Topic: Reusing and Recycling

Eco-Friendly Eating: Planters Nutmobile and Mr. Peanut Go Green

Eco-Friendly Eating: Planters Nutmobile and Mr. Peanut Go Green

There’s no denying it: the Planters brand is becoming – dare we say – hip. First, it snagged Robert Downey, Jr. to voice Mr. Peanut in its new TV commercials. Now, the Nutmobile has gone positively green.

“Its newest iteration runs on bio-diesel and has a wind turbine, solar panels, LED interior lighting, recycled parts, and wood floors reclaimed from a 19th-century Pennsylvania barn,” writes The New York Times. But according to AutoBlog, the bio-diesel is not, alas, nut-based – perhaps to avoid any awkward and unpleasant nut cannibalism implications? More »

Morning Links: Expensive Anti-Aging Skin Creams Really Don’t Work

Morning Links: Expensive Anti-Aging Skin Creams Really Don't Work

Saving Your Sanity – One woman’s personal account of living with adult ADHD. (The Independent)

Good Poochie – New research shows that some dogs (including Labrador Retrievers) have the keen ability to sniff out early bowel cancer in breath and stool samples. (The Globe and Mail)

Face Facts – The truth about pricey, over-the-counter anti-aging skin creams. Do they really help? Not so much. (HealthKey)
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Green Christmas: 8 Alternatives to Gift Wrap

Green Christmas: 8 Alternatives to Gift Wrap

You’ve purchased or made gifts for everyone on your list and now you’ve settled down for the truly daunting task: Gift-wrapping. Every year, Americans spend around $2.9 billion on wrapping paper, gift bags, bows, and ribbons — an astronomical amount for things that are typically discarded within a few seconds. And that’s why we think it’s time to take back the wrap. Christmas wrapping paper doesn’t have to mean being stuck with piles and piles of shiny reindeer and scary snowmen. There are chic — and eco-friendly — alternatives to traditional Santa- and ornament-covered gift wrap. Check out our gallery of eight of our favorite alternative, much more environmentally positive Christmas wrapping paper options: More »

Meltware: Extra Dishes When You’re Low on Space

Meltware: Extra Dishes When You're Low on Space

Those of us who live in apartments or houses with limited cabinet space know how frustrating it can be to have a dinner party. We don’t want to resort to wasteful paper plates, but we also don’t want to resort to being the hobo who ask her friends to bring their own dishes. That’s why we love Maaike Seegers’s idea for Meltware. If you need extra dishes, just pour hot Carnauba wax in a mold and watch your new dishes emerge. Then, after the party’s over, just melt the wax down again. More »

Wine Makes You Sneeze and Your Toothbrush Was Trash: Morning News Roundup

Wine Makes You Sneeze and Your Toothbrush Was Trash: Morning News Roundup

Get Your Drink On — Scientists are finally on their way to developing low-allergenic wines. Glad this is a priority. (via Science Daily)

Hurt So Good — Eating a nutrient-rich diet makes hunger less unpleasant while trying to lose weight. (via Nutrition Journal)

Trash to Toothbrush — Preserve, the eco-friendly product manufacturer, has collected 50 tons of plastic this year through the Gimme 5 recycling program. (via Green Biz)

Pardon Me? Our brains are hard wired to pay more attention to people without unfamiliar accents. (via NPR) More »

America Recycles Day 2010: 15 Eco-Friendly Events Around the U.S.

America Recycles Day 2010: 15 Eco-Friendly Events Around the U.S.

Today is America Recycles Day, a day dedicated by the EPA to educate communities about recycling and reducing waste. Events are taking place around the country today with the hopes of making people in your community more effective recyclers every day of the year. Chances are, there is a recycling drive happening today in your area. Check out these recycling events happening this week around the country.
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I’ve been saving and freezing my scraps for a week now, and I’ve already noticed that my kitchen trash can is much lighter – and less fragrant. I can’t lie: I’ve forgotten my lofty plan for eco-living a few times. (Must. Not. Scrape. Plates. Into. Trash. Can.) But soon I’ll be heading to the community composting pile, where I’ll get to commune with urban hippie-types and take home some of their nutrient-packed soil. Now, if only I had somewhere to use it.

I’ve been saving and freezing my scraps for a week now, and I’ve already noticed that my kitchen trash can is much lighter – and less fragrant. I can’t lie: I’ve forgotten my lofty plan for eco-living a few times. (Must. Not. Scrape. Plates. Into. Trash. Can.) But soon I’ll be heading to the community composting pile, where I’ll get to commune with urban hippie-types and take home some of their nutrient-packed soil. Now, if only I had somewhere to use it.

– Blisstree Associate Editor Caroline Sloan on the challenges of eco-consciously trying to reduce, reuse, and recycle within the confines of a tiny city apartment, from her post: Composting Without a Yard? Eco-Friendly Living for Lazy Urbanites (Part 1)

Composting Without a Yard? Eco-Friendly Living for Lazy Urbanites (Part 1)

Composting Without a Yard? Eco-Friendly Living for Lazy Urbanites (Part 1)

I’ve always seen composting as the final frontier in environmentally sensitive living. Having enough outdoor space for a compost bin and a garden that could benefit from the nutrient-rich soil it yields would be great, but it’s an impossibility for someone like me who lives in a tiny urban apartment with no yard. Riding my bicycle, taking short showers, and hauling my groceries in reusable tote bags would have to do for now; composting would have to wait until I was living it up in a sprawling country estate.

So you can imagine what an ass I felt like when I discovered that several of my friends have been composting in their pint-size apartments for years. How had I missed the fact that I could compost easily and on the cheap, while lacking green space? More »

Secondhand Shopping: Eco-Friendly, But What About Bedbugs?

Secondhand Shopping: Eco-Friendly, But What About Bedbugs?

Check out this post from Sammy Davis on Lemondrop.

Sure, it’s a sweet deal in theory, but scoring a sidewalk sofa isn’t necessarily a harmless act anymore — at least not as long as bedbugs are as serious an issue as they are right now. It’s a big deal, at least here in NYC, where even the U.N. isn’t safe. Bug-infested furniture, clothing, rugs and more are emerging for sale in the secondhand market. That means savvy savers like you are now more susceptible to bedbugs than ever.
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Don’t Scrap ‘Em: 25 Ways to Use Your Fruit and Vegetables Peels to Save Money

Don't Scrap 'Em: 25 Ways to Use Your Fruit and Vegetables Peels to Save Money

Being eco-friendly and thrifty don’t often go hand-in-hand, but you can save at least a little money every year by reusing the skins and rinds from your favorite fruits and vegetables Check out this list from The Daily Green, and start saving those scraps.

1. Scoop out avocado shells and use them for seedlings.

2. Dry out citrus rinds, apple peels, and other fruit skins or trimmings to make potpurri. More »

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