Dell has expanded its U.S. Reconnect recycling partnership with Goodwill Industries to six additional states, including Arkansas, Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon and Vermont and make it as green steps.

That means more than 1,000 Goodwill retail stores are now participating nationwide.

All you have to do is drop off any brand of used equipment at a participating Goodwill donation center in your area. Click here for locations.

These green steps are free. Plus, you’ll get a receipt for tax purposes.
“Today we’re making it even easier for environmentally-conscious customers to do the right thing,” says Mike Watson, senior manager of Dell Global Recycling Services. “Every technology provider has a responsibility to provide free, easy and responsible recycling to consumers worldwide. We hope 2009 is the year that brings the industry together around this shared principle.”

Newton Running, a running shoe company based in Boulder, Colorado, packages their product in a carton made of 100% post-consumer recycled material as their company’s green steps.

Working with TDA Advertising and Design, Newton Running designed the molded carton to fit the shape of the shoes. That means they eliminated  the need for tissue paper filler. In addition, rather than add tissue paper to the inside of each shoe, the company stuffs one shoe with a pair of socks and the other with a reusable shoe bag.

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Motorola Moto W23 Renew

After having Solar Powered Cell Phone by Samsung, this week’s cool gadget comes from Motorola through The Motorola MOTO W233 Renew as their green steps. If Samsung makes their green steps by producing a solar powered cell phone, Motorola was able to beat them all out by producing a cell phone that is made from recycled plastic, 100% recyclable materials, comes with eco-friendly packaging, RoHS compliant, and comes with a postage-paid envelope so whenever you’re done with them you don’t have to worry about how are you going to recycle its 100% recyclable materials. You know what? YOU CAN SEND THEM BACK TO THE FACTORY TO BE RECYCLED! This is what you call a 100% green cell phone (it’s literally green, though).

This amazing gadget is available online at Amazon starting from $9.99

Happy Green Living!

ReBagz Eco-friendly Clutch by Half the Sky Designs

This silver pouch looks ordinary and commonly seen at the department store you visit. But not after you hear what 1000 Green Steps have to say about this purse. This is HAND-WOVEN, and made of cleaned or recycled plastic fruit juice packs you always poke a straw into!

These kinds of bags and clutches are made under ReBagz Company, where rice sack graphics totes and hand-woven purses are combined into one.

This clutch is available online at $29, and purchase it now to be more eco-friendly and be chic!

Happy Green Living!

Green Birthday Party

Gifts

1000 Green Steps think that it’s nice to apply gift exchange in a birthday party. That is even better if every child brings a ‘green’ friend of them (plants, soil, or even animals!) and in the end they will go home with their own new ‘green’ friend.

Garnish

For the party supplies, try IKEA dinnerwares which are recycled plastics. If your child demands characters decorations such as Spiderman or Princesses, try drawing (or tracing) favourite characters or items on kraft paper to make a tablecloth. Even better, let the kids do it at the party. As for balloons, it might be easiest to go cold turkey. That may sound outrageous, but there are plenty of reasons. Fancy mylar balloons are not biodegradable. Even normal latex balloons, which do eventually break down, can cause problems.

Goodies

While kids are thrilled to rip open these sacks of treasure, the pleasure is usually short-lived. There is a reason that these items were inexpensive – they are poorly made, mass-produced, and definitely not sustainable. Use a small cloth bag or a recycled cardboard instead, or if you are on a budget, you can go back to number 1 where goodies bags are no longer needed to be provided by the host.

Happy Green Living (or Partying)!

Bottled water industry has a huge impact on the environment.

It uses 1.5 million gallons of oil to just make the plastic bottles every year, not counting fuels used to transport them. The burning of oil emits pollutants into the environment and attributes to global warming.

Water at areas near bottling plants is over extracted, which affects nearby residents and farmers. Also it wastes 2 gallons of water to purify 1 gallon of bottled water.

Ninety percent of the plastic bottles are not recycled and end up in the landfill.

You will save both the environment and money if you drink tap water instead of bottled water. The U.S. EPA’s standards for tap water are actually more stringent then the U.S. FDA standards for bottled water.

If you are concerned or don’t like the taste of tap water, consider a filter pitcher or a faucet filter.

While traveling, fill a reusable bottle with tap water and refill it on the way.

The Coca Cola Co. has awarded $400,000 to Michigan State University’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources to help establish a “think tank” for green packaging as their green steps.

The new Center for Packaging Innovation and Sustainability will be located at the MSU School of Packaging, and researchers there will study ways to measure and reduce the environmental impact of how products are packaged.

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San Franciscans… Make yourself proud! All of us can give them congratulations now, because starting from July 2011, San Franciscans will have to pay for not recycling non-organic matters.

How much?

For those ‘criminals’ the fine would be $500 (such a waste!). Well, in case you need more actions of The San Francisco Board of Supervisors to prove their eco-friendliness, I will tell you something. Maybe you can find some other cities that make their citizens doing the recycling part, but not COMPOSTING.

How will that work?

Well, the garbage collector simply will put tags on containers that haven’t been sorted correctly. So re-open your books about how to separate organic and non-organic matters again fellas!

1000 Green Steps hope other countries in this world start to realize how important these kinds of regulations are for our environment. Next time we won’t see cities or counties, but COUNTRIES

Happy Green Living!

1000 green Steps know that almost every woman knows that recycling in their kitchen would be a good idea. The problem is that green steps are not always easy or convenient! Who really wants to lug a bag full of aluminum cans out to the recycling bin (especially during the cold winter months?) No one. Luckily, this aluminum can crusher makes your green steps much less daunting! Simply crush all empty cans and store them until enough have accumulated for a single trip out to the bin.

Happy Green Living!

The holiday season is approaching again. While we all love holidays, it is also a time with huge waste of energy and materials.

Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, one million extra tons of garbage is generated each week in the U.S.

However, with a little green thinking and effort, we might be able to reduce that figure significantly.

1. Christmas tree

Plant a small potted tree and use it for Christmas each year.

Although artificial trees cost un-renewable energy to produce, if you can use it year after year, it shouldn’t be too bad.

If you must have a real cut tree, most cities have a program to recycle it into mulch and compost.

2. Lights

Switch to LED Christmas lights. They are 90% more efficient than traditional ones. They also last longer and emit little heat.

3. Gift wrap

Save wrap from previous years and reuse it.

Use newspaper, old calendars, posters, magzines, or catalogues as gift wrap (better yet, skip the wrapping).

Recycle any wrap that is no longer useful.

4. Other

Recycle greeting cards, gift tags, and especially cardboard or use them for crafts.  Avoid using disposable tableware. Save and reuse holiday decorations.

Hope we all have a greener holiday this year. For more green holiday ideas, click here.