How much do you recycle? See how you stack up:
Novice: You recycle easy things, like soda cans and paper, when it’s convenient. Off to a good start!
Intermediate: Your recycling can is twice as full as your garbage can. Your neighbors are in awe.
Pro: You’ve reduced the amount of single-serve cans and bottles you use, so you actually recycle less than before (because you have less to recycle). You’ve started recycling programs at work and in the local schools.
My family orders a lot online. You might too- online sales are now almost 10% of all U.S. retail sales according to the Department of Commerce. Which means more cardboard boxes showing up at all of our houses. Luckily, cardboard is easily recycled. It’s clean, easy to reprocess and saves 17 trees per every reclaimed ton.
Flattened boxes maximize space in recycling trucks (I always wondered why we have to do that!). A little plastic tape is ok, but remove the heavy-duty, wide stuff. It can muck up the paper mill machinery during the recycling process .
Which is more environmentally friendly- aluminum foil or parchment paper?
Parchment paper is bleached or unbleached paper coated with silicone. Tin foil is actually a thin layer of aluminium. Mining and processing aluminium takes a lot of energy and resources. And although clean foil can be recycled, once you pull it off something like a lasagna, you have to trash it. Parchment can’t be recycled, but is created from a renewable resource. It also has nonstick properties that most tin foil doesn’t. So parchment wins in the big picture. I’ve started using parchment paper when I bake cookies, roast vegetables, or broil fish.
Go one step further using silicone baking mats, which serve the same purpose and last for a long time. They’re on my shopping list to try out!
I’ve been walking around my house feeling for cold drafts from windows and doors. I actually found one window that was slightly open (oops!). If you can feel cold air or see daylight when your exterior doors and windows are closed, it might mean the seal around them (called weatherstripping) is cracked or just plain gone. Weatherstripping comes in all sizes and price ranges at the hardware store, and usually just stick right on. Not only will your house feel more comfortable and your heating bills will benefit, but fewer insects can get in. That seals the deal for me!
