recycling

Think, Then Do

How many times have you heard someone say (or said yourself), “I just didn’t think about it”?

So much of the time the little choices we make each day are based on habit rather than decisive action. If we all took a few minutes to examine our habits and committed to making conscious decisions, imagine what we could accomplish.

Some examples:

1. What if we all thought about where we throw our trash? If everyone thought about what they were throwing away, and decided to recycle everything they could, how much trash would be diverted from out landfills?

2. What if we thought about how we brush our teeth? If every person consciously turned off the water while brushing (or used less water while washing dishes, or took shorter showers, or ran the dishwasher only when full), how much water could we save?

3. If everyone purchased a reusable bottle and never bought plastic water bottles again, what impact would that have on our health (no BPA) and on our environment?

4. If we all became less free with the use of paper towels and napkins, and all other disposable dinner ware, how much plastic could we wipe out?

5. If we all took reusable bags when shopping and never again needed to answer the question, “Paper or Plastic?” how many trees and how much wildlife could we save?

These are just a few examples of choices that are driven by habit. Take a moment today and think about how you can help the planet (and your wallet) by simply thinking. Then do.

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: recycling, water conservation

Origins Recycling Program

by Beth Leave a Comment

Origins Skincare Company has just launched a new Recycling Program. The first of its kind, they will accept empty cosmetics containers from their own products as well as from any other brand.

From the Origins website:

Now you can bring your empty cosmetic tubes, bottles and jars, etc. – regardless of brand – to your nearest Origins retail store or department store counter nationwide.* All returned packaging will be sent back to a central location where products will be recycled or used for energy recovery.

In an industry first, Origins will accept packaging from any cosmetic company regardless of the manufacturer. We believe that the more we collect from consumers, the more we can keep cosmetic packaging out of landfills. And we hope this program will encourage other companies into following our example.

To thank you for joining us in our commitment to the environment, we’ll treat you to a FREE sample of your choice of one of Origins high-performance skincare products.

Origins’ website includes a helpful FAQ page that answers several questions about cosmetics packaging and recycling. Because this type of packaging cannot be recycled through traditional channels, Origins’ program is especially important. According to the EPA, consumer product packaging makes up 1/3 of all landfill waste. Imagine how much of that could be reduced by recycling our make-up and skin care containers.

Coincidentally, I’ve been reading Gail Blanke’s book, Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life; I think I’ll start with my old make-up. How about you?

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: recycling

Featured Do-Gooder: Aveda & Their Bottle Cap Recycling Program

by Beth 1 Comment

From time to time Smart Family Tips will feature an organization that is a “Do-Gooder”: a group that works to help both people and the environment. The Do-Gooders may be companies, nonprofits, or any organized group that focuses its efforts on making the world a better place.

What to do with all those bottle caps? Now we know.

Bottle caps are usually non-recyclable because they are made of a different plastic from most recyclable bottles. Fortunately, Aveda has just introduced a program to recycle all those bottle caps, keeping them out of rivers and oceans where they are eaten by birds who mistake them for food.

From Aveda:

The program accepts caps that are rigid polypropylene plastic, sometimes noted with a 5 in the chasing arrows recycling symbol. This includes caps that twist on with a threaded neck such as caps on shampoo, water, soda, milk and other beverage bottles, flip top caps on tubes and food product bottles (such as ketchup and mayonnaise), laundry detergents and some jar lids such as peanut butter. Excluded from collection are pharmaceutical lids and non rigid lids such as yogurt lids, tub lids (margarine, cottage cheese), and screw on lids that are not rigid. If you can bend or break the lid with your bare hands, then it does not meet the rigid plastic definition. Please do not include any metal lids or plastic pumps or sprayers. Unfortunately, too much of the wrong types of materials can contaminate the recycling process. We appreciate your efforts in keeping it clean!

Caps can be dropped off at any Aveda salon or store. They are also partnering with community schools to collect even more caps. If you’re interested in getting your school involved, or just want to learn more about the bottle cap program, you can get more information here.

Congratulations to Aveda for finding a solution to a significant recycling problem.

To read more about the problems with plastics and the oceans and wildlife, see the following sources:

The Plastic Debris Rivers to Sea Project

Plastic Debris in the World’s Oceans @ Greenpeace

Ocean Debris @ National Geographic

Photo Credit: www.aveda.com

Filed Under: Do Good Tagged With: Aveda, bottle caps, protecting wildlife, recycling