A Mama's Rant

10 ways to trim your waste-line and have a green New Year

Between Thanksgiving and New Years Day, Americans take an additional 25% of waste to the curb. That amounts to over 25 million tons of trash for the holiday season. So what can you do?

10 ways to trim your waste-line in 2009

These tips (with a few of my own) come from RecycleBank, a rewards program that motivates people to recycle.

1. Bring your own shopping bag for every shopping excursion, not just the grocery store. I’ve been using the canvas bags I get as freebies at blogging conferences. I make sure to keep them in my trunk along with my coupons.

2. Send e-cards instead of paper cards. Or least make sure your paper cards are made from recycled content. Scour the after-holiday sales to stock up on recycled cards now or buy them through St. Jude’s Ranch for Children.

This year I printed my holiday enewsletter on one sheet of paper. Then I folded it closed (tri-fold) and used some small printing labels I had left over from another project to tape shut. I put my mailing labels on the outside along with the stamp, eliminating the need for an envelope. Next year I plan to use recycled paper.

3. Avoid gift wrap that is not recyclable (metallic) or not made from recycled content. After the holiday season is a great time to stock up on wrapping paper, since it’ll be on sale. The comics’ pages makes great wrap for kids and last years cards can become collage wrap for any box. Or you can put non-metallic greeting cards in the recycling bin or send them to St. Jude’s Ranch for Children to be made into new cards.

Recycle your Christmas cards for charity

St. Jude’s Ranch for Children rescues abused, abandoned and neglected children of all races and faiths from the vicious cycle of child abuse. They provide healing and nurturing in a safe home-like environment where children can learn life skills to start new lives with new chances, new choices and new hope.

One of their fundraising activities is the St. Jude’s Ranch for Children Recycled Card Program. The children and St. Jude’s Ranch volunteers turn the previous year’s Christmas cards into "new" cards for the coming season. They remove the front of the cards and attach a new back made with recycled paper.

The benefits are two-fold: customers receive "green" holiday cards for use and the children receive payment for their work and learn the benefits and importance of going green. Since the program was started over 30 years ago, it was expanded to include all occasion greeting cards.

Getting the house clean for the holidays with Weiman cleaning products

Enter my contest to win $100 of Weiman and Libman cleaning supplies. Click here to learn how!

Planning this year’s healthy Thanksgiving menu is taking more time than I thought, which is cutting down my house cleaning. Luckily, I’ve discovered a few new cleaning products from Weiman that will help.

Weiman traitional and green cleaning products

Weiman carries a variety of traditional cleaning products for everything from wooden cabinets to jewelry. I tried Weiman’s E-tronic Wipes since I’m always scared of accidentally frying my electronics by spraying too much glass cleaner on them.

E-tronic Wipes repel dust and eliminate static from electronic equipment with their ammonia-free formula. I tried the wipes on two TVs, 2 DVD players, the satellite receiver, a laptop computer, two telephone hand sets, and my PC keyboard and screen. I even tried it on the clock faces of my oven and microwave. And I did this with only TWO wipes.

The wipes feel rather dry, but they work on a lot of surfaces before getting too dirty to use. I’ll be keeping a canister by my desk for sure.

November 15 is America Recycles Day

Tomorrow is America Recycles Day. It saddens me to see so many families in my neighborhood that use one or two large trash cans but don’t put out any recycling bins. There’s no excuse since our local trash companies do not charge extra to take your recycling.

RecycleBank, a company that rewards households in over 12 states for recycling with a program that is similar to how airlines give you rewards miles, sent me some general recycling info to share with you. Check out their website to see if their service is offered in your area.

Recycling activities

• Buying goods made from recycled products is actually just as important as recycling. By literally “buying recycled,” you take an active role in insuring the success of recycling programs across the country. The more we demand environmentally sound products, the more big business will have to deliver.
• There are well over 4,500 recycled content products available to consumers. This is growing every day as recycled products become more popular.
• Check the package of your favorites products to see if they are make from recycled waste.
• Set up a recycling program at home and work. Make sure there is a bin for paper and cans upstairs as well as downstairs in your home. Each office cube should have a box for recycling paper, cans and bottles.
• Demand that public places start recycling programs. I was surprised to see that the usually hip San Francisco airport didn’t have recycling bins for newspapers, magazines, bottles and cans. But Denver International Airport does, probably because of the 2008 Democratic National Convention here in Denver was a green event.
• Do you attend professional conferences? Ask if they have recycling available in the conference center to recycle paper, cans, glass, etc. Some conferences, like BlogHer’s, also have rooms where you can drop off any swag goodies you don’t want. What wasn’t picked up by other attendees was donated.