PAPER, PAPER, EVERYWHERE!
I was in a giant big box store yesterday and needed to buy some toilet paper but alas, there wasn’t a square of recycled paper in sight. Every brand of toilet paper, tissues, paper towels and paper napkins, were made out of virgin pulp – meaning they are made from trees that are cut down from ecological areas. It just doesn’t make sense that these companies are still cutting trees down when we have such little forest left! The virgin timber-based pulp industry is also the third greatest emitter of global warming pollution in the world.
Always try to buy paper made from 100% post-consumer content. There are many fantastic companies like Seventh Generation and the 365 Wholefoods brand, whom only use recycled content. Also look for 100% post-consumer printing paper and legal pads at Staples.
For more fascinating information on paper and what actions you can take to help, visit
www.nrdc.org/paper
If any of you haven’t taken our survey yet, please do! It’s short and sweet and you get automatically entered to win a mega-prize at the end of this month. www.GorgeouslyGreen.com/survey
August 19th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
As I am becoming more aware of what I can do to be GREEN, I try to spread the word out to family and friends. Your book as well as The Green Book has helped me a great deal. I work in the advertising dept. at the CVS/pharmacy Corporate office in Woonsocket, RI and I am sad to say that this company being the size that it is and using extreme amounts of paper and ink cartridges daily, does not have a great recycling program. The daycare my daughter attends, that is partly affiliated with CVS, is currently recycling ink cartridges and cell phones to help raise money to build a better playground for the children. I think that puts CVS to shame.
August 21st, 2008 at 2:08 am
I saw Gorgeously Green for the first time today, and will definitely request that my local library purchase a copy to spread the good word.
I’m getting GREENer every day, but I have a concern (my friends and I discussed this, and none of us knew the right answer). I/we used to use wax paper to wrap the kid’s sandwiches, but it’s not recycleable. We’ve read that plastic containers, plastic bags and plastic wrap aren’t safe (and we know they’re not eco-friendly). What should we use that’s safe for our kids and the environment?
August 23rd, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Hi Sandi
Many reusable plastic containers are perfectly safe to put your kid’s sandwiches in. Just avoid the plastic resin #7 (on bottom of container is chasing arrows) as this contains the Bisphenol-A, which could leach into food. safe plastic reusable containers are the best thing for a lunch box.
August 27th, 2008 at 7:29 am
What are your thoughts on wrap-N-Mats?
www.wrap-n-mat.com
How green are they?
Like Sandi I was having the… “What do I put the sandwich in?” problem.
A friend gave me these Wrap-N-Mat things. They look like a placemat. You can wrap your sandwich in them and they close with Velcro.
I love them! They are very easy to use and clean. But…I am not sure how environmentally friendly they are.
Thoughts?
September 29th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
I am doing my best to convert to the Gorgeously Green lifestyle, but there is one thing I won’t give up. That is good quality toilet paper that doesn’t rub your behind raw like Seventh Generation does. My came over the other day and wouldn’t even use my bathroom because of the Seventh Generation toilet paper I had purchased. Please Help!
October 16th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
in defence of the virgin pulp. My husband work for one of these big wood pulp companies so I had to know how bad it was and to my suprise they are a really green company!! they recycle everything again and again till it just cant bee used again.the trees they plant to harvest and they have more trees than they can harvest. they have them planned each year so that there is never any less trees. They also produce theier own energy and are working on producing energy for the nearby town. not to bad eh?