Jun 29, 2009 -
If you haven't jumped on the composting bandwagon yet, now might be a good time to start: composting is slowly but surely being written into the law. Last week, San Francisco, CA, became the first US city to pass a bill requiring mandatory recycling of food scraps. The legislation, which takes effect this Fall, asks all of the city's residents and businesses — including restaurants — to compost food scraps.
- 50 Comments
May 14, 2009 -
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.
- 4 Comments
May 01, 2009 -
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.
- 6 Comments
Apr 23, 2009 -
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.
- 2 Comments
Mar 25, 2009 -
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.
- 7 Comments
Mar 05, 2009 -
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?
- 5 Comments
Feb 26, 2009 -
Before you toss a used battery in the trash, you might want to consider where it will end up in the waste stream. Is that battery considered hazardous? Should you take it to a recycling center?
- 12 Comments
Jan 30, 2009 -
Once a year (at least), we all get a little carried away by the excitement of watching our favorite football teams duke it out, or by dance machine Justin Timberlake on stage, and we finish off a few too many beers (and hot wings). Not only are we left with a pounding headache but also dozens of aluminum bottle caps. Of course, you can recycle them.
- 3 Comments
Nov 24, 2008 -
Recently, I was inspired by a Popular Mechanics article that cleared up a lot of the misinformation around recycling. Think you can spot the facts from the fiction? Then take my quiz!
- 4 Comments
Nov 04, 2008 -
This holiday season, many of us may be throwing dinner parties, and expecting more guests than usual on a typical Saturday night. Maybe we'll pull spare seating out of the basement, or rent chairs, fold-out tablecloths, and white linens for the evening, but the last time I checked party rental shops didn't rent light fixtures. So, the next best thing is to fashion one of our own.
- 6 Comments
