Don't Just Recycle: Freecycle

To a lot of us, recycling is second nature. But have you considered Freecycling?

Freecycle is a grassroots movement of eco-minded people who give and get perfectly good stuff for free. Freecycle promotes waste reduction by cutting down on the amount of consumer goods being deposited in landfills.

How does it work? With conspicuous consumption running rampant, most everyone owns items that are perfectly functional, but are languishing in the garage, or waiting to be carted off to the dump. No matter what sort of stuff you have, it's likely that there's a Freecycler out there willing to give it a new home — whether it's an old computer printer, baby clothes or mason jars. You post a listing, and interested members respond. And it works the other way, too: if you need something, post your request and wait for someone to offer it up to you (great for college students setting up housekeeping for the first time). Freecycled items have been as diverse as cardboard toilet paper roll collections, boats, and houses (yes, really!)

When you Freecycle instead of disposing, you extend the useful life of consumer goods, keep material and toxins out of landfill and generate some really good Karma. It's free and friendly. Find a Freecycle group near you at www.freecycle.org.

Don't Toss Those Printer Ink Cartridges

Printer ink cartridges are a necessary evil for most home offices. Did you know that an average of three quarts of oil are burned to make one new cartridge, and it takes about 1000 years for a cartridge to decompose in landfill?

It's much easier to recycle printer ink cartridges than you might think. HP, Lexmark, Xerox and other manufacturers offer free recycling and postage paid labels on their websites. Many computer stores (Best Buy, Comp USA, etc.) offer free postage-paid envelopes for cartridge recycling. Grab a handful when you buy your next cartridge and stash them next to your printer. Recycling those cartridges takes less than 30 seconds, and over the course of a year you can save gallons of oil.

Shed Your Shoes

You don't have to live atop a Superfund site to live in a toxic environment. In one EPA study, the concentration of pesticides was found to be 10-100 times higher in carpet dust than in yard soils, and those compounds were found to last far longer indoors than out. In one 1990 study, the EPA analyzed the particles embedded in the dust of an old carpet and found that of all the particles, DDT had the highest concentration ... even though the use of DDT was banned 18 years earlier, in 1972.

How do these poisons get into your house? Outdoor pollutants are tracked in on shoes, or on the feet and fur of household pets. Removing your shoes at the door helps keep toxins out of your home. This is especially important if you have small children who spend a lot of time crawling and playing on the floor. Pets — especially cats — are vulnerable as well, since toxins can be absorbed through their footpads, and ingested during grooming.

Removing your shoes at the door of your home can dramatically reduce the levels of toxins and pesticides in your home. For example, according to Environmental Scientist Michael Wisner, if you leave your shoes at the door before walking into your home, you can reduce your family’s exposure to lead by 40%. As an added bonus, your carpets will remain cleaner longer, decreasing the amount of toxic carpet cleaner you use (trace amounts of which can make their way into your local water table).