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Making your life greener - one bite at a time.

C02 - Kick the habit. Recycling saves energy in manufacture and also in landfill. It can also save you money. Find out about active recycling schemes in your area. The following tips will help you recycle, reuse, de-clutter and general household cleaning.  Paper, glass, steel, aluminium and some plastics are commonly collected by local authorities, but tires, batteries and all sorts of household items can also be reused.

Sort and separate your household waste to what can be done with it; glass in one container, newspapers and other items for recycling or reusing in others.Vegetable peelings and other biodegradable waste can go into your compost bin.

Find further uses for packaging and other items wherever possible. Cereal and egg boxes can become children's craft supplies, while paper can be reused for telephone message pads, drawing and painting. Old clothing can be cut up for rags or taken to the local charity store.

General Household Cleaning

Clear the Clutter Time to spend: 15 minutes per room

Make your way around the house with a large laundry basket and remove any misplaced items. This is an excellent tip for simplifying and organizing your house with out using any cleaning products at all, and you will be amazed at how much cleaner it looks once you have removed all the misplaced items. Start room by room and move clockwise around the house to avoid scattering and being overwhelmed.

Get rid of all that stuff in the garage/attic/basement/closet

Time to Spend: A whole day

Have a lot of expired stuff you don't know what to do with? Maybe you have a car battery that's been sitting in the garage for ages, or an old TV that doesn’t work, telephone books from last year, and so on and so on. You feel bad about throwing them away, but don't know what use they could be or who could rescue them. So they just sit and sit and sit. If you’re tired of watching all that stuff gather dust, we may have an answer. A lot of it can be recycled, donated, or reused.

Join www.freecycle.org

Garage / Yard Sale: One man’s trash is another’s man’s treasure. This is an excellent way to clear your house of clutter, and let others benefit from items that you no longer want. You can bask in the warmth of the sun as you get money for your unwanted goods., and you may even be able to donate your proceeds to your favourite non-profit. Another way to do this is to have a virtual garage sale, by posting your unwanted items to be sold on Ebay or www.ecobites.com free classifieds or giving them away through free cycle.

Donate to Thrift Store: Bring your items to a Salvation Army station or charity of choice, second-hand stores, or school clothing drive.

ReGift: Offer old clothing, lawn care items, etc, to a neighbor, friend, co-worker or freeccycle to people who may need them.

Recycle: There are ways to recycle almost anything these days, from computers to glass to cell phones to tires to Christmas trees. The trick is finding out where to take them. That’s where the Earth911 website comes in. They'll also tell you what's ok to leave on your curb and what you'll have to take to a center.

So, start clearing out that garage/attic/basement/closet. Reuse or repurpose what you can and recycle or give away the rest. 

To locate your nearest recycling or Household Hazardous Waste Collection
Center ... www.EARTH911.org