reuse
Recycle Your Greywater Into Your Landscaping
Harvesting rainwater is a great way to reuse the free water from the sky, however, unless you have a lot of rain barrels and a lot of rain, the dry season will cut your supply short- or will it? Grey water is another great source to recycle from since it is just being wasted by going down the drain.
Greywater is non-sewage waste water from your sinks, bathtub and laundry drains that is safe for your yard. The benefit to recycling or reusing this water is that it recharges aquifers and waters your plants while nature cleans the water. It is even better if the only thing going down the drain are natural cleaners, detergents and soaps. An individual may produce 15,600 gallons of greywater a year, all of which is wasted by going down the drain when it can be safely used on landscaping. Buckets have been used to collect this water from bathtubs, but can be cumbersome and labor intensive and there are easier ways.
Flotender has a great automated system that acts as a collection, storage and irrigation system all in one. Available for your rain collection devices as well, this system gathers your rainwater or greywater and pumps it out to your landscaping through a drip irrigation system. They have other systems available so you can customize the irrigation system to your needs, but they all use the same principle- collect the recycled water and distribute it to your plants. Hook it up to your rain barrels, tap it into your greywater drains and never have to water your yard again!
Neogreen Insulated Lunch Totes and Kozees
I usually tote my lunch to work in a re-used paper bag, but by the end of the week that bag ends up looking pretty haggard. Thankfully the guys over at Neogreene heeded my call and sent me one of their new eco-friendly insulated lunch tote along with a waterbottle cozy.
Many of you may remember my article a little while back about green neoprene technology, where I first mentioned Neogreene and their laptop sleeves. They have since expanded their line to include lunch totes, water bottle cozies and wine bottle carriers in a spread of color combination’s.
Aside from how green they are, they are also very cool looking and well constructed. I have to be honest in saying the shapes are a bit feminine for me (rounded corners and such make them look a bit like womens handbags) but my girlfriend loves them. I’m not giving up the cozy though- it is perma-plastered to my stainless steel kleen kanteen.
As you may have noticed, all the products have animal names. These are endangered species, a reminder that GreenSmart now donates 10% of net profits to the World Wildlife Fund and other environmental organizations.
Eco-Friendly Friday – Sustainable Sushi n Rice + Tshirts
If you are following me on Twitter, you probably already have seen many of these, so start following @chicecologist for up-to-the-minute eco-friendly updates from The Chic Ecologist. Hope you are having a great Friday, and hopefully this will make it even better!
Sustainable Sushi
If you love sushi like I do, then you should check out Seafood Watch’s sustainable seafood initiative. You may already carry around a pocket guide (or the cool iphone app they have), but now you can help your favorite sushi restaurants also be more aware of the seafood they serve.
You can even get a sushi kit by pledging to get sustainable with your sushi. The kit includes chopsticks, sustainable sushi cards and informational brochures to leave with your sushi chef. For those who don’t know, Seafood watch is a part of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a very respected marine institution.
Free Rice
Helping to feed the hungry and improving your vocabulary don’t seem like they go together, but freerice.com pairs them like white on rice. For every correct answer you get, you donate (through their sponsors) 10 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program.
Let me tell you, it gets very addicting, and before you know it you have a bowl-full of rice on the screen. You can even change the subject to different languages, geography, math, chemistry, even art! If you are a teacher, or know a teacher, pass it on to the students- they will love the game-like play and visual rewards. All for a great cause.
T shirt recycling
Andy over at hideyourarms.com put together a great blog article on how to customize and recycle your old t-shirts. From scarfs to dog clothes, pillow cases, underwear and more. Tons of great ideas, videos and how-to’s to reuse those favorite old T’s.
Recycled Totes and Bags – UrthBags
I have always been intrigued by the many creative materials used for recycled content bags, especially things like juice boxes. I recently purchased a recycled fire hose bag which I have been delighted with, and I have several recycled cotton, plastic and vinyl bags for shopping and such, but UrthBags has taken the cake with their creative reuse and recycled materials.
With everything from bright and colorful recycled juice box clutches, to understated but exotic coconut & sea shell bags, UrthBags utilize just about anything that our society produces plenty of. Recycled Newspaper, Magazine, and Telephone Book Bags are formed into purses, messenger bags, tote bags, diaper bags and more.
They were kind enough to send me a juice box bag so I could get a closer look at the quality and composition of their products, and I must say it was impressive. They really take the reuse and recycling idea seriously as the bag was packaged and delivered in a re-used box (plus one for practicing what you preach!) The bag was woven together in a tight and sturdy pattern exploding with color. It had a feel similar to a vinyl or soft plastic, but did not appear ‘cheap’ or ‘flimsy’, rather the opposite- it was of exceptional quality. My girlfriend quickly snatched it from me to become her new traveling makeup bag.
High Flying Recycled Retro Furniture
Vintage planes are like vintage automobiles, they have a certain class and distinct style about them. Some people like them, and some people love them. I personally love all the polished aluminum, patterned rivets and sleek forms of the aircraft from the past- back when you used to wear a suit on the plane and they used to fly to places like Havana.
MotoArt brings that feeling right into to your living room, bedroom or office with their vintage aircraft furniture. Sourced from actual pieces of aircraft history, each design incorporates a meticulously cleaned and polished piece of and truly unique vintage plane. More than recycled or reused, these pieces are re-fashioned to accentuate their beauty and design.
Most pieces are modernized into desks, beds and office components- a meld of vintage technology with modern technology into a wondrous work of art. If automotive is more your thing, you may want to check out these vintage car furniture designs.
Don’t Recycle Soda and Sparkling Water Bottles
As you may have guessed from previous posts about eco plastic bottled water and soda bottle reuse, I’m not a big fan of these ubiquitous containers. With the average American consuming over 600 cans or bottles of soda and sparkling water each year, think of the environmental impact of reducing just a fraction of that.
Enter the perfect replacements – reusable containers paired with water filters and CO2 infusers! I am almost overwhelmed at the reasons why these are such great devices, here are just a few:
- Huge reduction of ‘disposable’ glass bottles, plastic bottles and cans
- Reduction in indirect transport-related emissions (from moving all those very heavy, liquid filled containers)
- Make your own sparkling mineral water and soda (without High Fructose Corn Syrup)
- unlimited flavor combination’s
- no more ‘flat’ drinks wasted or thrown away- just recharge them
- it’s cheaper!
ECO Recycled Countertops by Cosentino
Consisting of 75% recycled content from post-industrial or post-consumer materials and held together by an environmentally friendly corn-oil resin, ECO by Cosentino countertops will keep your kitchen green. Similar to the Vetrazzo Recycled Glass Countertops, ECO is made up of recycled glass and mirror, but also includes porcelain, crystallized ash and stone scraps from regulated quarries under strict stewardship programs.
The countertops are produced in an environmentally friendly way as well, with 94% of the water used in manufacturing being recycled, thus minimizing the consumption of a very important resource. All of the minerals used in the production of ECO by Cosentino come from quarries that are fully restored and the manufacturing process is strictly controlled to avoid emissions of any harmful particles into the air.
New Soap, Old Bottle – Reducing Trash with Reuse
A great idea to help reduce the impact of discarded plastic bottles and preventing further unnecessary packaging at the same time.
New Soap, Old Bottle is a company founded by Scott Amron that bottles new bulk name-brand soap into sanitized used old plastic soda bottles, plastic water bottles, and beer bottles.
Packaged in America and finished with a child safe spray, pump or squeeze top, these new-old bottles will perform as well or even better than those you are used to.
New Soap is an eco-initiative. Our goal is to make it easy for companies to offer their products packaged in old bottles, giving the consumer a greener option.New Soap, Old Bottle saves two bottles for each bottle sold. That’s the bottle that would have been manufactured and the bottle rescued.
LiT Lampshades – Promoting Green Home Design
Lampshades are not usually something you think of when designing green, and it is really hard to find environmentally friendly shades. Most shades have a plastic styrene backing which in no way is biodegradable. They are then coated with toxic glue then the fabric. Let’s think what happens when this glue gets hot,….toxic glue….hot light bulb….your baby’s room….hum? None too good for the earth, and on the aesthetic side- most plastic based shades are ugly, thus none too good for your decor.
LiT, a not only local but green designer lampshade company (based in Seattle, Washington), is taking a stand against ugly toxic shades by making their shades earth friendly through careful consideration in the materials used in producing LiTshades. Instead of plastic owner Dawn Bassett uses only paper backing. The backing is laminated using water based, non-toxic adhesive and then the reclaimed, recycled or re-purposed fabrics and papers give the shades their final touch. She also insists on only using natural fiber textiles like silks and cottons.
Dawn makes all her shades by hand, usually sitting quietly or rocking out to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in her shop. Her shades are not mass produced in Vietnam, Indonesia, or China in large crazy factories by little kids for two cents a day.
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Can I Recycle This, and Where?
I have this happen to me all the time. Random electronics, toys, packaging, home remodeling projects, etc. I don’t want to throw it away, but can it be recycled? Real Simple has come up with a great A-Z guide to recycle just about anything, and gives you the information you need to find a recycler in your area. Their list is pretty complete, however I have a few additional resources for some specific items- mainly clothes and denim jeans.
Probably the best way to recycle clothes is to take them to your local charity that accepts donations. Goodwill, The Salvation Army, and many other large scale donation resellers will bundle unsellable clothes and sell them to textile recyclers who then make them into industrial rags. Alternatively, recycled denim is becoming an increasingly popular form of insulation in new and remodeled homes.
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Vetrazzo Recycled Glass Countertops
When I think of what impacts me the most in a kitchen, I think of 3 things: Cabinets, appliances and counter tops. Beautiful counter tops can be the crown jewel of your kitchen – an essential focal point that just ties everything together. Granite was the standard for a very long time followed by manufactured stone, then came a ‘greener’ fly-ash concrete alternative, now Vetrazzo just raised the bar with their recycled glass surfaces.
Made with up to 85% glass by weight in a non-resin cement binder, these counter surfaces consist primarily of recycled wine, beer and mineral water bottles processed in California. A smaller portion of the glass is recycled from traffic light lenses, glass windshields, shower doors, architectural window glass, stemware and art glass. One 5 ft. by 9ft. panel of Vetrazzo can recycle up to 1,000 glass bottles.
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