Eco-Friendly Staple Free Stapler!

Yes, there is a new stapler on the market that does not use staples at all! So how does it do it? The Staple Free Stapler cuts out tiny strips of paper and uses the strips to stitch up to 5 pages together.

And an added bonus is that if you choose to recycle the papers or shred them, you don't have to worry about removing staples. They are 100% eco-friendly. :)

Here you can find them here at Amazon.com:

Avoid Buying Takeout Food

When you want to eat out for lunch or dinner, eat your food at the restaurant. Takeout orders use up a lot of packaging that can be eliminated by just taking the time to sit down at the restaurant.

Just how much waste do takeout packaging materials comprise? The following facts are from Phillipe Bourseiller's coffee-table book, "365 Ways to Save the Earth:"

In the time frame of about 30 years the volume of waste generated by household packaging has risen fivefold and plastic has risen as much as 50 times.

In 2006, Americans used roughly 14.4 billion paper to-go cups for hot beverages, many of which cannot be recycled.

In California alone, the fast-food industry generates 4 million tons of waste each year; packaging from takeout meals comprises 20% to 30% of all litter in the state.

source: "365 Ways to Save the Earth" by Phillipe Bourseiller

Make your own beverages with drink mix packets

Crystal Light, for example, has drink mix packets that contain flavored powder for you to mix with water. Why are these better? Because every time you make a glass or pitcher of tea, juice, etc. from these, you are eliminating the use of the plastic gallon bottles that manufacturers use to package the drink.

All you have to do is buy a nice pitcher that you can reuse to make drinks. It will also save you money to mix your own drinks because the drink mix packets and cheaper than buying a gallon of juice or tea on its own. You reduce your carbon footprint by using less packaging AND you save money.

Drink mixes also come in To Go styles that you can add to your water bottle for your convenience. Not your plastic water bottle, but your reusable bottle, right?

Sell your used items online!

Recently, I discovered a great side business and a green one as well. And that is AMAZON!

I think it is great that I can sell my used books and they will not just sit on a shelf while brand new copies are being bought and trees being cut down to furnish them. What is the point of buying brand new books anymore when you can get perfectly decent ones for cheaper?

It is the REUSE aspect of a green community that should be acknowledged by as many people as possible. The same goes for magazines, CDs, movies, and other objects (as long as they are sold legally!!).

Don't get me wrong, though. Amazon is not the only website that fulfills these services. There are many others out there, each unique in their own way. So I encourage you to search around a bit online and sell your used items. It's also a quick and easy way to make some money and clear up some space around your house!

*I am not intending to promote any particular websites