These recycled silverware pens are so uniquely cool! These would be a great gift for pretty much anyone (seriously, who doesn’t need a fancy pen?). You can find them and a bunch of other post-consumer recycled products at Close the Loop.
Recycled silverware pen, $25 at Close the Loop
Categories: recycle
…that it takes 20 times more energy to make an aluminum can from scratch than from a recycled one? Another great reason to recycle, recycle, recycle!
Fun fact: A recycled aluminum can is remanufactured and back in circulation within 6 weeks.
Categories: green tips · recycle
Ever wonder where old sneakers go to die? Wonder no more! Nike has a program called Reuse-a-Shoe that takes non-metal athletic shoes (of any brand, not just Nike) and recycles them into soft-surface playground and sports field material. Old and manufacture-defective shoes are separated and ground up into three distinct types of material — each of which is used in a different way to make new sports surfaces, like soccer and football fields, basketball and tennis courts, tracks and playground surfacing. Nike has donated over 150 sports surfaces since the program began in 1993.
Go to Nikebiz.com to locate a drop-off site near you. If there aren’t any in your area, mail them to:
Nike Recycling Center
c/o Reuse-A-Shoe
26755 SW 95th Ave.
Wilsonville, OR 97070
I’m off to dig out some old sneakers from my closet…
Design Within Reach has come up with a new take on recycling containers: recycling bags. The handled bags come in a set of 4, and are 2 ft x 2 ft x 3 ft — so they hold more recycling (meaning less trips to the recycling center for you!). Made of industrial-strength tarpaulin (a heavy double-warp fabric that is plastic-coated), the bags are waterproof and can be quickly washed out in the sink or outside with a garden hose.
Recycling bags – set of 4 for $22 at dwr.com
Categories: green products · recycle
I recently read that there are over 500 million used cell phones in the U.S. sitting in people’s drawers or worse, in our landfills, and another 100+ million will be added this year alone! (You should never throw away a cell phone — they contain a lot of toxic materials).
I just got a new cell phone, but have been hanging on to the old one, unsure what to do with it until I came across Phones4charity. The program sells used phones to refurbishing plants and hands 80 percent of the money to more than 500 charities, including the American Red Cross and the National Wildlife Federation. Refurbished phones are sent to emerging countries and areas of the U.S. where cell phones where there is “an economic necessity for cell phones for both safety & communication.” Even if your phone does not work, they will recycle it in accordance with federal and local environmental standards for its metal and plastic.
All you need to do is send your old phone(s) in a padded envelope or box to the address, and specify which charity you wish to donate to. Nice!
Categories: green tips · recycle
As the technology for electronics is ever-changing, companies are quickly putting out multiple versions of their products. But what do we do with obsolete items like computers, cell phones, printers, fax machines and other electronic equipment that we no longer use? Many of these items end up in landfills, when they should be properly disposed elsewhere. The problem is that many people do not know how or where to dispose of these materials.
Enter Earth911, a site which provides specific categories for you to classify whatever waste that you need to dispose of, and provides a search option for you to find the nearest hazardous materials recycling center. Enter your zip code and the material you wish to discard and you’re provided with a list of centers near you where you can drop items off.
Categories: green tips · recycle
A friend of mine is moving out of her apartment next week, and has a few pieces of furniture — left behind from her roommate (who already moved out) — to get rid of. Here are a number of ideas we came up with for reusing or recycling furniture:
Sometimes old furniture is beyond reuse or repair. Wood and metal furniture can often be recycled. Contact a waste collection and/or recycling company in your area.
Categories: furniture · green tips · recycle · reuse
I watched an SUV (which is bad enough, right?) drive to the recycling bins at our apartment complex, toss 2 bags of recycling into the bins and drive back to their apartment today… Our complex is not big; there are probably about 12 buildings, and I would argue that my apartment is as far away from the recycling bins as you can possibly get. I have NEVER had to drive to the recycling bins, and usually make multiple trips back and forth (Sometimes I pretend this counts as exercise!). I was appalled that someone could justify driving to the recycling bins, especially since they had only two bags. At least they were recycling, but aren’t we supposed to be driving less?! Grrrr…
Speaking of recycling, starting this month Hearst Magazines will be running an official recycling logo in all of its publications, encouraging readers to recycle their magazines instead of tossing them in the trash. I was pleasantly surprised to see this logo when Marie Claire arrived this week. Why they hadn’t been doing this already? It turns out that fewer than 20 percent of Americans are recycling their magazines at home, even though at least two-thirds of the population has access to magazine recycling in their communities and curbside. Yikes! Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) has launched this “Please Recycle” campaign to let readers know that magazines can and should be recycled. I would love to see this magazine in every magazine, wouldn’t you?
Categories: recycle
