It’s that magical time of year again when 3,800 pages worth of unneeded phone books arrive, uninvited, on my front porch. Out with the old, in with the new…but with a twist: The old phone books are 100% recyclable.  You can just throw them right into your blue curbside bins, and Charleston County Recycling will [...]

Recycling only takes a little knowledge, a little time, and a little motivation. If you see a neighbor throwing away materials that can be recycled, don’t be afraid to help them out. They may be missing the recyclable materials list, confused about their recycling pickup day, or unaware how important this basic civic activity really [...]

Check out this inspiring video featuring Chris Fisher of Fisher Recycling. He is a great example of someone turning their love for sustainable living into a thriving business that is helping us all.

This post originally ran last holiday season, but I think it’s an important reminder to everyone… Driving all around town shopping for holiday gifts is a resource hog – too much time, too much gas, too much hassle. That’s why I’ve turned to Amazon.com year after year to help reduce my trips into the seasonal [...]

It’s that time of year again – new phone books are arriving on porches and driveways throughout the Lowcountry. This means updated information, but also tons of excess waste. Please remember that Charleston County Recycling accepts old phone books for reclamation, and you can throw them right into your blue curbside bin with other paper [...]

Whole Foods Markets across the U.S. will be celebrating Earth Day by eliminating plastic bags. Once the store on Houston Northcutt Boulevard uses all of its supply, there will no longer be a choice of paper or plastic. Hooray! What a great way for this company to set an example. Disposable plastic bags are an [...]

The history of toilet paper is long. From leaves to rolls, our fannies have never been more pampered. Flush, flush , flush, down goes that pristine paper. Pristine, you say? I say considering its origins, that Kimberly -Clark t.p. belongs in our jewelry boxes. The only way to stop flushing it is to stop buying [...]

I noticed something wrong on my recycling bin the other day, and an email to Charleston County Recycling confirmed it — this info was out of date. It says, “No Packaging Boxes (i.e. cereal, laundry, or soda can boxes)”, noting that cardboard can be taken to drop site. Because my bins were made before February [...]

Greening up is an adventure — every time something breaks or wears out, I get to sniff out an eco-replacement. Sometime it’s toilet paper, a car, or bed sheets, but last week it was printer paper. Paper products are great because we can easily close the loop, a green behavior critical to sustainable consumer activity. [...]

Chad was suffering from a drippy cold, and came home with two boxes of Kleenex. I’m pretty sure I made an audible gasp when I saw those cute designer boxes, but I said nothing to Chad. He had a bad cold after all. I mean, have you ever seen his nose? I used a few [...]

Sometimes I get so caught up in recycling that I pay less attention than I should to the other two R’s…Reducing and Reusing. Recycling is great, but ideally we should be using less and reusing more. And while reducing the amount of stuff we use is ideal, it often feels like a punishment. Reusing is [...]

Lately, we’ve been noticing how little garbage we have around our house. So much so, that I only have to take my big brown trash bin down to the curb every three weeks (still too much IMHO). I used to fill it up to the top every week, but now it takes 3 weeks! For [...]

35% of our municipal waste is paper, almost all of which is recyclable. If you really want to reduce what you’re sending there, get vigilant about recycling your paperboard. You’ll be amazed at how much paperboard you go through…check out what my family collected in 2 weeks. Give it a shot, but remember – these [...]

If you really want to make a positive impact on the environment and reduce the amount of garbage you send to the landfill, then this post is for you. Paperboard packaging containers are everywhere…at least everywhere our modern lifestyle takes us. You’ll find them at grocery stores, Target, gas stations, Home Depot, and drug stores. [...]

One of the first really green things we did was to reduce our dependence on non-essential paper waste. This included paper towels, cups, plates, toilet paper, tissue, and napkins. Paper accounts for the largest amount of solid waste in landfills, and we wanted to reduce that. So, Jen picked up 16 cloth napkins and put [...]