10 Tips for a Green Thanksgiving
Holidays are hardly known for being the easiest times to lead an environmentally friendly lifestyle. There’s all the travel, the trash, and of course, the mass consumerism, all of which rack up a big carbon footprint and add to the problem of waste management in this country. Thanksgiving isn’t quite as bad as that other holiday coming up, but still, it’s easy to make missteps. However, careful planning can help ensure that your Thanksgiving celebration is just as green as any other day in your home. Here are 10 tips to make Thanksgiving as eco-friendly as possible. || Read more »
Glass Recycling Facts
- Every month, we throw out enough glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant skyscraper. All of these jars are recyclable!
- The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle can run a 100-watt light bulb for four hours or a compact fluorescent bulb for 20 hours. It also causes 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than when a new bottle is made from raw materials.
- A modern glass bottle would take 4000 years or more to decompose — and even longer if it’s in the landfill.
- Mining and transporting raw materials for glass produces about 385 pounds of waste for every ton of glass that is made. If recycled glass is substituted for half of the raw materials, the waste is cut by more than 80%.
Packaging the Future: Banana Leaves as Natural Packaging!
Nature has had millions of years to come up with perfect natural packaging solutions — brilliant designs made from elements as simple as water, sun and nutrients that keep liquids wet, protect cargo during transportation, and prevent mold or insects from getting in. The purpose of our Packaging the Future series is to highlight how we can use nature’s examples to make low-impact designs for better packaging, and so far I’ve focused more on the pipe-dream than the practical. This week is different; banana leaves are a packaging solution that has existed for thousands of years, still exists today, and that could benefit the environment by simply expanding their use to new areas. || Read more »
