How to Recycle After Christmas is Over

Many families enjoy decorating for Christmas. This includes both indoor and outdoor decorations. After Christmas, families begin storing their Christmas decorations. What can you do with items that cannot be re-used? It might be possible to recycle them! Real Christmas trees can be recycled. The first thing to do is call your local recycling center, or your local waste management authority. Ask if they will recycle Christmas trees before bringing your tree to the facility. Your local zoo may be collecting recycled Christmas trees to be used as treats for their animals. Before you go – be sure to remove … Continue reading

Don’t Put These Things in the Recycling Bin!

Recycling is the process by which used resources can be broken down and made into brand new products. Doing so reduces waste and keeps valuable materials that can be re-used out of landfills. Most people who take the time to recycle have good intentions. Unfortunately, there are some things you should not put in your recycling bin! The main thing to worry about is cross contamination. All it takes to ruin a bin full of useful recyclables is one greasy pizza box. In general, cardboard can be recycled – but not if it has been contaminated with grease and food … Continue reading

Recycling Your Christmas Tree

Well, it’s New Year’s Eve and it is time for out with the old and that includes your live Christmas tree.  I love live trees because they smell so good, but then there is always the question of what to do with it when you are done. Of course, you could always just put it on the side of the curb for trash pickup, but aren’t there some better, greener solutions? There are! First, many communities are now offering Christmas tree recycling pick-ups.  And, if your community doesn’t offer pick-up, they may at least have a location you can take … Continue reading

Doing the Christmas Wrap

Yesterday was wrapping day. We don’t give huge gifts, and we’re not getting anything that wriggles. Nonetheless, it was a bit of a project. If you’re into recycling and reusing like I am, Christmas wrapping is a mental stretch. I have a couple of rolls of old wrapping paper in my basement, and I do use them occasionally. However, the fact that they’ve lived with me since we arrived in our house over seven years ago tells me that I don’t tend to use a lot of wrapping paper. What do we do instead? Chocolate boxes, cookie containers, and old … Continue reading

Facts to Consider on Earth Day

Happy Earth Day! Yes, today is the fortieth anniversary of Earth Day. I’ve written several blogs about this day, but thought one more was in order. Here are a few interesting facts to think about on Earth Day: An acre of tropical forest is lost each second. Americans are among the worst environmental culprits. Although we only make up 5% of the Earth’s population, we use 33% of the paper produced and put out 72% of all hazardous waste. Americans also use 25% of the world’s energy and every two minutes, we use one million gallons of oil. The Environmental … Continue reading

Gardening As A Whole Curriculum

Now that spring is here, most states are starting to thaw out and warm up. This an excellent time to begin a garden, no matter how small, and teach the kids about botany, art, vocabulary, water conservation, nutrition, and so much more. I’m a firm believer in getting the most bang for my buck and most use out of every moment. Each lesson you teach your kids can incorporate many subjects, not just the most obvious one at hand. Gardening is no different. The house we live in now has a nice back and front yard, but even when we … Continue reading

Going to Recycling Extremes

Mary Ann and I have preached about recycling items such as paper, plastic, and glass but that is just the tip of the iceberg. I found an article at The Daily Green that takes recycling one step further. Quite a few of the items mentioned for recycling were quite personal. For example, there is now a non-profit organization in Japan that is specializing in recycling dentures. Now before you go gagging, note that the Japan Denture Recycle Association recycles the metals that are found in dentures. The organization has recycled 30,000 dentures and made about a quarter of a million … Continue reading

10 Green Questions for Your Child’s School

Some schools are beginning to understand the importance of going green, but if you suspect yours is still living in the Dark Ages, here are a few questions you may want to ask the teacher, the principal, or the school board: 10. Does the school recycle? Hopefully there are recycling bins in each classroom, the hallways, and the cafeterias. 9. Speaking of the cafeteria, how nutritious is the lunch it serves? Check the monthly menus to see if there are any healthy alternatives featured on them. 8. Does the school purchase green supplies such as water-based paints, green tissues, green … Continue reading

Recycling Styrofoam

Back when I was in college, I had a brilliant chemistry professor who worked on many different projects for Dow and other companies. He had quite a few “modern miracles” under his belt. He eventually left the world of invention to teach, and enlighten us students to some of the environmental repercussions of many of the products that he helped invent. One of these products, and probably the biggest regret he had, is styrofoam, or polystyrene as it is actually called (styrofoam is a brand name). My professor told us that they were originally trying to create paper cups that … Continue reading

What to Do with Trash

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, we Americans produce approximately 220 million tons of garbage each year. In case you were wondering, that is enough trash to cover the entire state of Texas – twice! It is estimated that each of us produce, on average, about four pounds of garbage each day. That’s about all the statistics I am going to go into because math hurts my head, but let’s just say, we have tons of trash. Of course, you can use some of it to make compost, but, you can turn some of your other trash into useful items … Continue reading