• Plastic bottles to build a home
Unbelievable but true, plastic bottles can be used as construction materials to build a home. This has been done in the countries like the Philippines and Honduras. Houses made of plastic bottles are low-cost and have proven to be durable and can withstand typhoons and other natural calamities that frequently visit these countries. The bottles are filled with mud and bonded together with a cement mixture.

• Chairs and desks from plastic bottles
Plastic bottles can be recycled to produce tables and chairs. In the Philippines, a local TV variety show donates school chairs and desks to public schools from plastic bottles that they gather with the help of their TV audiences and other donors.
In fact Coca – Cola Company and Emeco, a leading furniture maker, have corroborated to produce a chair out of 111 recycled Coca-Cola plastic bottles which is appropriately called “111 Navy Chair”.

• Fun and functional items for the home from plastic bottles
Ordinary citizens like us can also help in the recycling efforts to save Mother Earth. Plastic bottles can be recycled into fun and functional items for the home such as candle holders, champagne glasses, bird feeders, terrariums, pencil cups, hanging lamps, herb pots for a herb garden and a lot more. Let your imagination run wild and come up with ways to reuse/recycle your plastic bottles. There are a lot of fun and functional things that can be made out of these plastic bottles.

• Use rags, sponges, towels for wipe-ups and cleaning
Instead of using paper towels and other disposables for wipe-ups and cleaning, use rags, towels and sponges. Maintain a large supply of wash cloth and rags to ensure that you will have enough clean supply. In the end buying extra kitchen towels and wash cloths to build a supply will come out cheaper than regularly buying disposable substitute such as paper towels. Wash and dry the rags, sponges and towels as often as possible to ensure that no bacteria live on it.

• Substitute paper napkins with cloth napkins
There are inexpensive cloth napkins that you can buy for everyday use. Again, the initial cost of stocking up on cloth napkins will be offset when you lessen the frequency and ultimately stop buying paper napkins.

• Use a reusable shopping bag instead of plastic bags
When you shop bring your reusable shopping rather than have the grocery put them in plastic bags. Your reusable shopping bag can carry more weight than plastic bags, hold more items, protect bottles and glass jars better, will last you a longtime, will lessen trash and save energy and resources.

• Use plastic food container instead of plastic bags
Use plastic food container instead of plastic bags when storing food in the refrigerator and cupboard. They are reusable, last longer than plastic bags, leak free, keep out insects and lessen odor in the refrigerator.

• Use rechargeable batteries rather than disposable batteries
Rechargeable batteries can be used for almost anything, from flash lights to digicams. It will come out cheaper in the long run rather than buying disposable batteries every now and then and are better for the environment.

The things you will need to recycle paper:
• Waste paper – old newspaper and magazines, etc ( cut them into 2-inch squares)
• A blender or food processor
• A wooden frame or wire hanger
• Pair of panty hose or Insect screen
• White glue
• Big water bucket with 4 inches of water
• Flat iron

Here’s how to do it:
• Each piece of paper that you will make needs a frame. It could be a wooden frame or an old wire hanger that you can form into a frame by straightening the hanger and bending it into four-sided frame shape.
• Stretch a panty hose or insect screen flat and tight over the frame
• Use a blender to or food processor to reduce the waste paper into mush, make sure that there is a correct combination of water and paper to keep the machine moving smoothly and until you have all the paper dissolved into a gray mixture of paper pulp
• You can add some color by adding some red or brown onion skin to the mixture while it is being blended
• Transfer the paper pulp into the water pail and add 2 teaspoon of white glue and blend the mixture thoroughly with your hands
• Scoop the mixture with the frame and lift the frame slowly, allowing the water to drip off and drain from the frame.
• Allow the mixture to dry completely under the sun or better yet hang it on a clothesline.
• Slowly peel off the dried paper from the frame
• Iron the paper using the hottest setting to steam out the paper
• Repeat the process to make more paper but be sure to blend the mixture well every time you make another piece of paper.

If you want more color on your paper, you can use food coloring to get the color you want. Texture can also be added to the paper by adding leaves or lint to the mixture while blending the pulp in a food processor or blender.

• Practice waste segregation

Set up your home to make recycling simple and trouble free. Maintain separate waste bins or baskets for recyclable materials side by side with your usual waste baskets all around the house. it is less uncomplicated to chuck recyclable materials in a separate basket than it is to delve through the garbage to separate them.
This will also encourage members of the family to participate in the recycling efforts since it will not need the extra effort to search for the recycling bin that may be set in, say the garage or the kitchen.
One area where a waste bin for recyclable materials is very much needed is the bathroom where there are plenty of recyclable materials that can be found such as empty shampoo sachet and bottles, toilet paper tubes, facial tissue and soap boxes.
Other areas in the house that can benefit from a waste recycle bin other than the kitchen, bathroom and garage is the study room or home office.
For organic waste such as food waste, maintain a container or an organic waste tote in your kitchen top and a bigger one underneath the sink. Make sure that the organic waste bin has a lid and properly covered.

• Check if there is curbside pick-up in your area

Most areas in cities have curbside pick-up for recyclable materials. Check with you local public works refuse department what items they are accepting for recycling so that you are properly guided. The usual recyclable items that are accepted are as follows, but some accept more while some accept less:

- Aluminum and steel cans – aerosol cans, beverage cans, food cans
- Aluminum food packaging ( clean) – dinner trays, foil, and pie plates
- Paper – magazines, newspaper, paper cardboard boxes, phone books, office and computer paper, shoe boxes, food boxes, toilet paper and paper towels tubes and more.
- Plastic water and juice bottles

The importance of saving mother earth and all its resources cannot be stressed enough. One of mother earth resources that is slowly being depleted is energy. Although there are alternative sources of energy that is being developed such as wind and solar energy, the fact is the greatest source of energy is still fossil fuel. It takes million of years to create and form fossil fuel. At the moment supply or reserves are being used up much faster than it is being formed. Coal, petroleum and natural gas, are fossil fuels. These fossil fuels are non-renewable resources and its production, use and eventual depletion have raised environmental concerns. It is the responsibility of everybody to help conserve energy and save mother earth. There are a lot of ways to help in the energy conservation efforts and these we can all do.

Here are some household tips to help save energy:

Lighting and other household appliances
• Make sure to turn off the lights when they are not in use
• During the daytime open the windows and take advantage of the day light
• Use low energy light bulbs
• Don’t leave appliances such as computers, video and television when not in use
• Unplug charging devices when not in use
• Only switch on the dishwasher when it is full
• Set the washing machine at 40⁰ rather than 60⁰
• Limit the opening and closing of the refrigerator doors
• Position the refrigerator at least several inches away from the wall to allow the motor to breathe and not be overworked. Also, keep it away from heating appliances such as a stove or oven.
• Don’t put hot food in the refrigerator, allow it to cool first.
• If the suction of a refrigerator’s door is weak or damaged, fix or replace it.
• Thaw frozen food inside the refrigerator, rather than using a microwave or thawing it in water. Thawing food helps in the cooling.
• Replace old refrigerators, those that are 10 years older or more. New models have energy saving features and motors that are energy efficient

Heating and cooling the house
• During summer or when the weather is sunny and hot, close the curtains and blinds to keep the house to lessen the need for air conditioning and fans
• In winter or during the colder seasons, keep the doors closed, use weather strips to prevent drafts and don’t leave doors open longer than it will take to get out or in
• If the windows of your home have no double glazing, heat will escape through the windows. Close the curtains at night to keep the heat from escaping
• Lower the temperature of the thermostat an hour before leaving the house of before sleeping
• Set the thermostat one degree lower during the day
• Some areas in the hose such as the staircase, storage spaces, empty rooms and the entry hall do not require heating or at least a lower temperature
• Use alternative source of heat such as a fireplace every once in a while
• Lower the thermostat and wear warm clothing inside the house
• Don’t leave large objects in front of the radiator

Planet earth is the only livable planet in the whole universe. It is the only one we’ve got and we better take care of it. Unfortunately, there are so many pressures on this earth’s environment that are slowly destroying this planet. These include urbanization that increases this earth’s hard surface, over population, water and air pollution, strains on water supplies among others. These pressures manifest the conscious or unconscious deeds of millions of individuals, families and communities. Fortunately, more and more people are becoming aware of what these pressures are doing to the environment and ultimately to planet earth and are doing their best to lessen them if not to arrest them. Here are some eco-friendly tips or tips to help the environment. Some of them you maybe doing already:

• Use public transport, bike, carpool to work or school, walk, keep tires inflated, or driver slower

Since majority of all traffic is commuters, it will greatly help the environment if most commuters will use alternative transportation as much as possible. It will save fuel, lower emission, save tires and even save lives.

• Recycle, compost, reuse and reduce

Most of this earth’s wastes come from domestic waste or trash. Recycling, composting, reusing and even reducing that trash will save energy and landfill space. It will save you some dollars. Refuse plastic bags as a packaging material bring instead a shopping bag where you can put all your purchases. Com posting of leaves. grass and food and vegetable scraps will help fertilize your garden.

• Save up on water

Water is no longer unlimited in some communities. Rivers, wells and dams are slowly drying up. Here are some tips on how to save water: Check drips on faucets and don’t allow faucets to run, don’t water lawn or garden at midday, wash dishes with a basin or run dishwasher only when it is full and take short showers.

• Avoid using herbicides or pesticides on your garden

These pesticides and herbicides including nitrogen fertilizers are the chief water pollutants. If you need to fertilize, use organic fertilizers.

• Save energy

Use light and airy fabrics for curtains in summer and lined curtains for winter. This will considerably lower your power bill and help conserve energy

As a parent, it’s nice if you can get your kids to recycle at an early age. Recycling is a way to keep our environment clean and to help reuse the items that are recyclable. Teaching kids how to recycle is an important learning lesson for them and will help them realize the importance of recycling.

Begin having your child save any soda cans that they have. Rinse them out and collect them in a large trash bin. Once you have several trash bins full of cans, stomp or hammer out the cans and store them in large trash bags. When you get ready to take these to your local recycling company, take your child along, so he or she can see how recycling works. Reward your child with some of the earning you receive from the recycled cans. This is not only a great way to teach your child the importance of recycling, but will also teach them to save and earn money.

If your child has old story books when they were younger, show him how to donate these to his school or his local library. Donating books to the school will save the school money from buying new books and will prevent additional trash that is collected in the trash cans which eventually will end up at a dump somewhere.

Those 2-liter soda bottles are also recyclable. Your child can help keep the earth green by saving these soda bottles and placing them at a designated place where they accept plastic. These plastic bottles will be used for many things and can be recycled to make other items other than 2-liter bottles.

Teaching children how to recycle and explaining the importance of recycling will give the child better knowledge of what recycling is all about. Make the recycling process fun for your child. This is the first step that will keep your child wanting to recycle.

Green living is mainly focused on how to reduce pollution in our environment. Recycling is one activity that we do in order to reduce our carbon imprint and reduce our waste, thus reducing the chances of environment degradation. In recycling, there is what we call the three Rs. This involves recycle, reduce and reuse.

One of the strategies in waste management is the reduction of waste consumption. Being the first level in the hierarchy, logic also dictates that if one reduces the amount of waste, one also reduces the chances of reusing and recycling of materials.

There is also what we call source reduction. This is the reduction of waste at the source level. This is done through designing and producing products that are less toxic to the environment. This is done so the toxicity level of trash in the landfills is also reduced.

Reuse is another level where in before disposing the waste, reuse. This means that if the product cannot be unmade, then it must be reused for a different purpose. Because of this, people, in theory, will purchase less, saving them money and saving the Earth as well.

Believe it or not, reusable items can be sold. All you need is to have a little creativity to create products out of trash.

The last level of waste management is to recycle. Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into something new. In the United States, old cans, bottle, paper and plastic is put inside recycling bags and sent to the processing plant. It is the reproduced in another form which in turn is purchased.

Because of the 3R Principle of waste management, there has been a reduction of landfills, prevention of pollution which in turn decreases the greenhouse gas emissions, leading to a healthier environment.

Everyone knows how important recycling is. Recycling is a way to keep the earth and environment clean as well as recycling items that can be used again. There are many ways to recycle items that you have and some that parents may not have considered. For parents with babies, those old plastic baby bottles that you no longer need or use can be recycled.

Another recyclable tip for parents is for those who love soft drinks, recycling those aluminum cans is another way to recycle. Not only are you doing well for the environment, but you can also make a little cash while you’re at it.

You can also used shredded paper as packaging cushion. Whether you are moving or shipping a package that requires some care, packing your box with shredded paper is a wonderful way to use leftover paper of just about any kind. You can also use shredded paper as party confetti or streamers if you want to go the extra mile and color it. You can color it with spray paint, dyes or any other paper paint.

It’s always best to try to reuse what you have before having it recycled. This reduces the amount of times you have to recycle. You can always reuse envelopes. All you have to do is tear the envelope at the seams, reverse the paper and reseal. This will cut down the cost of purchasing another box and you are reusing what you already have.

If you have old clothes that you no longer need or wear, instead of throwing them away, try donating the clothes to the needy or turn those worn fabrics into a quilt. You will be amazed on how the quilt turns out just by using your own imagination.

Many people know that recycling exist and many may even know how to recycle. But have you ever wondered what some of the benefits of recycling are and why you should do it? Here is a quick glance at just a few of the benefits.

Recycling Helps the Environment – Recycling reduces the amount of waste and toxic chemicals that are released into our drinking systems and into the air when the trash is burned at a waste site.

Recycling Helps Maintain Our Resources – Many resources like precious metals such as silver, copper and gold along with oil are resources that will one day be exhausted. By recycling these things you can prolong them from being exhausted.

Recycling Can Help To Create Jobs – For every recycling center there is a need for people to run it. This in turn will help create jobs within it for more people. Creating jobs is a great way to help the economy along with helping the environment.

Recycling Can Have Financial Rewards – Some recycling centers will pay you per pound on various items such as metal and paper. You can also recycle many products directly to the manufactures who will buy back old items to refurbish them and resell them.

So no matter what benefit you are searching for when it comes to recycling you will find it. Recycling is not only good for the environment but also for the community, the economy and even at times for your pocket book. With all of these benefits it’s it time you started recycling?