Have you set up a garage recycling center? We live in a community where our local recycling center picks up almost all recyclable material for us in a single bin. Some of you may not be so lucky and have to sort by plastic-type. I have broken down the 7 types of plastic to help you sort it out.
#1 Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET): 2-liter soda bottles, microwaveable food dishes, boil in a bag food pouches, egg cartons, and other food containers.
#2 High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE): Hard thick plastic such as shampoo & conditioner bottles, milk jugs, laundry detergent bottles, and OTC medication bottles.
After spending so much time at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, you may be among the large portion of homeowners who are itching to renovate their space. However, the construction and remodeling industry can be a wasteful one. Many of the traditional materials or techniques you would use when renovating your home can be harmful to the environment.
Luckily, there are plenty of ways to make your home renovation environmentally-friendly as well as aesthetically-pleasing. Let’s take a look at the eco-friendly ways in which you can renovate your home this year.
Choose Bamboo For Flooring
If you’re taking on a big project like remodeling a room in your home or finishing your basement, which can cost 80% less than buying a bigger home, consider what type of wood you’re choosing for your flooring. Due to rampant industrialization, deforestation is a serious problem around the world and any project that involves using wood can further exacerbate the issue.
Bamboo, however, is durable, moisture-resistant, and grows back faster than wood. There is an abundance of bamboo in the world that you can harvest without destroying its roots. Not only does this make it an environmentally-friendly option, but growing bamboo also requires fewer pesticides. By choosing bamboo, you’ll get chic flooring that is better for your health as well as the health of forests around the world.
Use Low-VOC or VOC-Free Paint
An easy way to be eco-friendly while doing home renovations is to use low-VOC or VOC-free paint for any painting projects you’re doing. Short for volatile organic compounds, VOCs produce molecules that are harmful to the environment as well as to your health. When VOCs are in the interior paint you use, you’ll be negatively affecting your indoor air quality and potentially causing irritation to your eyes and respiratory tract. As acute upper respiratory infections are already among the top five medical diagnoses seen in urgent care centers, you certainly don’t need to impact that bodily system any further.
Other products, like varnishes and disinfectants, also tend to contain VOCs. By being conscious about whether the products and paints you use contain VOCs, you can improve the air quality in your home.
Choose Recycled Metal For Roofing
Replacing your roof is an important home project that will have a lasting effect on your home. You should replace your roof every 30 to 40 years, so the material you choose now will impact your home for decades to come. The material you choose for your roof can also have a long-lasting impact on the environment. One of the most eco-friendly choices for roofing is recycled metal.
By using recycled metal, you can help reduce waste and the need for producing new materials for your roof. Metal roofs have a long life expectancy, meaning that you won’t have to use resources to replace it or repair it frequently. This type of roof can also help keep your home cool because it has reflective properties that bounce the sun’s rays away from the home. This feature is also eco-friendly, as it can help lower your energy usage.
On top of these strategies, there are many other ways you can renovate your home while helping the environment. Whether it’s using recycled materials for your various projects or buying energy-efficient appliances after remodeling your kitchen, there are options for practically every room in the house. All you need to do is put a little forethought into the project and find the right resources to allow your eco-warrior side to shine.
You can pick up organic beauty products at home – but let’s face it, they are expensive. Especially considering that you can make many of them at home using organic ingredients and they will cost you a fraction of the store-bought options. Try these 9 simple, organic natural beauty remedies for sweeter chemical free skin. These will make you look and feel refreshed, all while avoiding harsh chemicals, read on, gather your ingredients and get started.
1. Organic Facial Whip 1 organic free-range egg for 10 minutes, add 1 tbsp. organic honey and apply to your face for 15 minutes, rinse and pat dry.
2. Organic Exfoliating Scrub
Mash 5 to 7 organic strawberries and massage onto damp skin, rinse, and pat dry.
3. Organic Moisturising Bath
Add 1 cup hot water and 2 tbsp, organic honey, to your bath, pat dry.
4. Organic Foot Moisturizer
Soak your piggies in 1/2 cup organic baking soda and water for 10 minutes, rinse and pat dry.
5. Organic Moisturizing Facial Mask
Mash 1/2 organic banana and apply to your face for 15 minutes, rinse and pat dry.
6. Organically Brighten your Nails
Soak your fingernails in the juice from 1/2 organic lemon once a week.
7. Organically Whiten your Smile
Mix equals parts sea salt and organic baking soda and applies to your teeth to whiten and brighten, rinse and then brush as usual.
8. Organic Eye Makeup Remover
Use 1 tbsp. organic castor oil, 1 tbsp. organic olive oil and 1 tbsp. organic vegetable oil to a cloth and remove makeup easily, wash, as usual, rinse and pat dry.
9. Organic Facial Scrub
Use either 1/2 cup finely ground organic almonds and 1/2 cup organic soy yogurt or 1 organic avocado and 1/2 cup organic mayo to make a facial scrub. Scrub your face, rinse and pat dry.
Most American families use the bulk of their energy consumption doing laundry. This is not a major problem at our home, since there are only three of us. We typically do two loads of laundry a week, but for those of you out there with larger families, there are things you can do to lessen the “load” of your laundry. Read on for my favorite ways to green your laundry.
1. Be Selective Wash only full loads of laundry and try to wear items like your jeans and jackets more than once. If it isn’t dirty, don’t just toss it in the wash.
2. Wash in Cold Since cold water generally comes out of the tap at 80°, you can almost always wash items in cold, this will save 75% more energy than hot water.
3. Hang to Dry I save energy by partially drying our clothing and then hanging them to completely dry. This also prevents me from having to iron, since the clothes almost always dry perfectly wrinkle-free. This is a good thing too since I can not stand to iron. If it is a sunny, warm day take advantage of the sun and wind to dry your clothes.
4. Clean the Lint Removing the lint from your dryer makes the machine run more efficiently and also prevents it from becoming a fire hazard – clean the lint drawer before every single load.
5. Think Energy Star When it is time to purchase a new washer or dryer, consider an Energy Star front loader. You can save over $100 a year in energy costs and ours holds much more per cycle and spins faster than a conventional model all while using 1/2 as much water.
6. Get Unplugged Since washers and dryers are major energy vampires if possible pull the plug when not in use.
Here is a fun, skin safe, organic, and earth-friendly idea for the little ones for Earth Day or any day.
Spend the day outside in the sun and paint your child’s face with organic face paint that you make yourself.
Ingredients:
1 tbsp. finely ground organic oatmeal
3/4 cup organic Karo syrup
1/4 cup water
3 tbsp. organic corn starch
Natural colorants
Directions:
Mix the corn starch with the ground oatmeal. Slowly stir in the Karo syrup and water until the mixture is smooth. Add natural colorant and pour into a reusable container.
