Eco-Tip: Reuse Yogurt Containers

Yogurt is a healthy nutritious treat full of protein and calcium. I enjoy consuming yogurt nearly every day as a mid-afternoon snack or a late-night dessert. However, yogurt comes with the price of having to deal with the leftover container it comes in.

I love finding various ways to reduce the amount of waste I produce.

Recyclable? It’s all in the numbers . . .

Nearly all yogurt containers you buy are made of plastic. Certain plastics are in fact recyclable, but what most people may not know is that not all should be thrown in the recycling bin.

These are the numbers you would find on plastics that indicate what type of plastic it is. (Source: http://bit.ly/IHTK5)

On your plastic products you should notice a recycling symbol somewhere. The symbol does not automatically mean it belongs in the recycling bin. There is a number present inside the symbol, which indicates the type of plastic the product is made out of. Some plastics are easier to recycle than others. To effectively recycle, you should check the number and also look into your area’s recycling program as stated in one of my previous posts.

I have discovered various uses for yogurt containers. Instead of tossing them in the trash after a one-time use, there are useful ways to reuse them.

Just make sure to wash the container before reusing them.

1) A handy storage container

Yogurt containers are perfect for my trail mix!

It can be used for storing at home or when you’re traveling around. The yogurt container as well as the top (if you buy the yogurt that comes with granola or M&M’s) can be used to store food. Over the summer I had been attending classes at my local college. I tend to stay on campus to do some extra studying, so I pack myself a snack. Instead of wasting a plastic zip-lock bag, I just use the yogurt container. It’s very portable and easy to travel with while also holding a good serving size of chips or trail mix.

The yogurt containers can also be storage for other items like buttons, ribbon, pens or pencils.

2) A water container for painting

I like to paint and do various art crafts in my spare time. So I find the yogurt containers ideal for holding

the water I use to wash my paintbrush in or tip my fingers in when I handle clay. It’s a lot better than when I used to use a plastic cup to hold the water, which sadly often just went to the trash after I finished.

3) A circle template

Need to draw a perfect circle, but don’t have any circle templates from the craft store or a compass? Yogurt containers usually have a circular top and/or base. Thus, they can be easily turned into a template for a perfect circle.

Now these are only a few of the many reuses of yogurt containers. I have only tried these out, but the Huffington post offers a slide show of various other ways to reuse yogurt containers. Be creative and get as many uses out of your items as possible; it’ll help you produce less waste as well as saving a little money along the way!

Buckle Up Your Furry Friends for the Ride!

Talking on cell phones, eating lunch, putting on make-up, and blasting the stereo are some activities that can distract drivers and lead to possible accidents. Of course no one wants this so states have banned activities such as texting and talking on the phone while driving. Recently, dogs have been considered distractions for the driver.

Taken from LA Times article.

States such as my home-state New Jersey have implemented fines for drivers having their furry friend unrestrained in a car. Cats also fall under this. Anyone on the roads has to have seen at least one dog sticking its head out the window with its tongue hanging out or even a tiny lap dog relaxing on the driver’s lap. The first thought that pops into my head is usually “Aw, that is so cute!”

Now, the police can pull the driver over and can fine them between $250 to even $1000 (source: CBS Philly)! This fine is used to make sure that pet owners do make sure their animals are restrained and unable to move around the car. Safety for everyone is the main reason.

An example of the dangers of an unrestrained animal is illustrated in an Los Angeles Times Article where a woman in South Dakota backed into a car, which she couldn’t see because of her cats blocking the view of the back window. The article didn’t state any injuries.

Comments on articles about bills requiring drivers to restrain their animals in cages or seat belts show mainly support for the new bill. There is a presence of people against it believing it is simply a moneymaking-scheme or believing it is intrusive.

As a dog owner and driver, I do not mind the bill and understand the safety issue with pets in the car. My one-year old dog is very curious and restless. She loves it when I put the window down. However, she is never allowed up at the front seats. This is simply a common sense situation. Would you let a child ride a car without a seat belt?

Green Films For Kids

Earth Day was this past Sunday and what better way to understand the meaning behind that day is with some good old movies for the entire family. Below is a list of some movies kids and parents can watch together and understand that everyone needs to do their part and help out the environment. I am listing movies that I have seen and haven’t seen, but are promising.

A Disney Pixar movie, Wall-E is a lovely family movie with love and a galactic adventure. Wall-E’s director, Andrew Stanton, has stated that he did not intend the film to send a message about the environment (http://bit.ly/IN3w7m), but nonetheless one can see that the movie does portray Earth as a giant dumpster planet, which humans have abandoned, leaving one robot by the name of Wall-E to clean it up.

I rate this movie 5/5.

Universal Pictures released Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax in the beginning of March. If anyone read the book, you would know what it’s about. The movie diverges from the book slightly. Basically, a young boy is trying to find a “Truffula Tree”, so he goes to see the Once-ler. The Once-ler begins to tell him the history of the tree. This movie focuses on deforestation and how important natural resources are to the environment. Throughout the movie, there are music numbers. There is a mix of happy and sad parts in order to illustrate the importance of preserving our natural resources, animals, and plants. A little girl sitting next to me had began to cry at one point in the movie, but the lesson from the film is powerful.

I give it a 4.5/5.

Another Disney film, this comes specifically from Disneynature, a division of Walt Disney Studios. It is a documentary with beautiful film that explores the mysterious aquatic life in the five different oceans. Sadly, I have not seen this movie, but it received an 81% by critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

Another film I have not seen, but is very interesting. This is a fun documentary tackling the food industry; the movie follows two eleven-year old girls as they interview farmers, food activists, and storekeepers, getting to the bottom of where exactly the food they eat comes from. This movie seems great for kids, and is geared towards them. Amazon gives the movie 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Do you have any movie recommendations that relate to being eco-friendly?

Greener in the East

Japan Going Green

The green movement is an international change of the world’s lifestyle in order to preserve Mother Earth.

Taken by me on campus grounds

Moving to the Eastern World, I will focus on Japan. In college, I am a part of the Japanese Culture Club. As a few days ago, I am officially Japanese Culture Club’s publicist. Japanese culture is very interesting. There are similarities to American culture, but a different take on them. And of course, there are distinct trademarks that defines Japan as its own.

The website

So, I searched through various news articles to attempt to discuss on my blog, but instead I stumbled upon a website, eco+waza. This website’s tagline is “Inspired Green Living from Japan”. It is filled with articles, advice, and discussions about green living taken from Japan ai

med specifically at people living in Japan (English-speaking and Japanese).

What’s on it?

There are pages upon pages on the website from how to grow a green curtain made up of plants, bamboo, or other products to beat the summer heat to articles about entrepreneurs selling green ideas. It would take too long to list everything on the website, but its definitely worth to explore about ways to help make your lifestyle greener. The online store is a great way to buy some products to help.

The website even sells a green cleaning kit. Every product sold in the store aim to be eco-friendly. There are kitchen tools, cleaning products, and even toys for children to start being green too. The downside is that some of the products cannot be shipped outside of Japan.

But that of course shouldn’t stop anybody from looking at the website since I am sure that this isn’t the only online eco-friendly product store.

Dirty Doggy Business

There are 10.6 million tons of dog dung produced annually by millions of dogs each year, according to Joanna Foster’s Green Blog on the NY Times website.

Where does all this waste go? To the landfills, of course!

Even my little puppy is contributing to all that waste being produced.

The Project

However, back in 2009, Allan H. Treman Marine State Park’s dog park in Ithaca, NY had started a project from the urging of a Cornell University professor. The park provided corn-based compostable bags for dog owners to use and place in receptacles for a compost company, Cayuga Company, to pick them up. The project lasted 18 months and managed to collect 12 tons of waste and produce about two truckloads of compost. The entire project was funded by donations ($5,000 totally).

What’s so great about this fertilizer?

Not only is this fertilizer organic (no commercial chemicals that could be harmful to local ecosystems due to runoff), the fertilizer contains a lot of nutrients. These nutrients are perfect for promoting plant growth. It is also surprisingly pathogen-free, so it’s safe to handle, use, and transport.

The Outcome

Not enough compost was produced to sell commercially (which would have been ideal). The compost will either be used as a fundraiser give-away prize or to use in the park itself. This is even referred to in a documentary done by an Australian filmmaker James Boldisten called “Dog Poo: The Truth at Last”.

Pay Attention!

Biogbag is used to pick up your animal's mess and be thrown right into your compost because this bag is degradable as well as your animal's waste.
(Source of image: http://bit.ly/BZA1)

This project is just one of many that the world needs to invest and look into. We are utilizing materials that we typically deem as “wastes”. Instead of just throwing away this “waste” we can upcycle it into something useful for us and the environment. Organic fertilizers are one way that we can help reduce the stress on the Earth.

So to all dog owners, see how you and your little furry friend can help out the environment! Perhaps you can attempt to make your own little compost in your backyard.

How to Make Your Own Flower-Pot!

This is a very fun arts and craft activity for anybody to do.

(This is not my video. This video is made by kateoden)

What’s so great about this? Well, the newspaper pot actually holds the dirt and water very well. The newspaper pot with the seedling can be planted straight into the garden! It’s also very quick and easy to make once you get the hang of the folding.

This video is very helpful in going step-by-step to show how to fold the newspaper. However, certain newspapers don’t seem to fold right. The NY Times paper didn’t fold as well. However, using my school newspaper came out just fine. When you start folding the newspaper in halves, the paper needs to be rectangular. This is the key hint I feel can help make sure your flower-pot comes out looking right.

My environmental club is actually doing this as a fundraiser during Earth Day. Just watch the 7-minute video and you can get started on making your own newspaper origami flower pots!

This is how the flower-pot should turn out.
(image source: http://seeds.sunriseruby.org/?paged=4)

Recycling the Unrecyclables

Image taken from:  http://www.terracycle.net/en-US/

What goes in the trash . . .

Newspapers, cardboard, and soda cans are the common items thrown into blue recycling bins by millions of Americans. What about candy wrappers, chip bags, drink pouches, old computers and cameras, and pencils? They can’t be recycled, so they are just tossed into the garbage, which is then dumped into a landfill where they will stay for many years.

Terracycle is a company that collects these various recyclable items and recycle these items properly or turn them into other products. They coined this term “upcycling”.

What is Terracycle . . .

Tom Szaky founded Terracycle in 2001 while he was a freshman at Princeton University. He aimed to eliminate waste. This is something we all should care about and aim to do. A statistic taken in 2008, the average person in American would generate about 4.5 pounds of waste per day (http://bit.ly/1ECHaK).

How to be a part of it . . .

Companies and partners can form a Brigade program, which would collect non-recyclable or hard to recycle wastes for Terracycle. However, anyone can help out by signing up for a Brigade and start collecting waste. Usually, shipping is free or the costs are provided by Terracycle, and for every unit sent, Terracycle will donate at least $0.02 to a charity or school of your choice.

What is upcycling . . .

Upcycling means turning “waste” into products. On the website there is an index of all the products they create from the waste they collect and where you can purchase them. Products range from Starburst insulated cooler, organic fertilizers, Frito Lay jewelry case, to a circuit board picture frame. This definitely fits the saying one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Image taken from:  http://www.terracycle.net/en-US/