Sorting your trash, will help you be most successful in your recycling and composting endeavors.
You can buy all sorts of containers if it helps you to start fresh with a organizational system. I however found it more economical to use what I already had.
Here in Kannapolis we don't have curb side recycling pick up so we actually have to deliver our recyclable to the stations in town. I thought of that when I chose to re-use Rubbermaid container.
You need to be familiar with how your City requires sorting to be done.Check you city's website to see if they offer recycling, if they have curbside pick up and if they have provided containers? You may also want to double-check if hazardous household waste (like paint containers can be picked up or must go to a Hazardous waste center). Here,I have to take HW to another site but the recycling, I could just throw everything in together and sort it at the center but that is just more time-consuming.
The way that the containers are at our local center, paper is one container, Glass Plastic and metal are another container and cardboard is on its own as well. I have 3 bins here at home one for the containers at the center, so all I have to do is to load my bins in the car drive to the Recycling Center and dump my bin's contents into the containers. Each bin is labeled with a post it style note. I have set up in my kitchen the 3 recycling bins, my compost container and a small trash can.
The pre sorting only takes a second having these set up. When someone finishes the last of the juice they drop the container into the proper bin. That seems easy enough. What about food?If you read the earlier blog entry on compost you know that is pretty easy as well, especially if you have made some of the steps to economize your time.
I have a compost container on my counter and a trash can with a sealed lid - when we finish a meal or snack we simply scrap what is compost able into the bin. I dump the coffee grounds into the bin after each pot and all the egg shells and such go there too!
Why the trash can then? Unfortunately at this point there are still some things that can not compost in our Back yard compost(large-scale compost centers however can), things I wouldn't want to give the worms and that are not recycled.They are few but they have to be disposed of non the less. So I put the bones, meat scraps and things of that nature into the trash. I don't fill a trash can in a week - so I have a lid on that too. I use far less bags than I have before sorting and that has allowed me to switch to a bio plastic bag. [caption id="attachment_153" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Avaiable at www.greenlifecarolina.com"][/caption] My large container outside is only put to the street for pick up about once a month. You would be surprised how little goes to the curbside container once you remove everything that is recycled and composted from your daily waste.


Since this is a NC specific blog, I thought that I should mention it is ILLEGAL to put plastic containers into your trash containers for pick up. Becoming familiar with the change in states recycling policy can in fact save you fines.
Items Banned from Disposal in North Carolina Landfills
News14 NC Landfill Ban

Composting to improve your outdoor Life

I first learned about it via the internet through a great site called Smell Like Dirt. There are some great YouTube videos posted there, but there are tons of local resources too.I recommend watching these videos to learn the how to or attend a class- They broadcast from Charlotte. I found a link about taking a composting class, my husband and I took the class and the rest is history – we got hooked!

Composting reduces the amount of matter that goes into a landfill,according to the EPAComposting what’s the big deal right, especially if you are already recycling. Well, composting can be a huge deal for all of us.Yard trimmings and food residuals together constitute 26 percent of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream.Composting at home allows it to decompose on the surface where it can be of most use! It saves the community money and energy because it isn’t having to be hauled to the landfill. Not to mention that it isn’t taking up space in a landfill. I use way less garbage bags one 20 count box lasts 2 months or more at my house. Anything that can be put into the compost goes there.
Personally it benefits you by improving the soil quality and helping to protect against drought, because it allows your soil to keep more water. This is great for you, because you pay to put the plant life in your yard. It may be that you have a garden, or just expensive landscape.
Do you have a lawn guy in your family? Did you know that compost is the best defense for your lawn too. Adding compost to your lawn in addition to grass cycling helps the lawns root system to be able to penetrate further, making it more drought tolerant. There are obvious fertilization benefits as well, because compost is nutrient rich.
It’s expensive though, right? NO! This is one of the cheapest things you can do to help you and the environment! Most everything you will need is available FREE to you and the rest can be purchased for less than fifty dollars in most cases. It costs about $5 to produce 10 cubic feet of compost vs the $25 it would cost to buy it! You don’t need to buy anything though. The basic ingredients to a good compost already exist in your yard – you just need to put them together.
I don’t have that kind of time. The beginning process of setting up the compost site takes about forty-five minutes,after that you just have to add your scraps and turn it once a month. You can turn it more often – this will speed up the process. You will have usable compost in about 6 months!
It’s fun…. Yeah I know you are thinking… messing with used foods and dirt doesn’t sound fun. It can be especially for a family. Building a bin together to maintaining it all can give an opportunity for your family to spend time together and do something that will produce benefits within a growing season, especially if you plant a small garden using your compost. I have several coffee canisters that I add my compostable to when I am cleaning the kitchen. I take it out when I take the recycling out, and add it to the compost.
Give it a try – if it isn’t for you –well at least you attempted it!Get the basics! I believe though that once you get started and find out how simple it is you too will be hooked!!

Indoor Air Quality, how clean is your air?

The air you most often breathe is inside your home. Ever wonder how clean it is?
You air is contaminated with everything that enters your home from the outdoors. That is a given. Did you know that the leading contributor isn’t the air outside though, it’s your cleaning and household products, that’s according to the EPA. You can find some of the nasty things on the labels but it is the stuff not listed that is causing you to breathe toxins. Things like synthetic fragrances and petroleum-distilled chemicals, or VOCs. Research has shown that these toxins lead to all kinds of health problems like generalized sensitivity skin and respiratory irritation, allergies, asthma and some experts believe maybe even autism. Other contributors can be tobacco smoke, VOC’s from, solvents, aerosol sprays, hobby supplies, and dry cleaned clothes , not to mention furniture and carpet .
It is hard to get away from these guys too, because even the mainstream natural and earth friendly cleaners use the solvents from petro chemicals (and yes these come from petroleum, oil that is… wonder why we are so reliant on petroleum?) to extract the “naturally derived” components in their products, the truth is there are better alterative but it’s cheaper to do it the dirty way.

One way to keep the toxins low in your home is to use products you know are clean. Does your cleaner contain any of the known irritants? What about the word “fragrance”, is it on the label? A lot of companies use the ability to trademark fragrances to hide all sorts of dangerous things. Check with the company or find one that discloses ALL their ingredients. Chartreuse Products are one alternative (and the best if you ask me) to conventional cleaners.
If you use a washer and then your dyer be aware that the dryers exhaust will find its way throughout your home. The detergent that you use is as guilty of being toxic as your other household cleaners. Detergent isn’t soap after all. Dryer sheets and fabric softeners are huge culprits too, causing some of the same things that cleaners do, along with other disorders associated with the central nervous system. Using a natural soap, and a dryer sheet (to reduce static cling) but skip the scented ones – will help illuminate things like Chloroform, from your household air.
Plants, nature’s air purifiers are also wonderful for improving air quality. They don’t only purify the air but they restore need oxygen and balance humidity. Bathrooms with mold problems can benefit from a peace lily. There are many plants, a complete list that was put together some time ago originally by NASA that can help in restoring air quality. The type of plant and the number of them per square foot is important in order to maximize the benefits, using the suggested plants with the ratio of one per ten square feet of your home.
Be diligent about what comes into your home, buying furniture that doesn’t contain any toxic glues or pressed woods, as well as avoiding synthetic fabrics will in the long run keep the VOC levels low. Buying paints designed to have NO VOC off gassing will not only protect you from the layers of paint already on your wall but they won’t smell so obnoxious during application and won’t further contribute to the problem.



There are even simpler things you can do too, remove your shoes when in your home. All sorts of pollen and dirt come into your home from your shoes. You can also vacuum your home frequently using a good quality vac with a HEPA filter. If you are looking to upgrade look for one of the newer energy efficient vacuums, because after reading this I expect that you will be using it more often!*( I have a Eureka light weight ,I purchased it at a home improvement store and paid less than a hundred dollars, it has a HEPA and is energy star rated.)Don’t just vacuum the floors either; remember the furniture and drapes trap all sorts of things. Along your base boards and door frames things often accumulate and as you walk are stirred up in to the air. You can change your air filter in you HVAC unit at least once a month, and keep the vents clean. On warm days it doesn’t hurt to open your windows and air out the house. Of course this is a great time to clean out those window sills too!!

Read the label, and check the internet. You can protect the air inside with a little diligence.

Greening in the New Year...A Series of articles to help you begin the green journey

I am planning on writing this month in a series of blogs about simple steps to green. Not only for the planet but for your personal environment too,
~ Indoor Air Quality , what you can do to reduce the toxins in the air you breathe inside your home?
~ How Compost can improve your outdoor life.
~ Sort that garbage and use less garbage bags!
~ Simple steps to making your home more energy efficient

Stay tuned for a new and improved GreenLifeCarolina blog.