TP rolls

I might not use a lot of paper towels but I do use toilet paper. So when the Southern Institute posted it's toilet paper roll Challenge  I thought why not have some fun and do this.  I did start by cutting my rolls up into strips.

 Funny thing it was like I knew this was going to be happening cause I found like 3 rolls in the bathroom on the shelf near the TP holder... LOL.  That and my paper towels which I use very rarely ran out that day.....


   I tried a couple different ways and I didn't like it at all.  I was trying so hard to make the curls turn into hearts... and keep it all the same size... wasn't happening at all!!

So I just started to put the cut circles together and I thought wow a flower... and I ran with it..

I like the curls... I had to keep them... SO I added them to the points and after hot gluing them together I painted the whole thing black.

Cause I like wrought iron.  I have enough of it in my living room.  Make that a lot of it... there is always room for more!!

My wrought iron look a like wall hanging:

Hide and seek Give away!!

I got a Hidden Recycler from Rubbermaid to review and to host a give a way!!

It was very easy to put together.  Plus I love the fact there was a piece of paper that showed you the size and how to attach to the cabinet.  OK I found this paper after I found out that it didn't fit!!  
The dimensions are 12.7” W x 9.9” D x 17” H. It was a little to big for my cabinets but it did fit on the outside of the one door... It was perfect... the door that has the trash on the inside.. recycles on the outside... think it will remind them to recycle??? LOL I hope...

 This is a win win product as a crunchy mom. The hidden recycler is made of recycled materials ( 65% post-consumer resin) and can be recycled after use...   It will hold around 36 cans and 8 pounds of materials! Big enough for gallon cider jugs.   It has a lid, so you don't have to look at the recycling mess in the can.

You can machine wash the bag on the cold gentle cycle  if it gets too gross to wipe down with a damp cloth.  But do not throw in the dryer, line dry.

You can remove the cloth bag part and empty the bag into your recycling can or center.  It has a carry handle that makes that so easy.  I live in a city that has curb side collection for recycling so I have a city property rolling container. On habit I line the bag with a blue bag but you don't have to. The bag is also lined to help be leak proof .

PLUS for the renters you don't have to drill anything to attach the bag to your door.  You just place them as the directions show and hook them over the door.  No holes.  Just metal hooks.


So You can win one also!!



The suggested retail price of the  Hidden Recycler is $15.99.  But you know how it is some store may change the price because they can set the price.

I am sorry but this give away is only open for USA and Canada.

So to win just leave a comment on what you like best about the  Hidden Recycler. Extra points if you are a follower. (leave a second comment to remind me) Oh yea also leave in your comment how I can let you know if you won!! Do the email _at_ your email provider to keep the bots away.

You have until April 2nd  to enter!

 I will select a winner by a random number generator. 

Good luck! 

I was not paid for this post just received a free hidden recycler for review.  This is  my opinion.  Facts are given from Rubbermaid (size and materials) Have to add the  Legal jargin you know.... 

Look what I won!

     

        I joined a  green group that meets in a  local church.    With the crazy way at work I need to ask for a day off around 3 weeks early it took me over a month and a half to get to the first meeting.  We had a visitor from the areas recycling plant that offered some thought that made me go hummm  maybe I need to rethink this.  But I won this cause I knew that each week the average person produces 5 pounds of trash.   Cool huh? My first meeting and I go home with a recycle bin....... plus there was someone there I knew so it wasn't too weird.

Halloween Recycled Crafts part 2

SO one night while bored I was lost on the web found myself looking at craft ideas for Halloween. Some how don't remember how I landed on The Swell Life. Where I saw some cool Candy corn bottles.  She used spray paint for the yellow and orange part but I used regular craft paint.  I couldn't find cheap spray paint, I mean I was dropping $6 a can for large colored spray paint. I went to the craft store and spent a dollar for each color....
I spray painted them white and let dry.  Then I painted the colored part.   I did have paint a couple coats to the colored part.  I let dry between coats.  I also sprayed the finished bottles with a clear glaze to help keep the paint from being washed or chipped off......

So even more bored I went and googled poison labels.  I found a few and got them from all different places.... a couple of bottles I spray painted black to look more spooky.  While others I keep clear to add crazy stuff to the bottle to match the label.  Like fairy clippings I have glitter and feathers in the jar.  A couple didn't make it to the picture, like swamp fog with used drier sheets; oh the girls never can hit the trash can for some reason!!! Plus a bottle with the label can of worms... I am going to cut up pieces of black and brown yarn for that... you know I looked for small rubber snakes and can't find them... but I have a bottle of juice that will be emptied soon and will have red liquid replacing it.  I have the label vampire blood  to add to it...


 Oh yea I go a little crazy on Halloween 

There are ghost on my porch!

Recycled halloween crafts !

I remember seeing a craft from the magazine Family Fun. The thing is I didn't remember it fully. I didn't remember the lights inside... Some how I thought it was electric tape for the eyes and mouth... oh well they turned out great! I used empty oxygen boost bottle and a empty green cleaner bottle.  I even used empty milk bottles and cider jugs works well , even with the semi-clear bottles they look fine from a distance. I did add some off my rocks I used for drainage in my container garden to keep them on the porch and not to fly away to the neighbors yards...

I did lose a grave marker earlier this week due to the rain and wind.... I pulled in to the drive way noticed it in the neighbors yard.  By the time I got my cold stuff in the refrigerator.  It was gone.... Bummer....

I do want to make some jar cute-ies.  I don't remember where I saw them but jars being painted and decorated like pumpkins.  I thought I make some ghost too.  Plus the mummies like on  Family Fun  but with jars not toilet paper tubes.... but hey I have selective memory... but it still works out.

Ziplock bags recycling coming to a Grocery Store near You

It is estimated that 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are throw away everyday. Plus it takes over a thousand years for them to decompose. Only 13% is recycled.... that's 87% ending up in our trash, many being eaten by the wildlife.... Your child can produce around  180 plastic baggies just from school lunches!! 

 Yes it is true that SC Johnson, the parent company of the Ziploc brand,is starting a recycling idea! SOON you can right next to the store plastic bags recycle bin;  recycle your ziplock bags! You will of course need to wash and dry them before placing them in the bins... that is any ziplock sandwich, storage, or  freezer bags.

Recyclebank where you earn points for recycling. Of course my area doen't have the curb recycling that is with Recyclebank But I earn points other ways... Like typing in  the codes from speically marked ziplock bags on the site!!

They estimate that over 18,000 stores will be part of the program and the first store will bin Texas.....

You can even win Cuisinart® GG-12 Green Gourmet Eco-Friendly Nonstick Hard Anodized 12-Piece Cookware Set or the Big Green Cookbook!!

It's your choice....

You may want to Opt out of the Yellow pages deliveries or not. For something I didn't know that the yellow pages are made from recycled newspapers and residual chips, the unusable pieces of wood that are cut off at the lumber mill when they are cutting the logs.... they all so use vegetable-based inks and eco-friendly adhesives as not to pollute the ground water

They also have a link to how to recycle your old book...

Dryer lint

Ok a confusion I use my dryer. Yes here in northeaster Ohio I use my dryer to dry my clothes.  I do however remove many things that are still a little damp when the rest is dry and hang on my bulky hanger to finish drying.   So seeing how the backyard has a ton of snow in it I really haven't taken my dryer lint to the compost pile.  My food scraps are feeding the strays in the neighborhood, I swear after putting them in the flower garden area in front of the house.

I found some ideas to use my dryer lint that I thought I should share here.  Use for a cheap mulch, but don't place near the base of the plant.  Ok I still have some mulch from last year..... use as a cheap fiber fill for stuffed projects.  I might do that if I decide to make something.  Of course to place outside for the birds to make a nice warm nest.  But most of the time they by pass that for the dogs hair... Really I have seen them check it out the lint  then find my dogs hair and grab it like it was gold!  I like to brush him outside - cut down on the hair in my house.... then began doing it more after seeing the birds taking it so fast.
Fire starter... been there did that! It does catch very quickly. 

My favorite idea was Dryer Lint Clay!  From Thrifty Fun 

Dryer Lint Clay

Ingredients

Here's recipes for making clay out of dryer lint.

• 1 1/2 cups lint from the dryer
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 drops wintergreen mint flavoring
• Old newspaper
• Paint

Directions

Place the lint in a saucepan and cover it with the water. When the lint is saturated, add the flour and stir until it is smooth. Add the drops of wintergreen oil flavoring. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until it forms peaks and holds together. Pour it onto newspaper to cool. Shape and model figures, or cover a form with it, such as a balloon. Allow to dry for 3 to 5 days, then paint and decorate as required.

Going for the Gold!

Who is watching the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver? I get to see some of the games at work. Really sorry to say but I am not really that interested in sports.

But finding out that the Olympic medals are made with recycled electronics parts that does interest me....  Teck Resources is a metal company right there in  Vancouver that is supplying the medals that the athletics have been dreaming about maybe all their lives!!   Teck's President and CEO Don Lindsay comments, "We're also excited that these medals will contain recycled metal recovered from end-of-life electronics, consistent with the sustainability philosophy of the Olympic and Paralympic Games."

Granted it isn't 100% recycled but a small part: gold: 1.52 percent; silver: 0.122 percent; and copper: 1.11 percent. Anything recycled is better then not recycled.  Every little bit helps! Kept many items out of the land fill and poisoning our environment.  That equaled  6.8 metric tonnes of electronics circuit boards for the 1,000 medals made.  Not bad! 

Gee we need a environment group to give a gold metal to the  Teck Resources metal company for being the first for finding a way to make the 2010 Olympic games green!!

Plus it goes to show everyone that the 1.52% didn't seem like much but the amount that was saved from the landfill is a big savings.  Plus if you think about it when we do what we can it will make a big difference.

They know their numbers!

The girls know their numbers! Yea  they are like young adults. But I am talking about  the recycling numbers of plastics recycling.............. I am so proud.  They were helping clean out the refrigerator when they began to look at the bottom of many items we have bought and looking at the number in the middle of the recycle arrows.  Look the sour cream; it is a 5!  Most drinks are a 2 etc...  Hey they were having a good time and my refrigerator was getting cleaned!!
    Miss animal rights has little nick names for some of the plastics.  Number one is of course PETE so she began to nick name some  the rest........ Number 2 is hope (on plastic is HDPE.)  5 (PP) is the best for food because there is no BPA she named The food plastic.  Oh they know what that BPA means too....... Both 2 and 5 was reported to be good for food.  Depends on who you read.
  They found and was very upset that we had some plastic containers that where older with the number 7.  Both Smiley and Miss animal Rights said at the same time...... the BPA junk plastic.  Ok I did tell them that 7 was plastic of Other (all the other stuff) and that it's the plastic that has BPA. That it was the plastic stuff that was the cheapest to make. And that why is was so popular to use.  So we went threw our plastic containers and had to recycle  many!   When telling Tech about it they both told him that 3,6 and 7 have BPA or are bad for your health.  Almost  like a song they sang together.
I am so proud!

The double edge Sword of being green

I find that many items that are being label green or eco-friendly are very misleading. Ok yes it true they may have been made from 100% recycled whatevers, but if they are made in China, Japan, or anything overseas is that really green?

Because green is more than just reusing and make something from recycled products. It's about the environment. That includes the gas that the airplanes use to fly the product to the states. The gas it uses to ship the product all over the states. PLUS it is more energy to recycle plastic that to make new plastic or glass. Glass recycling is the easiest. Ever watch a glass blower? All it needs is to be reheated and reshaped. Steel and aluminum are easy to recycle also it the same matter. But still take a lot of energy.

It also sad to say that little of the plastics we put in the blue bags or recycling bins make it to become that can be recycled again. Items that are marked made with recycled plastic can be made from plastic that are just mistakes from the factory never making your grocery store let alone your recycling center. Most of the time the plastic from the recycling center are made into plastic lumber and parking lot bumpers. Not all plastics are recycled!! Eleven states are sueing the American Plastics Council for misleading the public. Because many buy these bottles think that I am recycling them, it won't hurt the environment and are never recycled. New York State is quoting $5 per ton of plastic as what they receive from recycling companies. It doesn't work out to be cost effective. Because before they are shipped they must be separated into each number that you find on the bottom of your plastics. Plus it is a hit or miss business. At one time they will be a big demand for the plastic then none for months. Not a sound business venture in this troubled times it wouldn't not be a sound investment.

Plastic recycling also contributes to health problems. That areas with plastic recycling centers have pollution that can effect those with weak amunine systems. Most of the center however are located in countries with weak environmental controls. I'm sure we all have smelled the horrible smell when someone placed a plastic item to close to the stove, threw it in the fire or overheated in the microwave. :Shudders: Could you imagine that 24/7?

Sad is that the general public is thinking that their recycling, reducing, reusing and buying eco-friendly marked product actually help the environment. But it can have a misleading label, use more energy than needed to remake and just be not worth the extra money.

I would say that reusing would be your best bet. Not buying the water in plastic bottles, but reusing a water bottle or sports bottle. Same with container that hold food and remember don't reheat your food in the microwave in plastic containers.

That buying something just because it says recycled may not be what they claim. Remember that buying local manafactured items is better for the environment and the countries economy................ If you can use what you got you don't need to buy new even if it is marked made from 100% recycled whatever.....

Still Bugs Me

I had to replace my windshield of my car. When I said something about the windshield becoming a new kitchen back splash or bathroom enclosure, the tech told me that it was going to the landfill...
WHAT?
My daughter told him wrong thing to say to her.........

Oh yea....

Guess Northeastern Ohio needs a glass recycling plant! What a waste that all that glass was just ending up in the landfill. His truck had many broken windshields plus a few new ones that would be replaced by the end of the day...... he tried to explain that there is plastics mixed in and that it wasn't easy to recycle. I just looked at him with this yea right look. I know I have seen products on Planet Green that where made from recycled glass including windshields from airplanes....

Then at work I notice that we recycle plastic and paper but not glass the easiest thing to recycle, there is less carbon footprint and it can be used for so many new things like new bottles...........

The closest I found to dealer that sell recycled glass tiles are Oceanside Glasstile at Virginia Title Co. in Warrensville Heights and Brooklyn Heights