"Its Easy Being Green" Episode 9: Chelmsford Recycling Comity

Last night we taped 2 new episodes of "Its Easy Being Green." The first taping was with 4 members of the Chelmsford Recycling Comity. They were nice enough to come on the show and talk about recycling in Chelmsford. We had a live studio audience there as well. In the beginning of the show the winners of the K-4th grade recycling poster and essay contest were announced. They were awarded a juice pouch item of their choice (made by me). Two of them picked a large 40 page juice pouch notebook, and two of them picked a small juice pouch purse. All of the audience members received a ticket when they walked through the door. At the end of the show 2 tickets were drawn, and 2 lucky people won a larger juice pouch purse.

The show went well. Jenifer, who works at the recycling office, talked about the recycling system in the town. She also talked about different types of events, like fall brush drop off. Mark talked about recycling champions, rain barrels, and composting. Marc and Norman chimed in as well. Mark also talked about the website and how to use. The Chelmsford recycling website is http://www.chelmsfordrecycles.org/. The website has all of the information that you need for recycling in our town. You can click on the link on the right hand side of my blog to go to my you tube page. In one week I will have 3 videos of this show posted on there.

Recently pizza boxes are no longer recycled. This is because of the oil and grease on the box. You can tear up the box and put it in your compost bin instead.

A question at the end of the show, which was cut off, was "where do you keep your food scraps in the kitchen before taking them to the compost bin?" I bought a $5 plastic tub with a lid and a handle from the town. The town was not able to buy any this past year though. I also will keep a large bowl on my counter for the food scraps. Then I take them to the compost in the morning. You can also put them in a paper bag. Since the paper bag is compostable, you can throw the whole thing into the compost bin. Jennifer uses a small stainless steel trash can with a lid for her kitchen scraps. I have seen these for sale at Bed Bath & Beyond before. My parents were able to buy a set of 3 (in 3 different sizes) before.

Another audience member brought up how you can also compost your paper napkins and paper towels. These are other items that can't go in the recycle bin, but they don't need to go in the trash.

If you live in an apartment and don't have the space for a large compost bin, try a small one with red wiggler worms. I have done this before. They don't take up much room.

You can purchase a rain barrel and a compost bin from the town, via the town office or the recycling office. Both are under $100. Others can be more expensive, but may work better for your household. I look at it as a good investment. You will be saving money in the long run, and you will be helping the town to save money as well. The town gets charged for the weight of the trash that gets disposed of. The less you throw away, the more the town can save. The more the town can save, the more money there is to go towards things like schools, libraries, the police and fire department, etc.

Please remember the 3 Rs, reduce, reuse, and recycle. Try to think about them when you are shopping. How much packaging is in the product that you are buying? How much of that can be recycled? Is it a useful product? Is it a disposable or a reusable product? Also think about what you are putting in the trash. Can it go in the recycle bin? Can it be composted? Is there a place or a person who can recycle it (like cell phones, ink cartridges, plastic bags, ect.)?

I highly recommend that everyone watched a 20 minute video called "The Story of Stuff."

I'm dreaming of a greener Christmas

Yesterday I made another eco-friendly garland. This one is made out of soda tabs and vhs tape. You can also see how this would make a nice necklace, bracelet, or belt.

Here is a little tree that I made using fun fur yarn, glue, and a foam cone. You could also use a cardboard cone or make your own cardboard cone. This also works with scrap fabric, garland, buttons, etc.

If you remember a while back I had collected some pine cones. Well today I used some of them to make this wreath. I used a pressed wood wreath frame for this and a hot glue gun. I first attached a twist tie to the back for easy hanging. Then I glued on the pine cones. I glued the dried leaves (found at my door step) in between the pine cones. I then sprinkled some copper glitter on the wreath. There was still some sticky sap on the pine cones, so I did not need to use any glue for the glitter.

This wreath I started in April. It has 2 different types of bottle caps glued on it. The big ones have inspirational quotes written in them. Today I wrapped a fake flower garland around it.

I'm getting ready to tape 2 of my tv shows tonight. The first one is about recycling in my town. Four members of my town's recycling comity will be my guests. Also the prize winners for the K-4th grade recycling poster and essay contest will come on to accept their prizes (my juice pouch items). There will also be an audience who can ask questions. There will be a door prize given at the end - one of my juice pouch purses.

The second show taped tonight will be about having a greener holiday. I did a dry run through of it today. I have enough stuff to fill up 2 episodes. So the most important stuff comes first. Wish me luck.

Bottle Cap Garland & Jean Repair

My collection of clear & white bottle caps.

Punch a hole on 2 sides of the bottle caps.

String the bottle caps together & you have garland for your yard.

My blue jeans go through a lot. This pair not only is all ragged at the bottoms from stepping on them, but they were tearing up the back. I decided to go with it. I tore them both a bit more up the back middle. Each leg having the same length tear. I found this fabric in my stash. It looks like denim and it is woven on a twill like denim. I sewed two triangle pieces so that the raw edges were hidden. Then I sewed it to the jeans making sure that it made a triangle shape. It is very subtle. Hopefully this will help them last longer.

Wordless Wednesday - Halloween in Salem, MA

Eco Holiday Garland

I've been doing some research into ideas for a greener holiday season. One item that I came across was garland made from old magazines. In the pictures that I saw the paper was painted or stamped on. I wanted to make a quick garland for the tv show taping this Friday, so I did not paint mine first. I have a die cut machine. I used my Christmas light die cut and my 3 stars die cut to make these shapes from a penny saver newspaper.

I set my machine on the longest straight stitch. Then I slowly stitched across the top of one of the shapes. Holding the paper carefully, I gently pulled as the machine made a few stitches onto nothing, thus creating a gap in between the paper shapes. Then I would stitch over another shape and repeat.

I created a pattern of Christmas light, large star, Christmas light, small star, repeat. While laying them out like this, I discovered that they tangle easily. It would look nicer if they has been painted first. However they are fine like this as well.

I carefully wound the garland around a toilet paper tube so that it wouldn't tangle while I stored it. A few pages of recycled paper made a pretty long garland. This would also be nice made from used wrapping paper or old greeting cards. For fun you could add a few family pictures in the mix.

Juice pouch prizes

I was asked by the recycling office to make prizes for the K - 4th grade recycling poster and essay contest winners. This will be my second year making juice pouch prizes for them. Today I made most of the items. I wanted to give the kids an option to choose from. The recycling office gave me a price limit for what they were willing to pay per item. With that in mind, I came up with 4 different items for them to choose from. I made 3 small purses, 2 pouches or containers, 2 large notebooks, and 5 small notebooks. A small notebook and a container combined fit into that price limit. I have a few more containers to make.

Sewing Class & Quilting

As you may know I recently bought a new sewing machine when my other one broke. The store that I bought it from offers 2 free classes on how to use your machine. I signed up for the only 2 Saturday classes that they had. It's easier to get out of the house on the weekend, because my husband is normally home. Today was the "meat and potatoes" class. The next one will be the "just dessert" class. I learned how to do a proper hem and how to make a button hole stitch. I had never done either before. I also learned a few other things that I never knew about.

The classroom area had all these wonderful quilts and purses on the wall. All of which were classes that the store offered. The one that really caught my eye was a maple leaf quilt. I've had maple leaves on my mind lately. This one however involved applique. A scary thing indeed. I asked about the class when buying some thread after the sewing machine class. It was the only weekend class that I could take this year. However it was a little to pricey for me right now. She gave me a nice discount, because she wanted people who really wanted to be in the class to be there. Yeah!!! This will be my first ever quilting class. I'm very excited. I believe it is next weekend.

Tonight was movie night. While we all watched a very PG movie, I finished hand quilting the blocks on my grandma's quilt. Yeah! Now I just need to quilt the border and add a binding. I'm so happy that it will be finished by Christmas. That will make 3 quilts that will be given as christmas presents this year. I also worked on the cloth napkins and the cowboy quilt this morning.