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Recycling
Mandatory Composting Begins in San Francisco Today
Beginning today, the city of San Francisco will require both businesses and residences to compost food scraps and biodegradable products or risk a fine for not properly sorting their garbage. While other cities require recycling service and participation, the law, which Mayor Gavin Newsom signed into effect in June, is the first nationwide to require the collection of food scraps and other compostables.
A study by the Department of the Environment found that 36 percent of what San Francisco sends to landfills is compostable, primarily food scraps, and 31 percent is recyclable — which is mostly paper.
Casa Quickie: Take It Outside
As we all know, furniture, even high-quality furniture, is not everlasting. Years of wear and tear will get the best of your tables and chairs. But that's not the end of them.
Cool Idea: Isabel Quiroga's StoryTeller Book Rack
I imagine some furniture lovers might find Isabel Quiroga's Storyteller Book Rack to be sacrilegious. Considering how many tables and desks sit abandoned on sidewalks and in thrift stores, many with dated or worn finishes, I think it's brilliant. Not only is this book rack made of old tables a great way to repurpose something that's no longer needed, but it proves that there's strength in numbers.
How-To: Recycle Paint Cans
If you've recently painted your house or have plans to, don't throw those paint cans in the trash. Despite the drips and drabs of paint that may be left on the cans, they can still be recycled. According to Benjamin Moore:
Always check your local recycling regulations, but in general, once they are dried out, they are safe to recycle in your regular recycling.
Casa Verde: schubLaden Furniture
What's old and alone is new and accompanied again when you throw Berlin-based furniture maker schubLaden (meaning "drawers") into the mix. The innovator creates one-of-a-kind storage pieces using vintage, unmatched drawers. Pieces range from small landing strips for around $720 to large consoles and office storage for around $4,000.
Cool Idea: Sorting Garbage Can
If you read my post on the Ovetto recycling bin, you'll know that while I dug the concept of a sorting recycling bin, I hoped for one that blended in better with our kitchens — less of a design statement. Well, I think the Constance Guisset Tri3 may be just the thing. Like Ovetto, this garbage can sorts with one compartment for waste, one for plastics, and another for glass, in addition to a trash bag dispenser.
Casa Verde(?): Fabriano
Italian designers Riccardo Nannini, Domenico Orefice, and Emanuele Pizzolorusso created Fabriano, a waste basket made entirely out of recycled paper. The muffin-cup-shaped basket consists of 50 pleated-paper disposable bags nesting inside one another. Each can be extracted and used as trash bags themselves when the bin is full, leaving the layer below ready to collect more paper/trash.
Etsy Find: Recycled Album Jacket Coasters
If you're decorating a masculine bedroom or a hipster dude haven, or if you just want to show off your taste for rock 'n roll, add a set of Recycled Album Jacket Coasters and a Vinyl LP Bowl ($29) to your home.
Etsy seller Inoudid's Attic is repurposing her husband's vintage vinyl record album collection into these one-of-a-kind coaster and bowl sets (side note: my husband would never forgive me if I started deconstructing his vinyl collection). Each set has nine coasters, made by laminating the album jacket to a piece of Baltic birch plywood.
Love It or Hate It? I Dream of Greenie Pillow
I'm all for recycling, but I'm not sure we need to be so obvious about it. The I Dream of Greenie Pillow ($65), which is made from 75 percent recycled cotton, makes a nice effort at drawing attention to environmental concerns. But, since it's not made of 100 percent recycled cotton, perhaps it should stop singing its own praises.
How-To: Recycle or Reuse 7 Household Items
By now, I bet a lot of you are old pros at recycling paper, plastic, bottles, and cans. (If not, you can review my tips here.) But what about the more difficult and odd household items? What should you do with those?
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