Green and Global

What's hanging in your closet?

Seems like practically every little thing we use in our day-to-day lives is becoming a big problem when its final resting place ends up being the landfill. A new item I hadn't considered before is those metal hangers you get from the dry cleaners. Seems there are, oh, about 3.5 billion of them that end up rusting for years at the local dump.

Now there's something called EcoHangers, which feature ads and are made entirely of post-consumer recycled materials.  They're being used by more than 35,000 drycleaners nationwide.

Posted by Dawn

High-tech toilets

OK, you're trying your best to be green, but there are just certain final frontiers you won't cross into. Like toilet paper, for instance.

Yesterday, i talked about the greenest brands of toilet paper to buy. These are 100% recycled from post-consumer materials. If you want to take this a step further, the makers of the Swash bidet hope you'll give up T.P. entirely, making the planet a nicer place to live in the process.

The Swash high-tech toilet seats, which feature a heated seat with adjustable temperatures and optional warm air dryer, will reduce toilet paper consumption by 50% to 100%, says Brondell. The .05-.07 of electricty used to operate the bidet is preferable to cutting down 54 million trees each year to meet the current demand in this country for 3.2 million tons of TP annually. Something to ponder.

Posted by Dawn

Wal-mart makes news with another green initiative

For $1, you'll soon be able to buy a recycled, reusable, washable shopping bag at Wal-Mart to help reduce waste created by those ubiquitous plastic bags.

The bags, made from 85% recycled content, including 4 plastic bottles, hold as much as two or three plastic bags. When they're worn thin, they can be returned to Wal-Mart to be recycled.

And Wal-Mart's next move? Starting Feb. 1, products sold there will be stamped with a numerical score based on its sustainability.

Expect to see the bags in Wal-mart stores nationwide by end of month. But don't buy one unless you really need one. I use my own canvas tote bags and they work just great.

Posted by Dawn

Two steps forward, one step backward

Jeff saw a writeup in Brandweek magazine the other day saying that Toyota supported a House bill establishing a less stringent (32 mpg) fuel mileage minimum for 2022 rather than the 35 mpg bill supported by Nissan. This, from the 'greenest' car manufacturer in the industry? What's up with that?

The Natural Resource Defense Council is all over this already. This morning, in my inbox was an email asking me to voice my concerns to Toyota. A Toyota executive responded on the issue on Toyota's official blog, Open Road. In his post, he says that a mandate for higher gas mileage is going against the known buying habits of the American car-buying public, and that Americans vote with their wallets.

 

Meanwhile, Honda Motor Co. is working on a gas-electric hybrid, two-seater sports car that doesn't, they say, sacrifice fuel efficiency for style. (You may know they discontinued the hybrid Accord and the hybrid Insight. ) No mpg details are available yet, but the sleek CR-Z, which stands for "Compact Renaissance Zero', is a huge departure from the stolid and boxy Hondas we all know and love.

Posted by Dawn

Hey! Recycle that peel, eggshell, pit and rind

It's not just about bottles, cans and cardboard anymore.

The New York Times reported that the city of Seattle now recycles an impressive 44% of its trash. Compare that to the national average of about 30%. What's more, the city intends to reach 60% trash recycling by 2012 and 72% in 2025.

What was interesting to me is that Seattle's recycling program includes food scraps, which now can be mixed in with yard waste.  Food scrap recycling will be mandatory in 2009. How cool is that?

The rest of us have a little catching up to do. According to a June 2007 Harris Interactive poll, 23% of American adults still recycle NOTHING AT ALL. Regionally, those living on either the west coast or the east coast have the highest recycling rates, while recycling rates by those living in the midwest or south are mediocre. The age group with the highest recycling rate overall includes those age 62+, followed closely by those age 31 to 42.

Post by Dawn

Buy right, save the Canadian boreal forest

Tissues, toilet paper and paper towels.  These make up some of the most mundane aspects of our lives, ones we seldom give a thought to, yet they're items that many of us would be hard pressed to do without.  Unfortunately, many of these products are made using trees harvested in Canada's Boreal Forests, breeding grounds for nearly half of North America's bird species. 

By making the right purchase decisionss, you can do your part to stop the destruction of Canada's boreal forests.

If you must buy these products, choose paper products with recycled content, especially post-consumer fibers, which are recovered from paper that was previously used by consumers. It's also best to buy paper products that are labeled totally chlorine-free (TCF), or processed chlorine-free (PCF).

The best tissue brands to buy are 100% recycled and include Fluff Out, Hankies, Marcal and Seventh Generation.

The best brands of toilet paper include 365 (Whole Foods), Ambiance, April Soft, Best Value, Earth First, Fiesta, Marcal, Planet, Pert, Seventh Generation and Softpac.

100% recycled paper towel brands include 365 (Whole Foods), Atlantic, Best Value, Earth First, Fiesta, Pert, Marcal, Planet and Seventh Generation.

For a more comprehensive list, visit the website of the Natural Resource Defense Council.

Posted by Dawn

Biodiesel, the heartland's new favorite crop

Yesterday, Green Car Congress reported on Benefuel, Inc.'s plans to build a 10 million gallon per year biodiesel plant in Seymour, Indiana. The new plant, expected to begin operations next year, will be just a three-hour drive from the Claypool biodiesel/soybean oil plant we talked about in an October 4 post.

Posted by Dawn

A long time (cough) coming

American Electric Power Co., which supplies coal-fired power to 5 million customers, today agreed to spend $4.6 billion to reduce chemical emissions blamed for spreading smog and acid rain across the northeast.

That's good news, considering that I live in the top 10% of the most heavily air-polluted locales in the nation.  Smog, particulates, hazardous air polluntants and increased cancer risk, we've got it all. (You can find out where your hometown stands by typing in your zipcode here.)

Today's announcement was the culmination of an eight-year-long legal battle and lawsuit filed by the EPA, environmental groups and eight northeastern states. What took them so long?

Posted by Dawn

Just how dirty is your car? If you're a New Yorker, you'll know soon

To help drive home the point about greenhouse gas emissions, New York state will become the second state (after California) to require a "global warming index" sticker on all cars sold in the state starting with the 2010 model year.

New York Governor Elliot Spitzer is working toward meeting his goal of a 15% reduction in electricity usage by 2015 through a medly of energy-efficiency programs.

Posted by Dawn

Healthier choices in the supermarket aisles

Last month saw two big supermarket changes that offer consumers healthier food choices.

The first-ever Publix GreenWise Market opeend in Beach Gardens, Florida. The store offers an extensive selection of earth-friendly, organic and all natural products in addition to non-organic items.

To help shoppers sort out what's what, they're using brown tags to indicate an all-natural product, a brown tag with the USDA Organic icon to indicate a 95 to 100% organic product, a brown tag with the phrase, "Made with Organic Ingredients" to indicate a product containing 70 to 94% organic ingredients and a white tag to indicate a conventional supermarket item.

Three more Publix GreenWise Markets are scheduled to open next year in Boca Raton, Vero Beach and Tampa.

Also last month Hannaford Supermarkets announced that in the year since they introduced Guiding Stars, a storewide nutrition rating system helping shoppers make more informed nutritional choices, the sale of star-rated foods outsold non-star foods. The ratings consist of one, two and three stars for 'good', 'better' and 'best' nutritonal value.

Since the company began its star rating system, whole milk sales dropped by 4% while fat-free milk increased 1%.  Other starred foods that sold more during the same time period included breakfast cereals, packaged foods, 90% or more fat-free ground beef and frozen dinners/entrees. Watch the video here.

My employer, News Broadcast Network, distributed a B-roll package on the anniversary of the program.

Posted by Dawn