Green Eco Services

To Go Ware- Reusable Utensils

Welcome back!

The other day I met a friend for Sushi, and I can’t believe I forgot my chopsticks! (see Chopsticks) ,

This handy To Go- Reusable Bamboo Utensil set set also has chopsticks. It comes wrapped up, throw a set in your car, your purse, your picnic supplies, your backpack and you are ready to go. No more plastic eating utensils! Plus this would make a great gift for your friends. Thai Bamboo Utensil Set It’s $22.00.

Solar Outdoor Cookers- Charged By The Sun

Tulsi Hybrid Solar Cooking Oven

I know it’s late in the season- but better late than ever. If you are like me and wait till the ‘season’ is over, you get better pricing with products on sale!  I love this solar outdoor oven- no more propane and charcoal (saving environment and money) because all you need is the sun! And it’s portable- great for ball games, picnics and camping.
Tulsi-Hybrid Solar Cooking Oven (on sale now for $235)

Re-Light and Eco-nize Home and Office

Photo Inhabitat

LED lights (Light Emitting Diodes) are lightbulbs which are super energy efficient. In the old days they were used for such things as flashlights. Today you see them in your computer screens and now in your home or office.

I Just Gotta Tell Ya

• Estimated 600 million fluorescent lamps are disposed of in U.S. landfills, amounting to 30,000 pounds of mercury waste.
• It only takes 4 mg of mercury to contaminate up to 7,000 gallons of freshwater, meaning that the 30,000 pounds of mercury thrown away in compact fluorescent light bulbs each year is enough to pollute nearly every lake, pond, river and stream and oceans in North America
• Breaking one mercury light bulb in your home can contaminate your home to such a degree that hazardous materials experts are needed to remove the mercury
• It is unlawful for anyone to dispose of fluorescent bulbs as universal waste in the states of California, Minnesota, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

The Re-Green Factor

• LED bulbs last up to 10x longer than CFL’s and can potentially save more than $700 over it’s lifetime and reduce energy usage up to 80%
• LED use less energy (saving even more money)
• No mercury is used in the manufacturing of LED’s
• LED’s are more durable- they do not have a filament, therefore are not damaged under normal circumstances.

Where to recycle

• E-cycle takes batteries and flurescent bulbs by mail.
• Lightbulb Recycling- facts and information on lightbulbs and recycling- click on your state to find lightbulb recycling resources.

Eco Friendly Disposable Kitchen Utensils

True Confessions- I love paper plates and plastic spoons! Since I don’t have a dishwasher and a small kitchen, it makes entertaining easier if I use disposable utensils! Now that I know how bad all of this is for the environment- you can’t recycle paper plates with food, amount going into landfills plus the money I would save……

I Just Gotta Tell Ya

• Each year in the USA, more than 40 billion plastic utensils are thrown into landfills.
• Plastic cutlery is made from petroleum, a non-renewable resource. In a landfill, a piece of plastic may take between 500-1000 years to breakdown into smaller components. Each year in the USA, more than 40 billion plastic utensils are thrown into landfills.

Now you can Replace plastic with eco-friendly products at Bangalla- in perfect timing for the annual Fourth of July party!

Here is What they Offer:

Enviroware-Forks, Spoons and Knives- 10-25- 50 Packs- ($1.99-$5.45)

Green Kitchware

Bamboo Plates -10-25-50 Packs- ($3.49-$9.99)

Bamboo Plates

Bamboo Bowls 10-25-50 Packs- ($2.99-$6.99)

Bamboo Cups 10-25-50 Packs ($2.99-$6.99)

Now You can Save 10% on eco-friendly products. Buy Now.

Eco Friendly Pillow Talk

I Just Gotta Tell Ya

• 10.6 Tons of Pillows go into Landfills every year
• Recent studies have shown synthetic pillows have higher levels of dust mites than feather pillows.
• ‘Conventional Pillows’ contain petroleum chemicals or additives which release VOC’s into the air.

The most environmentally Friendly thing to do is:

• Get Pillows Cleaned – I just throw mine into the washer and line dry.
• Reuse Pillows
• Donate Pillows- shelters animal and human might take them
• Give Away- post on Craigslist or other venues.

Anti-Allergy- May contain synthetics unless they have a certified organic label for the materials.

Buckwheat- made with 100% organic buckwheat hulls. Good environmentally because buckwheat does not need pesticides to grow. Naturally dust mite repellant.

Down Pillows- Made from feathers

Horse Hair Pillows- Old fashioned material made from horse hairs.

Kapok- Derived from Kapok Tree seed pods, they are blended with other natural materials, organic cotton and linen. Good anti- allergy properties.

Natural Latex- Pillow Fillers as an alternative to polyurethane. Holds it;s shape to conform to your neck and head. Derived from rubber trees.

Organic Cotton- Good hypo allergenic, if allergic to latex, buckwheat or wool.

Recycled Polyester- Pillows may still contain chemical additives and will off gas VOCs. But the good news, they are recycling!

Wool- Good choice, moisture resistant qualities, natural fiber, good insulator. Can buy certified organic wood that has not been treated with chemicals.

Where to Find Eco Friendly Pillows

• Building For Health
• Evo
• White Lotus

Resources

The Pillow Shop- Cleans Pillows with no chemicals, reuses shipping boxes, employs bio-degradable pillow ticks.

Hollander Home Fashions- Zero Waste Program – saving over 11 Million Bottles a year going into landfill

Holistic Interior Designs

Gifts That Give Back

There are so many charities to donate or give to, and sometimes it’s just overwhelming where to go, I mean you only have so many dollars to give. Everyday, you may be buying a gift, offering a reward- why not buy your gifts/awards from companies that give back. 

The other part of Gifts That Give Back- they are perfect for the person who has everything, the hard to buy for person, the teary eyed person who always takes back the gift you gave them. Really what could they say, when you make a purchase to fight poverty! 

The Following are a few charities that you can purchase gifts and know that a percentage of what you purchase will go back into doing good things. 

Heifer international- (www.heifer.org) Heifer’s mission is…To work with communities to end hunger and poverty and to care for the earth.

Oxfam American (oxfamamericaunwrapped.com) Oxfam America works in 100 countries around the world. This catalog contains gift items that symbolically represent our work. The items selected represent project goals from grants disbursed by our seven offices around the world. The purchase of each gift item is a contribution toward Oxfam America’s many programs, not a donation to a specific project or goal. Your donation will be used where it is needed the most–to help people living in poverty throughout the world.

Mercy Corps (www.mercycorps.org) Supporters of Mercy Corps’ Give for Kidsprogram help us open schools, fund health clinics, ensure healthy food and supply clean water. Your donation gives children a chance

World Wildlife Fund (www.worldwildlifefund.org) Donate, Adopt or Buy Gifts- supports WWF’s mission is the conservation of nature. Using the best available scientific knowledge and advancing that knowledge where we can, we work to preserve the diversity and abundance of life on Earth and the health of ecological systems

Product Red (joinred.com) Help eliminate AIDS in Africa. You will be the first to receive updates on (RED) products, receive special offers only available to members and learn about all the ways your purchases are making an impact. (RED) is working because of your support.

Bamboo Tornado (www.retro51.com) Save the Rainforest with purchase of Bamboo Pens

Endangered Species Chocolate www.chocolatebar.com – 10% of purchases go to helping species, habit and humanity 

Dancing Deer Baking Company )www.dancingdeer.com The Sweet Home Project is our philanthropy to help end family homelessness. Through a partnership with One Family Inc., a nonprofit initiative of the Paul and Phyllis Fireman Foundation, we donate 35% of the retail price of Sweet Home goodies & gifts, year-round, directly to scholarships, housing, childcare and counseling to help homeless mothers get back on their feet. The best news is, not one of the mothers has returned to shelter since completing the program.

Goodshop.com - Up to 30% of what you purchase goes to help your favorite charity or school.

Other Resources

• Inhabit- 
• CNN Post on Gift that Give Back

Costa Rica Eco-Tourism

Healthy Home Starter Kit and Gift Pack

I’m going through all the products on Buy Green and came across this  Starter Kit- What a great gift, not only to yourself, but others as well. I wish I had known about this for my nephews wedding a few months ago. Housewarming gifts, Birthdays, Earthday and more. 

        

This bundle is a great starter kit for anyone who would like to start incorporating eco-friendly, non-toxic household cleaners and household products into your home.

The basket includes:

- Epic All Purpose Cleaner, Glass & Mirror cleaner, Dish Soap and Hand Soap

- A TWIST Euro clothe and sponge – one each

- A TWIST Loofah and Naked sponge - one each

- TWIST bamboo cloth

- Biobag Tall Kitchen bags

- Chico re-useable shopping bag

- Buygreen.com 100% organic cotton shopping bag

Bio Wash Ball – Saves You $500.00 per year

I did some articles on eco- Friendly washing and then came across this Bio Ball- They say they can save you up to $500 a year! Pretty good- no need to buy laundry detergent! A space saver and less cleaning up spilled laundry detergent.

Just place biowashball in any washing machine can run on cold or hot cycle and clothes come out clean. Biowashball also reduces the risks of allergic reactions linked to the use of detergent, eliminates germs, saves money and is not harmful to the environment.

Easy to Use: Just place it inside your washing machine along with your dirty laundry. Biowashball has no side effects caused by detergent residue on your linen.

-Antibacterial: it helps eliminate pathogen germs found on dirty clothes.

-Economical: eliminates the use of detergents therefore saving hundreds of dollars a year on expensive laundry detergents.

-Ecological: It does not contain phosphates which damage the environment. Biowashball is recommended for anyone who does laundry.It is the perfect detergent replacement product for, home makers, students and busy professionals alike.

To Order- click here

4 Tips to Move and Save Green

Moving is a pain and can be expensive. But the good news is you can save some of the hassle and money by Greening your Move.

I just Gotta Tell Ya

• Out of a population of 282,556,000 people, 40,093,000 moved. That’s an overall percentage of 14.19 percent annually
• Estimated boxes to move -20 small, 20 medium and 5 large boxes for two to four rooms, plus dish packs (usually four or more) for kitchen items, mirror cartons for mirrors and large framed objects, and wardrobe cartons for clothes on hangers.
• Equals about 800, 000,000 Million Cardboard Boxes going into landfills!

Step 1  Start lining up your moving Supplies Now!

• Gather up cardboard boxes from Craigslist, Freecycle, grocery stores. 
• Reuse, hoard and Save as much shipping peanuts, tissue paper plastic bags and newspapers from your work, garage, craigslist and freecycle. 

Or go to: 

• Boxcycle-Used Cardboard Exchange CA- new company and growing 
• Rent a Green Box Orange County and Los Angeles
• Used Cardboard Boxes  (CA)
• DJ Boxes-  D.J. Transport (canada) we carry a  large inventory of new and used boxes as well as packaging supplies. Our company  buys and sells used boxes and contributes  ecologically by recycling corrugated boxes, pallets and more. Boxes that have been misprinted or overrun can be re-used for packaging.

Step 2 Get Rid of Stuff 

To many times, I see on Craigslist- ‘have to go today or going in the dumpster’- it kills me- don’t advertise the morning of- Advertise in advance- give people time to pick up your stuff- instead of waiting for the last minute to put stuff in garbage- advertise on to get rid of stuff now have a garage sale, or donate now in advance. Less to pack and ship- and you won’t miss it! 

Step 3 Line up Movers

• Hire A Helper
• Go Green Moving- uses biodiesel fuel 
• Green Van Lines- The don’t say anything about ‘Green’ on their site although. 

Step 4 Clean with Green Cleaning Supplies 

• Simple Green 13022 All Purpose Cleaner. 22 oz.

• ALL PURPOSE CLNR 32o Seventh Generation 

Resources

Melissa Data- 

The Kindle- Eco Reading

I am an avid reader- going to the library at least once a week! The best thing you can do for the environment, saving trees, paper and energy is of course to order a Kindle 

I have placed the Kindle on my wish list for so many reasons, not least that libraries are going through many budget cuts, I don’t want to buy any more books and I want to have available to me at anytime a choice of reading materials.

Other reasons that it is great:
1.) You won’t have to carry around a ton of books with you
2.) Take up less space, especially if you travel
3.) Use as a map by using Google maps
4.) You can also listen to free audio books on your Kindle and
5.) You can use online apps such as Yahoo messenger, Gmail, Google reader, and the mobile version of Google calendar.
6.) Play games
7.) The Kindle is also a picture viewer. If you would like to start a slide show, go to picture view mode and then press Alt + 0 this will initiate the slide show. You can use Alt + 1 to begin the slide show and Alt +2 to end it. It’s also possible to initiate a slide show of any document just press Alt + 0 while viewing and take it from there.

There it is- when someone asks me what I want- I will refer them to this post- and hopefully I will get one for my Birthday!
Happy Reading