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Tag: Recycling
New Recycling Methods
Five New Recycling Methods That Could Rock 2013
Spring is hitting its prime, allowing many across the country to emerge from their winter hideaway and enjoy what nature has to offer. Unfortunately, that also means putting up with trash in the most pristine of places. But it doesn’t have to be that way: new startups and recycling techniques can help to make recycling more common, fun, and beneficial. Read on to discover five techniques recycling startups are using to make recycling commonplace.
1) The Upcycle Technique
The upcycle technique is a simple technique: collect trash, then make something new. There are a variety of programs that do this, and many, like TerraCycle, ask participants to collect and send junk for companies to remake into items like tables, chairs, backpacks and radios. Some, like Elvis & Kresse Organization, even take industrial waste to craft new luxury items.
2) The Simple Electronics Technique
New recycling methods involve far more than just setting up a few bottle banks at the end of the block….
Electronics are particularly nasty when it comes to recycling. They’re complex, contain a lot of nasty chemicals, and are far cheaper to throw away than to recycle. Most avid environmentalists would ask you to hang onto your phone from the early 2000s for the sake of the planet. While the sentiment is great, sometimes it’s not wholly realistic option.
But laptops and electronics, which can easily be broken down, for example, are a great way to cut the environmental baggage which comes with digital life. Bloom laptops do exactly that by making simple computers recyclers can quickly tear down for efficient processing. Such standards could drive the cost of recycling computer equipment down and make the process far more profitable.
3) The Social Networking Technique
At its heart, the environmental movement has always been a social phenomenon. Many learn of new techniques and basic environmentally friendly practices through word-of-mouth. And now there’s a hashtag for that.
Enter #litterati, a movement based on litter-awareness. The idea is simple: take a photo of litter with Instagram, tag it with the hashtag #litterati, and then compost, recycle, or throw the trash away. While it doesn’t require recycling, it does help to map out and realize the scale of waste. Litterati accomplishes this by using Instagram’s geolocation data, which is then filtered into litterati’s digital landfill map. The trash, depending on the hashtags associated with the submission, is then mapped and sorted by brand.
4) The Gamification Technique
Studies have shown that gamification can help to make workers more productive. But how can it affect recycling? A few companies are finding out.
For example, Greenbean Recycle, is marrying tech software and gamification to promote recycling. The program will have recyclers punch in their phone number on a Greenbean machine. These machines work like any normal bottle recycling machine, but after the bottles and cans are counted the machine also connects to the Internet in order to upload stats on a given participant. Those participants, in addition to receiving a refund through PayPal, can post how much energy they’ve saved by recycling and compete with fellow recyclers.
5) The Green Bank Technique
New Recycling methods are starting to involve all aspects of our life so that we can choose to make green conscience decisions…
If banks and car insurance companies can offer you benefits for making smart decisions, why can’t recycling? A least, that appears to be the premise behind RecycleBank, which gives locals special deals and offers for making green conscience decisions.
Recyclebank offers discounts and deals to green conscious from over 3,000 local and national businesses. To do this, the company uses its online platform and partnerships to incentivize consumers with points, which can be redeemed at participating businesses.
RecycleBank is limited to a few communities for now, but if it takes off it could offer promising incentives for many to finally adopt greener lifestyles.
New Recycling Methods
Angie Picardo is a writer at NerdWallet, a financial literacy site where you can find advice on how to save money by going green and how to start planning for retirement.
Frugal Tip: Reduce your Waste
Reduce your Waste
A good indication of how well you manage your frugal lifestyle is to check your garbage or rubbish output! The more garbage you have in the bin the less frugal you are likely to be. By setting yourself a target to reduce your waste you will automatically improve your Frugal Mindset and so buy less. Lets see how this works….
Check your Garbage:
So how much garbage or domestic rubbish do you produce a week? A dumpster full or just a small bag? The more you have in your garbage the more you will have purchased or wasted and so the less frugal you will be. Honestly, it really is that simple!
How to Manage your Domestic Waste:
The first thing you need to do if you really want to reduce your waste is to get organized. This means setting up a proper system to sort and recycle your waste:
- All vegetable waste and lawn mowings etc go on the compost heap to improve for vegetable plot. Keep a small plastic box in the kitchen that you empty regularly so that you keep all the vegetable peelings & coffee grounds etc
- Put Recycling bins in your garage so that you sort paper, plastic and glass ready for disposal at the local recycling depot. Of course much of the paper you can burn in the winter, make into “paper logs” or shred for compost
- Genuine food waste can be fed to your dog, the neighbors dog or the birds. Leftovers can be re-used the next day or frozen for the future. Learn to cook what you need so that you waste less.
If you have followed these three simple steps then a family of two or three should produce less than one small bag of waste a week (30 litres). Recycling and learning to reduce your waste is good for the environment since less landfill is needed and it is good for your pocket since it is another mechanism to help you question everything you buy….do I need it or will it just end up in the bin?
At home the MeanyGoat doesn’t have a trash can but takes the recycling once a week and at the same time gets rid of the tiny bag of remaining rubbish in the communal bin.
Recycle as much of your waste as possible and you should just end up with one small bag of real garbage each week
Frugal Tip from the MeanyGoat….learn to reduce your waste and this will also help you to reduce your consumption…and this in turn helps you save money.
PS: The MeanyGoat does not have a regular trash can or “wheely bin”, not enough rubbish to put in it!
How to Make Toothpaste Last Longer
Have you squeezed and squeezed…….
Any empty cosmetic tube such as toothpaste or face cream will still have a lot of the product left inside – just cut the top off and carry on using it for another week.
You squeeze and squeeze and squeeze to try and get the remaining cream or paste from inside a tube and you know that there is more that could come out. Maybe you’ve already folded it over and over several times before.
The trick:
- Use scissors and cut the top off the tube
- The remaining cream is easily visible and can be applied when needed
- Keep the bit you cut off to re-seal between use
- The amount left inside is astounding
Just cut the end off the tube.....
See how much product is left inside....
Use this top frugal tip for all your cosmetic tubes and you will be amazed at how much you were previously throwing away.
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Free Cosmetic Samples Save Money
Going on Holiday?
Did you know that most chemists shops give away free cosmetic samples that are just ideal for taking on holiday in your hand luggage?
The majority of women want to take their favourite face and body cosmetics on holiday with them. But there are only so many you can take.
There are restrictions, for example, in carry-on luggage on flights, you can only take a limited amount of them in a sealed plastic bag which is strictly controlled. Packed in a suitcase, they take up space. Cosmetics in glass packaging could break. How much do you actually need? Plan sensibly!!!
Just ask for Free Cosmetic Samples!
When next in a chemist’s, ask if they have any free samples. Go to another chemist’s and they will probably let you have some as well. It could be cleansing /nourishing cream/ lotion, moisturizer, foot-cream. Also tell them what skin-type you have so that you get the most appropriate products.
It really saves space and money. It saves time scooping cream from your favorite jar into a smaller one. Another plus : you can try out new products.
Not going on Holiday? Just ask for the Free Cosmetic Samples anyway !
This great frugal money saving tip that can be used by men or women…and of course if you want to be a real MeanyGoat then you don’t even have to go on holiday…..just collect the free cosmetic samples and use them every day!
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Save Money by Making Christmas cards
Wish it was Christmas every Day !
Ok, we all did this sort of thing at school but how many of us still save money by making Christmas cards? It is actually very easy, creative, quick, saves money and of course recycles expensive materials. So how much money can you save by making Christmas cards? Well, that depends on two things really:
- How many cards you want to send
- How many cards you received last year… and have kept
Nice cards can cost over a $ a € or a £ each so making Christmas cards out of those will save you a lot. However, if you normally buy the special offer ones from the supermarket then you wont be able to save as much. Whatever your choice it is still a whole lot of fun and helps to spread the recycling message as well as make people aware of your frugal ideals.
So what do I need to get started with making Christmas cards?
- Some nice cards from last year
- Scissors and glue
- Blank card to stick the pictures on
- Printed labels if you want to make them look really posh
- About an hour of time to make a batch of 10 really nice cards
Nice cards on the mantlepiece !
In order to help your “making Christmas cards” project we have written full instructions for you to download. Just click on the link to get the pdf file: Making Christmas Cards the MeanyGoat Way
So this year why not save some money, have some fun and impress your friends with your creativity !
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