Reducing my use of cling-wrap...

Food Kozy wrapper from Kids Konserve For my birthday, I was given some neat little reusable lunch wraps (thanks, Wendy!). I’ve been using them for the last few weeks and am pretty happy with them. The ones I’ve got are from Kids Konserve, and I like them a lot. They’re flat plastic wrappers in an round-ish shape, with a velcro closure. The idea is to use them instead of cling-wrap for sandwiches and...

Where to find secondhand furniture...

Last week I asked about how to find secondhand furniture and a bunch of you gave me some really good answers and tips. I really didn’t expect as much of a response as I got, thanks so much! You might have skipped the post if you (like me) didn’t know anything about the best way to get some furniture the eco-friendly secondhand way. So I’ve summarised the info here because I think it’s really useful....

e-waste recycling...

Last weekend Dave and I took some old computer stuff to get recycled. The Southern Metro Regional Council here in Perth had organised a collection day for old TVs, computers, printers, game consoles and similar stuff. We took along my mum’s old computer, an old Guitar Hero controller, a busted PDA, and a few other bits and bobs. I was pretty glad to hear about it, because we’d been hanging onto this stuff...

Reuseable coffee cup - yay!...

What do you do about takeaway coffee? I’ve had a ceramic mug at work for a couple of years now, and didn’t think I needed more than that because I rarely drink coffee when I’m not at home or work. But then a new coffee shop opened up around the corner - great service from the owner (hi, Mata!) and other staff, great coffee, great food, and in walking distance! So I’ve been going there for...

Taking reuse too far?...

We all know the 3 R’s of eco-friendly living: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. It’s a handy rule of thumb to help us make decisions about buying new items and disposing of old ones. And I’m always in awe of the people who really get into the Reuse part of it. I’ve done pretty well at switching from disposable items to reusable ones (water bottles and shopping bags are my favourite examples), but I’m...

Going paperless: progress report...

You might have heard that Greenpeace has successfully made Kimberly-Clark (the Kleenex company) get their supply chain switched to sustainable forest sources. You can read Greenpeace’s info on the end of the Kleercut campaign at their site. I think this is great, but it’s not going to stop me from trying to reduce the amount of paper I use. It takes a lot of time, energy and water to make paper, even if the...

Going paperless: magazines...

As you know, I’m trying to go paperless in my life. I’m tired of forests getting chopped down for pulp mills, and I’ve signed as many petitions as I can, and contributed money to the anti-deforestation campaigns. And now I’m trying to get my use of paper down to a bare minimum. One of my most un-green habits is my magazine addiction. I used to spend over $40 a month on the glossy, short-lived things. I’m...

I’m going paperless: no more tissues...

As part of my ongoing project to buy and use less paper, I’ve decided to switch to handkerchiefs instead of tissues. I was originally inspired to make the switch by the lovely ladies at Tiny Choices, but have finally gotten fed up with the attitude from logging companies. And according to G Magazine’s Tissues vs Handkerchiefs article, by doing this I’ll also be cutting back on water waste, energy waste,...

I’m going paperless: reducing my printing...

As the first (and probably easiest) step in my resolution to go paperless, I’ve worked out a way to reduce the amount of times I need to print something out at home. I’d already mentioned that I hardly print anything out at work. Mostly this is because I’m a web developer, so the bulk of my work is online anyway. But I do sometimes need to test what a website looks like printed out, or keep a document...

Simple tip: keep your green bags handy...

I’m sure that as good greenies you’ve all got your re-useable bags stashed away. It’s hard to avoid picking up a bunch of the standard green bags when you do your grocery shopping these days, and they’re so handy for more than just your groceries. But do you remember to bring them to the shops? Or do you sometimes end up at the shops on the spur of the moment, without your handy reuseable bag?...