Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

To my surprise, last posting on 3 steps to turn your business green had gained many visitors’ attention. That encourages us to write more implemented 3R steps to be done. This time, 1000 Green Steps will show you just how easy to apply that exact same 3R at your very own home. Continue reading

Reduce

Reduce paper towels usage, and use cloth towels instead. To make things simpler, just avoid using anything disposable. That will just increases your unnecessary waste.

Try to buy everything you need ONLY IF it is packaged with eco-friendly packaging. Example: Choose card board-packaged eggs instead of Styrofoam-packaged eggs.

Reuse

Conduct a small (or big) garage sale for goods you don’t need anymore. This is 1000 Green Steps favorite step since it could make us money and being eco-friendly all at once.

Maybe you can choose old books from your shelf to be donated to your local library and see if they could use them.

If none of those works, I still have a back-up plan. In my upcoming post, I will show you how to make some Do-It-Yourself things you’ll like. Try to do that, and reuse your old stuff.

Recycle

Bundle up all non-organic stuff inside your house and give them to your local recycling center to get it recycled.

Buy goods from shops that allow you to return its bottles whenever you’re done with it. They are the producers, and believe us, they know how to recycle those packaging better than we all do.

Happy Green Living!

Yes, you didn’t read the title incorrectly. We’ve been reusing plastic bags, plastic silverware, or even metals. However, not many of us think of a way to reuse water instead of trying to cut back the consumption of it.

How? Well, when you wash your car or bike have you ever consider how many gallons of water are spent? The idea here is to place your bike or car on the lawn before you wash it and wash it right there. All the water from the car will benefit your grass rather than running down the driveway to the street. Make sure the ground is hard enough before you move your car on the lawn. Afterwards, slowly, move your car back because the ground will be wet at that time and could cause ruts in the lawn.

~Happy Green Living!~

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Sounds impossibe? Totally not! 1000 Green Steps will just implement the same exact 3R tips to be done in your business environment. Easy. Simple. Doable.

Reduce

You can reduce your electricity usage by turning off equipments you are not using. Get used to the behavior to turn off the computers at the end of your day and easily cut back 50% energy usage.

Avoid printing everything out of your computer. If it’s not necessary, then try to reduce paper waste starting from there.

Reuse

If you really have to print things on paper, try to print them on recycled paper or print them using both sides of the paper.

Change your office equipment into more eco-friendly office supplies which often offer the ability to be reused after you are done with them.

Recycle

Make sure that you provide many recycling bins for all of your company staff. So that everyone will know where to recycle those unwanted paper sheets. You can even make a contest among office departments so that everyone will do their part as much as they can to improve our environment.

Contact a recycling company so someone can handle your company recycling needs correctly.

It’s very simple right? Educate your staff and implement what you’ve learned for Mother Nature.

Happy Green Living!

When it’s time to let your computer go, consider recycling it.

Green Programs

Mandatory take-back programs: Some state requires manufacturers to take old computers back to recycle.

Verified recycling: Some recyclers participate in the Electronics Recycler’s Pledge of True Stewardship. They agree not to use ill-equipped facilities and export of hazardous materials.

Taking out toxins: Some manufacturers are developing new computer designs that use less toxic materials.

Recycling and Disposal

If your old computer is still running okay, try to find a new home for it.

Many nonprofit organizations take usable computers for those who can’t afford a new one.

If your computer is too old to reuse, try to find a local recycling program for electronic waste.

Some computer companies may take your old one if you buy a new one from them. Some even offer a discount for customers who recycle their equipment.

Also, consider keeping the old monitors. They usually can be reused.

For more information, check out the website www.greenerchoices.org/electronicsrecycling.

Source: www.MotherEarthNews.com

Waste generated by home demolition and construction is huge. But if handled properly, much of it can be reclaimed and reused.

“Freecycling” is an Internet service for people to trade things locally. There have been plenty building materials being traded between members (free membership). Internet auctions (like eBay) often have used construction materials too.

Houses that are set for demolition or are under remodeling are good places to search for used building materials in your neighborhood.

There are often local companies or organizations who sell recycled or used construction materials at a fraction of their regular prices.

There have been a lot of progress in the technology to reconstitute construction waste into new products. Look for the construction material recycling programs in your area.

If you plan to build or remodel a home, make sure to hire professional builders who are willing to reduce, reuse and recycle.

Plan ahead to reduce construction waste. Practice deconstruction rather than demolition. When you do have some “junk” after finishing the work, try to find out who need them or sell on eBay before recycling.

For more information, including recycling resources, click here.

Now that we bring it up again, 1000 Green Steps strongly advise you to wash again your plastic silverware to be used again next time you want to have your meal. You don’t have to throw it out because you can actually reuse it. You don’t have to reuse it again to eat, if you really that paranoid about cleanliness and all. However, there is another way!

You can now reuse it to mark plants in your garden or to locate summer bulbs that need to be dug up in the fall.

Pretty much a brilliant idea, isn’t it?

~Happy Green Living!~

DIY Striped T-shirt

As promised, now 1000 Green Steps would like to share this information 1000 Green Steps got from a friend. So yes, it’s not really our own idea but he allowed me to tell everybody else, so here we go!

1. Find an old T-shirt you don’t want anymore (preferably if it is dark plain colored).
2. Use a duct tape to make your stripes.
3. Spray your t-shirt with a bleach/water mixture. Use 70% bleach and 30% water. Let your shirt dry after you spray it to your liking.
4. Wash it and it is ready!

So you see? Instead of throwing them away to the trash bin in your house, you can still use them after doing a little effort to transform it into a brand new T-shirt.

But if you still don’t want to reuse it, still 1000 Green Steps encourage you all to donate them to people who need those T-shirts or just do a garage sale and make yourself some money.

Happy Green Living!