Looking for an eco-friendly case for your iPhone 4S? Check out the innovative Re-Case from Miniwiz, a carrier that uses trash and agricultural by-products to protect your phone in style.

The company combines by-products from the rice farming industry with post-consumer thermoplastics – including plastic bottles and bottle caps – to form its POLLIBER™ material, which is used for the Re-Case along with other products like the Re-Wine wine case and Polli-Brick™ building materials.

Read more about the case on earth911.com...

1. Replace single-use batteries in your camera with rechargeables

Over the holidays, you may have noticed that your camera eats up battery life faster than Takeru Kobayashi chows down 10 hot dogs. You can save a lot of energy (and money) by making the switch to rechargeable batteries. Sure, the upfront cost will be higher, but it will pay for itself in just three photo-worthy events. 

2. Make the switch to CFLs or LEDs already

While the actual details of the "light bulb ban" are still up in the air, there's no question that switching out your incandescent light bulb for a CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) or the even more efficient LED (light-emitting diode) will save energy and a ton of money for you in the long run. Incandescents turn just 2-10 percent of the energy they use into useful light, releasing the rest as waste heat. However, a CFL will save about $30 over its lifetime; pays for itself in about 6 months and lasts about 10 times longer than an incandescent. Seventy-four percent of Americans have already made the switch, so go ahead and jump on the bandwagon.

Read the rest at Earth911.com

Indianapolis - The same Styrofoam that you threw out after Christmas could later be holding your favorite Christmas memory.

Styrofoam is typically viewed as a material that has one life, but now it's finding a new purpose, along with the people who are recycling it.

"It's awesome. It's recycling. It's taking it from the landfill and we're just putting it into picture frames," said Scott Parker, team leader. "We're looking for Styrofoam that has a 6 on it."

Once it's sorted out at a warehouse on the city's east side, the Styrofoam goes into a big grinder where it's broken up into little pieces. From there it's sent down a shoot into the hopper, and then it's compressed.

"It just packs it into a brick," said Parker.

When it's all said and done, an entire trailer full of Styrofoam will end up compressed into a palette. For every 40 trucks that come in, one truck will go out full of material that can be used again.

"After it's shredded compacted and reprocessed. It's manufactured into these picture frames," said Curtiss Quirin, chief operating officer.

While the crew is transforming the Styrofoam, the experience is transforming them.

"It gives people a chance to work. Especially with people with disabilities who are not able to work," said Parker. "I was hit by a car when I was three years old. It damaged the left side of my brain. Before I had this job I thought I wasn't able to get a job. Working here it gave me a lot of experience. It gave me the opportunity to learn."

"It gives me a sense of independence. It keeps me going," said Jack Thompson.

This goes beyond recycling. This is renewal.

CROSSROADS INDUSTRIAL SERVICES: Tel: (317) 897-7320

Those interested in recycling Styrofoam should contact: CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, CURTISS QUIRIN: (317) 897-7320, EXT 4228

EASTER SEALS CROSSROADS

Tube Your Duds
Cardboard wrapping-paper tubes can help make you look as good as your gifts. Keep pants crease-free by cutting a tube lengthwise and folding in half horizontally. Next, place it over the rack or hanger before hanging pants, being careful to tape the sides of the cardboard together at the bottom to keep it from slipping. You can also stuff tubes inside boots to help them keep their shape without flopping over.

Instead of splurging on expensive tags for gifts at stationery shops, create your own tags from last year’s pile of holiday cards. Focus on the front of the card to avoid this year’s greeting, then get creative by cutting round, square and elongated shapes. Finish by punching a hole in the corner and looping ribbon through so you can attach to a gift. Fold in half and write your note.

Spice up Your Shower
Punch up a boring bathroom and reuse those pretty ribbons with homemade shower hooks. Instead of the boring plastic or wire variety, lace the ribbon through your curtain and tie in a knot to secure. Complete the project by snipping off the ends at an angle.

Think Wick
Give your candle pillars a little personality after the holiday season with a few miniature metal cookie cutters. Hold the candle steady and use a hammer to lightly tap the metal shape into the front body of the candle for a DIY monogramming effect. Spell words, stencil shapes, or try a combination of both.

Set the Mood
Looking to set a serene mood for your DIY spa night, but having trouble finding candle holders? Drop a votive tea light inside one of your metal muffin or cupcake tins for an instant and fuss-free candleholder. The best part? No cleanup necessary.

For the past two months, Earth911 has been highlighting three amazing charities in its Spotlight on Giving series. This New Year, make a resolution to inspire change in the world by donating your materials, money or time to one (or all!) of these grassroots organizations.

Soles4Souls

While sifting through the remnants of this holiday season, a life-changing donation is already in your closet – shoes. And chances are, you’ve got at least one pair you can part with. Last year alone, Americans discarded more than 300 million pairs of shoes.

Every seven seconds, Soles4Souls distributes a pair of shoes to someone in need. Since 2005, the nonprofit has distributed more than 12 million pairs of new and gently worn shoes in more than 125 countries, including the United States.

Founded by Wayne Elsey, former president of an international shoe company, the initial idea for the organization stemmed from the image of a lone shoe washing up on the Asian shoreline shortly after the disastrous tsunami in 2004.

Inspired to make an impact, Elsey called on both colleagues and competitors to donate shoes, resulting in a collection of more than 250,000 shoes that were donated to the region.

Since then, the organization has had a presence in major disasters around the world, including hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the earthquake in Haiti and, most recently, the record-breaking flood in its hometown of Nashville, where the organization partnered with the NFL to donate 1,000 pairs of shoes to a local rescue mission.

“We’ve sent everything we had to suffering people. Thankfully, we have the most amazing support network of individual heroes, and today, we need them to engage their family and friends to clean out their closets and help us respond to the needs of people around the world and here in the U.S.,” said Soles4Souls CEO Wayne Elsey.

The organization receives its shoes through footwear brands (such as Adidas or Red Wing), shoe stores (like Shoe Carnival or Finish Line) and individuals and other nonprofit groups (schools and churches, for example). Soles4Souls collects all types of shoes for donation. Individuals or other groups also get involved by hosting shoe drives, donating cash or sponsoring shoes for those in need.

World Computer Exchange

In 1999, Timothy Anderson was an eager grad student studying education at Harvard, in search of an idea that would save the world.

With a growing interest in international issues, the environment and developing countries, Anderson had the drive and the know-how, but he needed the spark that linked together the different strands of his life’s work.

“I kept reading these reports about funding [in developing countries] for roofs, truck-boards, running water, you know, the basic things,” Anderson says. “I thought about what I would need; what’s missing to allow me to me and what I do? I just kept coming back to computers.”

After research, Anderson found that an organization that supplied donated refurbished computers to other countries wasn’t really established in the U.S. With a small group of volunteer board members and a super-frugal virtual office setup, Anderson developed the World Computer Exchange (WCE).

Eleven years later, with the help of more than 700 volunteers around the world, the organization ships donated computers to 42 different countries.

While out-of-date computers are often worthless here in the U.S., abroad, they can be the most valuable piece of equipment in a village or town. Anderson says that, oftentimes, a school will have to build an entire separate building outfitted with bars and other security measures to protect their computers.

But security is just one aspect recipients have to fully understand and commit to during the process. A large shipment of computer equipment comes with a price. Refurbishing, preparing and shipping the computers is a large financial burden for nonprofit WCE. While the organization has volunteers across the world that assist with the process, the recipient country is responsible for one-third of the cost, which usually totals $50 to $75.

While Anderson says the monthly success stories are continual inspiration that keeps the organization running, WCE is still a lean operation with little funding. The charity heavily relies on help from local volunteers and continual monetary and equipment donations.

“It has been so hard to raise money during these last couple of years, and what has surprised me is just how difficult it got to be for the developing countries as well. This downturn was global,” Anderson says. “We’re as frugal as possible, so any money we get is used well.”

Besides monetary donations, WCE also accepts computer equipment from individuals, groups and businesses. Individual donations can be mailed to the Boston headquarters. For larger shipments, oftentimes, Anderson will find local volunteers to arrange a pick up for the items.

But if you’re sans money or extra computers this holiday season, you can give your time.

“There are ways to get involved as a volunteer or a refurbisher,” Anderson explains. “We work in a lot of different chapters across the country, and we’re always looking for more volunteers. It’s a small amount of time per week, but these volunteers are constantly solving problems and helping us out.”

MedShare

The health care industry is one of the single most polluting industries in the country. According to Practice Green Health, American hospitals generate approximately 6,600 tons of waste daily.

Combine that with the World Health Organization’s estimate that more than 10 million children under the age of five die due to inadequate medical care.

In 1998, A.B. Short and Bob Freeman created MedShare to serve the overlooked sector of excess supplies and the environment of the health care industry.

The organization partners with hospitals, clinics, medical manufacturers and distributors to collect surplus supplies and equipment. Medshare then sends these materials to underserved medical facilities across the globe.

“The supplies and equipment that MedShare collects and redistributes to needy healthcare facilities abroad are saved from landfills and incinerators, and in 12 years of operations, we have saved over 1.2 million cubic feet of landfill space,” said spokesperson Kimberly McCollum.

Twelve years later, the charity is still thriving. Most recently, MedShare was named a 2010 Waste Reduction Awards Program (WRAP) winner by the 2010 CalRecycle Waste Reduction Award Program.

Over the past year, the MedShare team has been diligent in its continued efforts in post-quake Haiti. Just one day after the earthquake, Short was on the ground in Haiti, working with victims to assess the damage and supplies needed to remedy major injuries and assist local clinics.

Since Jan. 12, 2010, MedShare has shipped 28 40-foot containers filled with more than 168 tons of life-saving medical supplies and equipment to needy hospitals in Haiti. The organization has supplied 83 medical mission teams with more than 14,000 pounds of medical supplies for treating the sick and injured.

Now, Haiti faces yet another challenge: An outbreak of more than 103,300 cases of cholera have been reported in the country. MedShare says donation and support is still needed as the country recovers.

While MedShare primarily works with health care organizations, anyone can get involved by donation. Through MedShare’s Boxes of Hope campaign, donors can pay to sponsor supply packages of crucial first aid supplies, such as syringes, sterile gloves and gowns, labor and delivery kits, biopsy kits and surgical kits. Supporters can sponsor a minimum of two boxes for $40, up to a maximum of 1,000 boxes for $22,000.

But if the bank account is low after this holiday season, there are volunteer opportunities with MedShare in both its Atlanta and Northern California facilities. Most volunteers are responsible for sorting through medical equipment that will be shipping to other countries, but the charity values all trades brought to the table, “whatever your skills, we will put them to good use,” MedShare says.

The food company this year said it hired an outside company to collect and manage solid waste disposal and recycling operations. In 2009, the company sent 74,000 tons of waste to landfill and will use that figure as a baseline for comparison in future years. The overall goal for waste reduction is 30%, the company said, with data being collected for all plants.

For the past three years, the company´s WhiteWave Foods corporate office in Colorado has been working towards becoming a zero waste facility. The company now recycles commingled containers, paper and cardboard while composting organics. In the past two years, the company has composted 87,700 pounds of material and distributed compost to employees each spring for use in home gardens.

This is the second year the company has released a corporate responsibility report.

"As we work to transform our business, we are committed to doing it in a way that is right for us, right for consumers, right for our retail customers and right for the environment," wrote Gregg L. Engles, CEO and chairman of the board for Dean Foods.

The report is available here.

“Sustainability is a global effort at Sara Lee,” said Audra Karalius, vice president of sustainability, environment and safety for the Sara Lee Corp. The company is based in Downers Grove, Ill.

The company has set a goal of reducing waste sent to landfills by 12% between 2005 and 2012.

Six of the company’s global facilities have achieved zero waste to landfills, and others are making progress in reducing their annual tonnages sent to landfills as well, the report states. Companywide, waste sent to landfills has decreased by 32%, the company said.

For example, the Sara Lee coffee plant in Suffolk, Va., achieved zero waste to landfills in 2009, through a mixture of composting, recycling and use of waste-to-energy facilities. In Albuquerque, N.M., the bakery reduced its landfilled waste from 25 metric tons in the first quarter to 12.25 metric tons in the third quarter of 2009 by recycling paper ingredient bags, cardboard, shrink wrap, bread bags and broken plastic trays.

Also, in Bellevue, Neb., the bakery there recycled 1,360 metric tons of scrap metal, batteries, food waste, cardboard, pallets and other mixed waste in 2009.

The company has implemented several environmental management procedures. For example, workers are encouraged to find ways to minimize waste by-products in the manufacturing stream and to find ways to recycle the waste that is generated. Supply packaging is collected and recycled or returned to suppliers when possible, and water is reused whenever possible. Mixed waste is sorted and recyclables removed before being sent to landfills, and efforts are made to reduce air emissions and energy use.

Renewable energy also is being used. The company’s coffee factory in Joure, the Netherlands, uses spent coffee grounds from its manufacturing process and biogas as main energy sources for the factory’s steam boiler, reducing natural gas consumption by 40%.

“Sara Lee is committed to promoting wellness and nutrition, supporting our communities, and protecting our planet,” according to the company’s sustainability site.

“Lowe’s is always looking for new and better ways to serve our customers and continue to be responsible stewards of the environment,” said Michael Chenard, Lowe’s director of environmental affairs. “Recycling is a simple way to help reduce unnecessary waste in our communities. The recycling centers make it easier for customers to make a difference, and we look forward to continuing to partner with them to promote and support community recycling.”

The recycling centers will be provided at all 1,700 retail stores in the continental U.S. Customers can drop off any expired, unbroken CFL, any rechargeable battery up to 11 pounds and all used mobile phones and plastic shopping bags. Lowe’s stores in Canada also feature CFL recycling centers.

Lowes said the products are responsibly shipped and recycled.

The home improvement chain partnered with Call2Recycle to handle recycling of rechargeable batteries and mobile phones. Each year since joining the Call2Recycle program, Lowe’s has increased the volume of rechargeable batteries it recovers from consumers, with more than 334,000 pounds recycled last year, the company said.

Also, every Lowe’s store in the U.S. offers free appliance recycling to customers when new appliances are purchased.

Beyond consumer recycling, the stores also recycle shipping material. For the past five years the chain has run a nationwide pallet recycling program. In 2009, Lowe’s recycled more than 166,000 tons of wood pallets, along with 147,000 tons of cardboard and nearly 400 tons of shrink wrap.

The issue is a plastic coating used on the cups.

The new effort — which includes 86 locations in the city — builds upon an earlier and smaller scale pilot project that involved just seven locations over an eight-week period last fall.

Now Starbucks and Global Green USA are working with Action Carting Environmental Services Inc. to gather even more of the polyethylene-coated cups to see whether then can be mixed with other recovered fiber and recycled on a larger scale.

“Finding a sustainable solution is a top priority for Starbucks,” said Jim Hanna, Starbucks director of environmental impact, in an e-mail interview.

“During this pilot, our cups are being transformed into facial and bath tissue, paper towels and napkins, and other consumer paper products that contain post-consumer recycled fiber,” he said.

Test results from last year, when the cups were mixed with other recovered paper and recycled in a university laboratory setting, were promising.

“With the quick run we took I would be very confident to say post-consumer cups, we’re not going to see anything negative in the OCC [old corrugated container] stream,” said Joel Kendrick, director of recycling, paper and coating pilot plants at Western Michigan University, during a presentation posted on You Tube.

Annie White is director for the Coalition for Resource Recovery, a part of Global Green USA that’s serving as a third-party technical consultant on the project.

Increasing the size of the pilot project will allow for the collection of many more cups that will be tested in a variety of ways for their recyclability and end uses.

“It helps us build critical mass, get more data,” White said. “We need to have a certain volume of material to really be able to understand how it performs in the mill.”

Cups are being collected over a nine-week period that began Sept. 13. “We hope this test will allow us to better estimate the amount of material that can be collected from customers in store. Based on earlier results, we hope to collect several bales of cups for recycling,” Hanna said.

The amount of material collected last year was small, White said, but allowed researchers to determine that recycled paper including the cups performed well during testing.

Expanding the pilot program also helps determine whether individual stores can provide a clean enough waste stream to allow cups to be taken directly to paper mills for reuse rather than being sorted at a materials recovery facility.

“I think the key is to really find ways to figure out existing collection streams and minimize sorting,” White said.

A key to the project is use of a leak proof and recyclable paper bin liner developed by Duro Bag Manufacturing Co. to collect used cups at Starbucks locations, CoRR said. This could allow bags to be baled with OCC.

CoRR also is interested to see what information from the pilot program can be used for the bigger picture of recycling all food service packaging.

“We’re interested in working with all sorts of restaurants and all sorts of packaging beyond cups as well to really see and prove this model of collecting this material,” she said.

“The results of this large-scale pilot have the potential to institutionalize recycling across the foodservice industry and influence the redesign of all fiber-based food packaging for recyclability,” according to CoRR.

Contamination and coatings are two major hurdles that have to be overcome for food service packaging recycling.

“Starbucks has really taken a leadership role and is really forging ahead, which is wonderful because it’s helping us to understand more broadly the opportunity for this concept,” White said.

The coffee company also sees the potential to impact recycling beyond its own operations. “If the pilot is successful, it could make Starbucks paper cups recyclable more broadly and influence recycling practices across the foodservice industry,” Hanna said.

“Our overarching recycling goal is that 100% of our cups will be reusable or recyclable by 2015. By ‘recyclable,’ we mean in form and in practice — in our stores, in public spaces and at our customers’ homes. The ‘in practice’ point is an important distinction for Starbucks. We won’t call our cups recyclable until the local infrastructure is in place to make it happen,” Hanna said.

The toilet paper roll is about to undergo its biggest change in 100 years: going tubeless.

On Monday, Kimberly-Clark, one of the world's biggest makers of household paper products, will begin testing Scott Naturals Tube-Free toilet paper at Walmart and Sam's Club stores throughout the Northeast. If sales take off, it may introduce the line nationally and globally — and even consider adapting the technology into its paper towel brands.

No, the holes in the rolls aren't perfectly round. But they do fit over TP spindles and come with this promise: Even the last piece of toilet paper will be usable — without glue stuck on it.

REPORT: 'Green' product claims are often misleading

LABELING: FTC revises guidelines for products claiming to be eco-friendly

Suddenly, there's news in the $9 billion — but stagnant — toilet paper market. More important, it's got a "green" halo.

The 17 billion toilet paper tubes produced annually in the USA account for 160 million pounds of trash, according to Kimberly-Clark estimates, and could stretch more than a million miles placed end-to-end. That's from here to the moon and back — twice. Most consumers toss, rather than recycle, used tubes, says Doug Daniels, brand manager at Kimberly-Clark. "We found a way to bring innovation to a category as mature as bath tissue," he says.

He won't disclose the tubeless technology used but says it's a special winding process. A similar process is used on tissue the company sells to businesses but not to consumers.

Behind the marketing push is a growing consumer demand for environmentally friendly products.

One environmentalist applauds the move. "It's a positive example of how companies are seeking creative ways to reduce environmental impact," says Darby Hoover of the Natural Resources Defense Council. But more relevant than nixing the tubes would be more recycled content in its paper, Hoover says. While Scott Naturals normally has 40% recycled content, this test product does not — but future versions will, Daniels says.

Hoover says she hopes other toilet tissue makers follow Kimberly-Clark's lead. How soon that may happen is unclear. Procter & Gamble, maker of top-seller Charmin, declined to comment.

With a stable of powerhouse brands that includes Nabisco, Oreo, Cadbury and Maxwell House, Kraft Foods Inc. said it has cut waste by more than double its previous goal.

And the Northfield, Ill.-based food maker did it two years ahead of schedule.

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Follow Little Bottle around and you'll learn about the earthly benefits of glass recycling - a fully closed-loop process.

The animated, bespectacled character created by Saint-Gobain Containers led hundreds of people on a virtual scavenger hunt that tackles the weighty topics of selecting glass for your food and beverage containers and then the importance of recycling it when you're done.

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The new rug adorning the president's Oval Office was made in Michigan from sustainable materials including repurposed wool, according to the company that made the floor covering.

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Landfills have hit the big time with the toddler crowd.

Toys "R" Us is out with its much-talked-about annual list of hottest toys for the holiday season, and there´s finally something for the landfill-loving youngster.

Move over G.I. Joe. A play set based on the climax of "Toy Story 3" -- where the famous toys are almost incinerated -- is being called one of the best new toys of the upcoming holiday season.

The "Tri-County Landfill" play set from Fisher-Price is an exclusive to Toys "R" Us. "Just like the movie, the toys can be picked up in a giant scoop and then dropped into a sorter before landing on a conveyor belt that leads to an incinerator," a description released by the toy company states.

Check it out at Fisher's Price

By now, most of us are familiar with the usual water-saving tips: don’t leave water running unnecessarily, time your showers, install low-flow shower heads and resist the urge to unnecessarily water the lawn or wash the car.

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You recycle, ride a bike to work, and buy organic food. You pay extra for "green" electricity and have an eco-friendly car. So can you rest easy, with a clean conscience that your life is as sustainable as it can reasonably be?

Well ... although many of us try our best to minimize environmental impacts, our actions don't always achieve as much as we believe.

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The Fourth of July is right around the corner! Summer’s hottest holiday will no doubt call for backyard barbecuing, fireworks and maybe even a dip in the pool.

Here’s how to throw a little green into your mix of red, white and blue.

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Still haven’t found the perfect present for Father’s Day? We’ve found seven eco-friendly gifts for all kinds of tastes for all kinds of budgets.

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Sixty percent of the rubber consumed in the United States is used to make tires. Raw materials used to make tires include rubber (41 percent), carbon black (28 percent), steel (15 percent) and other materials (16 percent).

In 2008, 290 million new tires were shipped for use by cars and trucks. Of these, 80 percent were for passenger cars and 20 percent were for trucks. In addition, 20 percent were "original equipment" tires and 80 percent replaced used tires. Tire shipments have declined for the last two years.

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While single-use plastic shopping bags are nearing ubiquity in American retail stores, carryout restaurants and grocers, many local governments and organizations are looking to find ways to keep the bags from becoming litter. Two very different approaches are being examined right now — increase recycling of the bags, or ban their use all together.

“There’s been a tremendous amount of imagery of the Pacific Garbage Patch and impacts on wildlife. Local governments wanted to do something,” said Carol Misseldine, coordinator of Green Cities California. “Local governments wanted to do something.”

The coalition of 10 local governments collects environmental laws, studies and practices from across the state and offers them as sample legislation for other jurisdictions. The group recently issued its Master Environmental Assessment on single-use and reusable bags.

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Summer is nearly upon us, and now is the perfect time to start planning your warm weather getaways. No matter where you live, a hidden gem of a mountain to hike, lake to kayak or beach to lounge on likely lies no more than a few hours away.

Even for the most budget-conscious urban dweller, there are many ways to enjoy one's natural surroundings without breaking the bank.

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If your current air conditioner is more than eight years old, it's time for a new one. Over the life of the product, the amount you'll save in energy bills will more than likely exceed the cost of the new unit.

Click here for basic criteria to use when choosing a new system

No matter where you fall on the “green” spectrum, whether you’re an avid environmentalist or simply in your initial research phase, it’s hard to deny that composting is becoming the talk of the town.

Composting is often considered one of the most effective sustainable activities, essentially creating a “recycling” system for food scraps and yard waste in your own backyard.

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College students living in campus dorms respond well to  recycling campaigns that include social media, researchers in North Carolina  found.The study was conducted at the University of North Carolina Charlotte by the  university´s Waste Reduction Office, the NCDNR Division of Pollution  Prevention and Environmental Assistance and Mecklenburg County Land Use and  Environmental Services Solid Waste Division.

Over a four week period, researchers  tracked students at three dormitories while conducting a recycling awareness  campaign that included social media platforms Twitter, Facebook and Youtube  pages. The study was aimed at increasing recycling rates and creating  positive attitudes towards recycling, according to the university.

Periodic  reminders might be the key to getting college students to recycle more, the authors  of the report wrote. "The majority felt they possessed sufficient recycling  knowledge and just forget to do it," the report states. Students were  surveyed before and after the program to determine attitudes toward recycling.

Most students said they didn´t recycle due to "Not thinking about it" or inconvenience of drop off bins. Students at Cedar and Hickory residence halls on  the UNC-Charlotte campus increased their recycling habits significantly  during the study, the authors report. Cedar students increased their recycling  from 51 pounds of bottles, cans and paper to 129 pounds. Students in Hickory  increased their collections from 46 pounds to 106. The largest recycling  hall, Sycamore, decreased from 113 pounds to 108 pounds during the study.

Bottles were the most-recycled material on campus, with paper coming in second.

Now that April (aka Earth Month), is in full swing, it's the perfect time to get moving with your eco-fabulous resolutions.

But the prospect of where to begin can be daunting, especially when you factor in the myths floating around about reasons not to shift your behavior towards that which is more eco-conscious. So enjoy Earth Month to its fullest and don't be fooled by these six eco-myths.

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There’s nothing we love more than great weather, sunlight and the perfect excuse to get back to nature.

We won’t bore you with those expected metaphors of spring and new beginnings. Instead, we’ve made a detailed of list of simple changes you can make this month that not only reduce your impact, but can also actually save you money.

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A lot of people just don’t recycle. While there may be a temptation to imagine them as conspiring Earth Haters who take orders directly from Skeletor, they are usually normal people who try to contribute positively to society in other ways.

They are members of our family, our neighbors and our friends. So what makes them choose to bypass the blue bin?

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San Francisco made history when it became the first city to officially ban plastic shopping bags in 2007, making it a pioneer of a rapidly growing trend – the outlawing of common to-go plastic products, such as bags and foam polystyrene containers.

In many cases, the main objective when passing these types of bans or fees is to ultimately reduce the amount of litter.

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The Greener Gadgets event in New York City was a stark contrast to its Las Vegas counterpart, the Consumer Electronics Show. The venue was vastly smaller, the visual appeal was significantly absent, and the huge techie crowd was lacking (but we'll blame that on the snowstorm).

But there was one compelling dissimilarity about Greener Gadgets, and it was perhaps the reason we made the cross-country trip: undiscovered ingenuity.

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Photos go to relatives and the knickknacks might go to a garage sale, but who wants to deal with the array of unused pills when grandma passes away?
Manufacturers are offering discounts, as well as Wal-Mart, on medications.

Some politicians do.

In the last year, state legislators across the country have proposed bills aimed at curbing the disposal of unused medication.

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Every now and then we like to take a break from the big news headlines and explore the creative world. We know you love crafts, perhaps almost as much as you love recycling.

We tried to think of an abundant resource that you regularly toss, and plastic was the first thing to come to mind. While we highly tout recycling all types of resins, we also love getting our hands dirty and making really cool stuff out of those bags under the sink or those bottles in the fridge.

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There’s old tech gear under beds and in boxes all over my house. I know better than to throw all that e-waste in the trash, where it would eventually pollute the planet. And I also know that when it comes to tech disposal, time is of the essence. My cast-off cell phone or laptop could help someone less fortunate and even net a little cash too−but only if I act reasonably quickly. Any yet despite all this knowledge, my digital detritus piles up.

This year, though, my daughter’s fifth grade class wants to raise money to make their soon-to-be built school building “green.” Finally, the push I needed− clearing out my tech clutter could help me support Ava’s well-intentioned fundraising.

First stop: Gazelle. Since 2008, this socially conscious company has been helping people collect money for unwanted tech gear, guaranteeing to sell it for reuse or recycle it responsibility. Enter the particulars about your ex-gear and a cash bid pops up on-screen. If you like the figure, download a free shipping label, drop the item in the mail and wait for your check. Simple! Recently, Gazelle launched a service called Gazelle for Good that allows individuals or organizations to fundraise online with what they call a Gadget Drive.

So I went to gazelleforgood.com. It took maybe 10 minutes to create a customized donation page for my daughter’s school. The site works just like Gazelle except it also announces our cash goal and displays a thermometer that shows our progress. We can promote our cause with just a few keystrokes by e-mailing links to our homepage and printing flyers to post on bulletin boards.

That ancient desktop my son, Cole (now 13), used in first grade will net only about $6, but Gazelle will pay for the shopping and keep the parts out of the landfill. The digital camera I haven’t touched since I upgraded will snag $43, Cole’s old cell phone $24 and my old Palm PDA $83. While I’m shipping all this off, I’ll throw some old orphaned cables and broken keyboards. As long as I’m selling some of value, Gazelle will recycle everything.

It might be hard to write a check in this economy, but it sure is easy (not to mention satisfying!) to ship all this stuff that was just taking up space.

By Christina Tynan - Wood of Family Circle Magazine, March 2010 Edition

A few weeks ago, Earth911 investigated some of the lesser known recyclables. Sure, they don't receive as much media attention as some of their co-stars like the plastic bottle or the aluminum can, but your massive response to "I Didn't Know That Was Recyclable!" proved that there is an outcry to dispose of those odd items.

From paint and batteries to wine corks and hair (really!), a little patience (and a search on Earth911.com) can make recycling these items a little easier. The list of qualified recycling candidates was long, so we figured we would feature a few more.

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A New Orleans garbage man is the subject of a new reality show appearing on TLC next week.

Sidney Torres started his SDT Waste and Debris after Hurricane Katrina struck the city and now operates more than 150 trucks and has 180 employees.

An hour-long pilot of the show featuring his company, "Trashmen," is scheduled to air at 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time on Feb. 11.

The show will feature Torres and his company’s efforts to clean up during a particularly busy weekend that featured Halloween weekend festivities, the Voo Doo Fest annual outdoor concert, and after a Monday Night Football game featuring the New Orleans Saints.

Ratings for "Trashmen" will determine whether the show is picked up for additional episodes, Torres said.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection says it now has enough evidence to prove that unwanted prescription drugs being tossed into local landfills pose a threat to surface and groundwater supplies around the state. New test results of leachate at three Maine landfills show high concentrations of a wide range of pharmaceuticals. And the findings are likely to boost support for a bill to require drug companies to collect and dispose of unused medication.

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We know it's not spring yet, and you're still donning that oversize wool coat and chunky scarf. But we admit that we are still in a post-holiday funk and are in serious need of some organization and motivation.

So we took a room-by-room tour around our own homes to find the solutions the your biggest clutter conundrums, disposal dilemmas and decorating difficulties.

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Let's say you want to recycle organic waste but have no interest in starting a compost pile in the backyard. There's an app for that, an environmental application known as commercial composting.

Chances are you've contributed to commercial compost in the past without even realizing it. Common applications of compost include curbside green waste collection programs and Christmas tree mulching.

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Why does it all even matter? We’ve all been there for the probing questions that follow habitual green activities or beliefs. While you know why you do it, it may be hard to articulate when you’re “under the gun,” so to speak.

Whether it’s lack of information, or just a twisted tongue, we’ve got your stock replies ready for those pesky environmental questions.

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Larraine Roulston writes children’s books and once volunteered with a puppet show.

But make no mistake, she is quite serious about the topic of composting.

It’s just that Roulston uses children’s literature to promote what she said she believes is an important aspect of waste management.

The Havelock, Ontario, resident is currently working on her fifth children’s book about composting and has spent the last 20 years trumpeting the cause.

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Get out the packing boxes and old newspaper - it's time to clean up your holidays!

What a whirlwind season it's been. With everything that happened in 2009, 2010 is sure to be another monumental year for all things green.

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With the start of a new year comes hope and change and most importantly, opportunity. In reaction to such inspiring settings, most of us turn to the old pad and pen to set up our course for the next year. So, what is on your list?

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As you get ready to undeck the halls, here are a few helpful tips to guarantee your Christmas tree doesn't end up in a landfill. Considering the EPA estimates 20 percent of our municipal solid waste is already organic, it's worth the time to properly dispose of your tree.

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Regardless of what you put in your oven or your mouth, cooking is usually a holiday staple. But along with cooking, waste isn't usually far behind. From leftover food to left-open refrigerators, waste is all around us as we prepare the treats that make your holiday dinner party a hit.

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