I just got word via my favorite local news site, The Digitel, that Charleston County Recycling now has the ability to collect and recycle compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). This is great news, as you probably know that CFLs are full of nasty stuff like mercury. Also, since a lot of Charleston’s trash is incinerated [...]

I just stumbled upon what sounds like a great new local organization called The Sustainable Warehouse. This nonprofit’s mission is to keep usable items out of the landfill by organizing salvage sales here in Charleston. This is not only a great way to reduce garbage, but reduce the demand for new stuff. I mean, a [...]

As you might imagine, we get asked a lot of questions about how to go green here in Charleston. Out of all of those questions, there is one that gets asked more often than all the others: How do I get a blue recycling bin? It’s extremely easy to get a free blue recycling bin [...]

Voting with your dollar is one of the best ways to let the community know that you believe green choices are important. That’s why supporting local green businesses is a great way to contribute to the movement and reduce your impact on the planet. We get lots of requests from businesses wanting to be listed [...]

Many years ago as a professional ballet dancer, I carried my ballet shoes in a string bag. My pointe shoes needed air after those long rehearsals. I remember shopping with a fellow dancer and watching her dump out her shoes in the car and then refill her mesh bag with apples and oranges. My current [...]

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 2008 Earth Day Festival in Park Circle was a great event, and we’d like to thank everyone for coming out and seeing us. We spoke to 463 people (I had a counter in my pocket), and I feel like our interactive waste-free booth was in perfect alignment with the event. Visitors seemed to be [...]

We’ve started planting some new flowers in our gardens, so I’ve noticed a buildup of empty plastic plant containers in the garage. Because these containers are typically make from non-recyclable plastics (#4, #5, or #6), most folks just toss them into the trash. But this year we can help you make a change! Last June, [...]

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. [...]

Most recycling programs only accept plastics #1 and #2, so being able to quickly identify them can be a time saver when sorting your recycling. In the future, we should be able to recycle plastics #3 through #7 — but for now these outcasts must be banished to the landfill (that’s too bad, because a [...]

My little guys have celebrated their birthday parties, thus far, at our home. They’re young, and can entertain each other with no more than glow sticks in a darkened room. We love throwing these parties — they’re simple! And since we’re in control of the details, what little waste we accumulate is just from plain [...]

There is an article in today’s Post & Courier that shares information about the area’s hazardous waste disposal sites: From “Charleston County sees light on recycling bulbs“: Here’s where you can throw out your compact fluorescent bulbs and other household hazardous waste in Charleston County: Bees Ferry Road Convenience Center, 1344 Bees Ferry Road. Adams Run [...]

Like most areas in the country, our local recyclers only accept plastics #1 and #2. My family collects a lot of these plastics as bottles, milk jugs, Starbucks cups, and so on. But what about all those other plastic items in our lives? If something is labeled as a plastic #1 or #2, it can [...]

You have to look hard to actually find something labeled as a plastic #7. When it comes to resin identification codes, #7 is reserved for materials made from mixed plastics – or “other.” That’s why it is so rare to see a #7 in the wild – plastics of these types cannot be recycled, so [...]

I just received this press release from CofC – way to go! Starting January 28, 2008, the College of Charleston will participate in the 10-week RecycleMania challenge, competing against more than 200 universities across the country. Specifically, students and employees at the College will compete in the targeted materials competition, the per capita paper competition, [...]

Polystyrene (PS), otherwise known as plastic #6, was accidentally discovered by a Berlin pharmacist in 1839. While polystyrene is widely used today, it is rarely found in plastic bottles – it contains benzene which is generally considered a carcinogenic substance. What is it made of? Polystyrene is a thermoplastic polymer, and its molecular formula is [...]

On Monday, Sonoco opened a new 30,000 square foot recycling facility in North Charleston. I don’t know a ton about Sonoco, but this new facility will be used to collect, process, and recycle nearly 250 million pounds of material each year. Not only does Sonoco take sustainability seriously, they are closing the loop when it [...]

I was very happy to see this weekend that a recycling dropsite has been setup in the Food Lion Shopping Center at 65 Sycamore Avenue. That brings the total to seven dropsites in West Ashley for those of us who don’t have curbside pickup. The site does not have a bin for corrugated cardboard yet, [...]

If you’re like me, chances are that deep in your closet, you too have a box of things that is labeled, “stuff.” And in it, most likely, is that old cell phone that you just didn’t know what to do with, so you stashed it in stuff purgatory. Well fear no more, there is a [...]