enable shoppers to find items, compare prices, and swipe their loyalty cards for discounts. Kiosks can provide valuable information, save time, and save money. By swiping your loyalty card for discounts, you may eliminate printing coupons upon check-out!

Digital coupons are the new retail buzz. With newspaper readership down and Sunday circulars in decline, the Consumer Products Industry (CPI) has a big upside if it can reach consumers via the internet. In the U.S. it is estimated that 1 out of 10 shoppers or 40 million consumers are very likely to use coupons found on line. (more…)

Are sales receipts and coupons changing? Will there one day be a paperless, non-chemically coated alternative to reviewing our expenditures or redeeming that 50 cent discount? Believe it or not, that day may be on the horizon. (more…)

Signatures can be lethal. When John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence he knew that he was sticking his neck out. Did you know that your signature can be lethal too? While most of us may pay attention to the document text we are signing off on, how many of us pay attention to the type of paper our pen is pushing on? (more…)

Keep thermal and carbonless copy papers out of your paper recycling bin. By not allowing these chemically-coated papers into the recycling stream, you will be reducing the amount of potentially hazardous chemicals that find their way into recycled paper products. Remember, when hazardous chemicals end up in recycled food packaging , they can easily migrate from the packaging into food. Ask your local municipal recycling station how best to handle these chemically-coated papers.

Reduce the amount of non-recyclable thermal paper receipts by simply saying “No” to a printed receipt when your are given the opportunity to accept or decline one. An easy way to start is by declining ATM receipts. (The transaction information shows up on your monthly bank statement anyway). With each “Decline” you will be making a small advancement toward a greener lifestyle.

There is growing public opinion that sales receipts are getting longer. A long sales receipt (once embarrassing proof of an out of control shopping spree) can now bring tidings of special offers, coupons, and redemptions. In a culture where more information is better, these growing paper streamers help to satisfy our need to know.
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My quest to properly recycle household batteries led me to the “starter” iRecycle Kit which I ordered on line from www.batteryrecycling.com. Arriving in a standard US postal box, this convenient kit is simple and complete. The iRecycle Kit contains an attractive cardboard battery collection carton, a cellophane tape dispenser, and instructions on how to properly recycle batteries.

To my surprise the company behind the kit, Battery Solutions, not only accepts household batteries for recycling, but rechargeable battery packs and handheld electronic devices too. How convenient to be able to recycle your spent batteries and outdated electronic gadgets from your own home. Best of all, you have up to 1 year from the date you start collecting until the kit must be returned for recycling.

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User’s Choice
The other day I was cleaning out our family “junk drawer”. You know that one drawer treasure trove containing everything from old sales receipts to mystery keys of long forgotten locks. Well, this particular drawer had its share of miscellaneous objects but one collection stood out above all the rest: spent batteries. The drawer was heavily laden with an assortment of old alkaline (AAA, AA, C, D, 9V) and lithium (button) batteries that for eco-guilt reasons I just couldn’t throw out.

According to the EPA, “Every year in the United States, Americans buy, use and throw out billions of batteries.” For me, the tough part of the above statement is, throw out. While I know that alkaline and lithium batteries are classified by the federal government as “non-hazardous waste” and can be thrown out with the kitchen trash, it just doesn’t seem responsible to put them out for curbside trash pick-up knowing they will end up in a municipal landfill. So, I collect them and collect them and collect them.

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Tackling a Worldwide Problem
Breaking the plastic bag habit is not just a USA phenomenon. In fact, many countries worldwide enacted laws to reduce or eliminate the use of plastic bags long before cities and states within the USA began to do so. While approaches may vary, all acting governments have the common goal of changing the entrenched consumer habit of using plastic bags.

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Responsible Retailers
It doesn’t take much shopping to recognize that retail outlets are large purveyors of disposable, plastic shopping bags. Of the estimated 100 billion bags used in the USA annually, 53% are distributed by supermarkets and grocers. By offering plastic bag recycling programs, retailers are effectively increasing the collection and recycle rates of these high environmental impact totes. The spark that ignited point of sale recycling began in the USA in 2006 when the State of California adopted, The Plastic Bag Recycling Act. This law mandates that certain retail outlets be responsible for the collection, transportation, and recycling of plastic bags. Since California’s law went into effect other states have enacted or are considering similar legislation. Many grocers and pharmacies are implementing plastic bag recycling programs even before any law mandates them to do so. It seems that these retailers know that going green is not only good for the environment, it is good for business.

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To get in the habit of recycling plastic bags at your local grocer; begin by using an empty plastic bag as the storage tote for your growing used plastic bag collection.  Keep the tote hung on your coat rack where it is readily available for you to stuff with used bags or to grab on your way out the door.  When the bag is full, take it on your next shopping trip and deposit it your grocer’s plastic bag recycling bin.  Voila!

Revelation
Who doesn’t love to shop?  Even my husband gleams as he totes some new computer gizmo home in a neat little plastic bag.  It’s amazing how fast one little plastic bag after one little plastic bag can lead to hundreds of these carry-alls crammed under the kitchen sink, stuffed in the pantry or unthinkably thrown out with the trash.  Does this sound familiar?

Eco-aware that we bring loads of plastic shopping bags home, my husband and I have been collecting and carting these over offered, often taken, and underemployed plastic totes to our municipal waste facility for recycling.  We were feeling pretty good about the whole process when an upstanding facility attendant told my husband that the plastic bags collected aren’t recycled;  the station’s “Plastic Bag” recycling bin is purely for the convenience of the public who cart their newspapers, plastic bottles, and aluminum cans via plastic bags to the station.  The bin is strictly for bag disposal, not for bag recycling.  I find it amazing that throw away convenience can triumph over recycling even at a municipal recycling facility!

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