Happy Earth Day!

Simple, Everyday Eco-Friendly Tips for Families

And What a Better Day to Get Started?!
 

While Earth Day is a great day to remind ourselves of things we can do to support the environment, it the efforts shouldn't stop today! Check out these easy DIY tutorial tips to help your family be more GREEN every day.

Extending the Reach of Your Recycling

Don't Let the Greening Stop in the Kitchen

Recyclable materials are all over the house; make sure your recycling bins are, too!

 

While it would seem that we've finally developed a successful system allowing us to optimize our recycling in the kitchen, that trend doesn't always carry through to the rest of the house. After noticing a fair amount of recyclables being thrown into the bathroom trash cans, I decided that we needed to facilitate a system for the bathrooms, too.

Using Recyclable Plastic Bags for Household Recycling

Need to Upgrade Your Recycling Habits? 

Consider Making Convenience a Factor!

 

 

I have to believe that the main reason people choose not to recycle is a matter of convenience (or, inconvenience, really). Perhaps the recycling bin is outdoors, in another room, or waaaay out in the garage... well that makes recycling really inconvenient, doesn't it (especially in a winter like our last one)? And I've been there! Which is why I'm sharing this post today :)

Saving a Step with Our Recyclables

Recyclable Plastic Bags

I'm so excited that my family is at the point that, between single-stream recycling and the garbage disposal, we have more recycling every week than trash! When we started transitioning to this stage, my biggest obstacle became storing the recyclables. We were either trudging out to the garage or mudroom or leaving them on the counter (very unsightly). So I looked and looked, and I finally found a trash can that is divided into two equal sections for garbage and recycling (I'll post more on that later;the garbage can itself deserves its own post. It's literally a favorite of all our guests). But then the problem became needing bags that were recyclable. Another search. And most of the solutions were very expensive!

While I wasn't prepared to spend $36.99 on (essentially) garbage bags, what looked like the best value was this set of 250 Blue Recycling Bags I found on Amazon (comparably,the name brand option costs $100. No, mine don't have the drawstring feature of the name brand option, but for another $60+, I wasn't about to spring for that). And we majorly lucked out! We're not even halfway through the box after 7 months of using them, so at this rate, we should make it through the year with this box. Just to clarify, we don't use them for every single thing we recycle, just the everyday items that we keep in the house (e.g., juice and milk cartons, seltzer bottles, cereal and snack boxes). 

They come in a box like the one shown above (and it's heavy!), and BONUS: they're made in the USA! I just store this box under the sink with the regular garbage bags on top, and it's really convenient. And they qualify for free shipping if you have Amazon Prime.

What are some other clever ways you've found for storing your recyclabes?