The Salt Lake Tribune: Ditch the Dry Cleaning Thing and Go Green

Filed under: Earth911 - December 31, 2008

By Mary Jane Butters

When it comes to clothes, I’ve always been a wash and line-dry gal. Even my most delicate farmgirl frills are the sort that’ll come clean with good old-fashioned soap, water and sunshine. I suppose that’s why I never really figured out the whole dry cleaning thing. It was a mystery to me. Since I’d heard there were harsh chemicals involved, I tried to avoid clothes that needed that kind of maintenance. But that’s not always practical. What if you see something in a store that you fall in love with, but the label says it requires dry cleaning? You desperately want to buy it but don’t want to give up your green values. What to do? Don’t lose hope. With a little hands-on care, most fabrics can be cleaned at home. And if you simply can’t schedule a few moments at the sink to wash your own, a new commercial cleaning method may allow you to give in to your passion for finicky fabrics and clean them with a greener conscience, as well.

First things first: What is dry cleaning and why is it so bad?

Despite its name, dry cleaning doesn’t actually dry. Instead of using water, the process utilizes solvents to remove stains from clothing. According to the article “How Dry Cleaning Works” published on Howstuffworks.com, a 19th century Frenchman discovered dry cleaning when his maid spilled kerosene on his stained tablecloth and it came clean (if you can call a kerosene-soaked cloth clean). These days, kerosene has been replaced with a solvent called PERC (perchloroethylene). Less flammable, yes. Safer? No way. Consumer Reports states that PERC is “a toxic solvent that, besides cancer, has also been linked to liver and kidney damage in animals and nerve damage in humans.” In 1996, they tested consumer exposure to freshly dry-cleaned clothes and found enough PERC in them to significantly increase cancer risk for people who frequent the cleaners. PERC isn’t confined to clothing, either; it’s also a contaminant of the soil and water we all share. And this is supposed to be gentler on fabrics than simple soap and water? Yikes!

What dry cleaners don’t want you to know is that many items marked “Dry Clean Only” can be safely washed at home. Silk, wool, linen, you name it. That said, though, it’s always a good idea to test a hidden flap of fabric or an item you’re not crazy about. Get it wet and see if the dye bleeds, and note how it looks and feels once it’s dry. Of course, the most important rule of washing delicates is to do it as little as possible. The less you wash, the longer your clothes will look new. But at some point, washing is unavoidable, and there are lots of little tricks and tips when it comes to doing it yourself—each depending on exactly what kind of fiber you’re dealing with. There is a fantastically comprehensive and easy-to-follow hand-washing tutorial under the “Laundry” link on a Web site called DomestiCity. As for soap, I recommend using an all-natural variety like Dr. Bronner’s or Soapods. Soapods are the shells of nuts from the soapnut tree, long used in India to clean fine silks and linens. You put the shells in a little cotton bag and submerge them in your wash water to create the gentlest of suds.

If you don’t have the time to hand-wash or you’re petrified that your favorite fabric won’t survive the sink, you might consider the new professional antonym to dry cleaning: wet cleaning. Don’t let the “wet” scare you; your un-washables won’t be subjected to water. This process uses liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) —a wet form of the air we exhale— to coax even the most gossamer garments and structured suits into cleanliness. At its best, wet cleaning is nontoxic and environmentally safe. Truly green cleaners use biodegradable soaps and conditioners in high-tech, pressurized washing machines that handle your clothes with the utmost care. The trouble with the wet-cleaning revolution is that some cleaners are sneaking in under the green label even though they’re using pre-treatment chemicals that are every bit as toxic as the PERC used in dry cleaning. Just like everything else, you’ve gotta ask questions. Find out what treatments and detergents your prospective cleaner uses so that you can make an informed decision. Here are two online resources for finding greener cleaners: FindCO2.com and Earth911.com (search “wet cleaning” with your zip code). Your regular dry cleaner may even be weighing an investment in wet-cleaning equipment —or they may not be aware of the option— so be sure to voice your interest in greener cleaning and urge your friends and family to do the same. If enough people speak up, local businesses will eventually follow suit.

MaryJane Butters is an organic lifestyle expert and the editor of MaryJanesFarm magazine. Write to her care of United Feature Syndicate, 200 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016, or e-mail everydayorganic@maryjanesfarm.org.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Loose Change: Going Green Can Let You Pocket Some

Filed under: Earth911 - December 30, 2008

The green revolution is making its presence felt in the consumer realm more and more each day, creating buying opportunities that have a positive impact on both the environment and the household budget. If you’d like to reduce your ecological footprint and perhaps save some money along the way, here are a few online guides from diverse sources with green shopping tips:

Consumer Reports Greener Choices, offers information and green ratings on a variety of consumer products.

Earth911.com, features green shopping guidelines by three general topics.

Oregon Environmental Council, lists 10 shopping tips that can help create an environmentally sound home.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, provides green shopping tips in a question-and-answer format, with additional links to green purchasing, Energy Star products, and more.

—McClatchy-Tribune News Service

White Mountain Independent: Forester’s Log: Christmas Treecycling

Filed under: Earth911 - December 30, 2008

By Marie Stuever

When I encounter a newly coined word such as “treecycling,” the cartoonist in me immediately conjures images, in this case, trees with wheels offering self-powered, pedaled modes of transportation.

Of course, the pun, the fun is really all about taking that cut Christmas tree and giving it life beyond the holidays. To be eligible to treecycle in the first place, you need to still be in that increasingly rare part of the population that brings a real tree into their homes for their holiday celebration.

Environmental arguments can sway either way: those who believe trees should not ever be cut cling to the concept that an artificial tree is the preferred way to save the world.

Others, who recognize the values of either thinning the natural forest or fostering carbon-sequestering, oxygen-producing Christmas tree plantations, are just as adamant that a real tree leads to a better world. The last group gets to further their beliefs by participating in treecycling.

The novice treecycler can simply go on the Internet to locate a place that will accept their discarded tree for continued use, usually to be ground up and used as mulch or compost. One site is Earth911.com.

Upon entering a zip code and the item to recycle (Christmas tree, in this case), the site will return a list of places to take the tree within designated mile ranges.

However, there are endless opportunities for creative uses of discarded Christmas trees.

One year I made tree cookies and then turned the cookies into ornaments for future Christmases. Unlike the cookie ornaments made of dough (we made those another year), these cookies are mass produced from the tree’s stem by cutting half-inch wide cross sections with a table saw.
After sanding the cross-sections, I drilled a hole near the top, pulled out my wood burner and etched a picture (I was into Mimbres designs that year), applied a final gloss and added a ribbon through the hole.

One Christmas tree stem provided enough ornaments to decorate every package I wrapped the following year and overwhelm the tree with wooden cookies. I had to find a new use for the next year’s tree.

Christmas trees can be useful in erosion control when placed prodigiously. The temptation is to throw the tree into a gully, which may actually be carried by storm runoff and clog a downstream culvert, causing much larger problems.

The ideal erosion control use of the tree is to lop the branches off, and then scatter branches and stem on a hill slope, oriented along the contour. Where the wood meets the ground, moving soil is arrested, reducing downstream siltation and creating micro-sites for other plants.

Of course, if there is a wood stove present in the home, the Christmas tree becomes February’s firewood, usually good for one evening of heat. However, since many homes now lack wood stoves, a person may be able to recruit trees from neighbors, friends and family and restock the woodpile.

I met a couple once that tied their discarded tree to a pole near their bird feeder to provide winter cover. By the time the branches turned brown and dropped the needles, the weather was warming and the birds needed less cover, and then the tree was drier firewood.

So what am I doing with my tree this year? I regret to admit that I’ll be putting it back in the box. This year I succumbed to the dark side and bought an artificial tree.

The Daily Citizen: ‘Bring One for the Chipper’

Filed under: Earth911 - December 28, 2008

By Misty Watson

Christmas may be over, but for Mary Haywood —and many other Christians around the world— the decorations won’t come down until the Christmas season ends.

“I don’t think the Christmas season is over until Epiphany ends,” said Dalton-resident Haywood, who is Catholic.

Epiphany commemorates the biblical story of the three kings who followed the star of Bethlehem to bring gifts to the Christ child. In the Catholic church, the Epiphany season lasts through the second Sunday in January, Haywood said. In many other cultures Epiphany is celebrated on Jan. 6, which is also referred to as Three Kings Day.

“I leave my (Christmas decorations) up until after Epiphany,” Haywood said. “I usually take my tree down around New Year’s Day or the day after, but things like nativity scenes, I leave up.”

Alex Ruffner, also a Dalton resident, said she thinks Christmas trees should be taken down around New Year’s Day, but admits her two will probably stay up a lot longer.

“I like looking at them,” she said. “I’ll probably leave them up until February. I’m Christmas crazy.”

Dalton residents are limited on how long they can display Christmas decorations. Earlier this year, City Council members passed an ordinance requiring residents to take down seasonal lights, including Christmas lights, after 90 days.

Officials with Keep Georgia Beautiful anticipate trees to come down around New Year’s Day. Live trees will be accepted for recycling at various locations throughout Whitfield and Murray counties through Saturday as part of local “Bring One for the Chipper” programs. The program is designed to reuse live Christmas trees, keeping them out of landfills.

“We encourage recycling anything,” said Frank Adams, who heads Keep Chatsworth-Murray Beautiful.

Trees will be made into mulch, which is available to county residents for free, Adams said. Mulch which is not picked up by residents will be used around the county for “beautification projects” or in wildlife habitats, such as for fish beds, he said.

Trees will be accepted at the recycling center on First Avenue in Chatsworth Tuesday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Trees are also accepted at the recycling convenience centers on Brushtown Spur, Highway 225 North, Old CCC Camp Road, Red Cut Road and Smyrna Church Road Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Chatsworth city residents can place their trees on the curb for pickup.

The Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful office is closed on Sundays, and officials were not available for comment.

Trees are being accepted for recycling at the Home Depot on Shugart Road, according to an employee who answered the phone.

Trees are accepted at Whitfield County’s convenience centers on Landfill Road in Rocky Face, McGaughey Chapel Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, in Dalton, and the Old Dixie Landfill on Old Dixie Highway in Dalton, according to the Web site earth911.com where people can search for places to take recyclable materials.

Dalton city residents can place their trees on the curb for pickup.

Galesburg Register-Mail: State Encourages E-cycling

Filed under: Earth911 - December 27, 2008

Digital televisions and personal computers often are popular holiday gifts and, with the impending demise of free, over-the-air analog TV broadcasting this February, it’s expected that many older televisions may be discarded to make way for digital sets.

The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity is advising consumers about safe and legal disposal methods for old electronics this holiday season.

By federal law, Feb. 17, 2009, is the last day that TV stations may broadcast in analog. Thus, older, non-digital televisions will no longer be able to receive free over-the-air TV signals unless a converter is used.

“Leaving electronic waste for the weekly, landfill-bound trash pick-up is the worst choice for our environment and our economy,” said Jack Lavin, director of DCEO. “E-cycling not only reduces the amount of materials put in landfills, it conserves natural resources as the life of a product is extended and stimulates our economy. Recycling this material versus landfilling creates more jobs and generates cost-effective materials that are cycled back into the economic mainstream.”

E-scrap is defined as old, unwanted and end-of-life electronics. In addition to televisions and computers, E-scrap also includes fax machines, telephones, MP3 and CD players, stereos, radios and other electronic audio and visual devices. E-scrap is different from many other forms of trash because it may contain harmful toxins that are dangerous to humans, animals and the environment. These hazardous materials include arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury flame retardants and phosphorus.

Electronics items are made with valuable materials that are a great source of recoverable commodities including steel, glass, plastic, and precious metals. In fact, studies have shown, for every 1,000 tons of electronics landfilled, less than one job is created, while recycling the same amount results in up to 15 jobs created, and repairing E-scrap creates 200 jobs.

Beyond the environmental and job creation benefits, various programs throughout the state accept used computer systems and cell phones and refurbish them for qualified schools, non-profits and need-based individuals and groups. This gives those in need a cost-effective alternative to buying new equipment and helps reduce the “digital divide.” This will ultimately lead to additional public economic benefits and quality-of-life enhancements for these Illinoisans.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2012, consumers will be prohibited from tossing many electronic items into the trash, thanks to a new E-waste bill signed into law earlier this year by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Illinois residents can recycle old, unwanted or malfunctioning electronics through a growing network of E-cycling businesses, permanent drop-off locations, or through a series of one-day collection events sponsored by the state and by regional or county solid waste agencies.
DCEO maintains a list of organizations that offer E-waste reuse/recycling facilities at www.illinoisrecycles.com.

Even before recycling, any unwanted electronics that are still working should be considered for reuse whenever possible. Check with your local thrift store to see if they accept electronics donations. Also, many non-profits and private businesses throughout the state disassemble electronic equipment and use old components to assemble refurbished systems, separate reusable parts for resale and recycle unusable items for material content.

In addition, several electronics manufacturers, such as Apple, Dell and Sony, sponsor their own E-cycling programs and may even accept other brands for a small fee. Retailers, such as Best Buy and Circuit City, as well as cell-phone providers, including AT&T and Verizon, also collect used electronics for recycling or refurbishment. Earth911.com gives a complete list of manufacturers and retailers who offer disposal and recycling programs.

For tips on how to find “green electronics” when shopping this holiday season, visit www.mygreenelectronics.org or www.productstewardship.net for a guide to environmentally preferable computer purchasing.

Jacksonville Daily News: Many Holiday Leftovers Can Be Easily Recycled

Filed under: Earth911 - December 26, 2008

By Molly K Dewitt

Here’s where you can drop off items for recycling in Onslow County:

The following convenience centers are open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

These convenience centers are open one day a week from noon to 6 p.m.:

With the New Year just around the corner, now is the time to clear out all those leftover holiday items and give them another use through recycling.

“Recycling is really important all year round for the environment especially during the holidays because we throw away so much stuff,” said Lisa Grant, administrator for the solid waste department of Keep Onslow Beautiful.

Live Christmas trees can be recycled through the city of Jacksonville’s weekly yard waste collection.

Keep Onslow Beautiful will also be collecting Christmas trees through the end of January for use as dune stabilization.

“You put the trees in between the dune systems, you put them in between dune lines and when the wind blows the sand it blows the sand between the branches and it kind of forms its own little dune,” Grant said. “It’s the same idea as sand fences.”

Trees can be dropped off next to the large green recycle container at 604 College St. in Jacksonville.

“It keeps them out of the landfill and that’s pretty much our whole program: waste reduction methods,” Grant said.

Hammocks Beach State Park will not be accepting Christmas trees for recycling this year due to an upcoming dredging project.

Wrapping paper, greeting cards and gift bags are not recyclable through Jacksonville’s city collection but can be dropped off at one of the area’s recycling centers. Jacksonville will, however, recycle greeting card envelopes.

When recycling gift bags, be sure to remove the handles or strings from the bag. Likewise, ribbon used to wrap gifts is not recyclable, Grant said.

“When in doubt, I always say throw it in there because they’re going to separate it anyway,” she said.

If recycling all of the pretty paper and gifts bags seems like a waste, the Web site www.Earth911.com recommends several other uses for wrapping paper and gift bags such as use them to line boxes and envelopes, make clothes for paper dolls and other toys, make book covers or scrapbook pages, or use as matting when framing items. Gift bags can also be saved and re-used.

The Salvation Army on Center Street and Goodwill on Western Boulevard both accept gift bags as donations.

Aluminum foil and pie tins that have accumulated from all those delicious holiday dishes can be recycled curbside and at recycling centers.

“Everything we recycle does not go into the landfill; that’s always important,” said Terry Polk, administrative assistant with the city of Jacksonville Sanitation Department. “Anything we can divert from the landfill, that just helps in the long run, whether it’s a holiday or not.”

While there are no local recycling programs that accept Christmas lights, www.HolidayLEDs.com will take old lights via mail for recycling.

The lights are processed, and any material that cannot be recycled is discarded. The lights are then taken to a recycling facility where the company puts the lights through a commercial shredder. The pieces are further processed and sorted into the various components such as pvc, glass and copper. The materials are then separated and sent to a region recycling center for additional processing, according to the company’s Web site.

In addition to recycling your old lights, HolidayLEDs.com will e-mail you a coupon for 15 percent off any purchase made on their site.

Lights can be mailed to HolidayLEDs.com, Attn: Recycling Program, 2500 W. Argyle St., Jackson, MI, 49202. Be sure to include your name, mailing address and e-mail address to receive the discount coupon.

For more information about recycling through Keep Onslow Beautiful call 910-455-4470 or visit www.onslowcounty.gov/landfill.

For questions or information regarding the city of Jacksonville’s recycling program call 910-938-5338.

Atlanta Journal Constitution: Where to Take your Tree for Recycling

Filed under: Earth911 - December 26, 2008

By John Reiter

Below is a list of sites where you can drop off your Christmas tree.

In addition, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Jan. 3, about 50 Home Depots in metro Atlanta will accept trees. At some of the stores, volunteers will be giving away seedlings as part of the annual Bring One for the Chipper program sponsored by Keep Georgia Beautiful.

You can find the site nearest to you online at Earth911.com. More information is also available at www.keepgeorgiabeautiful.org.

CHEROKEE

CLAYTON

COBB

DEKALB

DOUGLAS

FULTON

GWINNETT

HENRY

Salem News: PAINT THE NEW YEAR GREEN—Offset your holiday parties

Filed under: Earth911 - December 26, 2008

By Andrea Fox, Green Quick Fixes

It’s that time of year for celebrating! If you are throwing a party, consider offsetting the energy and resources used.

Carbon offsetting is an approach to balancing carbon dioxide (CO2)—producing activities, from domestic living to holding national political conventions.

According to James Hansen and his team—researchers at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, “If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted,” the planet’s atmosphere needs to achieve 350 parts per million CO2. Ms. Earth is at around (cough, cough . . . gasp) 382 to 387 ppm and rising.

At the residential level, a holiday party, like any event, increases CO2 and other greenhouse gas pollution because it causes more fossil fuels to be burned. And we all know parties use a lot of energy—fuel to pick up or deliver needed supplies, party personnel, and guests; energy to cook, heat, illuminate, enliven, and record; and power to clean-up and communicate the event.

So when merrymaking, take a chunk out of the CO2 load! The following Green Quick Fixes will help you reduce your party’s, and your home’s, carbon footprint. Even the smallest offset effort is a great gift to the planet.

Andrea Fox, a Beverly resident, has been writing about environmental sustainability and eco-topics for eight years. She is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists and a watershed protection advocate in Salem Sound Watershed.

Macon Telegraph: Make Merry as you Clean Up After Big Day

Filed under: Earth911 - December 25, 2008

Tree-stripping party

Decorating that 8-foot-tall Douglas fir in the living room is a worthy centerpiece to any Christmas party, so why not make the most of putting away the ornaments and garlands?

Invite friends over to take down lights and help dispose of the tree. For the most rabid Christmas fans, this is a sad exercise in bidding the season adieu. Use it as an opportunity to gather with seasonal visitors. It also lets you guiltlessly polish off the last of the holiday libations and all those Christmas cookies.

About that tree…

Break out the hacksaw and start cutting. Cut the tree into 5-foot segments, which can be left by the curb on trash day. Remove all decorations and the tree stand. Help the environment by recycling your tree. To find recycling programs near you, visit www.earth911.com/seasonal/green-your-holidays.

Acknowledge the white elephant(s) in the room

Overloaded with anoraks? Got one too many copies of the latest “Lost” DVD? If so, organize an Island of Misfit Toys exchange party.

Prove it’s never too late to unload —or score— a cool present by inviting guests to bring unwanted, re-wrapped gifts. This is where all that recycled wrapping paper can come in handy.

Each guest picks a number out of a fishbowl to determine the order in which he or she will choose from the pile of presents. To ensure everyone leaves happy, you can encourage gift-swapping for those unsatisfied with their prizes. And try not to give away presents you received from any of the guests.

Reuse wrapping paper

Not all wrapping paper is equal. Some art supply stores sell imported sheets of printed paper that look more like high-end wallpaper. The number of uses for the old paper is limited only by the imagination. Use it to cover the kids’ second-semester textbooks. Wrap paper around the stems of a bouquet to enliven a gift of flowers. If the paper is still unblemished and relatively unwrinkled, consider taking an iron to it and reusing it for a future gift.

Go digital

Did Santa get you the PDA of your dreams? How about organizing it for all your 2009 needs?

A less expensive way to put things in order —and to sync your activities with family members and friends— is to use such nifty online tools as the Google calendar (www.google.com). Google calendar can send message reminders about everything from important meetings to the expiration dates of coupons directly to a cell phone.

Work that home entertainment center

Catch up on all those shows you’ve stored away on your TiVo so you can clear the memory and start fresh in 2009. Or organize a marathon viewing session to get up to speed on favorite TV or film series.

Watching an entire block of episodes, whether it’s “Friday Night Lights” or “Sex and the City,” is an experience akin to ripping through a beefy Dickens novel. Go crazy programming a Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn triple bill or a “Lord of the Rings” marathon. Or if you prefer a little blood with your eggnog, check out the killer Santa in “Silent Night, Deadly Night” or Joan Collins fending off a psychotic St. Nick in the 1972 version of “Tales From the Crypt.”

Get un-jaded

The holidays are all about giving, but the tacky commercialism, the frenzied crowds and the yuletide Muzak piped into elevators can deflate the most bushy-tailed celebrant.

Rather than just donating money to your favorite non profit, volunteer with your favorite organization. Commit to doing it for more than just the holiday season. Volunteering is as much about feeling you are a part of something bigger as it is about helping others. It’s the kind of activity that puts all your good fortunes into perspective, a rare act that can reward you as much as the beneficiary.

The key here is to find an activity that involves interacting with people in need rather than simply working phone banks or stuffing envelopes. Clerical assistance is great, but helping ailing residents in a senior center, or students trying to write a personal essay at an after-school program, has the potential to be a life-altering experience.

Stockton Record: Plan Greener Holidays

Filed under: Earth911 - December 25, 2008

By Jo Ann Kirby

Reuse. Regift. Recycle.

Before your family tears into the gifts today, huddle up and plot strategy.

Think about putting the green in your festivities, by looking for ways to reuse wrapping paper, gift bags, bows and boxes.

You’ll be helping the environment and saving money next season.

If you are lucky enough to be hauling in new loot, consider recycling the old by taking it to a recycling event or donating it to charity. If worse comes to worst, you can always regift. But tread carefully. After all, it’s the thought that counts.

Here are some tips.

Contact reporter Jo Ann Kirby at (209) 546-8256 or jkirby@recordnet.com.

Reuse

There’s always that extra-annoying family member who can take forever carefully opening a gift. Follow their lead, for once, and you can reuse the pretty packaging! For instance, you can use that paper to wrap a smaller gift next year, as part of decoupage or origami craft project or even shred it to use as packing material. Wrapping paper scraps make fun ribbon when cut into strips and curled with a scissors blade. Just think, you’ll be thrifty and eco-friendly. For other ideas on how to reuse wrapping paper, check out craft projects online at www.instructables.com/id/Reused_Wrapping_Paper_Wreath or tips for reusing wrapping paper at earth911.com/paper/wrapping-paper/tips-about-recycling-and-reusing-wrapping-paper. For sure, you will want to fold the gift bags carefully for later use. And anyway, making your family members take care to unwrap gifts will make Christmas morning last a little longer.

Regift

Let’s face it, you’re not ever going to wear that Christmas sweater that lights up and plays “Jingle Bells.” But before you figure out how you can regift it or pawn it off on charity, make sure you mind your manners.

Mary Claire Attebery, a manners guru in Stockton who owns Beyond Please and Thank You, says if you want to be invited back next Christmas, you ought to make sure you’re not offending people. Attebery, who teaches etiquette classes through Stockton Parks and Recreation, says you don’t have to lie.

“I don’t ever teach kids to lie. Because if they say, ‘Oh, this is the most wonderful gift,’ that is a lie. So we have to choose the right words to say with a smile on our face,” she said. “Because, after all, someone spent their money on you and manners are all about thinking about someone else’s feelings.”

A simple, “Thank you for choosing a gift for me,” will do just fine.

Regifting is dangerous territory, Attebery said.

“At least take the tags off it,” she said – adding that it now belongs to you, so some etiquette experts say you can do what you want with it.” Attebery said it’s perfectly fine to regift something you know you won’t use—say a bottle of wine to a friend who would appreciate it.

If you think a present you received is in particularly bad taste, you’re not alone. Check out www.upsregifter.com, where United Parcel Service is helping put the merry in Christmas. Upload an image of your horrid Christmas sweater or check out the gifts of other not-so-lucky recipients.

Recycle

If Santa left a new camera, computer printer, cell phone, video game console or flat screen TV under your tree, consider recycling your old electronics at RecycleFest. The free event is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Jan. 10 at Brookside Elementary School, 2962 Brookside Road, Stockton. For more information, contact Karen Nakamura at (209) 953-8641 or go to www.cartridgesforkids.com. RecycleFest benefits education and the environment. If you need to clean out your toy bins and closets to make way for new stuff, considering donating used items in good condition to the Salvation Army or Goodwill Industries. Consider giving used toddler play items in excellent condition to your child’s day care or preschool.

For instance, those wooden Thomas the Tank Engine tracks and accessories your kids might have outgrown can take on new life in your neighborhood preschool. If it’s in bad shape and can’t be fixed, do everyone a favor and just toss it.

Knoxville News-Sentinel: Making Christmas Greener

Filed under: Earth911 - December 22, 2008

By Brittney Moore

Kerry Saltmarsh would rather not leave a big impact on the world this Christmas—environmentally speaking, of course.

“Just leave as small an impact as you can and consider every choice you make,” she said.

Saltmarsh, project manager for solar panel company Sustainable Future, put LED lights on her Christmas tree, and this year she purchased red and green velvet to make reusable gift bags that will replace wrapping paper.

Saltmarsh has practiced wrapping gifts without the paper; Sustainable Future has a Christmas party every year, and last year the company said there couldn’t be wrapping paper.

“People used all kinds of things,” Saltmarsh said. “Someone used exterior cardboard from a beer six-pack, and they wrapped something with that. It’s just an opportunity to be creative and lessen your impact on the environment.”

Saltmarsh prefers not buying new, materialistic gifts for her friends and family. Rather, she likes to give something unique.

“Most people don’t need more stuff,” Saltmarsh said. “Buy as a gift an experience for someone instead of a material gift. I think buying experiences for people is a great way to give a meaningful gift that doesn’t necessarily involve the use of natural resources.”

According to Gordie Bennett, sustainability manager with the University of Tennessee’s facilities services department, there are numerous ways to go green.

“There’s a lot of ways in terms of the holiday that we can save energy and money at the same time,” said Bennett. “In holiday lighting displays, consider using LED lights, which use 80 percent less electricity than regular bulbs.”

Although LED lights do tend to be pricey, Bennett said, they pay off in large displays.

Coffee and Chocolate, located at 327 Union Ave. in downtown Knoxville, uses compact fluorescent lighting in the shop and tries to recycle cup sleeves, giving customers a discount if they bring them back.

“(CFL) saves tremendous amounts of energy,” said Sharif Harb, manager of Coffee and Chocolate. “It’s good for the environment and seems to be less expensive in some aspects.”

Coffee and Chocolate didn’t just decide to go green for the holidays – they’ve been green since they opened in December 2007.

“People don’t typically go green for Christmas,” said Harb. “When they go green, they go green.”

Green holiday tips

The Patriot Ledger: Be Earth-friendly With Leftover Holiday Trash

Filed under: Earth911 - December 19, 2008

By Amy McFadden

You may not be feeling so festive when it’s time to dig your way out of the mountains of wrapping paper, boxes, bows and evergreens that accumulated during your celebrations.

Don’t lament. There are several options for getting rid of your holiday refuse in an Earth-friendly way.

The tags and the tinsel, the trimmings, the trappings!

According to the Earth911.com Web site, it can be difficult to find a location to recycle wrapping paper because it often includes non-recyclable materials such as dyes and laminates, or non-paper additives such as gold and silver coloring, glitter or tape.

But except for foam packaging, nearly everything else can be recycled in Springfield, said Wynne Coplea, manager of waste and recycling for the Office of Public Works at the city of Springfield.

Single-ply chipboard boxes, such as shirt boxes, can be recycled and should be put into curbside recycling bins in small amounts. As a security measure, Coplea advised breaking down boxes and turning them inside out to avoid advertising your new “stuff” to passers-by.

For heavier boxes, such as those made of corrugated cardboard, Coplea suggested taking these materials to a recycling site.

Coplea also suggested reusing items such as ribbons and gift bags.

To cut down on waste, unless you’re reading this article online, you’re already using a recyclable item that can be used instead of foam to protect items shipped through the mail. (Just be sure to read the entire newspaper before wadding it up and stuffing it into a box. Thanks.)

Techno-trash

No doubt, many people will upgrade to a flat-panel digital television set this holiday season before broadcasters stop sending out traditional TV signals in February. Or maybe you’ll receive a fancy new computer.

That means you need to take care of the obsolete equipment.

For electronic waste, including old computers and television sets, the city of Springfield has a contract with BLH Computers Inc. to take electronics of any age or condition for recycling and disposal.

Don Sharp of BLH said electronics owners can drop off TVs or computers at 3215 Stanton St. for free recycling. BLH also has contracts with Christian and Morgan counties for the same service.

If you live in Sangamon County but outside of Springfield, you can pay BLH a one-time $10 fee to dispose of computer monitors. BLH’s business hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays.

After receiving old equipment, BLH breaks it down and ships the circuit boards to a company in New Jersey that “mines the gold” out of them, Sharp said. BLH does not ship items to other countries, where they often are just thrown into landfills.

Find a detailed list of the items BLH accepts online at www.blhcomputers.com.

Coplea also encourages people to consider visiting www.freecycle.org, which is a free online service allowing users to offer their gently used merchandise for free. The takers often will pick up the item to be given away. In return, users who give can be eligible to get other items the same way from the site.

Oh. Christmas tree.

That live tree sure looked and smelled lovely in early December. But when it hangs around longer than a dreaded relative, it can become a fire hazard.

According to www.worldofchristmas.net, there are several do-it-yourself “green” options for your played-out live tree.

WorldOfChristmas.net cautions against burning the tree in the fireplace. That can cause a buildup of an oily substance called creosote in your chimney. When creosote gets hot enough, it can ignite and you could have fire in your chimney.

As for those once-fresh wreaths and garlands, or pumpkins and nuts, these are considered “seasonal waste” and not “yard waste,” so they should be put into your regular trash, Coplea explained.

The city of Springfield does not accept artificial trees. Earth911.com suggests donating artificial trees to groups such as Goodwill.

Huffington Post: Top Holiday Traditions That Warm the Heart, Not the Planet

Filed under: Earth911 - December 19, 2008

By Zem Joaquin

The holidays are such a wonderful time to connect with family and friends. We gather around fires sipping cocoa, swapping stories and opening presents. People you may not have heard from in months or years send you photo cards of their maturing children. You may even receive a gift basket filled with fancy snacks. And many of us give our children’s teachers gift cards and bake cookies for the kids to decorate.

All of these thoughtful, magical activities may warm our hearts, but they likely warm the planet as well. Isn’t it time to evolve some of our customs so that they communicate that we care about the planet too? I’m not talking about giving up chocolate, cutting off communication with distant relatives or giving your kids’ class the cold shoulder. I just want us to understand the truth behind the traditions that we all cherish so much. The EPA estimates that Americans throw away 25 percent more trash between Thanksgiving and New Year’s than any other time of the year, which translates into an extra million tons of waste generated nationwide each week. And even the greatest holiday tradition of all, the Christmas tree, has its own dirty secret: each year, 50 million trees are purchased in the U.S., 30 million of which end up in the landfill rather than being recycled or replanted (The Cygnus Group and The Environmental News Network). With all of the current changes in politics and the economy, now is the perfect time to become more conscious about every action we take – those cumulative small actions really do add up! I want to share a few ways you can continue your traditions without trashing the environment.

The most common culprit of holiday excess is found in greeting cards and wrapping paper. The EPA estimates that 2.6 billion holiday cards are sold each year in the U.S., enough to fill a football field 10 stories high! The best solution is to send tree-free wishes using one of the many great e-card services such as smilebox.com. Not only do you save paper, ink, time and money (it’s free), you can share so much more than with the pulpy alternative. If you really want to make friends and business associates laugh out loud, try elfyourself.com. Watching your work or home team dance to crazy music in elf costumes is priceless. But, if you are not ready to forgo the tradition of sending a physical note, try one of the eco options that abound. If you are a little subversive, you’ll be wild about Seltzer’s wacky cards, like “Pimp my sleigh”. Night Owl Paper Goods’ FSC-certified cards are elegant little artworks, and Smock Paper makes lovely retro bamboo letterpress cards. The do-it-yourself alternative is repurposing old cards into backgrounds and cut-outs for new cards, using an eco glue stick to combine the scraps.

The greeting card’s guilty relative is gift wrap. In the U.S., annual trash from gift-wrap and shopping bags totals 4 million tons (use-less-stuff.com). Your first step should be to always bring your reusable shopping bags with you, whether it’s a grocery run or you’re stocking up on gifts. My favorite wrapping solution is to collage pages of well-read magazines (for the holidays I usually pick images that are a singular color, like all green or all blue). If you really want the look of traditionally bound presents, go for hemp, bamboo or post-consumer waste wrapping paper and make sure to recycle it. If you’re thinking bows are just a tiny issue (I mean, really, how much damage can that cute little ribbon cause?), think again, because 38,000 miles of ribbon is thrown out each year, enough to tie a bow around the Earth (ciwmb.ca.gov). Also remember to use bows and ribbons made from biodegradable materials, like raffia and hemp, to pretty up your packages!

Buying environmentally conscious cards and recycled wrapping paper are a great start: making those two changes alone will divert thousands of pounds of waste from the landfill. After mastering these sustainable steps, stride into the new year by cleaning up what has passed. When the guests have left and all is said and done, consider your options for recycling — every little thing counts within the massive excess of the holidays, so it is essential that we learn what is recyclable and how to dispose of it. Earth911.com is an amazing resource for information about how and where to recycle most household items, including that Spruce tree. For example, about 40 percent of all battery sales occur during the holiday season (EPA), and they can be taken to Home Depot, Ikea and many local hardware stores to be recycled.

But in case talking about holiday clean-up is putting the horse before the cart (because you still have 14 out of 15 gifts left to figure out) then make sure to check out my Holiday Gift Guide at ecofabulous.com, which also includes a category for decorating if you want to be an even deeper shade of green.

The Flint Journal: Don’t Pitch your Old Cell Phone, Recycle It

Filed under: Earth911 - December 17, 2008

By Mark Raymond

Are you getting a new computer or cell phone for Christmas? What do you plan to do with the old one?

At Earth911, you can use their search engine to specifically find a recycling center for your old tech. They also have lots of other interesting articles and ideas and even a weekly newsletter to help you save money and save the planet at the same time. See http://earth911.com/.

Now that’s a win-win.

Grist Magazine: On the First Day of Gristmas, My True Love Gave to Me …

Filed under: Earth911 - December 15, 2008

By Holly Richmond

Since it’s the holiday season, it’s time for a trip down candy cane Grist archive lane to revisit some festive links that are, uh, evergreen:

Decorations

Deck your halls with a sprinkling of mistletoe trivia, like that “mistletoe” means “dung on a twig.” That’ll get your lips wet. And Umbra explains why LED holiday lights rock so much harder than traditional ones. The downloadable Yule log demonstrates yet another reason iPhones win at life, or you can gaze at Stephen Colbert’s version.

Christmas trees

Sarah van Schagen looks at the issue of pesticide-drenched trees, and Umbra dishes on finding an organic one. Umbra also covers getting a live tree (or renting one, if you’re a Portlandian) and how to meet its needles, er, needs. And the eternal real-versus-fake question gets answered with the — spoiler alert! — revelation that artificial trees are made of narsty polyvinyl chloride, and thus should be avoided like a reindeer jumper. After the holidays, hit up Earth911 to find locations where you can bid your tree fir-well.

Gifts

This gift guide has ideas for every stereotype on your list, from the self-righteous enviro to the hipster and the angsty teen. Supporting the local economy is a sugar-frosted snap with this list of ideas, supplemented with Seattle suggestions. Readers weighed in with their favorite books, soaps, and doo-daws in this roundup. And here are present ideas for those small, messy, noisy people (oh right, “children”). Finish with Umbra’s creative gift-wrap tips for a wrapper’s delight.

Simplifying

The holidays are hella stressful even when it isn’t, you know, a recession — Bill McKibben offers ways to relax and pare down. These ten suggestions for stuff-free gifts include bass guitar lessons (Dad, I hope you’re reading this) and the priceless memories made with copious organic booze. Story of Stuff creator Annie Leonard opines about giving change instead of contributing to the cycle of consumption. And two rabbis advise on making Hanukkah a time to reflect on the climate and to get active in your community.

Food

Use the season as an excuse to make chestnuts into holiday pudding (figgy pudding remains a mystery), build an eco-gingerbread house, and put funky spices like curry powder in your cookies. And after the holidaze, recycle your seasonal treats into eggnog french toast or fruitcake ice cream (though how fruitcake becomes any more palatable with ice cream, I don’t know).

Akron Beacon Journal: Tips to Make Your Christmas Eco-Friendly

Filed under: Earth911 - December 13, 2008

Beacon Journal staff report

Sandy Barbic is dreaming of a green Christmas.

Barbic, education specialist with the Summit Soil & Water Conservation District, is encouraging Summit County residents to make their holidays eco-friendly.

One way is by reducing waste. She suggests wrapping gifts with recycled paper products, newspaper comic pages or holiday wrappings salvaged from last year, and making gift tags from old holiday cards. After the holidays, shred gift wrap and use it for packing material.

Should you choose an artificial or real tree? Both have pros and cons, Barbic says.

An artificial tree eliminates the energy use and pollution associated with driving to pick out a tree each year. But the National Institutes of Health cautions that many artificial trees are made of polyvinyl chloride, and dioxins are released when the trees are made and incinerated to dispose of them, Barbic says.

Most real trees are grown on farms, so choosing a cut tree doesn’t harm forests, she says. However, their growth is often accelerated with chemicals, which can end up in streams and groundwater.

If you do choose a live tree, don’t apply fake snow, which makes the tree unsuitable for recycling, and remove all tinsel when you take the tree down. If your community doesn’t pick up trees for recycling, take it to one of the recycling drop-off points at Firestone, Furnace Run, Goodyear Heights, Sand Run and Silver Creek metro parks. Visit http://earth911.com to search for a recycling center near you.

St. Petersburg Times: Check Source Before Buying Puppy

Filed under: Uncategorized - December 10, 2008

I would like to warn readers not to put cruelty on their shopping lists this year. The holidays are a busy season for puppy sales and people need to know that when they purchase puppies over the Internet, through newspaper ads, or at pet stores, they are often unknowingly supporting a puppy mill.

Puppy mills are inhumane breeding facilities that produce puppies in large numbers. They are designed to maximize profits and commonly disregard the physical, social and emotional health of the dogs.

The breeding dogs at puppy mills live their entire lives in cages, and the poor conditions cause puppies to have more physical and behavioral problems than dogs from good sources.

The best way to stop puppy mills is for consumers to stop supporting them. To find a puppy from a reputable source, visit your local animal shelter or find a reputable breeder and visit their premises in person to see how and where your puppy’s mother is living.

Responsible pet purchasing, adoption, and ongoing guardianship take effort. But it’s worth it to do things right and find the canine companion of a lifetime. By finding a responsible breeder, shelter or rescue group, you can help defeat the inhumane puppy mill system that places profit above animal welfare.

Readers can look up local shelters and breed rescue groups at www.petfinder.org and www.pets911.com. A checklist of good breeder characteristics is available at www.humanesociety.org/puppy.

People who love dogs need to help stop them from being mistreated by making sure they aren’t supporting a puppy mill.

Traci Theis, Palm Harbor

USA Today: Recycling Goes From Boom to Bust as Economy Stalls

Filed under: Earth911 - December 7, 2008

By P.J. Dickerscheid

Norm Steenstra’s budgeting worries mount with each new load of cardboard, aluminum cans and plastics jugs dumped at West Virginia’s largest county recycling center.

Faced with a dramatic slump in the recycling market, the director of the Kanawha County Solid Waste Authority has cut 20 of his 24 employees’ work week to four days from five, shuttered six of the authority’s drop-off stations and is urging residents to hoard their recyclables after informing municipalities with curbside recycling programs that the center will accept only paper until further notice.

“The market is just not there anymore,” Steenstra said.

Just months after riding an incredible high, the recycling market has tanked almost in lockstep with the global economic meltdown. As consumer demand for autos, appliances and new homes dropped, so did the steel and pulp mills’ demand for scrap, paper and other recyclables.

Cardboard that sold for about $135 a ton in September is now going for $35 a ton. Plastic bottles have fallen from 25 cents to 2 cents a pound. Aluminum cans dropped nearly half to about 40 cents a pound, and scrap metal tumbled from $525 a gross ton to about $100.

It’s getting more difficult to find buyers in some markets, Steenstra said.

While few across the country appear to be taking such drastic measures as Steenstra, the recycling market has gotten so bad that haulers in Oregon and Nevada who were once paid for recyclables are now getting nothing or in some cases are having to pay to unload their wares.

In Washington state, what was once a multimillion-dollar revenue source for the city of Seattle may become a liability next year as the city may have to start paying companies to take their materials.

Some in the business are describing the downturn as the worst and fastest ever.

“It’s never gone from so good to so bad so fast,” said Marty Davis, president of Midland Davis Corp. in Pekin, Ill., who has been in the recycling business since 1975.

The turnaround caught everyone off guard, said Steven Kowalsky, president of Empire Recycling in Utica, N.Y.

“Nobody saw it coming. Absolutely nobody,” Kowalsky said. “Even the biggest players didn’t see it coming.”

At the height of the market just months ago, customers lined the street outside Kowalsky’s business, hoping to hawk scrap to pay rising food and fuel costs.

“That’s not happening anymore,” he said.

The Kanawha County authority, which sells donated recyclables from residents and municipalities, sells about 7,500 tons of paper, plastic and aluminum a year, Steenstra said.

Ted Armbrecht III, managing partner of The Wine Shop at Capital Market in Charleston, says it won’t be a problem piling up his recyclables at home, but he doesn’t have that luxury with his wine business, which uses a lot of cardboard boxes.

“We’ll hold onto it as long as we can, but once it reaches a tipping point, the only other place it’s going to go is the dumpster,” he said.

Trey Granger, spokesman for Earth911, a national environmental resource group, said the public’s interest in recycling should be able to weather the downturn in an industry that has been growing for more than 30 years and has always been cyclical.

“Obviously times are tough,” Granger said. “I wouldn’t worry more about this more than any other aspect of the economic downturn we’re facing.”

Last year, Americans generated about 254 million tons of trash, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They recycled about 150 million tons of material —roughly 80 million of that in iron and steel— supporting an industry that employs about 85,000 with $70 billion in sales, said Bob Garino, director of commodities at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based trade association that represents more than 1,600 companies worldwide.

Most recyclables are shipped to Asian countries that use the material to make products that are shipped backed to the United States to be sold.

But the market shift is now jeopardizing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of long-term contracts for scrap metal as some companies that signed when prices were high are trying to cancel or postpone deliveries to take advantage of the cheaper spot market, Garino said.

Davis, of Midland Davis Corp. in Illinois, said he hopes to wait out the market and may rent warehouse space to store his more perishable recyclables, like paper, until he can find buyers. He has some room to stockpile cans and plastics because in July, when prices were high, he unloaded more material than during any month in the past 10 years.

“It’s going to be bleak for a while,” he said. “We can just make our piles taller, and hopefully by spring, things will be a little better.”

Whether that will come as early as spring is debatable.

“I don’t know if we are at the bottom yet, bouncing along the bottom or we have new lows to achieve,” Garino said.

The market’s not likely to bounce back until the economy improves. Kowalsky estimates it could be several years.

“It’s just time to pull in your horns and maintain what you have and try to survive until 2010,” he said.

San Diego Union Tribune: How Can I Have a Green Christmas?

Filed under: Earth911 - December 5, 2008

By Jennifer Davies

There are tons of little ways to have a more eco-friendly holiday. Here are some tips on how to green up your Christmas.

The Tree

Christmas lights

Gift wrapping

To limit the amount of waste, try reusing materials around the house for gift wrapping, such as scraps of fabric to sew gift bags or even to wrap presents.

Packaging Materials

Gifts

Holiday cards

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: A Holiday “Greenout”

Filed under: Earth911 - December 5, 2008

By Carol Shrefler

Searching for ways to go green and economize this holiday season, I looked to the Web for direction.

Earth911.com has a page devoted to eight ways to “green”:

The first way is to think outside the box and to rethink our gift wrap. Yes, the pun is intended, suggesting that we break out of our comfort zone and create some great looks with reused items found around the home—bows, bags, fabrics, newspaper comics, magazines and decorative boxes.

I’ve been doing this for years, long before people talked about “going green,” so far back that if someone at the time suggested it, a very well-known frog would have come to mind.

The second way to “go green” is to recycle our cut Christmas trees or use a live tree and replant it after the holidays. This has been a routine of mine, as I’m sure for many of you, for quite some time.

A third “green way” is to make ornaments at home with items you might normally recycle. I haven’t reused paper towel rolls or old calendar pictures as Earth911.com suggests but I have recycled gift wrap. My favorite garland that I carefully trim the tree with each year is reused gift wrap that was carefully folded into hundreds of half-inch squares, then strung by my grandmother more than 80 years ago.

I’ll skip No. 4 for now because this is my primary proposal to really make a difference this holiday season.

“Green” proposals Nos. 5 through 8:

Now, let’s go back to No. 4.

Earth911.com notes that it’s easy for energy to get the best of us during the holiday months. But we can fight back with some easy ways to keep the bills down.

Use a timer on your house and tree lights, cuddle up next to a fire burning an eco-friendly log and wrap an insulating blanket around the water heater.

Other sites recommend the use of LED lights or themes that revolve around nature. My plan is to eliminate outdoor holiday lights entirely. I’ll place a wreath on the door along with garland on the light post. Brighter, grander, more, more, more is not necessary.

I’ll continue to share this special time with family and friends. But eliminating outdoor Christmas lights will conserve energy and I’ll save about $40. The Census Bureau estimated that there were more than 81 million households across the country in 2000. If each home had eliminated outdoor lighting through the holiday season, the savings would have been more than $3 billion.

So “green out” for the holidays—spread the word.

Carol Shrefler is the Trib’s editorial administrator.

Millstone Examiner: Buy Pets From a Reputable Source this Season

Filed under: Uncategorized - December 3, 2008

People need to know that when they purchase puppies over the Internet, through newspaper ads or at pet stores, they are often unknowingly supporting a puppy mill. Puppy mills are inhuman breeding facilities that produce puppies in large numbers. They are designed to maximize profits and commonly disregard the physical, social and emotional health of the dogs. The breeding dogs at puppy mills live their entire lives in cages and the poor conditions cause puppies to have more physical and behavioral problems than dogs from good sources. To find a puppy from a reputable source, visit your local animal shelter or find a reputable breeder and visit their premises. Readers can look up shelters and breed rescue groups at www.petfinder.org and www.pets911.com.

Rachel Cera
Cream Ridge

Rhode Island Monthly: One Man’s Trash

Filed under: Earth911 - December 1, 2008

By Courtney Anderson

That outdated cell phone or broken television may look ready for the curb, but once they hit the landfill, discarded electronics —known as e-waste— can release hazardous substances like lead and mercury into the soil.

The push to recycle what has become the nation’s fastest growing trash stream has launched safe-disposal programs locally and nationally. Visit Earth911.com for a complete list of e-waste accepting locations in Rhode Island.