reuse
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.
Buy, Sell, Trade and Get Rid of Stuff – Recycle and Trade Spring Cleaning Treasures
I was going through my place doing a little spring cleaning (in spring, can you imagine?) and I ended up with 3 different categories of items:
- Items I want to sell (and I think i can)
- Items I want to sell (and I think they are pretty much worthless)
- Items I just want to get rid of
If you can believe it, there are actually very specialized places to do business with all three of these types of items. For items that actually have some value and could fetch a fair amount of cash, I usually head straight to craigslist, ebay or amazon
Green Up Your Launderd Clothing – Dry Cleaning Re-thought
Ever think what a little tweak here and there to a huge industry such as dry cleaning? There are about 6 dry cleaners just in my one block radius, and they each get enough business to sustain themselves, so it makes me wonder; what kind of impact could a single little change do to preserving the environment? Many of you may have heard about new ‘Green’ Eco-friendly dry cleaners, so what makes them green you say?
Most dry cleaners use the chemical perchloroethylene (also called tetrachloroethylene, perc, Cl2C=CCl2 and C2Cl4) to launder your clothes. Exposure to perchloroethylene has been found to be dangerous to your health, and has been linked to increased risks of several cancers including: bladder cancer, cervical cancer, esophageal cancer. It also is an irritant causing skin, eye, nose and throat irritation, reduced fertility, and many other adverse health effects. Environmental impacts have been less clear, although lets assume that if it causes issues like that, it probably isn’t too good for anything else either. Those most affected by these afflictions are the actual dry cleaners themselves since they are exposed to these chemicals on a daily basis.
Environmentally friendly ‘Green’ dry cleaners commonly use one of two substitutes for perchloroethylene, mainly liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) or silicone-solvent based cleaning. Both of these are widely believed to be more environmentally friendly, however, the health risks to workers using silicone-solvents have not been fully studied. Consumer Reports recently compared the cleaning ability of these methods, and found that the liquid carbon dioxide ‘dry cleaning’ method to be far more effective than traditional perchloroethylene with silicone-solvents coming in a close second. It appears the green dry cleaning methods not only are more eco-friendly, but also more effective!
That’s really just the tip of the iceberg. What about the billions of disposable items that we take home from the dry-cleaners after picking up out clothes? Two companies have each addressed seperate items in order to green up the industry.
Hanger Network Recycled Hangers
It may not surprise you that over 3.5 billion wire hangers are used every year, and while they may be useful for pulling wire behind a wall or fishing a wedding ring out of a sink drain, most of us don’t re-use all of the dry cleaning hangars we collect over the years. A marketing company called Hanger Network has come up with a great earth friendly design and a new way to market to the consumer, the EcoHanger. It remains re-useable, and is composed of almost entirely recycled content from the 100% recycled paper cover to the recycled bottle-cap hook. Made in the USA from renewable resources, it also remains 100% recyclable.
Clothesnik Reuseable Cotton Dry-Cleaning Covers
And finally, the plastic bag covering that your dry cleaning always comes back wrapped in. Reuseniks came up with a reusable cotton cover to be used when transporting your dry cleaning to and from the dry cleaners called the Clothesnik. Not only does it make your dry cleaned clothes easier to find when picking them up, you reduce the plastic waste generated from the one time use disposable plastic covers. Now if only we could get them in organic cotton, or better yet, hemp!
For environmentally friendly dry cleaner locations near you, check out Hangars Cleaners or Blue Sky Cleaners, which uses to liquid carbon dioxide method, or Green Earth Cleaning for the silicone-solvent method.
[via treehugger and ecolect]
Eco Game of High Low – Green-ish Turntable Record Players for all you Vinyl Lovers
I am starting a little game of High/Low which will bring both the “high-end” expensive items with more reasonably priced counterparts for the rest of us. I’m going to start this game off with something a little old school- turntable record players.
Eco Chic High
The “High” comes to us from German-based company Montegiro, and is quite beautifully built with a very clean design. This bamboo and steel Legno turntable promises chic style and a functional design with a stable steel chassis and resonance vibration dampening bamboo. The price reflects the overall design and build quality more than the audiophillic sound it produces, although, I am sure it is probably one of the best sounding turntables out there. Priced in at $13,240 – you can pick one up through Koetsu.
What makes it Green?
This one may be a bit of a stretch, but it is made from renewable bamboo and paired with recyclable steel.
[via dvice]
Eco Friendly Low
The “Low” is simple- buy used! There are thousands of these out there for sale. By purchasing a used record player, not only are you keeping one more out of a landfill, you are also not using the resources to build a brand new one. You can even find wind up players to be even more green! Cost – anywhere from free on up. Check places like craigslist.org, freecycle.org, pawn shops and ebay for a turntable that suits your needs.
What makes it Green?
Its a reuse!
