By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now

This Sunday, Nov. 15, is America Recycles Day, a nationwide initiative by Keep America Beautiful and the National Recycling Coalition. In its 12^th year, America Recycles Day is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to encouraging Americans to not only recycle, but buy recyclable products. There is more garbage going into landfills now than ever before. Recycling can not only slow climate change, but preserve and protect the environment around us. Everyone has the ability to do their part.

“The purpose of America Recycles Day is to continue to promote the social, environmental and economic benefits of recycling and encourage more people to join the movement toward creating a better natural environment,” states their website.

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By Tom Kessler
Green Right Now

The mantra of “reduce, reuse and recycle” tends to play out in real life with an emphasis on “reduce” (be frugal) and “recycle.” That’s because “reuse” is a harder concept for we Americans to embrace. “Reuse” makes us a bit uncomfortable — it starts to sound a bit distasteful like “used” or, even worse, “second hand.”

Yech! Let’s not get all “Depressionary” just because we’re,well, living through a depression.

But “reuse” isn’t about looking like you’re so down on your luck you have to shop at swap meets. It’s about reclaiming things that haven’t exhausted their usefulness — or maybe have a new life through some alternative use.

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By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now

Photo: Nike

In just one year, 300 million pairs of shoes are thrown away. These shoes end up in landfills across the US. Not only do these shoes not easily break down, the glue that holds a shoe together is toxic. So instead of adding to the growing trash problem, give your shoes a new life. What’s old to you, could be a playground for someone else thanks to Nike.

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By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now

An opt-out program to stop the receipt of phone books on your doorstop has recently become an option, but perhaps opting-in is a better solution for the environment.

(Photo: banthephonebook.org)

According to Banthephonebook.org, every year five million trees are used in the production of the white pages phone book. Then, it costs $17 million each year to recycle the phone books. And many phone books end up in landfills because people simply throw them away instead of recycling. The website also says that 80 percent of people would support an opt-in program, according to a survey done by Whitepages.com.

Nowadays, the many people use their cell phones or online sites to search for phone numbers. So there is the question of whether physical copies are even necessary.

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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

New green homes can awe-inspiring, both for their groundbreaking designs and their show of techno-muscle. Those tubular daylights, state-of-the-art solar panels, sleek recycled flooring, dehumidifying HVAC systems, complex gray water reclamation systems, louvered light “shelves” and heat-reflecting metal roofs can leave the common homeowner gaping — and wishing.

The truth is most of us won’t be building a brand new green castle, at least not anytime soon — and perhaps there’s something to be said for the alternative; let’s call it “greening in place”.

Almost any home can become more energy friendly, and this “in fill” project can occupy a very important spot in the urban landscape: your own lot!

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From Green Right Now Reports

The City of Chicago says it will launch a partnership with RecycleBank, a rewards program that rewards households for recycling and other positive environmental behaviors. The program is designed to increase recycling participation and complement the city’s transition to the Blue Cart Program that is now in place in more than 241,000 households in Chicago.

RecycleBank projects the city will see about 600 tons of waste diversion and over $500,000 in local economic stimulus as a result of an initial six month field test program.

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By Harriet Blake
Green Right Now

One or two of the seven dwarfs would enjoy these houses, but certainly not all of them, and forget about Snow White. In Peter Pan, the lost boys made such a house for Wendy. And when Alice landed in Wonderland, she too experienced the tiny house phenomenon.

So, now in 2009, what’s the appeal of a home that ranges 100 to 800 square feet? Is there a market for them? Are people really downsizing to this level?

The economy may be one factor, but most folks who are attracted to these miniature homes are seeking a simpler, scaled down lifestyle –one that is kinder to the environment. Such a home uses less energy and takes advantage of renewable resources.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Dell and Goodwill Industries International announced they are expanding Reconnect, a free drop-off program for consumers who want to responsibly recycle any brand of unwanted computer equipment.
The program is adding 451 new donation sites in seven states — Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma and West Virginia. The program also will expand in Wisconsin to the Southeastern and South Central parts of the state.

Reconnect is now available in 18 states, plus the District of Columbia.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Finally, those paper juice cartons that seem to fit somewhere in your recycling — but you never know quite where because they don’t fit with either the plastic milk jugs or the catalogs and newspapers — will have ordained passage to a recycling facility.

Waste Management in conjunction with Tropicana has announced that it will be taking in juice, milk, soy milk and other paper cartons in for recycling. Just throw them in your mixed-collection bin or together with your sorted bottles for recycling and they’ll sort them out at the plant.

So if you have WMI service, go fish those Tropicana cartons out of the garbage. If you have another service, carton recycling may still be available. To find out if your local collection service accepts them, see the Carton Council’s “We Recycle Cartons” handy online locator.

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By Harriet Blake

Learning not to waste – whether it’s food, electricity or water – is not only good in these economic times, but even more important, it’s beneficial for the environment.

The Nalgene Least Wasteful City Study, released this week, ranks the country’s 25 largest metropolitan areas on wasteful behavior. San Francisco led the group with the least wasteful habits, while Atlanta ranked at the bottom.

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By Laura Elizabeth May
Green Right Now

Meredith Henderson was on a mission, she wanted to make composting available where she lived. But she is among of the one-third of Americans who do not own their own homes.

“I do feel that apartment dwellers are often left out of the green movement because of the fact that their options are limited by their landlord’s willingness to create those options within their buildings,” said 25 year-old Henderson.

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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Greenpeace, guardian of oceans and forests, has reissued its Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide to help people make the switch to recycled paper.

The new pocket guide endorses brands such as Green Forest, Earth Friendly, Natural Value and Seventh Generation, which are made of recycled paper. It recommends that shoppers avoid products such as Kleenex, Cottonelle, Charmin, Angel Soft, Bounty, Brawny and the Target and Wal-Mart house brands because they are not made from recycled wood products.

Using recycled personal paper products can make an impressive impact in curbing global warming, according to Greenpeace, among others — far greater than one might suspect from contemplating the lowly roll of toilet paper.

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