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How to Recycle Your Old Panty Hose Article Link

Anna@Green Talk — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:17:55 +0000

What Do You Do With Your Old Panty Hose?

Green Talk is getting a lot of interest from Jezebel’s article. “I Sold My Panties Online and My Mom Found Out.” I swear I never wrote an underwear recycling article, although it would be interesting. It took awhile for me to figure out why everyone was coming to the site from the Panty article. So, if you are reading this article, you are looking for How to reuse your old panty hose article .

Check out the link above directing you to the right page and leave a comment on how you reuse your panty hose. While you are here check out all my reuse articles.

Photo by Fidelio

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How to Dispose of Old Vitamins.

Anna@Green Talk — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 04:21:52 +0000

Old Vitamins starting to decompose

The first of the year some how invokes that “must “declutter feeling.” Is it being indoor? A new year? Who know. All I do know is my pantry is the bane of my existence. Especially the shelves that contain the vitamins.

I swear they grow expontentially. And no, Suzanne Sommers doesn’t live with me. However, if there were a male Suzanne Sommers, it would be my hubby. He is a vitamin addict. We have vitamins that I have no idea what they are for. Three or four containers of the same vitamin. Why? He can’t see what he has and doesn’t have. Do you have a vitamin addict in your house?

DeCluttering the Pantry

I have challenged you several time on Green Talk to declutter your pantry. I don’t know about you, but when the pantry is crowded I often buy more than I should. Why? How the heck can see you behind 10 cans of tomato sauce? Or all the empty boxes that the cavemen fail to throw out. Are you with me here?

Hubby is the buyer in the household and love a good sale. Hence, in my opinion, the clutter. Let’s be frank. Hubby needs a full time clutter assistant or an intervention, which ever comes first. Who is this “person” in your home?

More Vitamins in a Square Mile Then People in NJ

Well, this year I had it with the overpopulation of vitamins. There was one designated shelf for vitamins that has grown in five years to three shelves. I kid you not. And between you and me, how many do you think have expired?

So, I methodically alphabetized all the vitamins. Before, you say, Anna, come on, get a life, there is a method to my madness. I figured if he saw with his vitamin A enriched eyes how many multiple bottles of the same vitamins he had, he would be more careful in the future. Fat chance, but a green girl is gotta do what’s she has to do. (Okay, how many bottles of vitamin C do you need? With all those vitamins who gets colds anyways?)

Oh, did I tell you. He even had half bottles of the same vitamins. You don’t want to know how many hours this little exercise took me.

Don’t get me wrong. Hubby is a lovable guy but this vitamin thing has me pretty wacked.

Finally, hubby knew that he had to clean up the vitamins starring him the face. As he sorted, he made different piles:

expired vitamins (surprise, surprise)
not my vitamins (ie belongs to the kids, the dog we don’t have, and maybe a distant cousin’s) and
finally, the ones that he wanted to keep.

So What Do I Do With the Old Vitamins?

So, as you can imagine, I had alot of vitamins to dispose of. Throwing them down the toliet wasn’t an option. According to the EPA,

“[s]ome medicines, vitamins and other supplements poured down the drain or flushed down the toilet may pass through wastewater treatment plants. They may enter lakes, rivers and streams which are often used as sources for community drinking water supplies. Watertreatment plants are generally not equipped to routinely remove medicines and supplements.”

As I search online for alternatives, I ran across the following options:

Dissolve them and then put them in plastic bag with coffee grounds or kitty litter. Then, throw them away. If you know anything about me, I never throw away anything. (Ask my sister.)
Give them to the police when there is a US take back program. I did sort out the old medicine and hid them in the house to give to the semi-annual take back program.
Find a participating green pharmacy who will take back medicine. See here for other US state programs. Note, it is not a definitive list since your state might not be on it.
For information in other countries, see EcoLife’s recycling list. Scan down to “Disposing of pharmaceuticals” towards the bottom. Also, see the information on the Northwest Product Stewardship Council.

For the life of me, I couldn’t find anyone to donate the vitamins to. The take back program in my area had occurred. Another one wouldn’t be schedule until April. So, the light bulb came on and I thought why not compost them. They are just minerals, right?

The Experiment

I didn’t want to just throw them in the composter since I couldn’t figure out how they would decompose. However, if I did, some rodent probably would be quite healthy. Those darn animals get into the compost in the winter despite my rodent screen. Plus, some of the vitamins are gel coated. How the heck were they going to decompose?

So, I decided to put them in boiling water. My friend’s college age child who is majoring in chemical engineering suggested that I use vingear to simulate the stomach acid. Clever, huh? However, I tried boiling water first.

Bowl #2 of Old Vitamins that Decomposed in Water

Lo and behold a couple of hours later, I had vitamin soup. Thank goodness it didn’t smell bad since there were old cinamon capsules in the mix. But, it didn’t look particular appetizing.

Guess who had the task of taking it down to the composter? Hubby.

So, next spring I expect to have the healthiest compost in the neighborhood!

Join the Conversation

How do you dispose of your old vitamins?
Do you have a place to give them to?
Do have a rule of thumb to know when vitamins expire?
Do you compost them too?
Can you add to the list of international or state takeback programs?

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Recycle Old Jeans at Aeropostale for the Teens for Jeans Campaign

Anna@Green Talk — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 00:33:37 +0000

Teens for Jeans Collection

The second of the most popular post on Green Talk is ”How to Recycle your Blue Jeans.” For good reason, since according to a 2008 On Earth article, 450 million jeans are purchased in the US each year. Besides all of my other suggestions of what to do with your unwanted jeans, add this one: Aeropostale has teamed up with DoSomething.org for the fifth annual Teens for Jeans campaign to deliver unwanted jeans to homeless teens.

Before you Run to the Store

Hold on partner. The take back program doesn’t start until January 16, 2012 and ends February 12, 2012. Simply take back your gently used, but in good condition or new jeans to one of the Aeropostale US or Canada locations during this time period. (Yes, some of us still have the tags on clothing that we never wore.)

For each pair you bring in, you will receive a 25% coupon towards a new pair. In fact, you might want to sign up for their email updates so you will be the first on your block to know when the yearly take back program commences.

Where Do Your Jeans Go?

The pants will go to a local homeless shelter for those teens who need clothes. The Campaign has partnered with over 600 homeless shelters in the United States and Canada.

Note, although they will take any size jeans, the shelters are requesting large sizes.

How Successful is this Program?

The Teens for Jeans has collected over one million big blues to cloth teens in shelters. In fact, last year, 90210 star Lance Lanter, one of the spokespeople for the campaign reported in his video, that in four weeks they collected 542,411 jeans. Whoot!

Great Project for Schools

Last year, Franklin County High in Winchester, Tennessee collected 3,692 pairs of jeans. Jump on the bandwagon and rally the troops. Talk about a great service project for your school. The contest is open to any elementary, middle, or high school in the US or Canada. Be sure to read the contest rules to enter.

What can you win?

a $5000.00 donation to the winning school;
one pair of jeans (retail value up to $30.00 per jean) for each student (Sweet!) and
a party hosted by sponsors at the winning school (up to approximate value of $2000.00).

Sounds like a fun contest. So, go ahead and clean out that closet as an excuse to help a homeless teen. All other unwanted clothes can be sent to Goodwill, Salvation Army, Lupus Foundation, or other organizations.

Anna, you bated us with your Second Most Read Article. What’s the First?

As of this date, the most read article is Organic Color Systems: Wash those Grays Away with a Safer Hair Color. Yes, Anna has a bit of gray. And no, the cavemen didn’t cause all of the gray. (I can’t lie. They definitely contributed.)

Join the Conversation:

Have you participated in any of the Teen for Jeans collection programs? Tell us how.
Do you have a bunch of those old blues to donate?
Would you consider starting a school collection?

Photo courtesy of Teens for Jeans.

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Recycling Alkaline Batteries: Programs that Take Them Back.

Anna@Green Talk — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 03:40:07 +0000

: Alkaline Batteries

Are you like me? Have a bunch of household alkaline batteries sitting in a dusty section of your garage since you can’t bear to throw them out? You know. The ones that power your radios, flashlights, and other electronic equipment. If you don’t live in California, which mandates that all batteries must be recycled, then your batteries could be bound for the trash. That’s a whole lot of wasted metal and toxic chemicals going into a landfill.

Just to Clarify

***I am not talking about rechargeable batteries, silver oxide batteries (the silver round ones,) or lithium batteries (found in your cell phone.) Not sure which batteries you have? Check this chart. The above mentioned batteries can be recycled. Do not throw them in the garbage. See Call 2 Recycle to find drop off places. Trust me. There are plenty of places to drop them off.***

The Plain Old Vanilla Batteries

A couple of years, I was told by my county recycling that I couldn’t give them my batteries anymore due to the battery mercury phase out program. They told me to throw them in the garbage.

In the garbage? Are they crazy? I don’t throw things in the garbage. Those darn batteries are made of metals that can be re-used.

What about the other Chemicals in the alkaline batteries?

In 1992, 101, 400 tons of alkaline batteries were sold in the US. Can you imagine what that number is today? Rather yet, can you imagine what the number is all over the world? The sad part is Alkaline batteries contain heavy metals which can leach from landfills and contaminate our groundwater. Recycling of batteries is imperative.

Anna, okay. So, What we can do?

I am glad you asked. In a fact, one of my readers, Avima, the owner of handwoven tallits, asked that very question this week. I too felt her pain since hubby keeps asking what am I doing with “those batteries.” Here are some options:

1. Battery Plus:

Some of the Battery Plus stores take back the batteries as well as other batteries. Each store has its own policy so call ahead before you arrive with your batteries. The website has a easy store locator. See here as to what they recycle for free.

Two out of four stores I called took them back. One store said the first 3 pounds are free and thereafter, it will cost you 99 cents per pound. Nancy at Battery Recycling told me that a pound is about 18 AA batteries. (More on Battery Recycling below.) Another store had a 99 cents policy for any amount, but said that if you bring them a baggie of batteries they won’t charge you.

2. Check if your City has a program.

The City of Chicago has a alkaline and rechargeable battery take back program. Batteries can be dropped off at any Chicago Public Library or Walgreens Drug Store. Check the website for periodic updates.

3. Battery Solutions:

Residences and businesses can purchase iRecycle Kits ranging from $24.95 for a 5 pound kit to $79 for a 55 pound kit. However, if you collect a large amount such a mid-size business, city, or school, contact the company to learn about their Smart Recycling System. If you live near their facilities (Howell, Michigan or Mesa, Arizona,) you can drop off the batteries. However, you will incur a charge for the weight of the batteries.

In addition to collecting batteries, the Company accepts a variety of other materials for recycling. See here for more information.

The Company has been collecting batteries and re-processing them since 1971. See here for more information about how they reprocess the batteries.

How about Battery Recycling in Other Countries?

1. Europe: In 2006, the European Union made batteries recycling compulsory in 2008 . By 2012, 25% of all batteries purchased must be collected with an increase to 45% by 2016. The cost of collection is borne by the producers which includes the maker of the equipment that contains the batteries.

2. Australia: See here as to information about recycling your batteries. Also, check Recycle Near You.

3. China: Information about battery recycling in China. The article is simply a starting point and does not give a definitive place to find out about recycling.

4. Canada: You can purchase a battery container from Raw Materials. In addition, Amber of Srocel.com told me that you can recycle your batteries at Rona hardware stores.

Join the conversation:

Can you add another place which takes back alkaline batteries? I would like to list as many international sources as possible.
Have you brought your batteries to any of the above locations?
Would you recycle your batteries?
How many of you use rechargeable batteries and if so, which brands do you like?

Photo by Reilly ButlerSimilar Posts:

Donate Old Blankets and Towels to Animal Shelter Rather than Toss Them

Anna@Green Talk — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 06:18:55 +0000

Dogs Like Dorothy Needs Blankets and Towels at Animal Shelters

How many of you have torn towels or blankets? Do you throw them away or use them as rags? The other day I noticed that one of the blankets that my kids use had a huge hole in it. Large enough that their entire bodies could shimmy through it. Sewing it back together was not happening. However, I knew who could benefit from my holey blanket. Dogs and cats at shelters.

The ASPCA estimates annually there are 5-7 million cats and dogs in shelters. What a sad piece of information.

Why Do Dogs Love Blankets

I had a dog growing up name Beau Beau (pronounced “bo bo.”) If you can guess from the name, he was a french poodle. Well, Beau Beau loved to snuggle in my parents’ bed although he had his own dog bed. I am sure Beau Beau’s snuggling had nothing to do with the fact he was part human according to my mother.

I never understood why dogs in general like blankets. Better yet, I never understood why dog shelters are always asking for towels, blankets, and sheets for dogs. What I gleamed from some dog sites was the following information:

dog shelter floors are cold cement. Who wants to sleep on that?
dog like to burrow since it makes them feel secure
some young dogs like to nurse on blanket

This all now made sense why dog shelters like Operation Blanket of Love in California request these items.

My Torn Blanket. Wouldn't a Dog Love it?

I took my holey blanket over to St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in New Jersey. How could I tear up the blanket to make rags. The Center gladly accepted my gift and said the dogs and cats will love the blanket.

In fact, most shelter accepts lots of other donations, including money. For example, see St. Hubert’s wish list. I am sure it is very similar to shelter near you.

By the way when you are dropping off your dog donation, consider adopting a dog or cat. Dorothy in the above picture needs a home.

Where Can I Find a Shelter?

Listed below are some of the databases that I found in different areas of the world. If you know one that I missed, please add it to the comments.

In the United States: AdoptAPet.com.
Canada: Adopt an Animal Canada
Europe: No Kill Shelters
Australia: Cat World (The site lists shelters for both dogs and cats.)

Join the Conversation:

Do you have blankets or towels to donate? Have you ever donated blankets or any other items to an animal shelter?
Does your animal love his or her blanket?
Have you ever adopted a dog or cat from the shelter? Tell us about the adoption.

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Reusing or Repurposing Broken Plates, Pottery, or Assorted Ceramics

Anna@Green Talk — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 21:23:37 +0000

Broken Plates used for Gardening Pot Drainage

Do you have a bunch of broken, awful looking, glued together, overly chipped plates and saucers around the house? How about some of your children’s ceramic work that is really cute because you love them, but you have no idea what you are going to do with it? (Parents, don’t shoot me. I have four kids and well, in the art department, they didn’t get any good genes.) Well, hand me the plates and the fuggly ceramic projects and I give you some ideas on how to reuse them.

Smash the Plates to Create Works of Art

Do like the Greek. Smash them, and give them a second life. And you know what? You don’t need a wedding to smash the pottery. And I will let you in on a little secret. (Come closer….) It is really fun and a great stress reliever. All in the name of green! Whoot!

How did I reuse my broken plates?

Watch the video below as I reuse them in lieu of small stones for drainage for my pots. I even smashed Son#3 and #4 art. (Don’t hate me. I am not even sure what the ceramic figures were. The boys wanted me to throw them out since they even thought they were hideous. So, I got permission. Whew! You know I hate clutter.)

And by the way, Son #2 thought I was insane as he watched me continuously throwing the dishes onto the driveway to make smaller and smaller pieces. Especially since I am the world’s biggest spaz. I would throw it and the plate piece wouldn’t break. Does this count for being the biggest spaz? If my sister is reading this, don’t comment.

Reusing them in Other Clever Ways:

Here are some other ideas on how to use your “inner” craftiness to give those plates and broken ceramics a new life.

Using your broken ceramics to make a table top
Make a mosaic flower pot. Simply add pieces of the broken ceramic plate or saucer to a pot.
Dream of cool stepping stones in the garden? Well, got plates, right? Use them to make a mosaic stepping stone.
Gluing them back together and make a two tier cake stand or single tier cake stand using a vintage or your own chipped tea saucer or candlestick holder. You can even use that broken mug as the bottom. So, Martha. Just make sure you use non-toxic glue.

Necklace Pendants Made by The Broken Plate Pendant Company

Send your favorite heirloom plate to Julie at The Broken Plate Pendant Company. She will make the pieces into jewelry!
Or if you are really crafty, consider making the jewelry yourself. If it is heirloom quality or a keepsake, I would opt to send it to Julie. Remember, I am a spaz.
Use chipped plates as edging in the garden. (By the way, if you look at the chipped plate edging picture via the link, check out the bowling ball edging. Genius.) In fact any of the broken ceramic can add detail to the garden. I personally wouldn’t put vintage plates which might have lead in them in my veggie garden. Maybe the flower garden? Would you?
Use broken mugs for arts and craft supplies, pens, and storing small items such as paper clips. Maybe as a holder for my glasses that always disappear. D*mn, gremlins.

Join the conversation:

How have you re-used your broken plates, pottery, etc? Spill the beans, crafty ones. Got a great picture? Send it to me. Or include a link of your creation.
What have you done with your children’s ceramic projects, especially the really ugly ones. Come ‘on. Have they mysteriously disappeared or been given to Grandma?
Do you use your old pottery in your garden?

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Bicycle Recycling: Giving Someone Else the Gift of Wheels

Anna@Green Talk — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 21:22:47 +0000

Bicycle Recycling and Reuse

With the weather becoming warmer, I noticed the increase in bicycle riding. Whether people bike for exercise, recreation or commuting to work, over 26 million bicycles were purchased in the United States in 2005 alone. In 2007, more than twice the number of bikes were produced in the world than cars. To the tune of 130 million bikes were compared to 52 million cars. But with all the new bicycles being purchased, what happens to the old bicycles? Landfill or recycling?

Is this your Bicycle Story?

Do you own more than one bicycle? Do you use both bikes?
Does your bicycle just take up room in your garage and is a home for spiders?
Has your children out grown their bikes?

If you wish to give away any of your bikes, consider recycling them. There are several organizations that would gladly take your bikes. Trashing them should never be an option.

Pedals for Progress

Pedals for Progress is a New Jersey based not for profit, which collects surplus and used bicycles and sewing machines in the Tri-state area. They in turn ships them to developing countries. In twenty years, the Company has donated over 125,000 bicycles, 1000 used sewing machine and $10.8 million in spare parts to partner charities in 32 developing countries. (See here as to their bike partners and sewing partners.)
In addition, when P4P’s can establish an oversea partner, children and adults are trained in bicycle maintenance and repair. Bicycles that are repaired are then sold in the community fostering a local community.

“With Pedals for Progress, a bicycle becomes a valuable commodity for trade, employment, transportation, local government – the list goes on. In the countries where PfP has an established Partner Program, the most successful entrepeneurs are the ones who use bicycles to get to work and deliver the goods and service where they are needed most, allowing them to expand their businesses and increase their personal incomes. Medical personnel in remote areas rely on the bicycle to get them to villages not accessible by roads. Without these “mobile bike medics”, people in these villages would not get the vaccines or medical attention most of us often take for granted.”

If you wish to start a bicycle recycling drive, make sure you read the collection guidelines. Due to the cost of shipping and repair, a donation of a minimum of $10 must be received with each bicycled donated. For donation collections in the Tri-state area, see here.

Good Goes Around

Good Goes Around partners with bicycle shops, volunteers, and social services organizations to collect bikes, and give them to local children in need. You can donate your bicycles to certain bicycle shops in New Jersey and New York. However, if you wish to start your own chapter in your area, the organization can help you.

Note, this is a young organization. Keep your eye on them. I suspect they will continue to grow since there is a need to give locally. Last year alone, the organization provided 1469 bikes to various social service organizations such as the Community Food Bank and Boys and Girls Bike Exchange.

(Thanks to Green Talk reader, Mary of Back2Tap, for this tip.)

Recycle A Bike

Recycle-A-Bike is a New York City not for profit community based organization that provide job training program and encourages everyday bicycle use.

“Through programs such as Earn-A-Bike, Ride Club, Cycle Craft, and Summer Youth Employment Program, RAB is dedicated to the health and well-being of NYC youth. In this past year alone, RAB has worked with more than 1,000 young people and collectively pedaled more than 10,000 miles. On average, RAB salvages 1,200 bicycles each year from the waste stream, diverting a total of 36,000 pounds of waste from NYC’s landfills.”

For more information about Recycle-A-Bike events, see here.

Bicycle Inter-Community Arts and Salvage

BICAS, a Tuscon based organization, has trained thousands of youth and adults to repair, maintain, and ride bicycle through their various workshops. In turn, the organization has saved bicycles from the waste stream. In addition, the organization promotes the use of salvaged bicycle parts to make bicycle art. Check out some of their recycled bicycle racks.

Additional Sources from International Bicycling Fund

There were several great bicycle recycling programs that I did not mention. If you need additional sources then those provided above, check out the International Bicycling Fund. This website provides a comprehensive international list of where to donate your bike, donating bike parts, and organizations requesting bike mechanical training.

Scrap Metal

If your bicycle can not be repaired or its parts cannot be used, please deliver it to a scrap metal recyclers. Start your search at Earth 911. The scrap metal company that I use was not listed. So,you might need to “google” the term scrap metal recycling and your area to find the closet company.

If your organization promotes bicycle recycling and/or helmet recycling, please list it below in the comments. Self-promoting is welcomed. No bicycle should ever be put in a landfill.

Join the Conversation:

Does your municipality or county government have a program for bicycle recycling?
Have you volunteered to recycle bicycles? Donated one?
How many bicycles do you own and do you use them all?
What do you do with your bicycles?
Do you make bicycle art?

Photo by Peter Blanchard

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TrashNothing: Reduces Freecycle Email Clutter Without Losing the Deal

Anna@Green Talk — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 20:09:48 +0000

Glimpse of an TrashNothing email box.

I absolutely love Freecycle, which is an online community where people can giveaway their once loved possession to someone who can use them. But what I don’t love about my online community is the barrage of emails that I get from everyone’s posts. Your email box could be flooded in just a day (or maybe a few hours.) This lead me to turn off my email notification and I have missed out on some fabulous finds.

Andrew Trusty, founder of TrashNothing, felt the same way as I did about Freecycle. Love the concept but hated the emails. So, this computer science professional decided to create “a little code” to solve the problem. (I am insanely jealous of his talent.)

This ingenuous site removes the email clutter for not only Freecycle but also Freegle, ReUseIt Network and FullCircles. Still not sure what is Freecycle all about? TrashNothing provides a little tutorial on how to give away items you no longer want.

So, How Does TrashNothing Reduce the Freecycle Email Clutter?

This program could make anyone a happy camper. You get your own email box on the site and as your emails come in, they are colored coded to tell you offers, wants, takes, and receives. You can filter out which type of email that you want to receive in addition to setting up alerts for a special items you are looking for.

Really into the Freecylish groups? The beauty of TrashNothing is that you can manage more than one group in your inbox. Best yet, you can access your TrashNothing inbox through mobile devices. See here for more TrashNothing features. Trusty is one detailed guy.

Not a part of one of the Freecyclish groups? No problem. The website helps you find the groups in your area.

Makes Posting Easier

Posting on TrashNothing.

One of the problems that I encountered with Freecycle is that I don’t post correctly. I get lazy, forget, or whatever. If you mess up, a moderator usually contacts you and deletes your post. (Yep. It’s happened to me.)

TrashNothing makes it so much easier to post since it provides the right words for you to use such as “offer” or “want.”

In fact, moderators can run their groups through the website to make their job easier. I don’t envy the group moderators. Can you imagine how many posts they have to wade through to see who is not following the rules? Or spamming. G-d bless them. See the Moderator FAQS, if you are interested in running your group through the TrashNothing site.

Have Clutter?

You know I am a fan of getting rid of the clutter and have touted using Freecycle many time to keep your house clutter-free. Spring is right around the corner. Get a jump on clearing out those once loved possessions and give them to someone who needs them. In the past, I have given away fabric and a couch cover. If felt good to give it to someone who could use them instead of collecting dust in a corner.

Do You Need Some Toys, Furniture, or Art Materials?

You would be surprised what you can obtain through Freecycle. So, why buy if you can get if for free? There are lamps, furniture, toys, so on and on. You never know. The fact that you can create an alert on TrashNothing for something you are looking for is brilliant because the good stuff goes quick! (Been there.)

So, follow Trusty’s lead and make trash nothing your new mantra! And Don’t forget to read my Organize Clutter with these Foolproof Strategies.

Join the Conversation

Have you used “Freecyclish” site? If so, what did you give away?
How do you deal with all the emails from Freecycle?
Found any items through Freecycle?
Thoughts about TrashNothing? Any other functionality would you like to add?

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