North Goes Green

Archive for August, 2009

You can find pretty much any product you conventionally use with a recycled or Greener version. There are notebooks made of 100% recycled paper sold locally at Staples. You can find 100% recycled printer paper there too. It will cost a little bit more but it does help our environment by taking old paper and making new rather than cutting down a new tree. There are even Green backpacks on the market. They are available at LLBEAN as well as other online retailers. It’s important to check to see if a product you currently purchase is available in a greener version- it will save the planet in the long run!

All you need to clean is a box of baking soda, a few lemons, an empty spray bottle and white vinegar. Put your white vinegar into your spray bottle and sprinkle the baking soda on stubborn stains (kitchen and bathroom counters, floors, bathtubs sinks etc) and scrub with a simple sponge and your stains will disappear! Simply rinse and your job is done- chemical free! For stainless steel sinks or stubborn stains on your tub or shower floors take one half of a lemon and scrub some baking soda on those stubborn stains and poof its all gone and your kitchen or bath smells lemony fresh. The baking soda acts as your abrasive and the lemon or vinegar acts as your disinfectant. It’s a great alternative to using chemicals. Clean Green!

By now most of us know that we ought to reduce the amount of waste we put into our landfills but often in the rush of a busy morning we don’t really look at what we are putting in our child’s lunch box.  Today there are great re-usable lunch boxes that are insulated to keep our children’s lunches cool and tasty! Using one of these lunch bags is a great way to reduce waste entering the landfill. Another great way is to put water or juice or milk into a stainless steel bottle. This elminates plastic bottles and cartons from entering the landfills dramatically reducing waste.  If you send your child in with a sandwich why not use a re-usable mat that transforms from a sandwich bag to a place-mat and it can be used each and every day. Plastic water bottles and plastic bags are one of the largest contributors to our waste that ends up in landfills. Switching to re-usable containers can help dramatically reduce waste. Sending in re-usable silverware is also a great idea. Why not send in a really colorful utensil like those made by the Preserve company and have your child bring it home. Washing it and putting it back into the lunch box reduces yet another area of excess waste. Implementing simple things like this can make our school and our planet a Greener place!

Check out this link to make a waste-free kids lunch! Waste Free Lunch