Things That Can Go in the Kitchen Recycling Bin

Plastic bottles (water, soda, milk, salad dressing, etc.)- but leave the caps off.  Recycling plants throw out bottles with the caps on, as they cannot be recycled

Beer bottles

Bottle caps (they are aluminum)

Aluminum cans

Glass bottles or jars

Plastic containers (take out containers)

Plastic iced drink containers (that Starbucks venti mocha frappacino cup) 

The plastic cups by the new water cooler

Milk cartons (just found that one out today)

Quick Tips for Better Paper Usage

1. Print on both sides of a page when sending to the printer.

2. Before printing, scroll to the last page to make sure there is text. Most of the time, you can do without this page, esp. when making reservations.

3. Save docs to a folder on your computer instead of printing

Tip: Unplug, unplug, unplug

This is an old New York Times article, but it offers a solid roundup of home entertainment devices, and other things that you might have in your house/apartment that suck in a lot of power. The article cites a Department of Energy estimate that 40 percent of all electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/technology/14basics.html

Remember, the first “R” is “Reduce”— If you can cut down the amount of power your home uses when you’re not there, not only will you be saving money, you’ll be cutting down on the fuels used to power the electric grid.

Tip: Composting can dramatically cut down your garbage

Composting your kitchen scraps can seriously cut down on the amount of times you have to empty your trash (meaning you’re sending less garbage to landfills). 

The Lower East Side Ecology Center accepts dropoffs at Union Square every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, as well as on the weekends.  More information can be found here: http://www.lesecologycenter.org/composting_dropoff.html

If you’re worried about the potential smell, you can keep a “scrap bag” in the freezer.  Not only will this keep the smell at bay, but your freezer also runs more efficiently with more items in it, saving electricity as well.