Have you ever wondered why you shouldn’t put your used (i.e. grungy) napkins, paper towels and tissues in your recycling cart along with other paper products? The answer is quite simple. They aren’t accepted in recycling carts because they’re contaminated. Only clean paper products should go in your recycling cart.
Good Green Habits for Napkins, Paper Towels and Tissues
- Put used facial tissue, napkins and paper towels in your garbage cart―not in toilets or recycling and green waste carts.
- Place toilet tissue in toilets or garbage carts―toilet tissue cannot be recycled at this time.
IMPORTANT: You can place “food-soiled paper”―including napkins, paper towels and tissues―in your home compost bin since it is biodegradable. Or, if your city or garbage company offers a food recycling program, you may be able to place them in your green waste cart to be transferred to a composting facility.
We’re excited to announce that you can now download Green Wisdom for FREE at goodgreenhabits.com. This colorful little gem is filled with solid green tips to help individuals, families and businesses go green. We think you’ll find this booklet fun to read, cute as heck, easy to download and did we mention you’ll love the price? It’s free! Here’s how:
-
Click on the GREEN WISDOM link at right.
-
Read the booklet.
-
Then, let us know what you think!
Note: Janice Wells is the author of Green Wisdom and founder of goodgreenhabits.com.
It’s estimated that Americans purchase nearly 30 million Christmas trees each year. Yes, trees do add a delicious fragrance and seasonal sparkle to your living room. However, if discarded in landfills after the holiday blitz, they also add needless waste to our planet’s growing mountains of trash. And, trees can’t even decompose in landfills because landfills don’t offer up enough oxygen. Gasp…what’s a tree to do?
Good Green Habits for Christmas Trees
Luckily, you can take one of the following eco steps to make sure your Christmas tree gets recycled into soil-enriching mulch─and keep it from clogging your local landfill.
- Use your garbage company’s Christmas tree recycling program─call them for a pickup schedule and details.
- Cut your tree into pieces and place in the green waste cart supplied by your garbage company for pickup on any service day.
- Visit Earth911.com to find a nearby recycling location.
- Contact city or county offices to ask about tree recycling events offered in your community.
ECO IDEA: Consider investing in a LIVING Christmas tree next year!
Our personal consumer choices have ecological, social, and spiritual consequences. It is time to re-examine some of our deeply held notions that underlie our lifestyles. ~ David Suzuki
Good Green Habits for Honoring the Earth
- Do your best to practice green habits each day.
- Purchase fewer products and waste less.
- Buy quality products that have a long life.
- Encourage others to practice green habits.
- Don’t ever give up on people or the planet.
You can give yourself and the planet a nifty gift this holiday season by practicing eco-friendly habits and choosing LED Christmas lights. LED lights are inexpensive (often less than $10 for a 50-bulb strand), sturdy, glow brightly and most importantly they use very little electricity.
Good Green Habits for Christmas Lights
- Decorate one outdoor area (your porch, a tree or plant) instead of your entire home.
- Turn on lights only during key viewing hours.
- Use a timer so you don’t forget to turn them off.
- Choose LED Christmas lights instead of incandescent lights since they:
- reduce energy consumption by as much as 90% compared to traditional incandescent bulbs.
- produce bright light for up to 20 holiday seasons.
- generate almost no heat, reducing fire potential.
PG&E in California says switching to LED lights pays off. The following comparison is based on an annual use of 45 days/5 hours daily at a 2009 residential rate of $0.156 kWh.
|
Qty. of Lights
|
Type of Light
|
Power demand per light (watts)
|
Annual Energy Usage (kWh)
|
Average Annual Operating Costs
|
|
300
|
Large Incandescent
|
7.00
|
472.5
|
$73.71
|
|
300
|
Mini Incandescent
|
0.45
|
30.38
|
$4.74
|
|
300
|
LED Lights
|
0.43
|
2.90
|
$0.45
|
NOTE: If LED lights aren’t in your budget right now, remember to look for after-holiday sales.
STAFF CHAT: My favorite LED bulb color is red and least favorite is blue. And, I’m jazzed because although my family spent $60 on LED lighting, we expect to save at least $200 on our electricity bill this holiday season!
