Green Lifestyle

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Plastic bottles are great for many reasons. They are light, easy to carry and durable. They are practical and easy to recycle. What really happens during the recycling process? What’s all this about? What are the benefits of recycling plastic water bottles?

On the one hand, recycling one pound of polyethylene terephthalate plastic (from soda and water bottles) saves 12,000 BTU of thermal energy. This means that using recycled materials to create a new product uses two-thirds less energy than raw materials to produce the same product. If you look at it on a global scale, we are saving a lot of BTUs for other, perhaps more important, applications.

Recycling is easy, and most of us do. How can we make it easier? First, it’s helpful to know which bottles should be recycled. Those of us recycling know that not all of them are accepted by the centers. To minimize collections and exacerbations, check the bottle. The bottles numbered 1 to 7 have codes indicating whether this particular bottle can be recycled. The numbers one and two are the most common and easiest to recycle. Almost all centers accept them. It’s also worth knowing that most centers do not collect bottle caps. They are also coded with the number. Items that cannot be recycled at your nearest facility may sometimes go to a curbside recycling program. You can call your city to find out what coded numbers they accept.

What happens when we take them to your local recycling center? There are a few simple steps involved. First, the bottles are packed in a large bale and packed for shipment. Bales contain between 6,500 and 7,200 bottles depending on the size. For example, are there more water bottles than soda bottles? What is the size of a single bottle? The second step is to send them to the “pick-up center” where the bales are broken and the bottles shredded into small pieces. Then they are washed, dried and melted. They are then formed into “beads” from which various practical products such as rugs, clothes and school trays are made. They’re also made into fun items like yo-yos and kayaks!

Recycling helps our communities in many ways. It’s simple and convenient. Plus, it just makes sense.

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Source by Sharon Cacho

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So you want to start living the “green lifestyle” but aren’t sure where to start. Or maybe a bathroom? Your bathroom is a great place to start as there are many sustainable bathroom renovation ideas you can choose from.

Or maybe start by saving water? Your bathroom is where the most water is wasted. Here are some DIY ideas to make your bathroom environmentally friendly:

1. Low flow aerators

You can install these low flow aerators on all of your faucets and you can also match them to your shower heads. They’re great because they add air to the water before it comes out of the tap, which in turn distributes the water over a much wider area. So you don’t have to use that much water when showering, brushing your teeth, brushing your face, etc. These low flow aerators restrict the flow of water but increase the force and pressure of the flowing water, making less water more effective.

2. Paint your bathroom green, but it can be any color you like. Painting the bathroom will give it a great new look, but you don’t have to spend a lot of money on it. You should also purchase “green” paint, that is, paint with little or no volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These types of paints contain natural pigments derived from plant sources. Since bathrooms are usually small spaces, you don’t want to use paint that contains harmful fumes.

3. A great way to save money and use less water is to upgrade your toilet. The older model restroom uses 3-5 gallons of water for each flush. Modern toilets only use a gallon of water per flush. This saves you between one and a half to three and a half gallons of water per flush. If you add up how many times you flush the toilet each day, you can see where this update could save a lot of money. The cost of a new toilet will be recouped in no time. If you really can’t afford to upgrade your toilet now, you can convert your older toilet to a low flow toilet by placing a weight in the tank.

To weigh in, find a water and rust resistant container such as a plastic milk jug or a plastic 2 liter soda bottle. Fill the bottle with gravel or sand and seal it tightly. Place the bottle in the toilet tank, making sure the flap, float, flush arm and all other parts in the tank do not touch the bottle. This is to push some of the water out of the toilet tank. When your tank is full, less water will fill.

Another thing you can do if you are unable to replace your toilet is to install a dual flush system on your old toilet. This gives visitors the option to choose to use a little or a lot of water. You can buy it and install it yourself for around $ 30.00.

4. Replace the plastic shower curtain with one made of natural fibers. Plastic shower curtains give off toxic fumes due to the nature of soft plastics. You can buy a linen or cotton shower curtain or make it yourself.

5. Another option is a tankless water system for your bathroom. Instead of drawing hot water from the water heater, the water is stored in a separate tank. You don’t need to run the water until it warms up. It’s heated as it reaches your overhead shower or sink tap. This change alone will save a lot of money, not only on the water, but also on the electricity bill.

The above items are not only environmentally friendly ways to improve your bathroom home, but also ways to save money on water and electricity bills.

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Source by Catherine Quel

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When it comes to cleaning the bathroom, there are two ways to do it: you have to do it often. As such, you can reconsider the chemical-based cleaners you use for the job. Not only are they unsafe to use, they are also unnecessary considering you can do most cleaning tasks with environmentally friendly materials.

In this guide, we’ll go over some working strategies that you can use. When it comes to products, you will need three basic ones:

• Lemons

• Distilled vinegar

• Baking powder

They are all less toxic than on the supermarket shelves. They are very easy to use and only require knowledge of how to get the most out of them. This is exactly what you’ll get from these hacks.

• Clean Bathroom Mirrors – If you want to clean your bathroom mirror and glass shower doors, you can use white vinegar. Spray the glass with a solution of one part vinegar to one part water and dry it with a microfiber cloth. If you want to avoid smudges, you can use the newspaper. The result will always be a shiny surface looking at you.

• Clean the toilet – a dirty toilet is not only unpleasant to the eye, but also unsanitary. Before using bleach, think about whether it is a natural solution. It releases toxic chemicals that can make you feel dizzy. Instead, you can use half a cup of vinegar and 1 tablespoon of baking soda. Pour the mixture into the toilet and let it sit for about 20 minutes. Baking soda is abrasive, so a little scrubbing will do wonders and the vinegar will clean the surface and remove any stains.

• Clean the wash basin and bath – You can use the same mixture of white vinegar and water to clean the bath and wash basin. Spray the surface, let it sit for about 20 minutes, then scrub it well. The vinegar will remove any hard water deposits and mold stains. You can also try lemons for this task. Cut one in half, sprinkle with salt and use as a scouring pad. Then wipe with water. As a bonus in the bathroom, in addition to clean surfaces, you get a pleasant lemon-fresh scent.

• Unblock the drain – if your drain is blocked, you don’t need to despair. But you can fix this situation with vinegar and baking soda. Pour some baking soda into the clogged drain and add half a cup of vinegar. The mixture will do some sparkling magic and end up with a clogged problem. Pour over some boiling water to remove it completely.

• Clean grout – The grout is porous and often contains black spots of mold. You can mix a paste of baking soda and water. Apply the solution with a toothbrush to the grout line and then rinse with water. The baking soda scrubbing effect will cope with any contamination on the joint.

• Clean taps – You can remove water marks from taps and taps in a number of different ways. You can rub it with a lemon slice which works very well. Stainless steel can be cleaned with a little olive oil. Or you can always use an eco-friendly cleaning master – vinegar. Enables quick elimination of watermarks and hard water deposits.

All these eco-friendly bathroom cleaning methods will do wonders. Try them and you will see how effective they are.

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Source by Antoaneta Tsocheva

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People are slowly beginning to realize that the world is not what it was 75, 50 or even 20 years ago. The grass is no longer as green as it used to be. The water is no longer as sweet and clean as it was then.

After adding chemicals to almost everything we eat today, many people’s immune systems have weakened and their ability to fight germs has been compromised. As droughts become more frequent, everyone should start thinking about the environment and how it affects us all.

One way to save water, help soil regeneration, and produce biodegradable fuel is to start using green toilets. There are many different types of ecological toilets. Two of them are the incinerating toilet and the compost toilet.

In the incinerating toilet, the waste is incinerated. Water is not needed and has no smell. The remaining ash is simply thrown away with other garbage. This process does not produce any useful product.

Composting toilets thicken the solid waste. Liquids and solids are separated to allow for efficient and natural degradation. Composted solids can be used as fertilizer.

A squat toilet is basically a hole in the floor that you crouch over to get things done. The process is quite sanitary as you don’t need to touch the toilet to use it. And it’s also quite easy to keep it hygienic.

There are several websites where you can get more information on these eco-friendly toilets:

1) EHow.com – Just search this site for “environmentally friendly restrooms”. There are several articles that will explain what an ecological toilet is, how it works, what is its economic value, what is its environmental impact and how easy it is to install.

2) SexyGreenHouse.com – Despite the humorous name, this page discusses how past and present administrations are pushing us towards greater environmental awareness. While an ecological toilet is not the solution to all environmental problems, it will definitely be a step in the right direction.

Green toilets help reduce germs and turn waste into alternative fuel. This process uses little or no water depending on the type of toilet. And the good part is that by installing an ecological toilet you are helping to lead this country in the right ecological direction.

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Source by Ezra Plank

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5 R – Key factors to bear in mind in relation to waste management are: Reduction, reuse, recycling, recovery and replacement.

1. Reduce – reduce waste production as much as possible. You can always reduce your waste production by following these simple tips:

behind. Use or buy only what is needed – when no waste is produced, there is no waste to process. Make a shopping list before going shopping. Thanks to this, you will not buy unnecessary things. Don’t be tempted to buy random items.

b. Buy reusable items such as rechargeable batteries. This will create very less waste as it can be reused more than once.

down. Opt out of receiving paper-based emails and choose emails instead.

re. Buy products with minimal packaging. Effective and fun packaging does not necessarily mean better product quality.

to me. Say NO to plastic bags. Carry your own reusable shopping bags.

fa. Communicate waste reduction at source – more people applying waste reduction means less waste generated.

2. Re-use – if waste is produced, investigate the possibility of recycling the waste. Do not throw away reusable items. Reduce waste by making full use of any item. Here are some helpful ideas on how to reuse these everyday items.

behind. Reuse old clothes by sewing together items such as cloth bags, pillowcases, table / sofa covers, etc. Those that cannot be reused as such can be used as cleaning cloths.

b. Use old tires in your garden as swings or pots for growing small plants.

down. Re-use glass bottles and jars as storage containers after cleaning and drying.

re. Reuse envelopes by affixing labels to the address.

to me. Reuse plastic bags as garbage bags.

3. Recycling – If reuse is not possible, investigate the next recycling option. As there are economic and environmental costs associated with collecting and recycling waste, these should only be considered when reducing and reusing waste is not feasible / feasible. Most household items and workplaces can be successfully recycled with little effort. Here are some tips for accepting recycling:

behind. Store recyclable trash cans in strategic locations around your home / workplace. This favors better participation in the recycling process on all sides.

b. Don’t throw something away just because it’s old or broken. Repair and reuse for reuse.

down. Recycle food waste by composting with compost bins.

4. Recovery – It may be possible to recover materials or energy from waste that cannot be reduced, reused or recycled. Sweden, for example, successfully produces biogas and heating oil from waste and garbage.

5. Replace – adopt environmentally friendly goods or lifestyle, e.g. use handkerchiefs instead of handkerchiefs, travel by public transport instead of private cars, walk or cycle short commuting distances, use carpooling for long commutes distances instead of independent driving, etc.

Habit is a powerful tool in our daily lives. Most of the things we do in our daily lives are a matter of habit. Buying unwanted things, using handkerchiefs instead of cloth handkerchiefs / napkins are habits that have become ingrained in us. The trick is to turn these habits into eco-friendly habits, a difficult task for anyone but still necessary for a better world. In other words, the 5Rs should be practiced as the norm rather than the exception.

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Source by Jayalakshmi Anshuman

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The Adirondack chair can be used in a variety of ways when it comes to spending time outdoors. There are many creative ways to get the most out of each Adirondack chair, some of which are listed below.

So let’s explore each method together!

• Pot holder

The spindle chair top can be used to hang or support the pots. It will look amazing when small colorful flower pots hang on the wall on a wooden block. Adirondack chairs are suitable for pots as they can provide a firmer grip on the pots and the wood will give them a natural look. The best part about it is that you can put it anywhere. All you need to do is simply split the top of the Adirondack chair, paint it, and screw in the metal brackets spaced at equal intervals. You can paint your new flower pot holder according to the house theme.

• Garden planter

If your chair has no place, turn it into a flower pot. Take the rest of the seat and put the pot in it. Place it in the yard or garden. But make sure the pot fits perfectly around the chair so it doesn’t look awkward. So what are you waiting for? Keep your toolbox and create the best garden planter right now.

• Hanger for photos and keys

If there is any creative way to use Adirondack furniture, one is to use it as a photo hanger. Imagine guests entering the living room and admiring the collection of paintings hanging on the wall. Yes! The use of photo chair bricks is a great idea. Simply connect the chair blocks in any pattern you like (square, triangle or many more), use clothes pins to hold the photos in, and voila! You are all ready to dazzle everyone. You can even hang your keys on it. So enlarge the walls and let everyone love your new photo hanger.

• Comfortable swing

As a child, almost everyone liked to swing. It’s time to relive your childhood. If the legs of the Adirondack chair are broken, turn them into a swing. Even if the chair legs have become weaker, the top is still strong enough to bear your weight. The yard, living room and terrace are perfect places for a swing.

• Rear coat hanger

A broken chair chassis can turn it into rubbish. However, using the elegant design of the chair back as a coat hanger is something everyone would like to have. You just need to paint the back of the chair with your favorite color, nail the hooks and place them in the right place. So choose your position and place the hanger.

Proposal

Whether you brought an Adirondack chair from a well-known and well-known store or from a garage sale, your best idea is to use these methods instead of throwing the chair in the bin when it breaks. Choose your favorite method and follow it to improve the look of your home.

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Source by Jack Athwani

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Some chairs are comfortable and the wheels rub when they move, others move like a magic carpet, but are like sitting on a bed of nails. It seems these two situations rarely meet naturally to create the perfect office chair or torture tool designed in the Middle Ages for the Inquisition. As older chairs are being replaced with newer models and before the old ones are thrown away, take and recycle office chair casters and possibly create your perfect chair yourself.

Production lines are moving faster and some quality seems to have dropped from newer products, and office chairs are no exception. This is especially true of the wheels. Older chair models had solidly built wheels that were meant to last.

By saving and recycling your old office chair wheel, you may find that your new chair actually gains more life. If the wheels don’t wear out as quickly, people will use them longer. Nothing is worse than a squeaky chair in a quiet office.

This rule applies not only to office chairs, but to all office furniture with castors. Any solidly built kit can easily be used to replace a newer but inferior kit for longer life. Mail trucks will make less noise in the hallway, and a videoconferencing trolley will not take two people to move around because one wheel will not function properly.

Saving your old office chair casters and making sure everyone knows you did it will help all employees get the chair they want, without all the forms and orders needed for a new one. All the pieces are there, just take the time to move the parts and an extra chair or two will be saved. This type of chair recycling benefits everyone.

This is one way to save some money and make better use of your existing office furniture. Recycling is an integral part of our daily life at home. There is no reason why our workplace should not benefit from it either.

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Source by Ty Macphearson

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I have to admit that I am usually skeptical about books that show how to be green. Sometimes the suggestions are so bizarre that you can almost guarantee that no one will take them seriously. So you can imagine I was pleasantly surprised that the book, Ready, eco-minded: eight weeks to modern eco-living by Graham Hill and Meaghan O’Neill of Treehugger provided many useful suggestions for a greener lifestyle.

The “Save the planet in 30 minutes or less” suggestion lists, followed by the “So you want to do more” lists, are extremely user-friendly, which can help you gain readership. Symbols are also used to indicate the benefits that can be obtained from your efforts. And the benefits aren’t just green. They also include saving money, saving time, and improving your health. Brilliant and missing in many other pieces of the green genre.

Eco-friendly boxes with factoids and myths highlight interesting and useful information. The background data is presented in an informative and less judgmental manner than I have seen in other works. In addition, focusing on how it affects the reader helps you score.

There were really only two problems with the book.

First, a mandatory bike ride. As I write this review, it is now 8 degrees Fahrenheit with a projected maximum of 14 tomorrow here in Chicago. This (and the walk) tends to fall on deaf ears, except in the warmer seasons of these climates. Moreover, the proliferation of cities with high-speed motorways and the lack of cycle paths often makes it a dangerous endeavor, especially in the early morning or evening hours. Such efforts will require community-wide and government support to make them viable.

Second, many of the items suggested are little-known brands that you won’t find at your local Target or grocery store. So if I have to order them and pay for shipping, both financial and environmental, have we made progress? The limited availability of more environmentally friendly and socially aware products in frequently visited retail outlets is one of the main challenges for the green consumer movement.

Due to the extremely user-friendly format and clearly presented and useful information, Done, set it green is a must read for those who want to learn about ecology in the real world.

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Source by Heidi Thorne

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What’s the best way to build a cheap home that doesn’t harm the planet? Most of the materials, such as concrete and steel, are highly processed and transported over long distances, making them impossible to afford for the millions of people who need a home. These high-tech materials also cause a lot of environmental damage. The answer is to use locally available natural building materials with a low impact, such as earth, stone, straw and small diameter wood. This article explores several ways to use land and sustainably sourced timber to bring housing costs down to the lowest prices. And because the techniques are user-friendly, they are perfect for DIY enthusiasts.

Building Earth Bags: Like other methods of building soil, building earth bags is easy to learn and extremely cheap. It evolved from the military’s use of heavy-duty, blast-resistant, bullet-proof sandbag structures for 100 years. Modern builders use the same basic bag filling and stacking process to build beautiful homes, offices, shops, schools, and orphanages. Earthbag buildings are resistant to mold, fire, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, insects and rodents.

Since the main building material is land, which is often free or very cheap if provided, structures can literally be built cheaply. No expensive equipment is needed. Most people already have the basic tools at home – shovels, buckets, a garden hose, and a ladder. The construction process is so simple that unskilled workers can learn each construction step just by watching for a minute. The Earthbag building is extremely flexible and can be used to build almost any shape imaginable, including domes, vaults, round houses, or more typical square or rectangular designs.

Small Diameter Wood: US forests are currently overcrowded and prone to fires. Millions of acres are destroyed each year by fires and disease. The sustainable collection of small trees from the forest actually improves forest health and reduces forest fires. With an inexpensive firewood permit (around $ 20), anyone can get firewood to build a house. Most of this wood usually ends up in the chimney to warm homes, but is much more valuable when transformed into useful long-life products. All wood for your home can be obtained this way at a much lower cost than buying dimensional wood from a construction procurement center.

One option is to detach the bark and use it in a round for columnar frames. Round timber is much stronger than sawn timber and requires less processing. With a portable cutter or chainsaw attachment, DIY enthusiasts can also mill their own wood into beams, joists, dowels, trusses, purlins, window and door frames, finishes, cabinets and furniture. Where I live, builders cut down standing dead trees (healthy wood) from the forest to avoid the time and effort of seasoning the wood. In addition, the use of sustainably sourced timber as described here is more aesthetically pleasing than traditional drywall cladding. The beauty of the wood remains exposed, honoring the tree it comes from.

Compacted Ground Flooring: Traditional poured ground flooring can last for many centuries, thus saving a small fortune in framing wood floors and replacing carpeting and linoleum every 15 years. When finished, Earth floors look like leather and are extremely beautiful. (They are used in trendy custom homes.) However, poured earthen floors take a long time to dry, making them impractical in all but hot, dry climates.

Compact earth floors use less water and dry much faster. These floors can usually be walked on one or two days after installation. The construction process involves screening the roadbed or other suitable soil through a 3/8 “mesh. This mix is ??spread in 2” layers and tamped down horizontally. The process repeats until the desired height is reached. The topsheet material is re-sieved through a 1/8 inch screen. The top coat mixture is hand rubbed and polished using only enough water to bind well. After the floor has dried thoroughly, seal with several layers of linseed oil diluted with turpentine.

Earthen plaster: The most beautiful wall finish I have ever seen is earthen plaster. If you’ve never seen earth plaster before, you can think of the gloomy brown walls. Do a search on the Internet for “clay plaster” and you will see amazing results. As there are many types of clay, there are no restrictions on colors, textures, and special effects. One popular method uses mica in plaster to create shiny, glossy walls.

Clay plaster is probably the most user-friendly wall finish. In many cultures, women, children and the elderly have been making plaster work for centuries using only their hands and basic tools. The key to durable clay plaster is the wide roof overhangs that are approximately 36 inches long. Protect your walls from rain and snow and it will last a long time with only minor touch-ups.

These are just a few ideas to help you start thinking about using natural building materials. Thanks to the Internet, it is now very easy to learn about these and other low-cost building methods. Additional articles on the above topics are available free of charge on the author’s website.

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Source by Owen Geiger

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In the city of Austin, the new energy ordinance will require homeowners to conduct an energy efficiency audit before selling their home. The audit report must be disclosed to the buyer of their home. An energy audit and disclosure of information will become part of the home buying process in mid-2009.

In the hot Austin climate, energy efficiency has a lot to do with the efficiency of a central air conditioning system. We are more interested in cooling than heating, but both systems are used all year round. The new law aims to improve the energy performance of older homes in these critical areas:

Finding leaks and closing gaps in AC lines. (Channels can leak between 10% and 30%!)

Improvement of insulation in the attic to maintain conditioned air.

Keeping the sun hot with solar screens on the windows.

Reducing loss of conditioned air through cracks in doors and windows.

After some resistance from homeowners and groups, the law stopped imposing mandatory energy retrofits in order to sell the home. In today’s marketplace, it doesn’t make sense to add hardship or cost to the selling process. So the law has been shortened to require sellers to audit an energy and disclose the results to potential buyers.

Will buyers demand that the house they buy meet the requirements in terms of energy efficiency? The market will have to solve this. I think they will probably do it over time. Retailers will anticipate this when taking steps to correct wasteful energy losses in their home. . Most sellers would like to have a positive report to show potential buyers. They will want a clean health record. And we have to admit that the elements required for testing are really fundamental.

They are so fundamental that they generally go unnoticed. These are not green qualities that satisfy the ego or are visually appealing. We don’t see them in Dwell Magazine. They are not as exciting as wind turbines, solar panels, rainwater tanks or icestone meters. These are things most people would prefer not to think about. Like caulking and mastic. And ineffective dark screens and dusty old attic insulation. These are not improvements that make buyers say “I love it.”

So they were never the most important thing. Austin’s new Energy Audit Act will change all that. This will make these behind-the-scenes basics clear. Old houses will meet new technology. Homeowners will be able to improve the basic energy efficiency of their homes. This will mean lower utility bills. And fewer coal ejection plants. And the greener Austin.

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Source by Roselind Hejl