This can become a game with your youngsters.  How can they use items around the house and from daily living in other ways once these are empty or no longer good for the original purpose?

Youngsters might see how many uses they can discover for a single item, such as a margarine container, whipped topping container, peanut butter jar, plastic grocery bags, greeting cards, boxes and more.  This is a great way to get them to use their imagination and creativity, as well as utilizing the old instead of buying new.

I recall, when I was a child, making play things from old “stuff” around the house.  Money wasn’t readily available for many toys, so we had to make our own.  My grandchildren, particularly my grandson, enjoy taking boxes, containers, pieces of scrap wood and creating items to play with.  We call them “the great inventors,” and it’s exciting to see how Kara and Alex can “repurpose”  items.  I hope this creativity and resourcefulness continues throughout their lives.

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Repurposing with Your Youngsters

According to a piece in The Desert Sun, Phish, a band who draws major crowds is aiming to cut down on some of that waste.

Some perks for the environment that have been implemented at Phish shows include…

• Phish water bottles you can refill for free and which cut down on plastic waste.
• Festival 8 aims to up the recycling efforts from a previous tour (50%) to 90%. Recycling is also better organized now, with 300 sets of recycling bins in total on the grounds that are separated – black for real trash, green for paper and food, and blue for plastics and other recyclables. The organic matter is going to California Bio-Mass, where they will be composted and turned into organic fertilizers.
• Food booths that use recyclable napkins, plates, forks and bags.
• An eco-shuttle with bio-diesel powered vans and hybrids to ferry fans to and from Los Angeles and Palm Springs airports and area hotels.

Of course this is not the first time musicians have jumped into green. Cake installed solar panels on their studio so that their albums can be recorded with 100% solar energy.  Rock the Earth, is rocking and green; a non-profit, “Dedicated to bringing about positive and beneficial environmental consequences on behalf of members of the music industry through the means of active litigation and negotiation.” Musicians are even recycling their old guitar strings for jewelry. And more…

• Extreme green musicians: The Top 10
• Cake goes eco-friendly with solar energy!
• The Top 5 Buzzworthy Green Musicians of the Moment
• Green Musicians and Green(er) Music Festivals

You can do your part by taking a reusable bottle to shows and by recycling your goods.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

Are eco-friendly concerts the new wave

You should not see the following in your trash:

• Leftover food items, like old bread, eggshells, and so on
• Cans
• Aluminum products
• Glass (broken or whole)
• Paper anything
• Steel
• Tin
• Plastics that can be recycled (not all plastics are easily recyclable)
• Batteries
• Cardboard tubes and other cardboard
• Non-messy foil
• Household items like books, not so broken toys, cell phones, clothing, and so on.
• Hazardous household waste

All of the above can be recycled, composted, ground up in the garbage disposal, or given to thrift stores. Really with the options for recycling nowadays your trash can be reduced to almost nothing. Especially if you smartly consider purchases before you buy for the recycling qualities.

Benefits to you:

• A smaller trash can that takes up less space – way more attractive!
• A less expensive trash bill.
• A healthier world for you, your friends, your family….

For recycling resources check out Earth 911.

[image via stock.xchng]

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Playing in your trash is healthy

Recycling does actually save energy, which is a huge perk of recycling because reduced energy of course cuts down on our reliance on non-renewable resources. Not to mention that energy we use to make new products (and to recycle) creates emissions of numerous air and water pollutants – so why not choose the one that makes less.

Recycling does use energy to collect, process, and transport. BUT new products use more because of the additional steps of extraction, refining, transportation and processing before the new products are even shipped out which creates more transport issues.

How much energy can recycling save? According to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, “Recycling in Pennsylvania in 2005 alone saved over 98 trillion BTUs of energy, enough to power 941,000 houses.” some examples from their recycling site…

• Recycling paper cuts energy usage in half.
• Each pound of steel that’s recycled saves 5,450 BTUs of energy.
• Recycling one ton of glass saves nine gallons of fuel oil.
• Recycling just one aluminum can saves enough electricity to light a 25 CFL bulb for 14 hours.

If you want a broader look, the EPA notes that, “In 2005, recycling was conservatively projected to save 900 trillion BTUs, equal to the annual energy use of 9 million households.” Consider that those figures are based on currently recycling rates (which are lame) the U.S. only recycles about 33% of its waste. It’s clear that we could save scads more energy if more people recycled.

To get started with recycling visit Earth 911.

[image via stock.xchng]

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Is recycling a waste of energy?

Basically – tree made paper is us tossing scads of trees into the trash. Lame. It’s especially lame when you consider that paper can be made from all sorts of other stuff, such as, cotton, wheat straw, sugar cane waste, flax, bamboo, wood, linen rags, hemp, and again recycled paper.

If you’re not going to buy recycled paper the best choice is paper that’s made without the use of trees. Here are some options:

Paper made from sugar: The Sugar Cane Paper Company makes paper products like tissues, plates, and more from, as you might guess, sugar cane. Well, technically, it’s made with bagasse; residue left over once sugar has been extracted from the cane. Sugar cane paper is easy to find online and it’s 100% biodegradable.

Paper made from bamboo: This paper has a downside – it’s not that available. YET. Hopefully it will become more popular because bamboo grows faster than trees and bamboo needs less water so there’s another conservation perk. Right now visit Smock to see some bamboo paper goods.

Paper made from hemp: Hemp paper is coming around as a decent contender in the tree free paper world with lots of great paper type choices, for example at Green Field Paper Company. Hemp requires few if any pesticides to grow well, helps control erosion, and contains nutrients and nitrogen that end up back in the soil. Plus hemp is biodegradable.

[image via stock.xchng]

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Not all paper comes from trees!

Image: sxc.hu

It implies high fashion and enables people to take pride in using their creativity to make use of worn and worn out items in their closet…or ones they find at rummage sales and second hand shops.

In addition to altering used clothing, these new designers (whether it’s someone who does this for a living or you simply stretching the clothing budget) use embellishments and embroidery in creative ways.

Some of the pieces of altered couture I’ve seen are:

• An apron made by cutting away jeans except for the front with side pockets.
• A lightweight jacket created from a sweatshirt with added embroidery.
• A skirt or tote bag utilizing neckties for the fabric.
• Tote bags made from jeans and denim skirts.  (One lady came to our yard sale looking for just these items and showed me the totes she created.)
• Clothing mended by adding applique, embroidery and/or embellishments.
• Small purses made from jeans’ pockets.

What have you done in the way of making altered couture when you thought you were only recycling or budgeting carefully?

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Altered Couture or Recycled Clothing

“Why not use inspirational pictures and quotes or sayings on CD collages, coasters, hangings?”

This idea of recycling (or upcycling, as some call it when you use a discarded material for art) CDs can go in many directions.  CD collages might consist of:

• Family photos, as Anitra described
• Inspirational sayings
•  Scenic and still life photos
• Reproductions of one’s paintings
• Found objects and memorabilia
• Flower petals and leaves
• Fabric to give a quilted effect
• CDs attached to form a multi collage
• Any combination of these

Have you recycled CDs for art?  For coasters, wall hangings, photo frames, and more?

(Image: sxc.hu)

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Inspirational CD Collages

Preserve Kitchen features easy to use and useful kitchen products made from 100% recycled #5 plastic (just like their toothbrushes, razors and tableware). They also offer cutting boards made with 100% post-consumer recycled paper – but let’s focus on the plastics. They also keep growing the goods, with four new kitchen items recently introduced, including a smaller colander, square storage containers, and liquid + dry measuring cups.

Preserve products are affordable, brightly colored, and more importantly greener than many other plastics in that they’re made from #5 polypropylene plastic collected from individuals via a Gimme 5 program and also from companies like Stonyfield Farm. Preserve take used plastic, sorts it, cleans it, tests it, recycles it, and turn it into new Preserve products.

Choosing Preserve Plastic over a virgin form of plastic reduces greenhouse gases, water use, energy use, oil use, natural gas use, and coal use – which are all needed to make plastics.

If you want to help you can drop off your own used plastics at a Gimme 5 center (in Whole Foods) or mail your plastics into the company. They’re also now accepting Brita pitcher filters. So if you can’t stop your plastic use cold, this is one greener option. NOTE: If you are interested in getting off the plastic train, read tips for creating a plastic-free kitchen.

Visit Preserve to learn more.

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If you can’t give up kitchen plastics…

Image: sxc.hu

Nowadays, in our stressed economy,  recycling garments has become popular once again.  Not because fabric is scarce, but because people can’t afford to purchase new.

I used fabric from old garments for quilts and for my daughter’s clothing many years ago.  It was fun to pour over the quilts and find scraps from sewing projects and family garments.

Nowadays, women are rediscovering this art of making quilts and clothing from old garments.  In addition to fabric shops being popuplar places to shop, quilters and dressmakers are pulling out the old fabrics and garments from their stashes.  They are finding these items also at thrift shops and rummage sales.

Have you utilized old garments for your sewing?

Related Posts:

Aprons in Art, Business & Memories mentions recycling clothing as aprons.

Penny Halgren’s Cutting Up Garments for Fabric gives a tutorial.

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Making Quilts from Old Garments

1. Find out what is recyclable everywhere. For example, even though we didn’t have curbside pickup for plastics in my area of New Mexico, we all know plastics are still recyclable. Make a list. If you’re not sure what’s recyclable and what’s trash, read Commonly Recycled Materials.

2. Perform a trash audit at your house. If you’re tossing recyclables, a well done (and easy) trash audit will let you know. One audit only takes about a week of your time, and in the long run will save you money on your garbage bill and help the planet. How to do your own green trash and recycling audit.

3. Set up a good recycling center in your home. I suggest placing your center in a high traffic area, but the garage or porch is good too. Ideally, you’ll want bins for each type of recycling, and if you have little ones, you’ll want to mark each bin clearly with a picture.

4. Contact your local recycling center about curbside. Your goal is to find out what they pick up and what they won’t. Many curbside programs pick up stuff that might surprise you. If you have curbside, make a note of days and times for pick-ups, and stick it to your fridge.

5. Locate a recycling center for all the stuff curbside won’t pick up. It’s highly unlikely that curbside recycling will pick up everything you need to recycle. For example, old CDs, batteries, drink boxes, wood, electronics and motor oil are good examples of things you can recycle, but not usually curbside. To locate a recycling center for almost anything, check out the resources below before you toss that item in the trash:

• Earth 911 – allows you to enter your zip and an item and a list of centers will pop up.
• Where Can I Recycle My…
• How Can I Recycle This? – AWESOME site that looks at new uses for old items. Highly reader interactive, so head over and participate.

Now you have no reason not to recycle; right!?

[image via stock.xchng]

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Five Steps To Recycling