I love seasonal beverages! They’re my favorite treat! I love to try the holiday flavors that come out at this time of year. Unfortunately I’ve discovered that Trader Joe’s, my husband’s favorite place to treat me, is not earth friendly with their seasonal beverage selections. I dislike calling out a specific company, but there were…
Thanksgiving Recycling and Composting
Thanksgiving is almost upon us! Here is a quick possible checklist for Thanksgiving recycling and composting! Obviously this will be for anything not eaten or washed (if reusable)! Please use the results to determine how you want to begin! When shopping consider if an item will be recyclable, compostable, or trashed. Turkey Wrapper goes in…
Shred Day
Free secure document paper shredding Austin ARMA will host the fall shred day Saturday November 16, 2019 at Balcones Shred. Be careful to read the map(s) provided by Austin ARMA. The address posted is not always the exact entrance you will use for drive through. Secure document shredding may be available on site but please…
RETHINK: Food Storage
One of the big changes one can make going zero waste is reusing containers. Glass and metal will hold up over time and stay in the recycling stream longer. Plastic can in many cases be recycled as well, but only a few times. Health concerns may affect the type of material you choose. Also consider…
Teal Pumpkin Project
Have you heard about or seen a teal pumpkin at Halloween? I want to share about this great program for two reasons:1) It’s a great project and I think we should try to be considerate of those with allergies being a severe allergy sufferer myself, and 2) It’s actually an easy way to host a…
Working Toward A Zero Waste Halloween
This article originally appeared in the October 2019 edition of the Front Porch Flyer. Holidays can offer an exercise in creativity and reuse, and an opportunity to connect with neighbors. Here are some ideas to “green” your Halloween: Candy/Treats Try to find boxed/paper candy that can be recycled/composted: Nerds, Dots, Milk Duds, Junior Mints, fake…
Updating Furniture
Instead of buying a new piece of furniture, consider giving your current furniture a facelift. Slipcovers, pillow covers, decorative pillows, blankets artistically draped, paint, new hardware, new accents, all these things can be used to give a new life to pieces you already own. Here are some examples of a quick color change. My couch’s…
Amazon Mailers
*This post has been updated December 2019 to provide additional information on how to contact Amazon and alternative methods of accessing a pickup site. There’s been some confusion with the Amazon mailers so I’m going to clarify how to handle each one. This is Amazon’s first mailer. It’s a yellow paper envelope lined in clear…
Scrub a dub dub: Kitchen Scrubbers
I purchased these products myself and my review is my own experience. More environmentally friendly kitchen scrub options Most kitchen sponges or scrubbing items are made of oddly shaped plastic, a combination of soft and hard plastics, or a combination of different materials which make them difficult to separate and/or recycle. Unless you are going…
Egg Cartons
The question of what to do with egg cartons comes up a lot so I wanted to address it here. Paper egg cartons without egg goo are “best and highest use” in recycling carts. “Best and highest use” will give the carton several future lives as additional paper products until the paper fibers become so…