Osprey Recycled Courier Bag

Plastic bottles fill up more landfill space than any other product we currently use today.  So many people simply don’t think to recycle them or find it too inconvenient to.  While recycling is on the rise, it will be difficult to clear out all of those plastic bottles.  Landfills will be full of them for decades.  However, there are a number of different ways that plastic bottles are being recycled and reused today.

One interesting product that is made from recycled water and soda bottles is the Osprey Recycled Courier Bag.  This bag’s tape, webbing, and mesh are all constructed from recycled plastic bottles.  The buckles are also crated from reground and recycled buckle straps.  This incredible bag has plenty of different little pockets to stash things in, and it’s even got a padded sleeve for your laptop.  The different divisions make it easy to keep it all organized, and the two different carrying straps (one handle, one over the shoulder strap) make for easy carrying.  It even has a mesh pocket for a water bottle which, of course, you’ll recycle after you’re done with it. It’s just as durable as any bag, naturally, so you don’t have to worry about it falling apart.

While it may not empty out those landfills any time soon, the Osprey Recycled Courier Bag will help deal with some of them.  If you’re looking for a great green gift for yourself or one of your friends, this cool bag is perfect.

Countertop Bag Dryer

There are many different things in the kitchen that can be reused that few people really think of.  One of these things is plastic zipper bags.  So many people simply throw these bags out after one use, but the truth is, unless they get a lot of juices or oils in them (or if you use them for things like raw chicken), you can actually reuse these bags several times.  If you use them for cookies, for example, it’s very easy to simply empty out the crumbs and reuse the bag.

However, while it’s easy to reuse bags that held dried goods, you may be a bit uncertain about reusing bags that held other types of foods.  However, it’s very easy to wash these bags out.  You can even turn most of them inside out fairly easily to get them really clean.  But then how do you dry them?

You can leave them on the counter, but this means putting one wet side down.  That’s not very effective.  Instead, you can use one of these neat Countertop Bag Dryers.  These devices provide poles that make it very easy to dry off these plastic bags and reuse them.  Just place the wet bag over one of the drying poles and you’re done!  When it’s not in use, the Countertop Bag Dryer actually folds up so you can easily store it.  It’s made out of sustainable harvested ash and birch, so you’re also purchasing something that’s green.  If you’re looking to make an impact on the environment and save a little bit of money, start recycling your plastic bags.  It only takes a few minutes to wash them, and you’ll easily be able to reuse most of them three or four times, if not more.

UK Launches Recycle Week with Recycled Sculpture

While the Coca Cola company hasn’t always been eco-friendly (there have been rumors regarding pesticide use and Coke has been involved in battling some recycling legislation), they’ve also worked to help the environment.  The company has electric delivery vehicles and they’ve added wind power to some of their manufacturing plants.  Well, now the company has done something else—they’ve trashed the UK coastline with millions of aluminum cans!

But wait, before you judge the company harshly, know that this was planned.  Coke has created a huge recycled sculpture to celebrate and support the UK Recycle Week, the week between June 22nd and June 28th.  The sculpture is more than 50 meters across and is made completely from used aluminum cans.  The image created is from Coke’s 1949 summer poster and features a woman relaxing on the beach with a large bottle of Coke behind her.  The sculpture has been dubbed the world’s largest sculpture to be created out of all recycled materials.

Recycle Week and the giant sculpture were created to help bring more attention to recycling and what it can do for the environment and the amount of energy we use.  Throughout the rest of the week, various recycling programs and activities will be held across the UK.

In addition to creating the sculpture and sponsoring many Recycling Week activities, Coke has also launched an educational program promoting recycling and is actively working to create recycling stations in shopping centers, parks, and airports.  The idea here is to make it just as easy to recycle when out in public as it is when at home.  While aluminum recycling is certainly a part of these stations, it’s not the only focus: paper, glass, and other materials will also be recycled.

Recycling: Does It Really Help?

People have heard things like “it costs twice as much to create something from recycled material as it does to make a new product” or that recycling just doesn’t work.  So is recycling really worthwhile?  Are we really saving the planet?

First of all, the rumor that it takes more to make something out of recycled materials than it does to make a new product is false.  Companies can make twenty aluminum cans out of recycled materials using the same amount of energy it takes to make one aluminum can out of non-recycled materials.  This means that if you recycle one can, you’ve saved enough energy to power your television for three hours!  Throwing away an aluminum can, on the other hand, is like filling that can half full of petrol and throwing it out the window.

Recycling glass is also very beneficial to the environment.  Glass is one of the few materials that can be recycled over and over without losing any quality.  More than 80 percent of recycled glass bottles are made into new containers.  In fact, there really isn’t such a thing as new glass anymore—almost all new glass is made with recycled glass.  Recycling 20 glass bottles equals a savings of about two pound of carbon emissions.

Overall, every pound of recycled materials saves landfills and two and a half pounds of carbon emissions.  Here’s the bottom line, though: the average person actually recycles about one and a half pounds of mixed solid waste every day!  That’s about a third of all the solid waste we create.  Not bad, but it could be even better.  If we were to recycle 50 percent of all solid waste, we’d save almost 2,500 pounds of carbon emissions per house per year.

So does recycling work?  The answer is a resounding yes.

The Muvbox Portable Fast Food Restaurant

Recycling shipping containers seems to be on everyone’s minds these days.  In addition to building offices and other builds with them, one man in Montreal decided to use one to create his restaurant.  The interesting part?  It’s mobile.

The Muvbox was created by Daniel Noiseux, owner of the Montreal Pizzaiolle chain of restaurants.  He took a 20-foot shipping container and went about retrofitting it with everything a modern restaurant kitchen would need.  He added seating for up to 28 people, attached solar panels to the top for energy, and then added in the neatest concept of all: he made the entire thing capable of folding down and in.  With just a push of a button, Noiseux’s restaurant folds up into the 20-foot container, making it incredibly portable!

It doesn’t take long to be ready to serve hot, fresh food, either.  All Noiseux has to do is move the container to the desired location and hit a button.  In under two minutes, the entire restaurant has opened up, and within 15 minutes, a small staff of only three or four can have everything ready to go.  The solar panels on the roof provide around 40 percent of all the energy necessary, which is another great feature.

While it’s the only one so far, Noiseux would love to see his space-saving, portable restaurant concept be used by many others in the food business.  He also thinks the idea can be applied to other types of businesses.  The shipping containers can be customized to fit just about anything, and with solar power, there may not even be a need to seek more traditional power sources.

Green Pizza Boxes

Parents of college students see it all the time: they go to visit their son or daughter in the dorm expecting to find him or her living in a tidy, if small, little room.  When they walk in, however, they realize they can’t see the desk, the bed, or anything else.  Why?  The entire room is covered in pizza boxes!  OK, it’s often not that bad, but the traditional image of a college dorm room or bachelor pad full of pizza boxes is sometimes not that far from the truth.

There’s more than just the cleanliness to be concerned with.  Pizza boxes are one of the worst products in existence from a recycling standpoint.  They take up so much space it can be difficult to fit them in recycling containers, and there’s really no way to fold them up.  Even in the garbage, they are still unwieldy and take up a lot of space.  Plus, there’s the mess factor—many have so much caked on cheese and oil that they may not be able to be recycled.

Fortunately, the Environmentally Conscious Organization, Inc. may have an answer for us.  They have created what they call Green Boxes, pizza boxes that are made from completely recycled materials and are designed in such a way as to make them take up much less room.  The Green Boxes are perforated in several places that allow pizza lovers to actually remove the lid and break it into several pieces.  These pieces can then be used as plates, saving on dishes or paper plate usage.

Another perforation on the bottom of the box actually allows it to fold in half, creating a smaller left-over box that takes up a lot less room in the refrigerator.  The top of the new box securely closes, so there’s no need to use aluminum foil to keep the pizza fresh.  Just stick it in the refrigerator.

Five Things to Never Throw Away in the Garbage

When it comes to recycling, some people find it a chore.  In fact, up to 70 percent of everything that goes into a landfill could be recycled.  A good amount of those items, though, simply take up space in a landfill.  However, there are some items that absolutely should never be thrown away because, in addition to taking up landfill space, they are toxic and can work their way back into our water or our food.  These five items must always be recycled or disposed of in the proper way.

•    Electronics, including televisions, old computer monitors and parts, cell phones, and stereos.  Often, these items contain harmful substances like mercury.  Many cities have special electronic recycling days or collection areas, and most electronics stories will take old cell phones and recycle them.
•    Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs are another danger.  They contain mercury, which means they don’t go in landfills.  Some stores, including Home Depot, are now taking old CFL bulbs.  Since they last so much longer, however, you won’t need to recycle them that often.
•    Car fluids, including wiper fluid and antifreeze.  Basically, any type of fluid that comes out of your car should not go into a landfill due to its toxic nature.  Check with your local garbage company to learn how to dispose of these fluids.
•    Likewise, paint should be taken to the local hazardous waste collection center.  Many cities have laws against disposing of what is called free-flowing liquids in the garbage, so in addition to putting toxins in the ground, throwing away your paint may actually be illegal.
•    Finally, lithium-ion batteries should not be thrown away.  These include rechargeable batteries and batteries used in cell phones and other devices.  Many electronics stores also recycle these batteries.

Increase your Recycling

While some nay-sayers claim recycling doesn’t really do much, we all know that’s not true.  Even if it does take a good amount of energy to recycle materials, at least those materials aren’t going into a landfill somewhere.  Many people, however, only recycle their newspapers and plastics.  There are many other things that can be recycled.  Here are some ways you can increase your recycling efforts.

1.    Recycle your plastic bags.  Many grocery stores have recycling boxes located at the front of the store for used shopping bags.  You can also use these small bags as trashcan liners.

2.    Rather than recycling catalogs, unwanted magazines, and junk mail, do your best to contact the sender and cancel the subscription or have your address removed from their mailing list.  Recycling is great, but never using the materials is even better (and getting less junk mail is always good).

3.    Don’t forget that many electronics stores will accept cell phones and ink cartridges for recycling.  Many places will also take old computers, monitors, and printers.  If they’re in good working condition, you may even get a bit of a discount off a new product.

4.    Know what you can recycle and what you can’t.  If you know of materials that your local recycling center does not take, try to avoid those materials.  Likewise, know how to recycle or dispose of hazardous wastes.  Compact fluorescence light bulbs, for examples, should not simply be thrown in the trash with other garbage.

5.    Instead of buying plastic containers, reuse butter tubs and other plastic food containers that include lids.  Most can be recycled, too, so once a container gets worn, toss it in with the recyclables.

6.    Create a compost heap as a way of recycling your organic waste.

The Small Things Add Up

Many people think they need to make some huge, grand gesture to show that they’ve gone green.  They need to buy a hybrid car, completely change their lifestyle, or completely stop using paper products.  However, this isn’t true—just changing a few small practices can have a huge impact.  Making drastic changes in your life as a way of going green will most likely make you resent changing, anyway, so it’s best if you start small.  Here are a few little things you can do to start going green without making huge, sweeping changes.

•    Stop using paper plates.  While this does mean you’ll use more water since you’ll be washing your plates more often, you will use fewer resources and create less waste, plus the increased water usage isn’t really that much.

•    Likewise, use cloth towels instead of paper towels and cloth napkins instead of paper napkins at meals.  While there are some messes you really only want to use paper towels to deal with, most daily spills can be cleaned up with a cloth towel.

•    Take your cloth shopping bags to the stores instead of using the paper or plastic bags they provide.  Many stores now carry cloth shopping bags for you to purchase if you don’t have any of your own.

•    Use the dishwasher instead of hand-washing dishes.  It actually uses less water.

•    Simply turn off the lights when you’re not in the room.

•    Likewise, don’t leave the television on if you’re not watching it.

•    When replacing light bulbs, put in compact fluorescent bulbs instead of standard bulbs.  You’ll save money in the long run.

•     Start a compost heap.

•    Finally, if you don’t already, start recycling.  Most cities have a recycling program, and you can get a free bin to collect your recyclables in.  If your city doesn’t have a recycling program, urge your city council to start one.

Bpa Free Storage Jars

Shopping Results for: Bpa Free Storage Jars

Additional Resources for: Bpa Free Storage Jars