Natural and Sustainable

Plastic bags have been under scrutiny for years now and with that come the making of useful canvas and other bags such as the ones that can be packed in a backpack, your pocket, or even in a purse. These bags make it easier for you to steer clear of the plastic bags that are no almost everywhere you go anymore. There are certain companies and businesses that are allowing you to bring back the plastic bags to be recycled into new bags and this is a great way to help keep them out of landfills and clear up the environment, but just to recycle them puts a strain on the eco-system of earth as well.

Reusable bags are as easy as ever to pack away and almost everyone has at least one by now and to add to that you can now find ones that zip closed and tuck into anywhere so you are never without. Here are some of the best easy-to-carry bags available.

1. Chico Bags: This company is all about reducing the strain on the environment with their options of The Original bag, the Vita, the RePete and the Limited Edition. These bags are easy to carry in and store in the glove box of your car. Bags run about $10.

2. BAGGU Bags: These bags, when used, will replace about 300 to 700 disposable bags. They are bright in color and care really fun to use. The company offers the bag options of the regular Baggu, penguin bag, produce bag, Lincoln bag, baby bag, the big bag and even a grocery kit that comes with plenty of Baggu bags to carry all of your groceries.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Taking showers can use a lot of water and a lot of water gets wasted as well during showers. To help with this try timing yourself with a shower time from Ripple Products. You can even make it a game and try to beat other family members.

We all like to have collections, some are big and some are small, but no matter what, a group of more than one thing is definitely a collection. Whether you collect old records, pencils and pens or even buttons, your collection can be repurposed into something new to use everyday. This is a simple project to help showcase your collection and add something else to that collection as well in a different form.

What you will need:

Camera (digital, or 35mm)
Solid color apron
Scissors
Iron
Parchment paper (non-waxed)

What you will need to do:

Place a small item from your collection or several items, it’s really up to you and take a photo of the grouping in an eye-appealing form. Then print the image out onto photo out.

Enlarge the photo at 200 percent, if you would like it larger. If you like the size of the photo then stick with that size. Next, print the image onto Lazertran’s Iron-on Ink Jet Transfer Paper for Textiles. ($13 for five sheets). It will take about 20-30 minutes for it to dry once it’s printed out.

After drying time, cut the image out along its lines, leaving any small spaces uncut. Place the image face-down onto the fabric apron and cover with parchment paper. Then iron onto the fabric. Allow to cool and wear.

You can use this same technique for lamp shades, table clothes, old t-shirts and pants as well as pillow cases, wall paper patterns, bags, totes, and even your bedding. You decide how to display the image to your own liking.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: When it comes to kitchen towels you may not give them much thought as to what they are made with or where they come from, but you should. Everything that is made from virgin materials and other ingredients grown with pesticides puts added stress on the environment. With Now Designs’ tea towels you can be sure you are getting a product that won’t harm the environment and are healthier for you as well. They are made with 100% cotton and come in the cutest of designs and colors. You can also choose from table linens, napkins and totes as well. Pick up a tea towel for under $6.

This Valentine’s Day when you go to buy your sweetie that special gift that expresses the love you have for them, think of how you are going to wrap it up and go eco-friendly. Not sure where to start, well here are some ideas.

• Old Maps: Old maps are great for wrapping gifts up. Even if it’s just a birthday gift or a Valentine’s Day gift. The cool thing about the maps is you can make any of them look awesome around a gift box. You can take a red marker and follow a road from a mark you made that says “ME” and draw the road line to another mark you made that says, “YOU” and meet them in the middle with a heart.

• Reusable Shopping Bags: They are everywhere anymore. They can be stuffed with recycled tissue paper and your gift added and tied off with a piece of twine. The gift idea for wrapping, not only gives the receiver an eco-friendlier gift option, it also gives them a reusable shopping bag as well, to use over and over again.

• LED Light bulb: This idea is a great way to add some flare to the gift package and also gives the receiver a way to save money and energy in their own home. Make sure the bulb is new and is also Energy Star Approved as well.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: The best wrapping paper idea can be found right in your won cabinet. Use aluminum foil to wrap a gift with. Not only is it recyclable it can also add flair to a gift with a bit of shine that will make it stand out for sure.

You maybe thinking, how can a further make my bathroom more eco-friendly without breaking the bank? There are ways you can save the environment and being forth a better eco-friendly and greener bathroom. Here are some easy ways to green your bathroom and still keep that wallet fat.

1. For shelving: Consider bamboo. It is a sustainable material, along with cork that can bring forth a natural tone into your bathroom. You can either get it unfinished, which is just beautiful, or get a painted shelf option. Make sure if you go painted, that it is painted with nontoxic paint through.

2. For toothbrushes: Go with a recycled plastic toothbrush or even a wood handle toothbrush. There are many options on the market now days that offer recycled material. My first post for Natural and Sustainable that gave options for a recycled toothbrushes. Read it here.

3. For towels: Look for towels that are either 100% organic cotton or even made from bamboo. You can even find ones on the market that are reclaimed from other materials as well. Just make sure they are thick and absorbent and don’t tear up the skin when you dry with them. Or find ones made from hemp such as the ones from Rawganique.

4. For the hamper: The Container Store offers a variety of recycled materials like bamboo, palm leaves and even grass. They also have handles to easily carry to the laundry room. They have a snag resistant interior so it doesn’t snag your most delicate clothing.

5. For a bath mat: Look for bath mats that have been reclaimed from other materials and give the utmost in absorbency. You can find ones that have been reclaimed from materials like flip slop sand other rugs from their past.

Disposable batteries are a great option for any appliance that takes batteries, but when their charge is over, where do they end up? In landfills, and even in our drinking water supplies. They contaminate the ground with the chemicals held inside, so what are the other options?

Eco Trends is a great alternative to the one-time use disposable batteries on the market. Over at Gain Saver there is the option of electrical plug-in chargers or a solar powered option like the one pictured below.

It requires no electricity and recharges the batteries with solar powder and stores the solar energy in the form of the recharge to the batteries. It comes in eco-friendly packaging and comes with four “AA” batteries that can be used again and again. The Eco Trends rechargeable batteries come in the color of green and black.

These batteries work great for digital cameras, remotes, children’s toys and any other type of electronic that takes “AA” batteries. You will get in the habit of replacing them as you use them and it will be come as natural as it is to grab the disposable ones from the carton and replace them. Plus, the added benefit, they are so eco-friendly and better for the environment. So now, no more plastic container of batteries that I know many of you have.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Don’t just assume that low or zero-VOC paints options are completely nontoxic. The regulations currently in use are guidelines that allow exemption of some toxins from being listed on the label of the paint. Of course low VOC paints are a better option over all and they are also lower in price now and are widely available as well.

Here’s how:

Materials:

Find reclaimed cabinets and shelves
Saw
Wood Glue
Screws and Nails
Hammer
Electric Drill

What to do:

First off you need to figure out where you want to place this new bookshelf/window seat. Near a window preferably and once you pick the location, you will be placing it there permanently so make sure the location is one you like and will continue to like. A hallway, an office, a child’s bedroom or your own master bedroom is great places to start.

If you use reclaimed shelves and cabinets you may need to stain them or repair some forms of damage, if you look online you can find many sites that go into detail about how to go about repairing cabinet and shelf damage.

Once the repairs are made place together your shelving in a rough pattern on how you want it to be placed against the wall permanently. Using wood glue, secure the pieces together and then screw into each other. Finally, with help place the constructed window seat against the wall and using stainless steel long screws, attach the shelf system to your wall into the studs to hold against the wall. Once the shelf system is in place, you can purchase or make a pillow seat for the bench under the window and place your favorite reads on the bookshelf. For more detailed instructions and a different approach on this project, click here.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Eating close to home is the best way to cut your food cost and to eat foods that are less processed. It also saves on package waste as well.

It’s that time of year again when most of us receive a new phone directory and into the trash goes the old one. But, wait, before you just throw away your old phone book into the local trash, where it will ultimately end up in the landfill, recycle it with your paper recycling. If your town doesn’t offer paper recycling, why not talk to your local waste disposal company and see if you can petition to get one started.

There may even be phone book recycling centers in your own town as well. According to Yellow Pages.com many phone books are made from recycled paper waste that can be made into new books or even something else that is beneficial to the public as well.

There are hundreds of millions of phone directories currently sitting in landfills across the United States of America that should be recycled. If everyone recycled there used phone books and they were eventually made into new one, no new paper sources would be used for the new directories and overall saving millions of dollars in paper producing efforts.

Keep America Beautiful has teamed up with AT&T and Yellow Book to offer these recyclable directories and they are part of the greater effort to help reduce waste, litter and trash throughout America. On their site they offer a service to the public to find recycling centers in your own area from car batteries, motor oil and newspapers to even used, outdated phone directories. You can even go the extra effort and remove your name from the list of “people” that receive a new phone directory when one comes out. Over at Ideal Bite, they have other ways to help with phone directory wasting.

Hey, before throwing that old phone book in the paper recycle, learn how to amaze your friends by ripping it in half.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Email I received recently from Jay Berkman of Mata Global Solutions,Inc. He wanted me to pass along the importance of hand sanitizers and how some maybe harmful to our health.

Respectfully suggest that most people that have researched the dangers inherent to alcohol-based hand sanitizers–are embracing alcohol-free alternatives that provide the exact same germ-killing efficacy, without the dangerous side-effects of alcohol-based products.

Aside from the widely documented in a 2007 report published by the US Association of Poison Control Centers, which found close to 12,000 cases of alcohol poisoning in kids 6 and under (the marketing geniuses at Purell have packaged their product with cute bottles and intoxicating fragrances that inspire little ones to lick the gel off of their hands), alcohol-based hand sanitizers are notorious for destroying protective skin cells, causing dry/irritated skin, which in turn increases risk of exposure to bacteria and germs, have no efficacy when applied to dirty/soiled hands, and lose their effectiveness within seconds after applying.

Alcohol-free, rinse free, fragrance free products (brands include Soapopular, Hy5, and others) use the same active ingredient found in Bactine antiseptic, J&J BandAid brand foaming antiseptic, and dozens of other health care products–all of which are widely-acknowledged to be equally effective when compared to Purell or other alcohol-based products, but the alcohol-free alternatives are safer to the skin, safer for kids and are non-flammable and non-toxic.

Schools, day care centers and health care venues throughout the country have been systematically banning Purell and similar products, and contrary to popular belief, the US Centers for Disease Control does NOT recommend alcohol-based hand sanitizers, at least that is what Kathleen Stewart, a senior spokesperson from CDC has repeatedly stated
A good blog on the topic is: http://www.handhygienefacts.blogspot.com

Jay Berkman
Mata Global Solutions,Inc.
d/b/a MGS Brands
d/b/a MGS Soapopular
2490 Black Rock Turnpike
Fairfield, Connecticut 06825
Tel: 203.255.0034
Fax:866-434-7244
US Distributor of Soapopular: The Consumer Market’s Most Popular Alcohol-Free Hand Sanitizer
Global License: Hy5
GREAT Blog: www.HandHygieneFacts.blogspot.com

1. Plug your computer, fax machine, copier, scanner, TV, DVD player, and even your Ipod and phone chargers onto a power strip and then simply switch it off when you are not suing them.

2. Replace 10 incandescent bulbs in your home or office with CFLs. Carpool to the office; donate used gear and sporting goods and even well worn older shoes that are good condition as well.

3. Turn down your water heater, air-dry your dishes and even use rechargeable batteries when you can.

4. Replace your clogged car filter; recycle plastics, paper, metals and glass no matter what. Look for recycled products as well and keep them in circulation.

5. Remove your car’s roof rack when you aren’t using it, drink filtered tap water instead of water that has been bottled and BYOB, bring your own bottle to places and refill it. Eat vegetarian twice a week at your home or at the office. Turn off the lights with you leave a room and turn off the ceiling fan when you aren’t in a room as well. Bike to most of your in-town errands and walk to places close like a friend’s house, or the library.

6. Cut down on your car washing, and sweep your driveway off instead of using the hose to spray it. Accelerate your speed gradually in your car to help save gas as well. Use the cruise control on the interstate and open highways. Always drive the speed limit, it’s better to be late then over-use your gas and even get a ticket.

7. Take a Navy shower by turning off the water while you soap up. Shave in the sink and not in the shower to help save water as well. Don’t overfill the bathtub.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Use environmentally friendly insulation on your home. It will help cut your heating and cooling cost as well as helps with your impact on the earth as well.

• Collect rainwater from downspouts and use it to water your won garden and plants.

• Say no to carpeting. Carpet contains more contaminants and pollen and dust than anything else in your home.

• Buy green power when you can and ask your utility company to off it if they don’t already. The typical U.S. household uses about 10,000 KWH a year.

• Repair, and don’t replace appliances. Each fix means your won’t be buying a new one and it will keep your old one out of landfills. IF you feel you must replace, then donate the broken or semi-broken one to a company that refurbishes or repairs then and resells then.

• Buy energy-efficient appliance when you do replace. Energy Star appliance use 10 to up to 50% less energy and water and must meet EPA efficiency guidelines.

• Dry your dishes on the dishwasher rack and if your dishwasher offers the air dry option, use that as well.

• Buy secondhand clothing or household items as tag sales and save the carbon cost of new production.

• Hang your laundry out to dry on a clothes line and eliminate one dryer cycle per week or more.

• Clean AC filters or replace them when necessary to keep your AC unit running smoothly.

• Run ceiling fans instead of the air conditioner in hot climates; this can save you more than a ton of CO2 waste within your won home.

• Use cold water to wash and rinse your clothes, only use hot water when the laundry is very dirty and always wash your bedding in hot water to kill bed bugs and dust mites.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Go for low flow showerheads, this switch can save you 1800 in eclectic cost and 43o in natural gas depending on how your water is heated. Not to mention the savings in water cost and waste as well. Consider putting in a low-flow toilet as well.

Plastic Grocery Bag Draft Stopper: This project is great for keeping plastic bags out of land fills and ending up in our streams and water ways.

What you will need:• Wool tights or Cotton mesh
• 40-100 plastic grocery bags
• Twine or cotton string
• Glue
• Colored ribbon (optional)
• Buttons (optional)

What you will need to do:
With the 40-100 plastic grocery bags, wrinkle the bags one by one and stuff them into the tights or cotton mesh bag. Pile as many as you can into the tights and make sure the tights can move a bit freely into a shape that you want so that it will rest against your leaking or drafty door crack or window. Also make sure that it is the same length of your doorway or window. You don’t want it hanging over the sides and giving gaps for air to leak through. Once the tights are stuffed tie off the end and use the twine to close the opening. If you choose you can also sew a straight stitch across the opening to make sure the opening does stay shut for the life of the draft stopper. Once the opening is close, cut off the remaining leg and the rest of the excess that is left from the tights. If using a mess bag or mesh material, you will need to use the sewing machine to cut a small rectangle size piece from the material and sew up the sides and both ends to create a legging-type shape.

Using the glue you can attack ribbons or other designs to the draft-stopper to give as gifts or just to decorate to use in a child’s room or play room.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Here is a simple list of helpful and very useful links:
1. EPA
2. Grist
3. Treehugger
4. Ideal Bite
Check out these links to learn more about what you can do as an individual in order to help out the environment and yourself.

Most bottled water you purchase is basically just tap water in a mask. Most bottled water manufactures’ market on the idea that the consumer thinks they are buying better water in a bottle, but tap water is held in higher standard than most if not all bottled water is. But with this thought many people depend greatly on bottled water which is taking a great toll on our environment in a big way.

The environmental impact creates fossil fuel consumption, water consumption and ever massive amounts of waste every year. There is approximately 1.5 million gallons of oil, enough to run about 100, 000 cars for a whole year used in making the plastic which holds this water we are consuming. The water we are consuming is effecting nearby farmers that are close to the bottling plant. There are millions of gallons of water used to make the plastic to hold the water and 2 gallons of water are wasted in the purification process as well. The waste is what’s taking a toll the most. There are only about 10 percent of the plastic water bottles being recycled; leaving the rest in a landfill where it takes thousands of years for the materials to decompose completely.

There is a better and cheaper alternative to this ever growing problem. Simply turn on the tap the next time you want a quick drink of water. Installing a faucet-mounted filter or keeping a pitcher filter in your fridge will take out some of the tap-water taste from the city water as well. If you are away from home, be sure and take your own water in a stainless steel or plastic container with the numbers 2, 4 or 5 instead of buying bottled water. Always bring your own water (BOYW) whenever you can.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Use recycled content toilet paper. If everyone in the U.S. used one recycled roll per year it would save 424,000 trees.

Making your own recycled watering jug:

What you will need:
1. 1/2 gallon plastic jug, such as orange juice or milk jugs. Use a jug that has a sturdy handle so you child can easily hold the jug while using it.

2. Hammer and nail; to punch holes in the jug so the water can drain while using it.

4. Colored duct tape or paints (Use non-toxic, no-water-based paints for this project)

5. Small bucket (to collect water to use in the jug for watering the plants with)

What you need to do:

Using a hammer and nails to punch 10 to 15 holes about 1/4-inch apart in the upper corner of the jug on the opposite side of the handle of the jug. Cluster the holes just as you see in a purchased water can.

Kids can design the jug in anyway they want. You want to use water-proof sticker and or water-proof paints. If you use water-based paints, they will dissolve over time, so find some nontoxic paints that will withstand the use of water and your child using the jug.

The bucket can be placed in the shower to collect shower run off and your kids can use that extra water to water their plants with. Or go one step better and have them help you create a rain collection barrel. This will show kids the importance of saving water and also recycling old into something new.

Kids will love this jug project because it is something they made that they can use everyday on their own plants and/or garden plants.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Be smart about the toys your child plays with. Look for second hand toys at yard sales or second hand stores and the wooden toys with nontoxic finishes are the best for your child. Plastic toys aren’t so great all the time. Plus wooden toys last a lot longer than plastic ones do anyway so they are well worth your money and your health in the long run.

Americans alone go through an estimated 70 million plastic bottles daily and over 80% of those go start to the landfill. What is one to do? With the fear of PET in plastic, a lot of people aren’t sure where to turn. Here is a simple list of the reusable bottles that are healthier alternatives to the landfill filling plastic throwaway bottles.

1. BPA-Free: Avoid this danger by steering clear of anything that does not read BPA-Free. You can pick these up from Born Free bottles and even sippy cups are available as well.

2. Stainless Steel/Aluminum: These bottles are guaranteed not to leach any harmful chemicals. They are lightweight and can be taken anywhere. They are also reusable and even recyclable. Try ones by My Sigg.

3. Glass Bottles: Glass is always the top leader in leach-free containers. They reusable and even recyclable like their aluminum counterpart. Never give a glass container to a child though, because of the fear of breakage. There are glass coverings available on the market like ones from Built NY.

4. Biodegradable Plastic Bottles: These are made from corn, bioplastic bottles can be composted and they don’t contain petroleum or even leach the harmful chemicals like most other plastics. Try brand such as Biota or Blue Planet Water.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Make since of your money and make it green sense. General Electric and MasterCard introduce the Earth Rewards credit card. Every time you make a purchase with the card, a portion of your purchase will go to offsetting carbon emissions.

If you are like me you can’t stand those plastic bags the stores seem to push at you when you purchase something. Back in the 50s and the 60s the common phrase at the check outs were, “paper or plastic sir”? Now it seems your only option is the plastic, unless you sate otherwise.

But what to do with all that plastic once it leaves the store and enters your own home?

Here are some tips to steer you in the right direction.

1. Use them as bin liners in your trash cans.

2.Place them in the bottom of plant pots and hanging baskets - they act as great drainage systems.

3. Children can use them for carrying their things to school.

4. Use then when you’re packaging as an alternative to bubble wrap.

5. Use them in the garden to hold your grass cuttings and hedge trimmings before transfer to a compost bin.

5. Use them when packing for a holiday to keep dirty/wet clothes and shoes away from dry clothing.

6. Use them as ‘doggy doo bags’ when out walking your dog!

7. Some supermarkets recycle plastic bags, so you can return plastic bags to them.

8. Use them for car trash pickup bags in your vehicle.

9. Use them, in a decorative way as a rain hat when it’s pouring outside.

10. Use them for your lunch bag at work or at school.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: In this day and age gas prices going up seems to be the norm, so in order to conserve gas, drive under 60 miles per hour. It will save the $ in your pocket book as well.

Americans throw away enough office paper to build a 12-foot-hgh wall from Los Angeles to New York. Recycling one time of paper saves 17 mature trees, 7,000 gallons of water, a 380 gallons of oil. Making new paper from recycled paper used 30 to 50 percent less energy than making paper from trees, and it produces 95 percent less air pollution. Encourage everyone in your office to print and photocopy only when necessary, use both side of the paper when you do print, and try to reuse paper. Fro when you must print, here are a couple of accessories and ideas to help you work more green:

1. Recycled paper with 30 to 35 percent post consumer content, which is available at Office Depot stores.

2. Paper from nonwood fibers, such as Ecopaper made in Costa Rica from agro-waste. Paper made from agricultural residue is pricey, but this does encourage careful paper usage. The price will come down as production increases.

3. Recycled paper with 100 percent post consumer content, processed without chlorine, from The Green Office. Locating a green paper resource near your office will minimize pollution from transportation.

4. Use refillable pens made from recycled plastic.

5. Recycle your printer cartridges-for every ink or laser toner cartridge that is recycle, two quarts of oil are kept out of landfills.

6. Chlorine free and tree-free papers are the most ecofriendly choices to go.
(Source: Organic Gardening 2008)

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Always turn the lights out in a room or closet when you are finished. What’s the point of leaving the light on anyway?

VERY GREEN HOUSE: Building a new home or redecorating a room? Visit the Green House at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. It’s a 7,00-suare-foot re-creation of the Glide House, a low maintenance, affordable modernist home. Guests can check out 60 eco-friendly products from countertops to carpets. If you can’t make the trip visit the website for ides to use in your own home.