In a world where technology is constantly changing and improving, we leave behind a trail of unwanted electronics in our efforts to upgrade to the latest and greatest. Technology is the fastest growing waste stream on the planet. Well there is a better option other than tossing the old items in the trash. Sure, if the said electronic is in working condition, you can sell it or donate or give it to a friend, but what if it doesn't work perfectly? Or what if it is a decade old? That is where the Best Buy Recycling Program helps us out.
Best Buy's industry-leading recycling program is available for FREE at all of its locations throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. They will recycle most electronics including TVs, DVD players, cell phones and more. It does not matter how old your electronic item is, where you bought it or what shape it is in - Best Buy will gladly take it off your hands and safely dispose of it. For each minute that the Best Buy stores are open, they recycle 387 pounds of electronics. That is a lot of metal, plastic, wires and other components that they are keeping out of landfills.
Visit the Best Buy Recycling Program website to find out exactly can be recycled at your store and watch this brief video to find out what happens once your electronics get to the recycler.
When you are finally ready to upgrade from your old electronics and are dropping them off to be recycled at Best Buy, remember that they carry a large line of Energy Star certified products. Not only are Energy Star items better for the environment, they will shave a few bucks off your electric bill as well.
The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
What happens to old cell phones in your house when you upgrade? I'll tell you what happens around here: we give them to our kids to play with and now we have multiple cell phones scattered throughout the house. See at first they like to play with them, but only if they are charged and they can play games or press buttons. Then eventually I get sick of charging them and I stop, so they stop playing with them. I just spent some time this morning trying to collect them all. I only found four, but I know we have at least two more somewhere in this house.
A much smarter thing to do would be to sell them. Right now all they are doing is collecting dust but I could easily make some money from them instead. But what is the best way to do that? Who is going to give me the best price for my husband's old Blackberry? SellCell.com helps you easily recycle and sell your cell phone by finding you the best prices available. Not only do you get a little bit of cash but your phone gets recycled which is so much better for the environment. Why should you recycle your cell phone? Cell phones contain a variety of precious metals, copper, and plastics and almost all of the materials can be recovered and used in new products. Plus, cell phones contain hazardous materials such as lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic, none of which should be sitting in a landfill because they will contaminate the air, soil and groundwater.
SellCell.com is very easy to use: simply type in your cell phone make and model it will pull up what the top phone buyers are currently paying for it. If you are unsure of the model of your phone and you no longer have the information booklets, simply open up the battery area and take the battery out and the model number is printed there. So what IS my husband's Blackberry going for? Well it turns out, only $7.00. The other 3 phones in my picture I can get $2.00 each for a grand total of $13.00 for all four phones. I know it doesn't seem like much, but these are really, really old phones. Plus $13 is like 3 Frappuccinos at Starbucks!
Now, my current AT&T agreement will be up this December and I will be eligible for an iPhone upgrade. I love my iPhone 4 to death but if Apple should release the iPhone 5 by then, I will definitely be upgrading. And while part of me is tempted to give it to my kids so they can play Angry Birds and not try to grab the new phone, I know I am better off selling it. When I ran a search on SellCell.com for my 16 GB iPhone 4, I learned that I could get up to $194 for it. It even tells me which phone buyers will pay me via PayPal, which is pretty awesome.
If you are looking to sell old mobile phones, SellCell.com is definitely a website to check out. They take the hassle out of visiting multiple sites to get a quote on your phone by listing the top buyers all in one place for you. So go ahead, hunt down all of the old cell phones you handed down to your kids and see how much you can get for them all. The longer you wait, the less value you will get so do it sooner rather than later.
How many old cell phones do you have laying around your house?
This post has been brought to you by SellCell.com. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
So we all know how important it is to recycle, right? I recycle everything. Well not literally everything, but we have more in our recycle bin then we do in our trash bin. If I find a mystery piece of plastic without a number on it, I throw it in anyway in the hopes that maybe it can be recycled. We are fortunate that we have single-stream recycling here which makes it a real breeze because you don't have to separate the plastic from the paper and the glass, etc. Everything just goes in one large bin. Or in our case, two large bins.
We keep our two 64 gallon recycle bins in the garage, for obvious reasons. Our problem was where we collected everything that needed to be put in said bins. At first we just piled things up on the counter. Not only looked awful, but it was messy too. Then I went out and bought a rectangular Rubbermaid open bin so that we could stack everything in it, and then just bring it downstairs when it filled up. But it was still on the counter and looked awful plus we ended up having to empty it one to two times per day. Finally, we ended up putting a full size trash bin under our kitchen sink that is designated just for recyclables. Now I don't have to look at it anymore, so I am happy
However, I still have a similar issue on the top floor. We have three bedrooms and two bathrooms up there, and while bathrooms do not generate nearly as much recycling as the kitchen, with six of us it is still a decent amount. What usually happens is that empty shampoo bottles and empty toilet paper rolls get piled up on the bathroom counter, usually my side, until one of us decides to bring it downstairs. It's a pain. I needed something easy and convenient to hold our bathroom recyclables.
This is where the Rubbermaid Hidden Recycler helps declutter my counter tops. The Hidden Recycler easily attaches to the inside of your cabinet door with hooks so it can be tucked away out of sight when not in use. The 5 gallon bag can hold up to 36 12 ounce cans, is soft sided for flexibility and has a leak proof liner that is machine washable.
First, the Hidden Recycler needs to be assembled. This is super easy and took me all of 60 seconds to complete. The bag easily slips onto the frame and then the hooks snap into the back. An awesome bonus of this product is that the bag and packaging are made of recycled material and are recyclable themselves.
Next you just pick the cabinet that you want to hang this on and put it in place! Obviously, you will need to have some room in the cabinet, so make sure it is not jam packed in there. I would say you probably need to leave the first four to six inches of the cabinet clear of anything so that when you close the door, the bag has room and won't knock anything over. Here is my Hidden Recycler installed with it very first items inside!
As I mentioned, I needed some help with recycling bathroom items up on the top floor of our house. So I installed this in our hall bathroom, also known as the kid's bathroom of doom. This product is actually designed for kitchen cabinets, which are slightly taller than bathroom cabinets. I knew this before I even go it, but I still wanted to use it in the bathroom because I knew it would work well. The bag does hang down maybe an inch past the door, but since it is soft and flexible, I just give the bottom of the bag a little lift up when I am closing the door, and it is closes perfectly.
Once it gets full, there is a convenient handle to grab onto and pull it out so we can walk it down to our big recycle bins and dump it in. Our recycling pick up is every other week and the Hidden Recycler has been working great because it holds a large amount of items, so we only have to bring it down the night before pick up. Its nice not having to worry about a pile of plastic containers piling up on my counter anymore. I only have to think about this every other week when I empty it.
Buy
The Rubbermaid Hidden Recycler retails for $15.99 and is available for purchase online at Rubbermaid.com or in store at Meijer.
Giveaway
One (1) winner will receive a Rubbermaid Hidden Recycler for themselves. Open to US and Canada. Please use the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!
Please note that the
opinions and views expressed in this review are my own and based on my
personal experience with the product and/or company. You may encounter a
different experience with this than I did. I received free product to review.
This giveaway is open to legal residents in US and Canada only, 18+ only and will end on May 8, 2012 at 12:01am EST. Winner will be chosen at random using Rafflecopter and will be announced in the widget. Winner has 48 hours to claim his/her prize otherwise a new winner will be picked. Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. Prize fulfillment is the responsibility of the sponsoring company. This blog and its author are not responsible for giveaway prizes that are lost in transit or damaged. This blog is also not responsible if a sponsor/company does not send prize(s). Naturally, I will communicate with said company(s) several times, and make every effort to resolve the issue. Good luck!
If you are a parent of young children, I am willing to bet you have at least one old cell phone sitting in your house somewhere that you passed down to your child for them to play with. Off the top of my head I can think of three in my home, and maybe more. Did you know that you could take those old cell phones and sell them for some cash? The good people over at uSell.com put together this infographic about how many cell phones get thrown in the trash or stored away every y ear.
From report “Tackling High-Tech Trash: The E-waste Explosion & What We Can Do About It,” by Demos policy center, 2011:
• In 2008, the United States generated more than 3 million tons of e-waste. About 85 percent of this equipment ended up in landfills. Only about 18 percent of the years discarded computers and televisions-and only 10 percent of used cell phones- were recycled.
• Many electronics contain valuable and precious materials (copper, silver, gold, platinum, and increasingly important so-called rare earth minerals, among them.).
• The U.S Geological Survey has calculated that more gold could be extracted from a metric ton of used circuit boards than could be extracted from 17 metric tons of gold ore.
Instead of hoarding those old cellphones, you can visit uSell.com to sell them and put some money back into your pocket. uSell is the only website that finds and compares cash offers on used electronics for you so you can get the most for your cellphone. Not to mention feel good about keeping just one more electronic gadget out of a landfill and recycling those precious metals.
So how may old cellphones do you have laying around your house?
Tis' the season for holiday parties!! Yes the holidays are in full swing which means at some point or another you may be hosting a holiday party or gathering. While I am not having a holiday party, per say, I am hosting my son's 1st birthday party next weekend. As I prepare the menu, decorations and favors I am glad one thing I will not have to worry about is how to collect recycling. Regardless if we have a party at our house or if we rent a hall, finding a way to collect can's and plastic bottles to be recycled used to be such a challenge. The majority of the time I would end up using an old cardboard box and just write "please recycle' on it. You can imagine that it would mostly go unnoticed and you'd see me at the end of a party fishing soda cans out of the trash.
Then I was sent a Flings Bin and my problem was solved. Now I have a compact and portable way to gather up those cans and bottles. And they are even cute! The Flings Bins come folded up pretty much flat which makes it super easy to store until party time and then transport to your party destination. When you are ready to use it, simply pop it open in seconds and set it down. It is super easy. If you are using it to collect trash then just tie it up when you are finished and place it in your trash can. If you are using it for recyclables, you'll be happy to know that Flings Bins are recyclable so you can tie it up and place the entire thing in your curbside recycle bin. Or if you are like me and prefer to reuse things, you can wipe it down, fold it back up and save it for your next party!
I first reviewed the recycle symbol pattern back in June and I still have that bin that I can continue to reuse. I am so very pleased to now have a Holiday Dots pattern as well which is going to look adorable at my son's party. I don't use mine for trash, just recyclables, that way I can contiue to use them over and over again.
In addition to all of their every day patterns, Flings Bins has added 2 holiday patterns: Holiday Dots (shown here) and Holiday Beads. SHARE THE JOY - SEND 2 HOLIDAY BINS TO A FRIEND FOR FREE WITH ANY ORDER! You can't pass up this opportunity! Place an order directly with Flings Bins and you will then be prompted to select 2 holiday bins to send to a friend.
Shop
The Flings Bins are very reasonable priced at around $4.00 each and they come in a variety of designs: holiday, recycle symbol, birthday, picnic and more. They may be purchased directly at the Flings Online Store in packs of 4 or 10. All orders over $40 receive free standard shipping in the US. Flings Bins may also be purchased at Amazon.com in sets or singles.
Giveaway
Two (2) winner will receive two (2) Flings Pop-Up Bins in the Holiday Dots pattern. (Sorry you cannot pick a different pattern).
Mandatory Entry
Go to the Flings Bins site and tell me which pattern is your favorite.
Extra Entries
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- Follow @GreenMamasPad and on Twitter and and tweet this giveaway. You can tweet once daily. Leave link to tweet in comment. You must have at least 50 followers. You can copy and paste this: Flings Pop-Up Holiday Bins Giveaway: win 2 for your holiday party! Party recycling made easy! @greenmamaspad #giveaway http://bit.ly/gvjZ8e
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This giveaway is open to US Residents 18+ only and will end on Monday, December 20 at 11:59pm EST. Two winners will be chosen at random using Random.org and will be posted on the Winner's Announcement Page. Winner has 48 hours to claim his/her prize otherwise a new winner will be picked. Unfortunately I cannot guarantee delivery in time for Christmas. You must leave your e-mail address in all of your comment(s) so I can contact you. I will not share your e-mail address with anyone, it will strictly be used to notify you if you win. Good luck!
Please note that the opinions and views expressed here are my own and based on my personal experience with the product. You may encounter a different experience with this than I did. Flings provided me with a product for review and is providing the prize for this giveaway. Please note that there are some Amazon Affiliate link in this review.
It is summer time which means it is time for parties, barbecues and picnics! There is nothing that irks me more than going to a party and the host does not have some sort of recycling bin. So all those cans and bottles end up in the trash. I usually end up bringing whatever I used home with me to recycle myself, because I cannot stand to trash something that can be recycled. We host 3 birthday parties ourselves every year (some at home, some at a hall) and I always find something to collect recyclables. Usually I take an empty cardboard box and put a "Please Recycle" sign on it. Not only is this a pain for parties not at home, but inevitably someone does not notice it and I am left rummaging through trash to fish out cans.
This is where Flings comes to the rescue. Flings Pop-Up Trash & Recycle Bins offer the perfect trash and recycling solution to any party. I was sent one of their recycling bins to test out. It unfortunately did not arrive in time for my Twins' birthday party a few weeks ago, but I can't wait to use it for my baby's first birthday come December. The Flings Bins comes folded up pretty much flat which makes it super easy to store until party time and then transport to your party destination. When you are ready to use it, simply pop it open in seconds and set it down. What is really great about the Flings Recycle Bin is that it is completely covered in the recycling symbol so there is no missing it. No more wondering about trying to figure out where to put the empty soda can and no more stacks of recyclables on your counter.
Each bin can hold roughly 60 cans or bottles. The Flings are priced affordably so they can be disposable, but you know me, I prefer reusable! Well your Fling can be reused too - it all depends on what you prefer and how messy it got. The bin itself is recyclable so you could just tie it up and toss the whole thing into your curbside recycling bin. However, if you are like me and want to reuse it, dump the cans/bottles/whatever into your curbside bin, hose down or rinse out your Flings bin, let dry and then tuck it away for the next party! If you are using your Flings bin for trash, well than you may not want to reuse it, but at the very least dumpy the trash into your garbage can and then recycle the Flings bin.
Now we are just a few days away from the Fourth of July and I know many of you will either be hosting or going to a fun holiday party this weekend. Flings Bins and Jeanne Benedict have put together some really fun patriotic party ideas that you really need to check out. So take a few minutes to watch this quick video and see how you can easily dress up your party using scrap booking supplies!
Shop
The Flings Bins are very reasonable priced at around $4.00 each and they come in a variety of designs: recycle, birthday, picnic and more. They may be purchased directly at the Flings Online Store in packs of 4 or 10. All orders receive free standard shipping in the US. Flings Bins may also be purchased at Amazon.com.
Giveaway
One (1) winner will receive two (2) Flings Pop-Up Bins
Extra Entries
- Watch the video above and then leave me a comment with your favorite summer/4th of July party tip - either your own or one mentioned in the video.
- Follow me on Google Friend connect
- Subscribe to my RSS feed in a reader or subscribe via e-mail. Your email must validate or it will not count.
- Add my Green Mama's Pad button to your sidebar or add Green Mama's Pad to your blogroll. Leave your blog link.
- Add my Green Baby Shower Guide button to you blog. Leave your link.
- Follow @GreenMamasPad and on Twitter and and tweet this giveaway. You can tweet once daily. Leave link to tweet in comment. You must have at least 50 followers. You can copy and paste this: Flings Pop-Up Recycling Bins Giveaway: win 2 for your next party! Party recycling made easy! @greenmamaspad #giveaway http://bit.ly/aVIish
- Blog about this giveaway. Your post must include a link to this post plus a link to the sponsor. Please leave link.
- Stumble this post and comment with your ID.
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- Become a fan of Green Mama's Pad on Facebook.
This giveaway is open to US Residents 18+ only and will end on Wednesday, July 14 at 11:59pm EST. One winner will be chosen at random using Random.org and will be posted on the Winner's Announcement Page. Winner has 48 hours to claim his/her prize otherwise a new winner will be picked. You must leave your e-mail address in all of your comment(s) so I can contact you. I will not share your e-mail address with anyone, it will strictly be used to notify you if you win. Good luck!
Please note that the opinions and views expressed here are my own and based on my personal experience with the product. You may encounter a different experience with this than I did. Flings provided me with a product for review and is providing the prize for this giveaway. Please note that there are some Amazon Affiliate link in this review.
This is a question I was asking myself a few weeks ago. Let me preface by saying I am a huge fan of the New Jersey Devils (NHL hockey). Living far from New Jersey and having 3 kids sort of limits the amount of games we go to now, I try to go to one a year. In fact, we are bringing William down this weekend for the final home game of the season. But 2 Saturdays ago I had a last minute opportunity to go to a game with my brother that I could not pass up A night without kids, yay!
The Devils have a beautiful new arena in Newark, NJ called The Prudential Center. State of the art and spectacular. As we were walking around during an intermission is when I noticed something that bothered me. Water, soda and beer are now sold in plastic bottles and practically everyone had some sort of bottle they were drinking from. But there wasn't a single recycling canister to be found. I watched everyone throwing their plastic bottles in the trash. How can that be? A brand new, state of the art arena and they don't recycle? After promising to write to them to find out what the deal was, I finally did so yesterday. Here is what I had to say:
"Good afternoon. I am a big NJ Devils fan and have been attending games since I was a teenager. Now that I have moved to {location}, I only get down to a game about once or twice a year. A few days ago I was at a game, only my second ever at the Prudential Center. While the Devils unfortunately lost the game, there was something I found even more disappointing. All of the food vendors sell water, soda and beer in plastic bottles. Virtually everyone had some sort of plastic bottle in their hand. However, what I did not see were any recycling bins. I was so shocked. With the amount of plastic bottles being sold, how could the Prudential Center not have recycling bins for them? Instead they are just being tossed in the trash only to sit in landfills for thousands of year. I would expect there to be a recycling receptacle next to every regular trash one. So I had to write to you all to find out why. With all the talk about reducing waste and preserving our planet being so mainstream now, I simply cannot understand this. I would really like to hear back from you to find out what is going on. I'm hoping that you will get some plastic recycling in there very soon. Many thanks for your time."
I'm hoping that I am wrong, that they have some sort of back-end recycling that I can't see. Could it be possible that they sort all the trash afterward? I have no idea. So I am anxiously awaiting their response and I'll keep you posted. And for the record, I did NOT throw my water bottle in the trash. I brought mine home with me and put it in my recycling bin. yes, I am that crazy. :)
This has me wondering about other sports arenas now. Do any of them recycle? What about ones that you have been to - have you noticed if they have recycling bins along with their trash bins?
Before you can recycle plastic, you need to know which plastics your recycling company accepts. Surely you have noticed the numbers that appear on the inside of the recycling symbol, right? Those numbers indicate the type of plastic the item is made from. The most common forms of plastic are #1 and #2 and therefor they are easier to recycle. What about the other 5 numbers and what do they all mean? Here is quick breakdown, thanks to earth911.org.
#1 PET (Polyethylene terephthalate): soda bottles, oven-ready meal trays and water bottles #2 HDPE (High-density polyethylene): milk bottles, detergent bottles and grocery/trash/retail bags #3 PVC (Polyvinyl chloride): plastic food wrap, loose-leaf binders and plastic pipes #4 LDPE (Low-density polyethylene): dry cleaning bags, produce bags and squeezable bottles #5 PP (Polypropylene): medicine bottles, aerosol caps, drinking straws and food containers (such as yogurt, ketchup bottles and sour cream/butter/hummus tubs) #6 PS (Polystyrene): compact disc jackets, packaging Styrofoam peanuts and plastic tableware #7 Other: reusable water bottles, certain kinds of food containers and Tupperware
As I mentioned, #1 and #2 plastics are the easiest to recycle and most companies accept them. When we still had dual-stream recycling, those were the only 2 plastics we could put in our bins. Now that we have single-stream, we can recycle any numbered plastic. Just another reason why single-stream recycling is so awesome. If you don't have it, see if anyone in your area provides it. I would also like to quickly point out that should avoid plastics #3 and #6 when you can. PVC (#3) contains phthalates and is proving to be more and more toxic every day. Polystyrene (#6) has been linked to neurological issues. #7 category is kind of a catchall for all other plastics that don't fit into categories 1 through 6. It is tricky because many #7 plastics contain BPA while others are safe. If you have #7 plastics that you are unsure of, call the manufacturer to see if they are made with BPA.
Ever wonder how plastic gets recycled? What exactly happens after they get to the recycling plant? Here is a quick video that provides a simple illustration.
Finally, I will leave you with some plastic recycling facts, again courtesy of earth911.org.
In 2006, Americans drank about 167 bottles of water each but only recycled an average of 23 percent. That leaves 38 billion water bottles in landfills.
Bottled water costs between $1 and $4 per gallon, and 90 percent of the cost is in the bottle, lid and label.
According to the Beverage Marketing Corp, the average American consumed 1.6 gallons of bottled water in 1976. In 2006 that number jumped to 28.3 gallons.
It takes over 1.5 million barrels of oil to manufacture a year’s supply of bottled water. That’s enough oil to fuel 100,000 cars.
Eight out of 10 plastic water bottles become landfill waste.
In 2007 we spent $16 billion on bottled water. That’s more than we spent on iPods or movie tickets.
Plastic bottles can take up to 1000 years before they begin to decompose once buried.
If everyone in NYC gave up water bottles for one week, they would save 24 million bottles from being landfilled. One month on the same plan would save 112 million bottles, and one year would save 1.328 billion bottles from going into the landfill.
Let's keep going with the recycling theme today! While I was doing my recycling research last night I stumbled upon information that was new to me about issues recycling pizza boxes. When we still had the dual-stream recycling we were notable to recycle pizza boxes. It never made sense to me since they are cardboard and cardboard is recyclable. When we were switched over to single-stream recycling and they sent us the new list of everything that could and could not be recycled, pizza boxes were not mentioned at all. So I figured that we could recycle them now and that is what I have been doing for the past year. Oops.
So what's the deal? Can they be recycled or not? The answer is yes and no. Yes pizza boxes are cardboard and they can be recycled. However, once they are stained with oil and grease from foods, they cannot be. Or at least, the stained parts cannot be recycled. Why? According to earth911.com:
"Food is one of the worst contaminants in the paper recycling process. Grease and oil are not as big of a problem for plastic, metal and glass, as those materials are recycled using a heat process. But when paper products, like cardboard, are recycled, they are mixed with water and turned into a slurry. Since we all know water and oil don’t mix, the issue is clear.
Grease from pizza boxes causes oil to form at the top of the slurry, and paper fibers cannot separate from oils during the pulping process. Essentially, this contaminant causes the entire batch to be ruined. This is the reason that other food related items are non-recyclable (used paper plates, used napkins, used paper towels, etc)."
Ah-ha!! OK, so NOW it is starting to make sense! What can we do? If you are like my family we get pizza on a regular basis so almost every week we have a pizza box to depose of. If you want to recycle it, and you should, simply cut out that oil stained parts and throw those away. The unstained remains can then go into your recycling bin. But do not try to put the whole thing in if it has oil stains. This lead to contamination which costs the industry millions of dollars each year. I've been guilty of this or the past year but now I know better.
It absolutely amazes me that there are still people out there that do not recycle. In fact, we have family members who don't (you know who you are) and it drives me batty. And its no even that it is not available, they actually have curbside recycling with their trash and still don't do it. I just don't get it. So I thought that this week's Going Green tip would focus on recycling.
What is recycling? Recycling is the process of taking products that are at the end of their life cycle and using all or part of them to make something else. About half of the United States population is serviced by curbside recycling. The most common recyclable materials are aluminum, glass, paper, plastic and steel and the most popular form of curbside recycling is dual-stream. Usually you will have to put containers in one bin and newspaper/paper is another bin. Rising in popularity now is single-stream recycling. We are fortunate that our garbage company switched to this last year. We have a 64-gallon bin that goes out every other week. With single-stream, many more things are accepted for recycling and it all can go in one bin. For example, when we had dual-stream recycling, they only accepted #1 and #2 plastics. Now that we have single-stream, they take ALL numbered (1 through 7) plastics. That makes me happy!
There is also more to recycling then just plastic bottles and newspapers. You also need to know how to properly dispose of hazardous waste. For instance, did you know that your used batteries should NOT be thrown in the trash? Batteries in landfills and incinerators can release heavy metal and toxins into the air and water. So what do you do with them? Many big retailers, like staples, will take your old batteries at no charge. They will recycle them if possible otherwise they will dispose of them properly. In my town, we also have a "household hazardous waste" collection day in the fall where you can bring things like batteries, paint cans, pesticides, etc. down to our recycling center.
A great site to visit for recycling information and tips is earth911.com. They will break town all the different recyclable materials an how each is recycled. They also have information on how to get curbside recycling started in your own community if you don't have it. Want to know where to turn in those old batteries? They have a nifty search widget where you type in the item you want to recycle and your zip code. By typing in "batteries" and my zip code, I found out that Staples, Walmart and Radio Shack all take old batteries! This is actually new information to me and I'm excited because now I don't need to hold on to all those batteries till September.
So go over to earth911.com and learn some more about recycling. And please do your best to recycle at home, at school and at work.
Now for a question. When I am visiting my family the doesn't recycle, is it rude for me to take the empty bottles and cans home with me to recycle? My last visit I brought my stainless steel bottle full of water because I knew they would only have bottled water. But then I watched everyone else throwing their bottles and soda cans in the trash and it upset me. What can I do without crossing the line?
Yesterday afternoon my 4 year old grabbed himself two yogurts out of the fridge for a snack. Always two, never just one. I was busy doing something with my little guys, probably changing diapers. Then I walked into the kitchen, past the area on the counter where we stack our recyclables, and there sat the two empty yogurt containers. I was shocked and proud at the same time. Usually he tosses them in the sink, I hadn't realized he knew where our recycling pile was.
A short while later I noticed an empty toilet paper roll in the bathroom trash. I pulled it out and explained to him that it goes in the recycling to which he responded "Yes, and William put the yogurts in the recycling too!" Gotta love when they talk about themselves in the 3rd person. I know its cheesy, but it made me so proud! And it just goes to show you that you that little ones pick up on everything you do, even if you don't always explain it to them. So lead and teach by example: if you start doing greener things around your house, your kids will learn from you!
On a side note, I really need to come up with a better way to store recyclables until we bring them down to the garage. This picture doesn't begin to show how messy it can get on my counter. Any ideas? We're limited on space.
in sets or singles.
is that it is completely covered in the recycling symbol so there is no missing it. No more wondering about trying to figure out where to put the empty soda can and no more stacks of recyclables on your counter.
