Things You Never Knew You Could Recycle

January 25, 2013 By Anne

I signed up for Earth911 a long time ago. They have some interesting stuff on there. Yesterday was 30+ Things You Didn’t Know You Could Recycle. It was broken down into categories. I picked a few out of those to share with you….

Plastic Baggies:

Now I knew I could take those plastic shopping bags to my local grocery store and recycle them, but I did not know I could take sandwich baggies too. According to Earth911 you can recycle all of those gallon bags, snack bags and sandwich bags all at the same place! You o need to make sure they are cleaned. I try not to use them, but with kids in school, I do end up using a few. I try to use containers instead.

There are over 15,000 drop-off locations around the country for plastic bags, which helps make recycling them much easier. Some stores take bread bags too!

Old or Unwanted Dishes:

You can always take old or wanted dished to the thrift store and donate them. Or even Freecycle them.

But broken dishes? Broken ceramic dishes can be donated or used for art projects such as mosaics. Check your local artists’ organizations to see if they’d like your dish pieces.

Another option is to check with local recycling facilities that accept concrete or brick. Some of these facilities may accept ceramic plates, National Geographic reports, in addition to broken construction materials. Often, ceramic materials are ground up and turned into gravel.

Old Pillows:

I wrote a post about this last year. I had some old pillows that I hated to throw a way, so I repurposed them to make pillows for my patio. I cut the pillow in half and placed in some pretty material I found at the store. perfect!!

Pillows are not something that you can just donate. You could turn one into a dog bed or use while gardening to pad your knees.

Glasses:

I worked at an eye doctor for many years and always had people calling in asking where they can take their old glasses. Lions clubs will accept glasses through their Lions Recycle for Sight program, which collects the glasses, sorts them by prescription and sends them to people who need them. Some optical stores will collect them, ours did not, but my son’s school would take and donate them to the Lions Club. So I always had a bag under my desk with glasses.

Shoes:

You can donate old shoes to a thrift store, but if they are too worn out, you can still donate them to a different cause.

For those athletic shoes that you’ve worn out, you can send them to Nike’s Reuse-a-Shoe program, which will actually shred the shoes and use the materials. The rubber, foam and fabric can be used in many ways and often find their way into athletic surfaces and playgrounds.

My son’s school used to have a donation box where you could drop off those old, unwanted shoes.

Hair:

Really? Yup! Human hair is compostable and recyclable. My son’s new roommate also says doggy hair can be used to put around your house to keep critters away. She is a groomer and saves her dogs fur for just that reason.

Donating your hair could help clean up future oil spills. San Francisco nonprofit Matter of Trust collects human and pet hair to create booms that soak up oil. Currently, warehouses are full, but you can be placed on the email alert list when the need arrives again.

Wine:

Another, really? But thin k about it. After you drink the wine, the glass is recyclable. The corks are recyclable. And any leftover wine can be tossed in the compost pile! Look for drop off locations for your corks at ReCORK America

Keys:

This is a great idea! We all have a drawer full of miscellaneous keys, but you don’t have to toss them in the trash. They’re made of valuable metal, after all. Keys For Kindness is a small, family-run program designed to raise money through metal key recycling for the Multiple Sclerosis society. The donor pays for shipping, but we’re sure karma points are said donor’s future.

Trophies:

We have lots of these! We even threw some out last week! I never knew I could donate them to be recycled. I will not throw another on away!

Total Awards & Promotions, Inc. has a trophy recycling program to benefit charities. Through a mail-in program, the company recycles your defunct awards or re-engraves and donates them to nonprofit organizations. One of many trophy recycling programs offered nationwide, the company also manufacturers its own awards made of recycled glass and newsprint.

Want more ideas? Check out Earth911.

Most pictures and information taken from Earth911. I added my own opinions and thoughts as I saw fit.

Anne

I'm a mother of 2 who likes to get involved in too much! Besides writing here I started a non-profit, I'm on the PTO board, very active in my community and volunteer in the school. I enjoy music, reading, cooking, traveling and spending time with my family. We just adopted our 3rd cat and love them all!

7th Generation Giveaway

January 21, 2013 By Anne

7th Generation has been a favorite of mine for a while now. Having children, I feel like I want to use products that are eco-friendly and not made from harsh products.

With flu season here and everyone worrying about germs, you’ve got to clean and clean to keep them at bay. So I feel better knowing I’m cleaning with products that won’t harm my pets or children and won’t cause harsh smells.

It’s super important to keep hands washed. I tell my children to wash their hands every time we come home form going out. Even if I use some disinfectant or wipes on them, I still like them to wash them the old fashioned way. What better way then to use 7th Generation Hand Wash in Fresh Citrus? The Hand Wash is a hypoallergenic formula that uses natural, plant-derived cleaners and is free of triclosan, dyes and synthetic fragrances.

I have the Citrus Scent in my kitchen and the Hand Wash in Lavender in my children’s bath. Lavender is such a wonderful soothing scent.

Tissues are super important to keep the germs at bay. My children are pretty good about covering up, but sometimes my daughter sneezes into her hands. So I have to remind her to go wash them. But at least she kept them from spreading! 7th Generation Tissues are made from 100% recycled paper with a minimum 50% post-consumer content.

Sanitizing!! Such an important thing to do all the time and more during flu season. 7th Generation Disinfecting Wipes are great! I used all mine up before I could get a picture!! These wipes kill over 99.99% of household germs, speciﬁcally: Influenza A viruses including H1N1, Rhinovirus (type 37, the Common Cold virus), Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella enterica, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa on hard, nonporous surfaces. I use them in the kitchen and bathroom.

My favorite 7th Generation by far is the All Purpose Cleaner. You can use this anywhere for anything! The All Purpose Cleaner removes grease, grime and all dirt without harsh fumes. It’s non-toxic, VOC-free and works on marble, granite, stainless steel and many other surfaces. I use this everywhere!

7th Generation would like to give one Mommy Has to Work reader all the above mentioned products, 5 total!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received the above products to review. All Opinions are my own.

Anne

My Pretty Playhouse Review/Giveaway

January 9, 2013 By Anne

What little girl or boy doesn’t enjoy a playhouse? They make fort and house out of whatever they can get their hands on. Having a “playhouse” full time can take up a lot of room, so I love temporary houses. they get used and used and then they can go away.

We received My Pretty Playhouse, which a little bit of both. My Pretty Playhouse is made out from 100% recycled cardboard. The kids can decorate the playhouse and when your done you can fold it back up and save it for another day. Or use it until it’s done!

We put ours together in our den. I put most of it together by myself, but had to enlist my hubby or the roof. The directions do indicate that this a two person job. Once done, Savannah had a great time going in and looking out the windows.

She can stand up inside.

Then comes the fun part for her – decorating. We got out her markers and crayons, these did not come with the house. I help at her insistence. You can see the eggs the duck is sitting on below. My only wish was that there were more “items” to color. Some of the other house sold do have more to decorate. Savannah still had lots of fun coloring and starting coloring on the inside as well.

Savannah has had several friends over and they all have fun hiding and giggling in the playhouse.

My Pretty Playhouse is affordable at $34.99. The size is great and can work just about anywhere. Plus you can recycle it when you are all done. It is recommended for ages three and up. But it’s not the only cool toy from Boutique Cascades. They also carry other playhouse than this one, birdhouses, cars, tables and chairs – all made out of recycled cardboard! All ready to decorate!

For each playhouse sold in Canada and in United States, Cascades will donate two dollars to Habitat for Humanity. What a wonderful thing to do!

Cascades would like to give one Mommy Has to Work reader a My Pretty Playhouse of their own! See details below.

Also check them out on Facebook and Twitter.

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We received the above product for review. Opinions are my own.

Anne

Have a “Green” Christmas

December 21, 2012 By Anne

(Reposted, from last year.)

Wow – Christmas is almost here. But it’s not too late to be green!

But wait!! Before you go buying all those fancy boxes and wrapping paper to a minute and think of a more green way to do Christmas.

Save any and every box you have around the house. I’m lucky enough to have plenty of boxes from review items and I save different sizes at work too. But- you can save cereal boxes, food boxes, tissue boxes, really any box can be used. Last year I did not “buy” any boxes and I won’t have to this year either. I have boxes of boxes I started collecting last month. Cereal boxes will make nice clothes boxes. I used one for mailing gifts before.

Wrapping paper – now this one’s a little more tricky. You can use newspaper or cartoons. These make fun and interesting presents. You can use the kids artwork for smaller gifts. You can use leftover materials to wrap your gifts. You can even use cloth to make a gift bag. These can be used from year to year.

Last year I saved some brown paper from work and folded it nice and neat and kept it flat. Then I used stamps and placed holiday stamps with glitter on the paper. I really think the presents wrapped in this paper was my absolute favorite!!

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What will you do this Christmas to be “green”?

Anne

Turning Green?

December 18, 2012 By Anne

This is a sponsored post.

It seems that everyone wants to turn green these days as the well-being of the planet in general becomes a growing concern for the public. Our modern politicians have access to the most intricate demographing tools and research facilities and have the best insight into the wants and needs of our society and if they start voicing their concerns over climate change, you know it is a reflection of worries of the country as a whole.

Large companies are also beginning to realise the importance of the green way of thinking. Those who have realised its full potential are trying their hardest to lower their carbon footprint. The biggest aim for big brands, especially for department stores and high street companies with a massive customer facing presence, is to be carbon neutral by a certain year; many stores now have a section on their website dedicated to their aims concerning the environment.

Smaller companies are also now following suit and even B2B organisations are enjoying not only a better reputation but are saving a lot of money on renewable energy using wind, water or commercial solar power from Dulas.

Everyone has to do their bit though; we cannot just leave it to the big companies. Most people think it is the corporations who pollute the most, which is generally true, but industrialisation is not the only use for fossil fuels.

If you make a concerted effort to recycle in your home, which shouldn’t be too much of an effort since many councils now have time saving initiatives that mean recycling has never been so easy, you could be doing a lot over the years to really make a difference.