All posts filed under: Recycled Material

Coffee Exfoliant

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Awhile ago I found a blog post somewhere about making soap with coffee grounds and got really excited. I have a cup of coffee a day and it makes me sad to just throw away the grounds once I’m done (now we have the worm farm so that’s where most of it goes). Anyway, I started saving the grounds from my daily coffee. Eventually I gathered what I thought was enough so I went looking for that blog again. After reading it, and this is embarrassing, I thought it was too much effort so I scraped that idea. But what was I to do with all of my coffee? I then thought about making an exfoliant. A quick Google search told me that I could make a super simple exfoliant with coffee grounds and either water or olive oil. For my first attempt, I followed the instructions that said 1 tbsp coffee for 1 tbsp water or oil. I decided to start with water first, but thought that the amount of water was too much. …

Our worm farm and 2,000 Carles

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For awhile now I’ve wanted to compost, but in DC we were in a teeny tiny apartment where I couldn’t figure out how to do it. Then, when we moved to Sydney I thought that it wouldn’t make sense to do it here since we’re in an apartment and I”m not sure what we’d do with the compost once it was finished. Finally, I realized that I didn’t care if it was too short a time period to make the investment, or if we’d then have compost that we couldn’t use. If anything, it can serve as an experiment to see how much food waste we generate. And, at the end of the day, if we have too much compost we can give it away to some of my gardening folks. All that being said. I bought a worm farm three weeks ago. You can make them easily if you have the tools, but we didn’t. Instead I just went to the nearest hardware store and bought one. With the kit, I also bought 2,000 …

Alternative Apparel

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I accidentally found Alternative Apparel last night and am so happy that I did. They have a lot of clean, fresh styles. They even have a workout line! Here’s one of the tops that I like from their website. Alternative Apparel believes in supporting social change through responsible business practices that consider and respect people as well as the plant. Read more here.

People Are Doing Some Seriously Cool Things with Science

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I was putzing around the internet last night and realized that it’s that time of year where myriad lists are created and shared. I saw the best food articles of 2014, best food recipes of 2014, best innovations of 2014, etc… One thing that I saw last night (but was not included on any of these lists) is, what I think, one of the more interesting and innovative ideas that I’ve heard about this year. Read more here.

Nomadix: Versatile, 100% Recycled Material Towels

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Touch of Modern recently had this company Nomadix on there. The company sells versatile, 100% recycled material towels. The towel is supposed to be able to flow between going to the beach, going to yoga, and traveling. Three things that I’m getting ready to do a lot of! I bought one for myself and one for the dude so he can easily take it back and forth to the beach with him once we’re in Sydney. It’ll be nice to only have to pack one activity towel/person. Here’s one that I ordered. Also, read more here.

My Ideal Housing Arrangement

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You guys! Check out this apartment building/farmer’s market in Rotterdam. Isn’t this amazing? The article says that residents have to sign a “green lease” in which they promise to reduce water, energy, and waste. Some of the stands even have roof garden on top! I feel like this building might be where I belong. The article says that so far not too many people have signed leases for the units and not too many vendors have rented stalls, yet. I wonder if everyone’s waiting to see how it fares? I can’t imagine the building not thriving, given that the Scandinavian countries are very environmentally friendly.

Non-profit Repurpose Provides Backpacks with Solar Panels to Children in South Africa

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A lot of this blog contains re-postings of articles that are negative or a little “dooms day-ish” so I’m really happy to talk about this particular article that I read. There’s an organization called Repurpose in South Africa that has developed a program to provide backpacks (made from plastic shopping bags) to children at “no-fee” schools that lack a lot of basic school materials. More here.

Foldable Water Bottles

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First, I should start by disclosing that I drink a lot of water. Easily over 90 ounces a day. I’m not a large person, so you would think this might be an issue. But I’ve checked with my doctor. Don’t worry, I’m fine. One thing that I have a problem with, often, since I commute to and from work on public transportation is carrying a water bottle with me. They can be heavy if they’re full, and unnecessarily bulky if they’re not. That’s why I bought a Platypus water bottle years ago and try to have it with me at all times. Read more here.