Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle at Home

jchait — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:26:33 -0400

Green cars, solar roof material choices, how to install a composting toilet, and more; there's a lot of green info in the world to absorb. Sometimes we ignore the little things.

Recycling is a little thing, in that, it takes almost no time, and only a small amount of effort to create positive green changes.

Your first step is to learn about recycling in your community. Recycling is something that most communities support in one form or another. However, the amount of recycling going on, and what specific areas will accept as recycling varies. Today we'll look at how to find out about recycling in your community and neighborhood. Tomorrow we'll move on to what you should be recycling in your home.

Recycling is variable. In Oregon, it was rare to meet someone who hadn't heard of recycling, In New Mexico (at least my area) we barely had recycling pick up in the neighborhood, and most people didn't bother at all.

To learn about recycling in your neck of the woods visit your state's webpage; usually something like California.org or California.gov, and you'll be able to locate links about recycling and trash pick up in your area. Most of the time recycling info is mixed in with the waste info, so look there first. Your local trash center, or dump as the case may be, can also point you in the direction of recycling resources. This is going to be basic recycling though; paper, plastics, glass, and cans.

If you're looking for a recycling center that can take special items; batteries, light bulbs, old pottery, and so on, you'll need to visit Earth 911 - they have a form you can fill out and it will locate you a recycling center.

Trading Up to Save Energy on Home Appliances

jchait — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

With Earth Day just passed many are pledging to use less energy, save resources, and cut back. One of the ways you can create energy savings in your home, both with new construction and remodels is to trade your old less efficient appliances in for new far more energy efficient appliances.

Here's the thing, there are pros and cons to trading up as an energy saving strategy. For example, you may save tons trading in an old washing machine for a new very efficient washing machine. However, that microwave or toaster may be just fine to keep. It really depends. First things first research the appliance you're trading up to be sure that trading up is the best course of action. You usually have 3 choices, trade up, keep the old, modify the old. Personally I also like the do-without method. I.E you CAN hang your clothes rather than dry them in an electric dryer.

To learn more visit...

When it comes to recycling your old appliance, what you don't want is the appliance languishing in a landfill. Learn about the correct and incorrect ways to recycle appliances:

how to recycle

Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle at Home

Trading Up to Save Energy on Home Appliances