Recycle, reuse, repurpose, and grow!

We have a new curbside recycling company and I needed a planter..........so the logical and "green" thing to do was...........you guessed it. I planted yellow crookneck squash and cucumbers in the recycle bin!! Genius!

Coffee grounds make the world greener

My husband and I drink coffee almost every day. Our coffee maker grinds the beans and makes the coffee. Every few days I have to empty the little pucks of coffee grounds. Just think of the millions of people around the world who drink coffee or tea and the millions of pounds of used coffee grounds and tea leaves that are discarded into the trash daily. This is so wasteful.

I started throwing my coffee grounds out into my flower beds but did not know the benefits. So I did a little "digging". Seems there are a lot of benefits from these used grounds. Coffee grounds are acidic with a pH between 3.5 and 5.0. Coffee grounds alone offer 3 percent nitrogen to the soil. Also, earthworms love coffee grounds.
*Sprinkle the grounds around plants before watering or rain for a slow release nitrogen.
*Using eggshell and coffee grounds to encircle a plant will form a barrier to repel pests.
*Mix into soil for houseplants and new vegetable beds. Vegetables enjoy acidic soil.
* Acid loving plants such as azalea, rhododendron, holly, juniper, mountain laurel, heather, creeping phlox, and lily of the valley. Trees such as pine, spruce, fir, and some oak species.
*Dilute your leftover coffee with water to use as a fast acting liquid fertilizer.
* Since earthworms love coffee grounds those of you who vermi-post can use it in your composter.
* Coffee filters and tea bags compost very quickly as well.

So collect those discarded grounds from the office or even coffee shops.
Spread the word and spread those grounds!!!!!!!!!

Recycle - every little bit helps

If you wanted to live a little greener and start recycling do you know where to go?

My neighborhood provides a recycle bin to each home. The bin is for plastic bottles, cans, and newspaper. That leaves out many recyclable items. But where can I take things like glass, batteries, and cell phones?

So I was happy to find Earth 911 — a great resource for anyone who is looking for a local recycling center. Just go to the homepage and enter your zip code. You can narrow the search to find recycling centers for more than twenty types of items - from antifreeze and asbestos to toys and televisions. Don't forget those old broken cell phones. Just click on "more" for a list of items.

For those of you already using CFLs (compact fluorescent lights), remember they should not go into your regular trash.

No More Wire Hangers

OMG! I recently cleaned out my closet and I have so many wire hangers. The thought of just throwing them out just bothers me. Did you 3.5 billion hangers ending up in our landfills every year. I read somewhere that not only are wire hangers recyclable, but they're made of steel (North America's Number One Recycled Material), they also contain a minimum of 28 percent recycled content. There should be a wire hanger recycling bin somewhere, but there is no such thing that I know of. They can be taken to a scrap metal dealer.

I have heard that some dry cleaners take back wire hangers and reuse them or recycle them. You can check with your local dry cleaners. Many are no longer taking them.

I think it would be a great community or school project to have a wire hanger drive. Any proceeds can be donated to a charity or to the PTA.

I did find a The Wire Hanger Exchange where you can give your hangers to someone who wants to use them.

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