Eco-Tips Archive from Eco-Logix

Belinda's Eco-Tips

Eco-Tip # 1

It's In The Bag!

1. When shopping use a canvas/tote bag whenever you can.

2. Don’t throw plastic bags out. Take them with you the next time you go shopping. Keep them in your car, so you always have them handy.

3. Ask your favorite stores if they would be willing to put in place a reusable shopping bag program, if enough people ask...they will!

Say NO to plastic bags!!!

Shopping Bag Facts:

-Every week in Canada, 55 million shopping bags are taken home from grocery stores, plus millions more from other stores.

-On the average, every person in Canada puts 35-40 pounds of plastic in the garbage each year.

--Scientist all over the world are trying to develop environmentally friendly plastics. Until that happens we need to think of all the ways we can reduce the number of plastic bags that go into our landfill sites NOW!

Eco-Tip # 2

Recycling tips for all those plastic bags!

There are lots of innovative things you can do to help reduce
plastic bags by reusing – check out some of the tips below to
get started.

1. Scrunch them up to surround items when you're packaging as an alternative to bubble wrap.
2. Doggie duty--Use them as 'doggy doo bags' when out walking your dog!
3. Take bags to the grocery store to reuse instead of getting new ones each time.
4. Hand protectors – place them over your hands to handle messes
indoors and out.
5. Kitchen clean-up – place them under the cutting board for quick scrap removal.
6. Suitcase savers – wrap shoes before packing them with clean clothes.
7. Fill several bags with food or other items for a needy family. (This is one of the most rewarding ways to use those bags!)

Keep bags handy where ever you are so that when you make a purchase you can reuse your own bag. Where?

*in your car
*in your purse or pocket
*in your stroller
*with your pet supplies

Do you have other uses for plastic bags? We would love to hear your ideas! Contact us here...

And remember....join the Freecycle™ movement - the idea is simple: you give away for free what you have and don’t need and you receive for free what you need, but don’t have. This ‘free cycle’ of goods keeps lots of useful stuff out of landfill sites and is about thinking globally and recycling locally.

Eco-Tip # 3

Re-think The Way You Light Up.
You can lower your personal power waste today!

Replacing just one 100 watt incandescent light bulb with a 25 watt CFL (compact fluorescent bulb) will save 135 kWh of electricity yearly, and can reduce associated hot carbon dioxide emissions by 193 pounds!

Imagine if every citizen in Temiskaming Shores, replaced just one of the old light bulbs with a CFL,,,, (which is VERY do-able) we could proudly be a part of the solution instead of the problem! You can offset your carbon footprint right now!

Fluorescent vs. Incandescent

Fluorescent vs Incandescent! Make the switch Today!!

The Difference - Technology
The key difference between Fluorescents' and Incandescents' is how they "create" light. Fluorescent bulbs outlast up to 13 incandescent or halogen bulbs.

The Difference - Cost
Just the Facts Maam! A compact fluorescent can cost more to purchase than an incandescent, but that's where it ends. CFL's can typically save 8 to 12 times their initial cost in your electricity bill!

Bad Bulb! Temperature
90% of the energy consumed by an incandescent bulb is wasted heat and is emitted into the atmosphere as hot carbon dioxide. This also makes the bulb extremely hot to touch and very unsafe.

In The News--
Ontario is the first Province in Canada that plans to ban old light bulbs and what it calls other inefficient lighting technologies by 2012 -- TheStar.com - Ontario to ban 'old' light bulbs