Living Like Ed by Ed Jr. (whitelam books .txt) 📗

didn’t make much of it. But now they’ve got it down, making recycled paper, and they’re doing it in an environmentally sound way.

And we’re not just talking about paper for your printer or copy machine. We’re talking about all different kinds of recycled paper.

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council:

• If every household in the U.S. bought just one box of 100 percent recycled tissue (175 sheets) instead of one box of virgin-fiber facial tissue, we could save 163,000 trees.

• If every household bought just one roll of 100 percent recycled toilet paper (500 sheets) instead of one roll of virgin-fiber toilet paper, we could save another 423,900 trees.

• If every household bought just one roll of 100 percent recycled paper towels (70 sheets) instead of virgin-fiber, we could save another 544,000 trees.

• And if every household bought just one package of 100 percent recycled paper napkins (250 count) instead of virgin-fiber, we could save another one million trees.

Suffice to say those little choices at the grocery store really add up to a huge difference when we’re talking about natural resources being saved.

So what else can you buy that’s recycled? All kinds of things.

I line the trash can in my kitchen with Seventh Generation recycled plastic trash bags. I’ve done it the other way. I’ve had a trash can with no bag. But then, living in L.A., where water comes at such an environmental cost, you’re having to regularly use a lot of water and soap and effort to clean out a trash can. You really need to have some sort of a bag, so I buy these recycled Seventh Generation bags and put my trash in them.

You know, for many years, the problem with plastic was that it would never break down. You’d put it in a landfill and it would be there forever, in-tact. Well, now companies are making things from recycled plastic that you don’t want to break down. So that’s no longer a problem. Now that’s an asset. A good example is our white picket fence made from recycled milk jugs. That’s a good thing for the environment, to get those milk jugs out of the waste stream. But also, this fence never needs to be painted. It never has any bug, like termites, that attacks it. Water never damages it. It’s like a hundred-year fence. So where the problem with plastic was that it never breaks down, now the good thing about plastic is that it never breaks down.

The same goes for a deck or an outdoor staircase that’s made from 100 percent postconsumer recycled plastic lumber. It never has to be painted. It never has to be stained. And it never breaks down.

So buying recycled isn’t just good for the environment, it’s good for your lifestyle. You don’t have to waste time or money stripping your picket fence or your deck and refinishing it every couple of years.

Natural and Recycled Furniture

You can also find different kinds of recycled furniture. First off, there’s used furniture. When you buy a piece that already exists, you cut down on the amount of furniture being made, which cuts down on energy use. It cuts down on trees being felled and then turned into lumber. It cuts down on the energy used to truck that lumber to a manufacturing facility. And it cuts down on the energy used to truck that finished furniture to a warehouse and then to a store. Who knew antiquing could be so good for the earth, right?

         When I decorate my home, I try to make it personal and not look like it came straight out of a furniture catalog. It doesn’t take a lot of money to add your own personal touches. In fact, I like shopping at flea markets to find unique items. And I’m recycling at the same time.

There’s another environmentally sound option, too. You can purchase new furniture that’s made from recycled materials. Manufacturers have found ways to take used wood, used metal, and other used materials and transform them into completely new pieces. There’re even companies making outdoor garden furniture from recycled plastic lumber.

If you do decide to buy brand-new furniture—stuff that’s not recycled—at least make sure it’s made from natural products, like wood. By cutting down on the use of plastic and other new synthetic materials, you save oil and other fuels.

And speaking of wood, look for furniture made from sustainable wood. Rather than using old-fashioned clear-cutting techniques that decimate forests and wildlife, companies that offer sustainable-wood products maintain the health and productivity of forests and their ecosystems. You can find furniture made from sustainable wood at very mainstream retailers, like Ikea. And if you want to build your own furniture, you can find wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council in stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot.

Recycled Countertops

         I’ve been wanting to redo the kitchen in our little house for a long time. So I started small. I found a company that makes countertops out of recycled glass. I thought Ed would like that. But first he was more concerned with what would happen to the ugly old tile that was already on our countertops. With Ed, it’s all about where’s it going. It’s really not the money he’s worried about. The reason we never upgrade around here is because he’s all concerned about creating waste.

Fortunately, we discovered that we were having a positive effect on the environment. We were keeping far more glass out of a landfill than the waste we were creating with that ugly old tile. And who knows, the company that installed our counters may even have a way to recycle the old materials they remove. Wouldn’t that be great?

This stuff we used for our new countertops is called Vetrazzo, and it’s made from many different things. Recycled Coke bottles, recycled traffic-light lenses, recycled glass of every form. They use different materials to come up with different colors and designs. I