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

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

T-y-p-e-w-r-i-t-e-r jewelry

The creative use of recycled materials in everything from fashion to art has never been more popular.

There are a number of jewelry designers who fashion earrings, necklaces and other jewelry using the recycled keys of very old typewriters. These sites include www.uncommongoods.com, www.typewriterjewelry.com and www.whatsyourtype.com. It's a nice way to enjoy one-of-a-kind jewelry and save old manual typewriters from the landfill. (Great gift for a writer!)

 

I can just hear Mars Blackman (famed Nike pitchman) now -

"It's Got to Be the Shoes!"  Nike is in its 12th year of a program where it recycles sneakers (any sneakers, not just Nike's!) into sports surfaces around the world. You can go to this link and see where there is a drop-off center near you. What an easy thing to organize locally.

Posted by Jeff