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?

It seems like large conferences, conventions, trade shows, expos, even large company meetings are unavoidable. Worse, they can generate tons of trash. Just think about how many plastic water bottles you used the last time you sat at an all-day event! Now multiply that by the hundreds of thousands and you have an idea of the amount of waste generated by the all those events.

Today, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts announced a new program “Meet and Be Green” to help event planners create an eco-friendly meeting, instead of a massive trash generating opportunity. In exchange for making a commitment to a green conference, the event will get a discount off their bill.

But Hyatt isn’t leaving event planners holding the bag, they’ve trained staff to help source eco-friendly products, find local suppliers, and reduce waste in general. According to Hyatt, the ten-steps to a “Meet and Be Green” event are:

1. Recycle during the meeting
2. Use products with 100% recycled content
3. Print materials locally
4. Minimize shipping
5. Rather than setting materials at every seat, place meeting materials, such as handouts, notepads, pens, etc., in a central location so attendees can take as needed
6. Maintain room temperatures at an appropriate level
7. Eliminate disposable water bottles
8. Minimize use of other disposable products such as plates, cups, napkins, and utensils
9. Select locally grown seasonal foods when planning the menu
10. Plan ahead for the meeting to make it easier and more economical to keep the meeting green

Of course, if you’re an attendee, we’d like to encourage you to do your part too. Bring your own aluminum water bottle, carpool, don’t take more food than you will eat, and be sure to recycle everything that you can. And if you’re an exhibitor, don’t overlook having an eco-friendly trade show booth.

What do you think can be done to make conventions, trade shows, and other large conferences more eco-friendly gatherings?

photo credit: ComSec / Flickr

A number of the staff here are into fitness. And as such, we’re always on the look out for new high performance, green fitness wear. Naturally, we want athletic shoes and apparel that has the latest technical textiles, plus we want them to be eco-friendly and stylish. Let’s see what some of the major athletic companies are doing for us eco-fitness shoppers.

sustainable materials

REI ecoSenstive Bike Jersey

Most of the major athletic apparel brands are taking steps towards sustainability. From using more organic cotton, to recycled plastic, to reducing toxins, the apparel industry is heading in the right direction, but it takes a bit of effort to find because the eco-friendly athletic wear is not yet widely available.

Fortunately, some athletic companies are making it easier for consumers to find the eco-friendly shoes and apparel.

REI created an ecoSenstive line. These shorts, tops, socks, and other items are made from sustainable sources. What we like is that for each of the types of source materials, REI describes both the benefits and the drawbacks. For example, for cotton, they explain that non-organic cotton, while only three percent of the world’s crops, uses 25 percent of the toxic chemical pesticides. While “organic cotton is renewable, biodegradable and non-toxic. The material is traceable through the supply chain.” Of course, organic cotton has its issues too. For example, supplies are limited, it’s more expensive to grow, it also uses a lot of land, which could be used to grow food instead.

Of the mainstream athletic brands, Patagonia might be the most progressive. They were well ahead of the competition when they using conventional cotton and began using only 100 percent organic cotton in 1996. Being green is not just a marketing message for them. Patagonia put it at the heart of their business. Their mission statement is “to build the best product and cause no unnecessary harm.”

Patagonia goes beyond eco-friendly production by thinking cradle-to-cradle for their products. When you buy items with a Common Threads tag, Patagonia wants them back when you’re done. They take worn out clothing and recycle them into new.

Nike has been getting quite a bit of play lately for their World Cup kits made from recycled plastic bottles. But they’re not the only ones using recycled polyester.  Most athletic apparel and shoes are not made from cotton, but man-made fibers which deliver the performance apparel that even the casual athlete wants.

One of the fastest growing performance apparel companies, Under Armour, is also getting on board with green fitness gear. Their UA Green collection is made with recycled plastic bottles. The line, while still limited, gives athletes all the benefits of advanced technical textiles (wicks away sweat, keeps you cool, offers UPF protection, and is light weight) with the advantage of being eco-friendly. According to their website, UA expects to convert over 1 million plastic bottles into athletic shirts and shorts.

To confirm the benefits of recycled plastic fabric, according to an Adidas’s life cycle assessment, they “discovered that depending on the method applied, savings of 40-85% on non-renewable energy use and global warming potential savings of 25-75% can be achieved” for recycled over virgin polyester. And to toot our own horn a bit, if these manufacturers would adopt AirDye technology, they would see even better sustainability results when it comes to creating a finished product.

consider green packaging too

The box your new shoes come in should also be a factor in the sustainability equation. While sometimes an empty shoebox can be handy, we use them to store paid bills at home, but overall, it’s basically something you’re going to discard right away. Fortunately, more and more athletic companies recognize this as well.

New Balance makes their boxes, shipping cartons, even the stuff to keep the toes molded from 100 percent recycled materials which can be recycled again. They also use non-toxic glue, ink, and varnish.

But PUMA has the best solution: Ditch the box altogether. They worked with FuseProject to create the “Clever Little Bag.” To us, this is one of those “why has’t anyone else thought of this” ideas. Eliminating the bag has no negative impact on the shoes and will save PUMA money, water, electricity, fuel, and tons of waste each year. According to their website, you’ll see the new packaging in 2011.

Clearly the move towards creating eco-friendly athletic gear is underway. After all, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for us to think that we only need to keep our bodies healthy–doesn’t the planet deserve the same treatment?
You can read more about each of these brand’s commitments to the environment at their websites:

• Adidas Sustainability
• Nike Responsibility
• New Balance Responsible Leadership
• Patagonia Enviromentalism
• PUMA Vision
• REI Stewardship

Is there another company whose line you think rocks in the green fitness category? We’d like to know who they are. Share comments below.

The ballpoint pen was invented in 1938. In the mid-1950s the first good, cheap pens were on the market. And up to now, they’ve been far from eco-friendly. Since then, more than 100 billion disposable pens have been sold. And, while you may think most of them are tossed in the bottom of your desk drawer, they’re actually buried in landfills. Beyond the problem of  mountains discarded plastic pens, most of the ink is toxic and leaking into the landfills and groundwater. Clearly, there’s opportunity here for a green alternative. And we found a few suggestions for you if you’re looking for an eco pen.

bio-plastic and non-toxic ink

DBA in New York has created a ballpoint pen that’s not harmful to you or the planet. Their DBA 98 Pen is 98 percent biodegradable, and the only one of it’s kind. From the bio-plastic, to the non-toxic ink, to the sustainable wind-powered factory, to the packaging, this is one eco-friendly pen.

DBA 98 Biodegradable Pen from DBA on Vimeo.

The one drawback is that the DBA 98 is not cheap. A three pack will set you back $8. We’re also curious to know more about their ink and how well it works.

compostable and charitable

Another eco-friendly alternative to the virgin plastic pen is GLO Pen. This one is made from corn-based “plastic” and is also compostable. Not sure about their ink, but proceeds from each $2 pen help fund education scholarships around the world.

remarkable for their upcycling

Lastly, Rebinder’s ReMark pen also caught our eye. These are made with plant resin composed of sustainably harvested wood and organic cotton. One thing that’s different about Rebinder’s eco pen, is that when the ink is gone, they don’t want you to put it in the compost–they want you to send it back so they can make new pens out of the old. Nice! Up-cycling is good. Best of all, these pens are the most reasonably priced of the three, at 50¢ a piece.

While we haven’t actually used any these, we’re pleased to see more and more sustainable choices for everyday products such as pens. Fortunately, not all of the choices are pricey, perhaps one of these will find their way to your pen holder?

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Something really interesting is happening down under. The Australians are encouraging people to find new ways to create a more sustainable textile industry primarily though reducing waste and textile recycling. The Technical Textiles and Nonwoven Association (TTNA) launched a program last month calling upon people and companies from all over the textile industry to apply to be a part of the new Australian Fiber & Textile Environmental and Recycling Cooperative Research Center (CRC).

The goal is for compelling, viable ideas to be research and developed around:

• Technologies for waste mitigation in manufacturing
• Fibers and polymers for sustainable manufacturing
• New products from waste
• Recycling and regeneration technologies
• Solutions for product stewardship

According to Kerryn Caulfield, TTNA’s executive manager, “one million tons of fibrous waste are buried in Australian landfills every year. Fibrous waste is an unrealized source of valuable raw materials that can be reclaimed for further use by developing frontier technology.”

The new cooperative research center hopes to become a leader in innovation and development. For those who make the cut, there will be funding and tax concessions.

Here in the U.S., the EPA estimates that we throw out over 12.3 million tons of textiles (carpet, clothing, linens, and so on) each year. While some 15 percent is recycled, that still leaves over 10 million tons making their way to the dump. Clearly our textile waste problem is much greater than Australia’s but we’re not aware of anyone, much less the industry itself, taking on this task.

We’ll follow the progress of the TTNA’s program and keep our eyes out for others. This type of initiative has the potential to not only relieve some of the burden on our landfills, but it could create green jobs as well as reduce water use, energy consumption, and CO2 generation. All worthy and necessary goals.

Are you aware of any companies or universities addressing the problems of textile waste or recycling? Post a comment below and let us know what you’ve found.

photo credit: penelopejonze