Recycling is a hot topic for us. As we’ve talked about here, here, here, and here, we believe more needs to be done to make recycling effortless and automatic. But, there’s one type of plastic that should never end up in your recycling bin: plastic bags.

In the lingo of recyclers, plastic bags, dry cleaning bags, shopping bags, Ziploc bags, tarps, bubble wrap, Saran wrap, and so on are called film. Most recyclers don’t want any type of plastic bags, even when they are marked with a recycling symbol that they usually process. They also do not want bio-based or compostable bags; these plastics are not recyclable either. The problem with plastic film is that it clogs and damages recycling machinery.

What this means is that all those tons of bags, tarps, and other plastic film are ending up in our landfill or floating in the ocean.

Unfortunately, unless you’re living an extreme-green life, you probably feel as if you can’t do without plastic bags. But you can alway use less. Here are a few tips to reduce your plastic bag use:

reuse the plastic bags you do have

We have a little story to tell here. A friend, Brian, traveled to Ireland to see his mother a few years back. He had several large Ziploc-type bags in his luggage and his mother asked if she could have them. Brian of course gave them to her and thought nothing of it. He went back for another visit six months later. One of the first things she had asked him was if he had anymore of the bags, as the ones from Brian’s last visit were wearing out. Clearly, Brian’s mum knows how to reuse!

No doubt in your house right now there are all types of plastic bags. Now that you have them, do make the most of them. Wash and reuse produce or Ziploc bags. They clean up really well and clearly can be used multiple times. On top of being eco-friendly, you’ll also save some green. Just think about it, if you reuse each of your bags just one time, you cut the price of them in half.

return the plastic bags

It happens to the best of us, you end up with a thin plastic shopping bag. You’ve reused it and are ready to toss it in the can, but don’t! Instead, take it back to the store. Most grocery stores have bins right by the front door for your old bags. You can recycle bags from any store as long as they are #2 or #4. Do remember to clean out the bags before tossing them into the recycling bin. Some communities do have  facilities that collect and recycle plastic bags, so check to see what’s available in your area.

Many of the recycled plastic film and bags end up as composite lumber decking. According to the American Chemistry Council, in 2006, 812 million pounds of the stuff was recycled. Enough to manufacture almost 1.5 million composite lumber decks.

buy reusable grocery bags, and use them

Might we suggest that as soon as you take your groceries out of the bags, turn right around and put the bags right back into the car. That way you don’t even have to thing about it when you go to the store next time. Worst case, you have to run back to the car before checking out to grab your bags.

One other thought on this, avoid buying reusable bags made from virgin plastic. There are plenty of eco-friendly bags now made from recycled plastic, organic cotton, hemp, or canvas.

choose biodegradable bags

The move away from virgin plastic bags that can’t be recycled is creating an entire new product line. One of the companies we’ve noticed recently is Green Genius. As they point out normal plastic bags never biodegrade. But they’ve created a line of trash and food bags which have their “magic ingredient” EcoPure. This organic material makes the bags a tasty meal for the microbes which live in landfills. This video will explain…

There are so many good reasons for reducing plastic use. What’s it’s going to take to get you to reduce, reuse, and recycle plastic bags? And for those of you who are already saving money, reducing pollution, decreasing our need for oil, and lowering your exposure to harmful chemicals, what’s your best tip?

Last week we told you about how families in some drought-stricken parts of India are moving their wedding receptions out of town to ensure there’s plenty of clean water for the party.

This week we heard about Alex and Kristen’s wedding. They didn’t have to choose a venue based on water availability, but water was still a central player in the event. Instead of gifts from Crate and Barrel, Macys, or Target, Alex and Kristen asked their guests to donate to fund a water well project.

Kristen became aware of how water scarcity is such a significant problem during a trip to Africa last year. There she saw first hand how the women and children walked for miles in Ethiopia to collect water for their daily needs. Kristen told Charity:Water, “There was no running water in the operating rooms. And we vowed when we left that we were going to do something.”

Kristen and three friends funded a well last fall, but she knew she wanted to do more. She talked it over with her fiancee, Alex, and they both agreed that they didn’t need more stuff. Instead, on their wedding invitations and via email reminders, the couple told guests that if they wanted to give a gift, to donate to Charity:Water instead, which would build water wells in Africa.

How did it turn out? Great! Kristen and Alex set a goal of $5,000. They were able to raise that much well before the wedding and started up a second campaign. In the end, their wedding raised more than $11,000 which will help over over 110 families with several water wells.

We think this is pretty cool and wish Alex and Kristen a lifetime of happiness.

Would you give up a birthday, anniversary, or even wedding gifts in exchange for helping families without water become families with water?

Could you do it: Buy no new clothes for a year? That means staying out of the mall. And for goodness sake, no online shopping sprees. If you’re committed to a green lifestyle, perhaps you should consider taking the refashioned wardrobe pledge.

Just what is “refashion”? This term is springing up all over and means that people are taking their old clothes and remaking them, buying someone else’s “old fashions” and wearing them as is, or creating something completely new. Kinda like the hand-me-downs you might have worn as a kid, but much more fashionable and they actually fit.

You can see the movement spreading with eBay’s new recycled fashion site, over at etsy.com where everything is handmade, and niche sites such as Wardrobe Refashion.

Taking the refashion pledge takes more than just finding that barely used designer top at the thrift store. To be successful, you’ve got to have imagination and a great sewing machine.

Many re-fashionistas are creating entirely new pieces from old, tired items. Take the pair of jeans on the right. They get a new life as a clutch from the one of the talented seamstress who contributes to Wardrobe Refashion. What we love about this group is that members pledge to maintain a sustainable closet and promise not to buy anything new for two, four, or six months. But even this hardcore community knows one can fall off the wagon every now and then, so members are allowed to use a virtual “Get out of Refashionista Jail Free card” every two months.

Just about a month ago Sheena Matheiken wrapped up a year of wearing the same dress (well OK, seven dresses that were all exactly alike) each day for a year with her Uniform Project. Sheena challenged herself to living a year in sustainable fashion. With no small bit of creativity and a great eye for layering, Sheena seemed fresh and fashionable each day. She grew quite a following over the last year and turned her experience into a fund raising effort for school kids in India.

Now we have Marisa. Her pledge is in 365 days to make 365 articles of clothing on a budget of $365. Her blog New Dress A Day is great fun and inspirational. She’s taken some pretty crazy items from thrift stores and made shirts, dresses, and more that could easily be found on the racks at the mall. What do you think of this refashioned former monstrosity?

Clearly, one can have an eco-friendly closet and live stylishly with recycled fashion. But it sure helps to be handy with the sewing machine or have that great eye for just the right accessory that will make something old feel new again. I’m not sure how much hope there is for those of us who can’t thread a needle!

If you’re thinking about taking a trip to the thrift store here are some tips from Ecosalon to ensure your finds become awesome refashioned creations.

What are your suggestions for refashioning your wardrobe? Could you make a commitment not to buy anything new for an entire year?

Americans and Canadians rank at the bottom of the list for sustainable consumers.

For the third year in a row National Geographic and GlobeScan have conducted the Greendex survey to see which country has the greenest consumers. In each of the 17 chosen countries, 1,000 people answered a comprehensive set of questions online. The goal was to measure “consumer behavior in 65 areas relating to housing, transportation, food and consumer goods.”

Since you’re probably wondering how your country did we won’t make you wait until the end of the article to find out. In overall rankings, consumers in India, Brazil, and China had the honor of leaving the lightest environmental footprint. As a matter of fact, India has been in the top three each year, and made the most progress towards even more sustainable behaviors.

At the bottom of the list were the Canadians and Americans. Take a close look at those numbers. U.S. consumers ranked lower than any other group of consumers, even since the survey started in 2008.

The Greendex survey had a great deal of information about the choices consumers are making. We’re focused on the differences between India, Spain, and the U.S. to see how consumers in these three countries behaved.

understanding the issue

To know why people behave the way they do, it’s often telling to know what’s important to them. The survey asked an open ended question of what’s the most critical national issue. Overall, the enviornment ranked fifth behind economic and political problems, unemployment, and crime. The country where a significant number of consumers did site the environment as a concern was China with 37 percent of the people mentioning it. On the other hand, Americans and Spaniards didn’t mention it at all.

On a global level, people were still concerned about the economy, but environmental issues jumped way up when people were prompted with specific choices. Indians were extremely concerned about fresh water shortages, global warming, as well as water and air pollution. These issues were noted by well over 80 percent of the consumers polled on the subcontinent. For the Spanish and Americans, the economy was by far the top concern with environmental issues way down the list. For Spanish consumers, climate change was said to be a concern for 62 percent. And of environmental issues concerning the Americans, water pollution toped the list at 54 percent.

eco-friendly housing

Living in an industrialized nation means you probably have hot water, home heating, maybe even air conditioning. Which are all reasons why Spanish and American consumers ranked below the Indian ones. Indeed, fewer than half of Indian respondents said they had home heating systems. While 94 percent of Americans did. Fortunately, most U.S. homes also had insulation. One area that’s in Spain’s favor was the boom of solar-powered electricity projects built in the last few years. Consumers there had more choices to buy green energy than in many other countries.

sustainable dining

The number one behavior that can dramatically increase the carbon footprint of the kitchen table is meat. The more you eat red meat, the greater impact you have on the environment. No doubt you can guess that of the three countries we’re focusing on, Indian consumers ate the least. In fact, they had the lowest beef consumption of all the countries surveyed.

green goods

An ideal way to be an environmentally-friendly consumer is to reduce consumption and recycle what you’re done with. For those taking the survey, around 65 percent of both the Indian and American’s said they prefer to fix something rather than replace it. While just over half of the Spanish said the same.

When you do need something “new” the survey showed a growing number of Americans and Indians were leaning towards buying”used.” In 2008, only 21 percent of the Indians said they’d buy used, but that number doubled to 42 percent on the 2010 survey.

More and more people are getting the message that single-use plastic shopping bags are bad for the enviornment. And overall, 55 percent of the consumers said they’re bringing their own reusable bags with them when they shop. While 82 percent of the French were carrying their own bags, Indian, Spanish, and American consumers could do much better as they weren’t even close to that number. Perhaps more anti-plastic bag laws will help. In Canada, the government imposed a 5¢ fee on each bag; now 74 percent of consumers there bring their own.

how about you?

An interesting finding of the Greendex survey was that clearly the Indian consumer was concerned about the environment–76 percent of them say so. However, a good portion of them, 54 percent, said that the seriousness of problem was exaggerated. Be that as it may, the Indian consumer was by far the greenest of all the sample countries and getting greener. We’ll have to see if this holds steady as more of their population moves into the middle class and starts to live a lifestyle closer to that of an American or Western European.

Of course, I was curious to see how my own consumer behaviors stacked up. I’m sad to say that I got a score of 51. I know I don’t ever want to live without hot water in my house, and sadly, the likelihood of me starting a garden is slim, but I’ll keep looking for ways to be a more sustainable consumer.

Take the shortened version of the Greendex survey and see how sustainable your consumption is. Post your number below and share what you think of the Greendex survey.

Reducing energy and eliminating water use during the textile dyeing and decorating process is our life’s work. Unfortunately, that’s only small portion of what makes up your clothes carbon footprint. In fact, once you take that new pair of jeans home, that garment is going to keep on using lots of water and electricity.

How’s that possible? Easy, our washing machines and clothes dryers are to blame. If your an average family, six percent of your electric bill is due to your dryer use. In fact, half of the carbon footprint each garment leaves behind happens at the consumer level.

What choice do you have though? Remember back thirty or forty years ago when many families, even middle class families, didn’t have a dryer? Instead they hung their clothes out to dry. My family did the same, and we lived on a third floor flat in San Francisco. Now, most of us want the convenience of a dryer, the warmth of a sweater right out of the machine. Perhaps the whole “clothesline look” just doesn’t appeal to you. But, what about the fresh smell of clothes dried outside? Not to mention the savings on your utility bill? And then there’s climate change to consider too.

Levi Strauss & Co is out to change your mind about backyard clotheslines. They’ve launched the Clean Air Design Challenge. Starting June 1, you’re encouraged to submit an innovative design for a better clothesline. The goal is to find a sustainable and stylish way for us to air dry our clothes. The winner will snag $10,000.

If you’re not the inventor type, there’s still a part you can play. You can vote for your favorite designs and help choose the winner and take the pledge to:

• wash your jeans in cold
• line dry them
• donate old jeans to Goodwill when you’re done with them.

This isn’t the first time Levi’s has been out front on sustainability. They’ve been ahead of their peers in the clothing industry on issues such as child labor, water quality standards at the factories, and sustainable cotton production.

Are you ready to take the pledge? If not, what’s holding you back?

photo credit: Professor Bob/Flickr