Recycle Your Holiday Waste

You now know to look for recycled paper and alternative fiber wrapping paper for the holidays, but it's easy to forget to make sure all that material gets recycled when you are done celebrating. This year, collect the paper, bows and boxes and keep them out of your garbage.

Between Thanksgiving and New Year's, the average American household increases its trash output by 25%, resulting in 5 million extra tons of garbage. But it doesn't have to be a total loss. Most paper can be readily recycled, either through curbside programs or local drop-off centers. The trick is to prepare by having a box or bag ready, so when everyone starts tearing through their presents under the tree in an ecstatic frenzy, you can easily divert the scraps into one convenient location.

Better than third-party recycling is to save wrapping paper, bows and boxes for reuse later. If you have room, you can use them for next year, or possibly even other holidays. Wrapping paper scraps make great packaging or craft material, and ribbons can be used as ties.

Green Christmas gift ideas for everyone on your list

The Daily Green's gift guide features the season's best sustainable and nontoxic gifts — safe toys, stylish gifts for the home, chic choices for fashionistas, gear for outdoors lovers...even treats for pets!

Whether you're the green guru of the house, or you're struggling to find a gift for one...whether you're a budget stocking stuffer or tying a big red bow around a car...you'll find selections that you can be proud to give. There are unique gifts you'll find only from independent artists and artisans, and items you can find in any shopping mall in America.

And, because The Daily Green believes citizens do a service by consuming less, we've highlighted ways to give without giving stuff at all — through volunteerism, charitable donations and more.

Special thanks to Olivia Zaleski for her hard work and research. Happy holidays to all!

* 20 Ways to Give Without Giving "Stuff"


Cick here at the Daily Green for the full article.

Can you chuck your yogurt carton into the recycling bin?

The Bite
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.

The Benefits

* Less confusion. Proper disposal ensures that your recyclables end up in the right place.
* Save energy. Recycling an aluminum can takes 96% less energy than creating a new one.
* Less landfill. According to the EPA, 75% of Americans' trash can be recycled, but only 25% actually is.
* Cleaner groundwater. Most landfill liners are just 1/10th of an inch thick, so toxins from garbage often leak into the groundwater.

Personally Speaking
Bozeman Biters are lamenting that the city just stopped recycling glass due to the expense of shipping it to a recycling facility. Need to kvetch or create an action plan to green up your town's recycling options? Join the discussion in today's blog.

Wanna Try?
General

* Earth911 - local listings of where you can recycle anything under the sun.
* You don't need to remove labels from cans and bottles, but you do need to remove plastic caps (and throw them away).
* Your recyclables don't need to be spotless - just not moldy or full of food. Save water - don't rinse 'til clean.

Glass

* Unbroken bottles are easier for workers to sort than broken ones.

Metal

* Most containers, such as tins and cans, and aluminum foil.

Paper

* Newspapers, magazines, photocopies, shoe boxes, envelopes (including ones with glassine windows).

Plastic

* Plastics #1-#2 – recyclable in most areas. Usually found in 2-liter and detergent bottles, milk jugs and food containers.
* Plastics #3-#7 – more difficult to recycle, they are found in Styrofoam, pipes, shrink wrap, padded envelopes, trash liners and more. Check with your local facility to see if it recycles these plastics.
* Yogurt Cups - recyclable in most areas, especially the #2 plastic kind.
* Grocery Bags - reuse them first! You usually can't recycle them curbside, but some supermarkets have recycling bins in-store. Try to avoid them altogether by bringing your own Biter bag to the store.

Found on www.idealbite.com

How to Plan a Green Christmas

Americans create 25 million tons of waste every year in the winter holidays. Organizing a Green Christmas takes a little advance planning, but will be well worth the time and save you money too! You can start small and recycle things one at a time. It is a matter of changing your seasonal habits and doing things a little differently. Follow these ideas to go green this holiday season.

Step1
If you are using a real tree for Christmas, buy one that has a root ball for replanting. Contact the tree growers early in the season to ask them about trees with root balls.Ask them if you can return the tree to them after Christmas for replanting or replant the tree in your own backyard.
Step2
Buy organic trees only instead of chemically treated trees. Fill your dinner tables with natural items like fruit, nuts, pine cones, tree branches with leaves, acorns, or other natural items. Use plastic covered artwork, on cloth fabrics, for your placemats.
Step3
Cut back on giving out cards and gifts for a green Christmas. Start making homemade gifts from crafts or cooking some delicious foods in your kitchen. Decorate the Christmas tree with food, natural items, or homemade crafts.
Step4
When mailing out gifts to relatives and friends, send items like gift debit cards, new memberships cards; discount restaurant certificates, free merchandise offers, and plastic store gift certificates. Use the Internet to send electronic greeting cards instead of paper cards. If you do not buy greeting cards, or use recycled paper, you will save 380 gallons of oil and 17 trees by going green this Christmas.
Step5
Research how to create your own paper and make recycled paper from paper towels, napkins, gift wrappings, food and candy wrappers. Use alternative materials to wrap your Christmas gifts in such as grocery bags, newspapers, old shirts, plastics or other fabrics and cover them with colored pieces of ribbon. Start earlier in the year and create your own homemade gifts to give out the year for a green Christmas.
Step6
Buy energy efficient light bulbs and replace your old ones. Replace all Christmas lights with LEDs, which use 90% less energy that the regular Christmas lights. Purchase nicely decorated and scented soy candles and use them this holiday season to light up your home.
Step7
Think green this Christmas and recycle all your trash and other throwaway materials. In addition, after everyone has opened their presents, fold the gift-wrap up, ribbons and all, and store it away for next season.

Found here on e-how.com

Making the move from print to digital

This was found on the RR Donnelley Weekly Collator.

Ever shopped in your birthday suit?

The Bite
We have, and so can you. This year, look for gifts online to save major retail store shopping-related energy (and major cash, thanks to our today-only exclusive online deals). Just keep a scarf handy in case it gets drafty.
The Benefits

* Au naturel energy savings. Despite their size, running an ecommerce warehouse takes 1/16th of the energy you'd need to operate a retail store. And even overnight air shipping uses 40% less fuel than the average car trip to shop.
* Buck naked discounts. For our third annual Green Tuesday, we got some of our favorite online merchants to offer Biter-exclusive discounts (today only) as a green alternative to Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
* Clothes-less convenience. Online, there's no waiting in line, and you can shop 24 hours a day. Plus you can send gifts straight to the giftee, bypassing double shipping.
* Raw variety. You'll find everything from clothing-optional vacation packages to paraben-free sunblock on the Internet.

Personally Speaking
Toshio spent hours online searching for a UPS uniform to wear to a costume party, only to discover that you can't buy them for security reasons. Guess we'll just have to admire the one on our favorite delivery guy...
Wanna Try?

* Big Dipper Wax Works - beeswax candles. Get 20% off, plus free shipping with orders over $125 when you enter the code GREENTUESDAY during checkout.
* Blooming Lotus - personal care products. Get 20% off, plus a free gift with orders over $50 when you enter the code SeasonsGreenings during checkout.
* Brilliant Earth - jewelry. Get 20% off its fair-trade gold Choco pendant when you enter the code IDEALBITE in the reference code field during checkout.
* BTC Elements - apparel, jewelry, and gifts. Get 20% off when you enter the code bite during checkout.
* Greenloop - fashion. Get 25% off when you enter the code IB25 during checkout.
* HER Design - handbags, laptop covers, and messenger bags. Get 25% off when you enter the code GREEN2SDAY08 during checkout.
* Nau - activewear and outdoor clothing. Get 20% off, plus free shipping with orders over $150 when you enter the code IBUTW during checkout.
* Organic Wine Company - vino. Get 20% off its general catalog of wines when you use this link.
* Pangea Organics - personal care products. Get a 50%-off order form when you send an email to holiday@pangeaorganics.com with "Ideal Bite" in the subject line.
* Saffron Rouge - cosmetics. Get 20% off when you enter the code Bite into 20 during checkout.
* Smart Glass - recycled glass jewelry. Get 20% off when you enter the code IDEALBITE during checkout.
* VivaTerra - style for your home. Get $20 off a purchase of $100 or more when you enter the code ID08 during checkout.
* West Paw Design - gifts for your pet. Get 20% off when you enter the code ideal20offgreen during checkout.
* Ideal Bite Biter Gear - Biter merch. Get 20% off anything in our Biter Gear store (except for our Biter for Life Kit) - discount applies automatically.