saved!

A-ha! I stopped a co-worker from throwing out a plastic produce bag, and she thanked me. I'm taking the bag home to recycle.

We're starting a "Go Green" initiative at work to reduce, reuse and recycle. My assigment is to educate co-workers on reducing unnecessary printouts to save paper and printer ink; and I'll be the official recycler of cardboard products if people don't want to take them home (excluding corrugated boxes, like printer paper and shipping boxes, since we already recycle those). I see so much cardboard in the kitchen trash and take it out -- I think most people aren't aware of how much they can recycle.

sayonara, swiffer!

It's time for a trade-in. While surfing around for some eco-friendly dryer sheets, I discovered a whole host of method products online -- ones I haven't found at Target yet. Well, I suppose I've seen the omop at Target, but I figured I didn't need to buy another Swiffer-type mop because I already have one. But all those Swiffer cloths just go in the trash, right? Had I taken the time to look closely at the sweeping cloths designed for the omop, I probably would've grabbed it off the shelf a long time ago. The sweeping cloths are compostable and made from corn! Not only is this a totally cool concept, but it's right in line with my goal to generate less trash. Once we move into our new house, we plan to set up a composting bin, in which these neat little cloths will go when spent. Bingo.

So I went to methodhome.com and ordered me an omop wood floor starter kit and an extra package of sweeping cloths. The Swiffer mop is on its way out the door (but not in the trash). I can't wait to try the new mop on the wood floors in the new house.

Method also makes that eco-friendly dryer cloth I was searching for, don'tcha know. It's biodegradable, whereas other dryer sheets only contain biodegradable softening agents. The method bathroom wipes are flushable and biodegradable, and the hand soap refill packaging uses 83% less plastic than a rigid PET bottle (yes, I'm regurgitating info from the Web site, but I think it's great!). These are great products that can help you begin the transition to green cleaning, if you're not ready to make your own cleaners. Target carries most of the cleaning products, and you can order them on the method Web site, if you don't see what you want at Target. Take note: drugstore.com carries several method products, but they're priced higher than at methodhome.com.

In other eco news, we switched out the old chemical-laden kitty litter with a wheat litter we found at the Seward Co-op. Not only will Marty smell a lot better, but he won't track chemicals all over the house with his kitty paws (or ingest the chemicals), and the litter is flushable. We flushed the kitty clumps yesterday to test the flushability; it looked pretty gross in the toilet, but it went down with no problem. The price wasn't all that bad, either.