We Hate to Waste | Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Blog

May 21, 2013
by Fredrica Rudell
5 Comments

What I Plan to Do About My Disposable Pen Peeve

We’re all entitled to a pet peeve or two. Mine is disposable ballpoint pens.

No Small Problem
According to the EPA, Americans throw away 1.6 billion disposable pens every year. Add the rest of the world, multiply by over 50 years of writing with disposable pens, and that’s a lot of metal and plastic waste ending up in landfill! I suspect it’s just the tip of the iceberg, given the piles of disposable pens that many of us haven’t thrown out yet. Not to mention the refillable pens that we never take the trouble to refill. Continue Reading →

May 7, 2013
by Gina Lee
6 Comments

At Lush Cosmetics, It’s All About Naked Products — and Bubbles

Lush Bath Bombs from prettysmartblog.wordpress.com

Lush Bath Bombs Photo Credit: prettysmartblog.wordpress.com

It was a life-changing day when I discovered Lush Cosmetics. I was looking for shampoo and body lotion to bring with me on my semester abroad in Costa Rica. I was to live there on an organic farm that released the water from showers and laundry right into an orchard.

I was so impressed with their fresh ingredients that were safer for the environment. Then I saw how Lush Cosmetics used minimal to no packaging — and I fell in love! The products worked so well in the hot climate, and made me smell so great, I decided to work there when I returned. Continue Reading →

May 1, 2013
by Jacquie Ottman
5 Comments

I Wish Every Package Was Like My Sugar Bowl

I wish every package was like my sugar bowl.
Pretty and permanent, gracing my table,
Reminiscent of Mom and Grand Mom,
Likely to serve my niece and her niece.

I wish every package was like my sugar bowl.
Refillable from sacks, all papery and crumply,
Emblazoned with logos from days gone by.

I wish every package was like my sugar bowl,
Producing no guilt, just pleasure,
Producing no waste, just pure functionality.

April 19, 2013
by Jacquie Ottman
3 Comments

This Earth Day, Use a People Towel Instead of a Paper Towel

Introducing We Hate To Waste Custom People Towels

You’ve got the cloth bag. Check. The reusable water bottle. Check. Now you need to get a People Towel. (Make it the one new thing you do for Earth Day this year!)

Mary People Towels paper towel waste 2012

Mary Wallace of PeopleTowels.com Demonstrates Paper Towel Waste

You Asked For It, You Got It!
“We Hate To Waste” Japanese Style was one of our most popular posts. Everyone hates paper towel waste and was so taken with the simple and colorful notion of using a cloth “People Towel” instead. We couldn’t resist! Continue Reading →

March 19, 2013
by Miranda Farley
52 Comments

Starbucks Reusable Plastic Cups — Green Marketing or Greenwash?

Starbucks’ Recyclable Plastic Cups

I love Starbucks. It’s my go-to spot for late-night study sessions. (The baristas know me by name, #embarrassing.) Last week I spied their new reusable plastic cups that sell for $1. I had a mini internal physiological earthquake as I approached the counter. For years, I have eagerly awaited this moment!

Now some of you are probably thinking I’m a complete weirdo for being so obsessive about a reusable plastic coffee mug (you do have a point). But these aren’t just more paper and wax Starbucks disposable cups. This cup is meant to revolutionize the way companies and society think about “to-go” beverage containers. Do they represent a true green marketing revolution, though, or just a green marketing ploy?
Continue Reading →

March 13, 2013
by Jacquie Ottman
6 Comments

Recipe for Truly Satisfying Tomato Soup

It was one of those cold afternoons in early winter when it gets dark early. Six p.m. and already pitch black. The produce seller who stakes out the corner of 68th Street and First Avenue was just finishing up for the day as I was walking past on my way home. He had a bunch of near rotten tomatoes he was trying to unload. Soft as pillows, clearly about to burst, they clearly wouldn’t last another day. (Truth be told, they were so old, he probably shouldn’t have been selling them at all.) He offered me the lot — a whole bag’s worth — for a $1. I couldn’t resist. Surely there would be something I could do with them so they wouldn’t go to waste. Continue Reading →

March 6, 2013
by Ilene Moyher
9 Comments

How To Creatively Repurpose Two Window Shutters

Where do you store the myriad of things left over from home improvement projects? You know, the kinds of stuff that you’re certain will come in handy one day even as a nifty arts and crafts project — but can overrun your garage or workroom in short order? I decided to create my own “custom, hand-crafted” storage unit, made by repurposing two wooden shutters.

Ilene’s “new” storage unit

Start With Two Window Shutters
Five years ago, my husband and I decided to put on our advanced-amateur designer and carpenter hats, scavenged our tool room and garage, and came up with enough supplies to build something that help me get organized without spending any money. (After all, it would be hypocritical to buy a pre-made, over-packaged, expensive storage unit to house all the stuff I have been saving based on environmental concerns and frugality, right?)

Continue Reading →

February 16, 2013
by Michael Graham
16 Comments

Forget Wrapping Paper, Try Cloth Bags!

Mike's cloth bags replace single-use wrapping paper

Michael’s cloth bags replace single-use wrapping paper

Our family tradition of wrapping presents in fabric gift bags began as little brown paper bags. When my parents were first married in 1942, they lived in a basement apartment, the ceiling crisscrossed with pipes. For one of Mom’s birthdays, when Pop couldn’t afford much, he got her a bunch of little gifts, “Ning-A-Nings,” as we call them.

He put them in little brown paper bags and hung them with string on the pipes. When Mom came home from work, she was greeted with all these little bags of surprises. She loved it! We had paper bag birthdays from that point on! Continue Reading →