more than just kitty box liner

Despite the herald of the end of print, many of us still get our news the old-fashioned way.

Whether you pick up your local paper every Sunday with a coffee, or have it home-delivered seven days a week, there are ways to use all those trees beyond throwing the pile in the blue box and hoping for the best.

INSULATION
Layers of newspaper are great insulation, for cooling or heating.
-Stuff rolled up newspaper under doors and in cracks of windows come winter time.
-Wrap around ice cream containers or chilled desserts to carry to parties.
-Stuff inside your coat or under blankets to keep warm in an emergency.

REHAB
Here's a technique for those who've suffered hand injuries or strokes, or anyone wanting to strengthen their fingers and forearms.
-Lay single sheet of newspaper on a flat surface, then lay your hand palm down in the centre. Using only that hand, begin crumpling the newspaper and see how small a ball you can crumple it into.

CRAFTS
Use in crafts, for crafts, and to cover the table on which you're doing all this work.
-Paper mache material.
-Paper making kits are inexpensive and easy to use. Take scraps of newspaper and liquidize them to form new sheets of paper.
-Fold into old-school sailor hats.

CLEANING
-Polish your windows, mirrors and glass with crumpled newspaper for a streak-free shine.
-Use them for drop sheets when painting, or for messy jobs like shining your shoes.

GARDEN
-Spread newspaper flat or shredded around the base of plants or between rows of plants and water thoroughly. Will discourage weed growth.

ODOUR REMOVER
-Stuff wads of newspaper into your shoes or boots overnight to remove odors.
-Stinky old plastic containers? Stuff with crumbled up newspaper, seal with lid and leave overnight.
-Also works in trunks, luggage or boxes that have that old musty smell. Great when packing away camping coolers for the winter so they won’t smell in the spring.
-Line the bottom of your kitchen garbage can with several sheets of folded newspaper to help absorb liquids and odours.

FIRESTARTER
-Roll newspaper bundles tight and secure with wire. Use in fireplaces or outdoor pits.

WRAP
-Use to wrap parcels and gifts; the cartoon section is popular with the kiddos.
-Moving? Use newspaper instead of specialty paper (just watch for items that may pick up the ink).

Finally, an idea that hasn't yet taken hold: a pocket umbrella with a used newspaper cover.

Credits:
make-stuff.com
tipnut.com
brighthub.com
eHow.com

what ARE they searching for?

One of most popular search phrases people who visit our site use is "all recycled stuff."

Which got us to thinking, when someone types that into a search engine, what exactly are they hoping to find? Well, we tried it, and here's what we found:

Where does all the recycled stuff go? from WikiAnswers

Space Baby Beebo sculpture – recycled stuff from Earth Stream

Jewellery made from recycled stuff from How Can I Recycle This?

holiday crafts: Halloween (recycled stuff) from Fun In The Making

Awesome Things to Make with Recycled Stuff from Amazon.com

Recycled "stuff" this year from Flickr

And, of course, our very own footprint: all natural green eco recycled stuff. Aha...we used it right there in the title ;)

Note: the image at top was the first to come up when we searched "all recycled stuff" in Bing. Now that is strange.

tim hortons...recycles?

It's true. We think. After months of finger pointing in Ontario(you'd think they were the only coffee shop on the planet handing out cups destined for landfill) Tim Hortons - purveyors of chicory-laced coffee and Canadian pride - is advertising that they're accepting coffee cups and lids at certain locations for recycling.

Well, they say so here on their site:

Q: Is the Tim Hortons cup recyclable?

A: Yes. Tim Hortons paper cup is recyclable where facilities exist. We currently have recycling & composting programs in a number of participating stores across Canada that capture our paper cup and other paper fibre materials. This number grows each day we work with cities and local waste management facilities to expand similar programs to our stores whenever possible.

Something seems amiss here though. Two months ago recycling facilities were claiming they couldn't do anything with the wax-lined cups. Now, apparently, it's all easy peasy. We're keeping our eye on this one...

toronto to recycle plastic bags and polystyrene

Happily, the City of Toronto has added certain kinds of plastic bags and Styrofoam containers that it had always rejected before; the new additions can go to the curb beginning next Tuesday.

Plastic retail and grocery bags can go in, same goes for the hard, white foam packaging, cups, takeout containers, and egg cartons.

But packing peanuts, and anything made from hard plastic, like plates, glass, cutlery, clear egg cartons, plastic models and CD and DVD cases cannot.

Confused? You can find the new rules at www.toronto.ca

Loblaws to offer garden centre recycling

The fact that most flower pots and flats aren't recyclable (or is it that they are and municipalities won't?) was posing a bit of a conundrum for me. With the advent of spring comes gardening and in my case, some new plants were needed...plants which come in pots that must be put in the trash, if no other use is found for them. Yuck.

I was at a garden centre the other day and, much to my delight, I discovered that Loblaws claims to be the first major retailer in Canada to offer customers the option of returning pots and flats for recycling.

The flats and pots are currently made from 50% post-consumer recycled plastic.

Rinsed pots can be returned for recycling to all their Garden Centres between May and July.

President's Choice Lawn & Garden

C'mon now...there are better ways to save paper

Sometimes I feel like I deserve a parade for my blue box...I eye the towering mound of paper with satisfaction and think "gee, what a planet-lover I am!" But really, wouldn't it be better if I just had less paper to deal with in the first place?

I think so. So, here are 24 ways to try:

1. use cloth napkins
2. clean up with cloths instead of paper towel
3. use electronic fax
4. don't print emails or documents
5. "print" to PDF
6. ok, if you must print, decrease page margins, font size and double side it
7. reusable grocery bags, baby
8. reuse file folders and envelopes
9. make your own greeting cards
10. ...or send e-cards and invites
11. reuse gift wrap (tie with string instead of tape)
12. read the news online
13. jot down a website instead of taking a brochure
14. keep life sane with erasable memo boards
15. post 'no flyers please' on your mailbox
16. ..and take your name off direct mail lists
17. receive and pay bills online
18. get your caffeine fix in a ceramic cup or travel mug
19. buy used books
20. no, no, no! disposable plates or utensils (unless they're biodegradable)
21. buy bulk from loose bins
22. simply refuse to buy items that are over-packaged
23. cancel subscriptions to magazines you don't read
24. use less toilet paper...really

Do you have more ideas on reducing paper use? Comment away!

great for camping too!

Tetra Pak wine containers are being touted as the trendy and eco-friendly alternative to bottles. They are 50 per cent lighter than glass, unbreakable, and can be resealed to extend shelf life. The wine is more economical to transport and - debatably – the packaging uses less energy to recycle than bottles.

According to the makers of French Rabbit, the new packaging has kept the equivalent of 377 thousand cars off the road per year, and saved 6 million pounds of solid waste and 6 million pounds of greenhouse emission.

A drastic evolution in wine, or a clever pitch to the young and trendy? Find out at eye weekly, where Bev Spritzer reports on drinking wine through a straw.

To China With Plastic

Okay, so it's not exactly a great title for the next James Bond flick, but it does describe what happens to some of our "unrecycleable" plastics after we chuck them into the bluebox.

It recently came out in the wash that a large amount of the plastics collected by municipal recycling programs are wrapped up and sold to Chinese interests rather than being processed right here in North America. To add fuel to the controversy, it also happens that these plastics are sold to China at a loss, leaving taxpayers on the hook for the bulk of the collection and sorting costs. With all the other issues about Chinese products and standards in the news these days it would be natural to jump onto a high horse and proclaim once and for all that China is an irresponsible industrial nation. But don't get that horse out of the barn yet. The deeper you look into this story the more blurry it gets in terms of fault.

Many municiplities simply choose to landfill their mixed plastics - those that have no market for resale in North America - rather than bother to sort them at all. It turns out few markets exists where these plastics can be sold. With homegrown mixed-plastic recycling efforts having so far failed, the choices seem to be landfill it cheaply or sell it to Asia at a loss. Greenpeace condemns the export choice and advocates instead for a domestic recycling program. Politicians and businessmen say it just isn't profitable to recycle mixed plastics in today's marketplace.

It looks to me like an opportunity. Surely someone out there - and I mean North America - has the smarts or courage or plain old good morals (backed by money, of course) to champion a market for our bastard plastics. Or maybe the packagers need to be involved at the front end to ensure less of this stuff hits the curb in the first place. There are solutions in them-there hills of garbage....

It's not all bad news. The vast majority of stuff we attempt to recycle does find a profitable home. But is that enough? No, we can always do better. And wouldn't it feel good to not blame China for our problems....

Read the article for a more in-depth look at this issue:

http://news.therecord.com/article/233153