Friday, 18 July 2008 14:41
Guilt definitely motivates me. As a writing mom, I get tons of paper press releases, media kits, magazines, etc. This is one area where I strive to use the three R's: Reduce, Recycle and Reuse.
Reduce: When I think about the 100 million trees that are used each year to make junk mail I cringe. That's why I logged on to ProQuo. ProQuo is a free easy-to-use Web site that allow consumers to remove themselves from marketing lists. Much like the National Do Not Call Registry for telemarketing, ProQuo works to help reduce junk mail. Register at ProQuo and choose which lists you want to remain on and which one you do not. I noticed a difference in about three weeks.
Recycle: I keep a
Folding Recycling Bag in my hall ($6). When I come in with the mail, I automatically sort and toss things into this tote. I also buy
recycled paper from Staples. It's a tad more expensive, but I consider it an investment. $49.99 per case of 5,000 sheets. When ordering invit
es and cards, I also search out green stationery. A favorite company--
Paper Shouts--uses 100% recycled, high-quality, uncoated paper. Making me feel much better about those
sweet birthday invite (see left for a sample boys b-day) I've ordered for our July soiree!
Reuse: This is the easy one. First, I ask myself: "Do you really need to print this?" Turns out most times I don't. Next, I try to print on both sides of the page. And finally, leftovers are turned into art paper for my almost three year old. Check out
Family Fun Magazine for fresh crafting ideas.
And there is good news on this front: According to
The American Forest & paper Association in 2007 more than 56% of the paper consumed in the US was recycled. But we can do better...
Nicole Feliciano is a freelance writer and mother of two girls based in Brooklyn, New York. Admittedly style-obsessed, she spent seven years in women’s fashion with Polo Ralph Lauren before taking on the world of parenting. Now she uses her keen eye to spot trends for hip families and shares her picks on her Momtrends blog as well as national print and online publications. For more, you can find Momtrends here.
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at Friday, 25 July 2008 16:02
not one drop of paper in this house goes in any trash. I use a fire place to heat my house with and all year long I save my paper (card board, anything that will burn) and then in the winter I use it for heat. I don't even have to take my trash out but once every 2 weeks because so much gets recycled here. Every bit of plastic, glass and cans that can be recycled are. I hate it when I get mail and it has that bubble wrap on the inside of the envelope. Most companies I deal with now use those little plastic air bags to fill space in boxes. That is much better than the popcorn stuff that some are still using.
2Comment
at Saturday, 09 August 2008 17:01
tjmuse needs to be careful burning her "trash" paper as many have chemicals on them that are not healthy to breathe when burned, things that have colored printing (even newspaper), glossy coatings, and the adhesive used on many mail pieces are just a few examples.
For all, if you don't know where to recycle paper in your area, check your local schools. Most run recycle programs all year, even during the summer. You just drop it off in their bins in the parking lots usually.
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