Afternoon Links: Recycling Odd Items

Earth Day is on April 22nd so it seems like everywhere you look this month someone is going on about something "green". Every magazine I pick up is "the green issue". Yesterday I was in the bookstore and there was an entire table of books devoted to being green and green living.

I'll be the first one to tell you that I'm a tree-hugger so I'm all about being green. I've enjoyed learning some new ideas with all the green literature out this month.

I came across an article yesterday on weather.com (of all websites) that was about recycling items that most people didn't know you can recycle. I found it to be really interesting so I wanted to post the link today and now I can't find it! That's okay though because I found a better one on Co-Op America:

21 Things You Didn't Know You Can Recycle

Some of these I had already heard about such as batteries, eyeglasses and cell phones. But there were two that stuck out to me as very interesting. First is tennis shoes. I am a runner or at least I used to be. I try to get out there now every once and a while. Over the almost fifteen years that I've been running I have gone through a lot of tennis shoes. Nike's Reuse-A-Shoe program grinds up old shoes and turns them into athletic flooring. The program can turn 2,500 pairs of old tennis shoes into a full size basketball court. Check out their website for drop locations. I wish there was a drop in my area! If there isn't drop in your area and you are willing to spend a little you can mail in your old shoes. I just might do this.

The second one I found interesting was toothbrushes. My mom recently told me that she read somewhere that regular toothbrushes that we use everyday will never decompose in a landfill. I have no idea where she read this so I don't know if it's true or not. But if it is just think about how many toothbrushes are sitting in landfills out there! The solution? The Preserve toothbrush. The handle of the Preserve toothbrush is made of recycled polypropylene, mainly Stonyfield Farm yogurt cups. No only is the toothbrush made from recycled materials, it can be recycled again when you are finished with it. The toothbrush comes with a postage paid envelope so that you can return it to Recycline when it's worn out and it will be recycled into plastic lumber. What a great idea! This toothbrush can be purchased at Whole Foods and Wild Oats stores or check the Recycline website for more locations.

Happy Earth Month!