The various green movements that most people bank on today are indeed something to commend. But the children and teens who start making the awareness on pollution and other issues concerning climate change and green contradictions are highly laudable as well.

Teenagers should usually be worrying more about their future or enjoying their lives. But to the millions of teens that have dedicated a portion of their lives towards contributing to the cause of pollution and various global concerns today on waste is something more inspiring. Hopefully the older generation can listen and pick up some pointers from their joint efforts for a greener tomorrow for all.

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What a great name for a glass recycling company Green Glass takes all the unwanted glass that is heading for the landfill site and turns it into something beautiful and practical.

There are several ranges to choose from, which means from something that was in the trash, has become a useful object that is quite desirable and in fact can be used everyday as it is hardwearing, the company also make special corporate and other marketing products for well know brands.

There are several sets available starting with one or two pieces and going up to whole set, which includes wine glasses, tumblers and a bottle.

Source [This Next]

We are in an age where we use plastic bottles and containers to store goods and consumable items whenever we buy them from the nearest store or supermarket. But after consuming everything that is in it, what do we do next?

If we are careless enough, we drop it on the ground, run over it, walk over it, kick it around, check it out and see what it is and so on. However, if we see no use picking it up, we tend to forget to put it in its place. This attitude alone is a sign of total disregard for environmental awareness. Let us put litter in its place. It doesn’t take much effort especially when there is the garbage can nearby.

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No matter where you live in the world, there is always someone who could use something that you are about to throw away, with Freecycle both parties can get together and recycle one persons trash into another persons treasure.

The network was started in 2003, in Tucson and has now grown to 4,041 communities and 3,540,995 members worldwide.

This organization is great for organizations wishing to obtain items such as unwanted furniture etc, this is where Freecycle can really help out the planet by not wasting perfectly good items and help the less fortunate via charities who can put the items to good use.

Source [Free Cycle]

A notable origin of unwanted waste comes from excess food that we simply throw in the trash bin. While the effort alone is a key factor adhering towards placing garbage in its place, the overlooked aspect of how spoiled food may turn into adding more problems as far as waste problems is concerned should also be checked out.

Food will decompose at any given time if not placed properly. Food leftovers or spoiled ones should be sorted and left out to be disposed properly. This is where composting comes in, placing food scraps in landfills for proper disposal proceedings.

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We all hear that most of the things we buy or have in our homes can be recycled. However, there are some people who tend to forget by accident or purposely the whole essence of recycling waste.

Efficient waste management is critical in the lives of people situated in certain regions. The said efforts can make a difference between healthy green living and strengthen the potential ways on how to be able to maintain the world in the manner green living was made to be.

Let us check out what we have left out when it comes to recycling our wastes.

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Miele launched a consumer guide recently. “What Does WEEE Mean to Me?” explains the recent UK legislation regarding electronic waste and its proper disposal.

The legislation is designed to fight the growing quantities of electronic waste in landfills. Last year, over two million tons of electronics were disposed of improperly and ended up in landfills. This is a lot, and its consuming tons of space.Miele’s new guide explains the new symbols that will be put into place, how to dispose of certain goods, and whose responsibility it is to dispose of what goods — when it’s you, when it’s the retailer, how you do it, etc.

The regulations come into effect in August. I suggest you pick up a guide and start learning soon!

[via new consumer]

I have been saying that a lot around my house lately, and my roommate just laughs at me. Maybe she thinks i am gonna turn into some wicky wacky pat rack, but i want to create things out of so called “garbage”, not just horde things till they find me one day covered in stuff. And i just knew the net would come to my rescue. Besides we need to do all we can for our super crowded and out-of-control landfills. I am just doing my part.

I came across a gem of a site the other day, but just got around to visiting it today. It is make-stuff.com, and it is all about making all sorts of stuff yourself. The section i have been looking at is the recycling section, which has great ideas on what to do with “that” item.

Let’s say your family uses a lot of plastic pop bottles and you decide you want to start re-using them and make fun things with them, instead of thrashing them, well how about step-by-step instructions on how-to make a whirligig for the kids, or maybe for the holidays, a pop bottle snowman. Some people are very creative with their recycling ideas.

There are things you can do with wooden key hangers and even stuff out of recycled Pringle cans, like the oh! so awesome piggy bank yours truly made with a vintage pin-up girl photo torn out from Interview mag.

Check out make-stuff.com, for neat ideas on what to create by recycling and re-using a variety of household materials and other items.

The folks over at Nalgene, have created a simple yet profound campaign to urge us all to buy and use refillable water bottles, instead of buying the more convenient but earth-destroying disposable variety.

Their slogan is Refill not Landfill, and they state that they want to promote the use of any refillable water bottle, not just theirs. This small change can make a big difference in reducing the amount of plastic water bottles that end up as waste in our landfills, the energy used, and the oil expended to produce plastic disposable water bottles. They have created a pledge page so that you can decide to make a commitment for one week, one month, or one year to using refillable bottles.

Take the pledge here, and choose to use earth-friendly refillable water bottles, for all your outdoor and on the go needs.

This is a great idea for people who live in apartments or who do not want to have composter in the garden.

The composter makes the most of the products that are being thrown away all the time in the home like paper and food waste which go to landfill sites and produce methane gas, which is on the gases classed as “Green House” but by composting in the kitchen or somewhere suitable the process can quickly become second nature and the household waste becomes less.

Features

* Material: 18/8 Stainless Steel
* Dimensions/Size: 11-in. High x 7 1/4-in. diameter
* Origin: China
* Capacity: 1-gallon

The cost for this great idea is only $39.99.

Source [Great Green Gadgets]

We are all aware that the world is facing problems as far as properly managing the trash and wastes we all have to dispose of. However, the world is getting smaller at a faster pace as they pass and if we are not careful, there may not be enough landfills or trash bins to place our wastes.

We are all encouraged to recycle and put waste in the proper disposal. If we don’t heed this warning we may as well end up as a world living with garbage at our side soon.

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Plastic Bags are used in heavy concentration, statistics are showing that “on average each person consumes over 290 plastic carrier bags per year” and that is why it is time to get drastic about plastic. The reason this is of concern to you and me, is because plastic bags do not easily or quickly de-compose, they take hundreds of years to break down into our environment, once trashed.

But there are several easy things we can do to alleviate this environmental problem. Recycle Now has a neat list for us:

note, the article relates mostly to plastic grocery bags, the ones that are so generously offered to us, from our local grocers: (or at the mall)

6 plastic bag re-use ideas:

denying bags in the first place, is a good start
bring your own canvas bags for the trip
re-use them on your next trip
donate to local charity or goodwill shops
re-use them as bin liners for your home trash cans
re-use them to clean up after pet messes

Recycle Now is based in the U.K., their site is quite lovely with simple yet profound ideas on how, where, and what to recycle.

Can you think of more ideas on how to re-use plastic bags, leave a comment and chime in.

Today through my daily research and surfing, i came across a good article on biodegradability, and just exactly what is the meaning of this commonly used word. The author states several questions should be asked when trying to label a product as biodegradable. Questions such as:

• inherent biodegradability of the material?
• how long it takes for the material to actually break down?
• what exactly does the product or material break down into?

The issue that resonates with most Americans is the last factor for biodegradability which is, “the characteristics of the environment that the substance or material is in”, the author poses another question, “should a product be called biodegradable if it inherently has the ability to biodegrade, or should it only be called biodegradable if it also is commonly disposed of in a way in which it really will biodegrade? For example, should a paper grocery bag be labeled biodegradable? It will biodegrade if placed in nature, however it won’t biodegrade in a landfill because the conditions aren’t right”.

Here’s how long it takes for commonly used products to biodegrade, when they are scattered as litter:

cotton rags 1-5 months

paper 2-5 months

rope 3-14 months

orange peels 6 months

wool socks 1 to 5 years

cigarette butts 1 to 12 years

plastic coated paper milk cartons 5 years

leather shoes 25 to 40 years

nylon fabric 30 to 40 years

tin cans 50 to 100 years

aluminum cans 80 to 100 years

plastic 6-pack shower holder rings 450 years

glass bottles 1 million years

plastic bottles forever

This article does a good job of explaining the nature of where we find ourselves today, as far as the problems we are having with waste and landfills.
For an insightful read on this topic, visit the full article at World Wise.

I swear to you, this is the greatest gadget ever made.

The Diva Cup is a menstrual cup, that will not only eliminate pads and tampons from your life forever (think of the money you’ll save!), it’s the most eco-friendly feminine option on the market today. Did you know that in 1998, 7 billion tampons and 13 billion sanitary pads and their packaging ended up in landfills and sewage systems?

Head over to the Diva Cup website to find out more and to order your own. A word of caution: it takes a while to get used to it, but once you do, you’ll never go back. They are easy to take care of, and the girls at Diva even give you a cute little package to store it in.

(I feel this post definitely insinuated too much information!)