Ideal Bite’s Top 10 Green Tips

GetListy
October 27, 2008

Ideal Bite’s audience voted on their favorite tips –click the links below more full details.

Mailbox or mausoleum? — Help it rest in peace. Unwanted mail crowds out invites and tax refunds, and uses up valuable natural resources like trees, water, and energy. Point, click, and put to rest credit-card offers and catalog clutter once and for all.

Paper or plastic? — How ’bout neither. We use shopping bags for a few hours, but they can take lifetimes to decompose. New foldable nylon versions make it easy to BYOB wherever you go-whether it’s clothes shopping, grocery shopping, or a drugstore impulse buy.

Blood pressure rising along with pump prices? — If you feel a little warm in your car this fall, roll your windows down while driving around town, but kick on the AC if you are going more than 45 mph. We all know that air conditioners drag down our vehicle’s fuel efficiency. But once over 45 mph, your car windows provide wind resistance and actually decrease your engine’s efficiencies at higher speeds.

Paint: Nothing to Sniff At — There’s just nothing quite like watching paint dry. But unless you’re the type who likes to inhale fumes, for your next paint job, go for naturally vibrant paints that won’t leave you woozy.

Can you help the planet just by searching the web? — We don’t just think you can. We know you can. Little search engines that could support your fave causes and save energy – and are as free and as easy to use as Google.

What drug habit do we all need to break? — The habit of chucking unused medication. When we flush meds down drains or send them to landfills, they make their way into rivers and even drinking water. Proper disposal is just what the doctor ordered.

Beware of the Phantom (Loads) — A “phantom load” is the energy that’s sapped by appliances when they’re plugged in, but not on. Use power strips or manually unplug DVD players, computers and cell phone chargers to save electricity from disappearing without a trace.

Check your baggage — Just check your trash bags. Regular plastic bags take eons to decompose and actually help preserve what’s inside. Go for biodegradable bags, ‘cuz landfills are filling up faster than overhead compartments before takeoff.

Recycling 101 — Can you chuck your yogurt carton into the recycling bin? It depends on your recycling program. Figuring out exactly what’s recyclable can be harder than navigating the shoe section during clearance season, but our cheat-sheet makes at least one of these tasks a whole lot easier.

Are you spending money like water, on water? — Tap into the cheaper way to stay hydrated. Use a home water filter to nix contaminants, and get a clean-as-bottled (if not cleaner) drinking supply without pouring money down the drain.

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