Entry bubble Earth Day and Going Green

By: Colleen | April 22, 2009 | Category: Home and Family

Today is the 39th observance of Earth Day.earthd ay

We all know that "going green" is on everyone's agenda today. This includes the makers of plastic bags, who have announced by 2015, plastic bags will be made with 40% recycled content. Doing this is estimated to save 463 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions and 300 million pounds of waste per year.

While this is a helpful step, some cities have gone as far as outlawing the bags altogether, and some retailers like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's have done away with them.

The earthday.gov website has a lot of great tips for living an environmentally friendly lifestyle. Doing simple things like turning off the water while brushing your teeth can make a big difference.

Do you bring your own reusable grocery bags to the store instead of using plastic? What other "green" tactics do you use daily?

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Entry bubble National Cell Phone Recycling Week

By: Colleen | April 08, 2009 | Category: Home and Family

old cellWhile you're doing your spring cleaning this year, it's a good bet you'll stumble upon countless "treasures," and surely amongst these things will be an old cell phone or two.

My three old cell phones have taken residence underneath my bed purely because I haven't known what else to do with them. Now—problem solved! April 6-12th is National Cell Phone Recycling Week. This event is a build up to Earth Day, trying to spread the message that recycling cell phones reduces greenhouse gas emissions and conserves natural resources.

Only 10% of cell phones are recycled each year, mostly because people don't know where to recycle them. This week, you can take your old cell phones, PDAs, and accessories to major cell phone retail stores (AT&T, Best Buy, LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, Office Depot, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Sprint, Staples, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless) and drop them off to be properly recycled.

Some fun facts:

  • The 11 million cell phones collected for recycling in 2008 saved enough energy to power more than 2,035 US households for a year.
  • Recycling the 100 million cell phones that are no longer used annually would save enough energy to power 18,500 US households for a year.

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