Striving to make the bathroom greener

Customers can trade in the car seat their kid has outgrown for a $30 Walmart gift card

When my sister and I outgrew our car seats, our mom wasn't sure what to do with them. They lived in our garage for months, collecting dust as we flaunted our ability to sit in a car without a boost. I think we threw them away eventually, but unlike us, you can put yours to good use thanks to Walmart and TerraCycle's car seat recycling event. It will help the environment, as well as earn participating parents a gift card.   The event will run from Sept. 16 to Sept. 30 during National Baby Safety Month. The month is dedicated to educating parents on ways to keep infants safe, taking a different approach every year. Baby Safety Month 2019 will focus on how to properly use straps on juvenile products, according to the National Wellness Observance Calendar, so a car seat event is definitely an appropriate way to participate.   This will be Walmart's first car seat recycling event, as well as the nation's largest, according to a company press release. If you want to recycle a car seat, all you have to do is find the service desk at any participating Walmart store, where you can hand in the seat. The parts will be diverted from a landfill, and as an even greater incentive than cleaning out your storage areas, you'll receive a $30 Walmart gift card to be used in store or online for products for your baby for recycling a seat. Helping the environment and getting some cash? Yes please. Walmart is a safety seat destination for many because they sell hundreds of models, so it's a natural step for it to establish itself as a place to get rid of old seats too. As Melody Richards, Vice President, Walmart Baby, said in the same press release, "Safety – especially car seat safety – is a top priority for Walmart’s Baby department, so we wanted to use our size and scale to create an event that offered unprecedented access to trade in an outgrown car seat for a gift card – perfect for using on your baby’s next car seat." Meanwhile, their partner in the event, TerraCycle, is an organization that works with manufacturers to recycle "difficult-to-recycle" materials, like car seats, that would normally be thrown away, as the press release explained. So TerraCycle brings the eco-friendly strategy, while Walmart provides parents a place to put those no-longer-useful car seats. It's a match made in recycling heaven.   It sounds like a pretty sweet deal, but there are a few caveats. Walmart is limiting the trade-in to two gift cards per family. So even if you bring five car seats with you to the store, the most Walmart cash you'll be able to get is $60. The store also won't be accepting booster seats during the promotion, so you'll have to find another way to get those out of the garage. And not all Walmart stores will be involved in the event, but you can find out if your store is participating online. But the event allows you to help the environment and clear out the garage in one fell swoop, so it's worth a trip to the store. Here's to autumn cleaning.  

Wer dem Nachwuchs neues Spielzeug kauft, bleibt auf Unmengen von Verpackungsmaterial sitzen. Doch in Zeiten, in denen alle Welt über Umweltschutz diskutiert, stößt das vielen böse auf. Spielwaren-Gigant Hasbro zieht nun Konsequenzen – und ist damit nicht allein.  von Sara-Lena Niebaum

“Removing plastic from our packaging is the latest advancement in our more than decade-long journey to create a more sustainable future for our business and our world,” said Brian Goldner, chairman and CEO of Hasbro, in a statement. “We have an experienced, cross-functional team in place to manage the complexity of this undertaking and will look to actively engage employees, customers and partners as we continue to innovate and drive progress as a leader in sustainability.”   Hasbro said it has a long-standing commitment to environmental sustainability, from eliminating wire ties in 2010 and adding How2Recycle labeling in 2016, to the use of plant-based bioPET in 2018, and most recently, launching a toy recycling program with TerraCycle. Hasbro’s Sustainability Center of Excellence is charged with driving the integration of sustainability across the business, including driving sustainable packaging design principles.   “Reimagining and redesigning packaging across our brand portfolio is a complex undertaking, but we believe it’s important and our teams are up for the challenge,” said John Frascotti, president and chief operating officer of Hasbro, in a statement. “We know consumers share our commitment to protecting the environment, and we want families to feel good knowing that our packaging will be virtually plastic-free, and our products can be easily recycled through our Toy Recycling Program with TerraCycle.”   Hasbro’s Toy Recycling Program enables consumers to send well-loved Hasbro toys and games to TerraCycle, which recycles them into materials to be used in the construction of play spaces, flowerpots, park benches and other innovative uses. Hasbro recently announced the expansion of the program to France, Germany and Brazil and plans to expand the program to additional markets with the goal of ensuring all Hasbro toys and games are recyclable in the major markets where it does business.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut paid a visit to the Henkel Corporation’s North American consumer goods headquarters in Stamford.   Company leadership provided the senator with a tour of the Henkel Experience Center, sharing examples of the organiza­tion’s sustaina­bility commitments and product packaging solutions that contribute to the circular economy for plastics. Among them: a partnership with Plastic Bank, a social enterprise dedicated to reducing ocan plastic and providing opportunities for people in poverty, and founding membership in the global Alliance to End Plastic Waste.   Additionally, the company has teamed up with TerraCycle and How2Recycle to make it easier for customers and consumers to recycle its products locally.   Sen. Blumenthal also held an open forum Q&A session with Henkel employees from its Stamford, Darien and Trumbull locations.   “Our employees appreciated the opportunity to have a Q&A with Senator Blumenthal to learn more about his work in Washington, D.C. on behalf of residents of our state,” said Heather Wallace, Henkel senior vice president and general manager, beauty care North America. “We were pleased to host the Senator at our new Henkel Experience Center, a collaboration center that was created because we know that only together – with our customers, consumers and business partners – we can create and bring to life sustainable innovations that contribute to a more beautiful world.”   “Henkel’s efforts towards sustainable solutions for our environment are a model for other companies,” said Blumenthal. “Their leadership and commitment to continued innovation and increased use of recyclable materials sets a strong example of how business and communities can collaborate for long-term positive impact. I am proud of their commitment to the environment and their hardworking, dedicated Connecticut employees.”

An organization in Quebec wants to hoard 100,000 cigarette butts around the city, with the goal of protecting the St. Lawrence River from one of the "biggest polluters of our waterways".   For the first time in Quebec City, CMONBAG, which aims to protect marine areas and shorelines, is preparing the initiative "I'm not a beggar ..." which will take place on September 14th.   The organizers invite citizens to clean up the city by picking up cigarette butts thrown to the ground. On the day of the event, four drop-off points will be set up to collect cigarette butts, at the corner of Cartier and René-Lévesque Streets, at D'Youville Square, at Durocher Center and at the corner of 3rd Avenue and Avenue. of the Canardière.  

50 million liters of water

  "We know that a single cigarette butt pollutes up to 500 liters of water, so with our 100,000 butts, we want to protect 50 million liters of water in the river," says the organization's director, Claudette The station.   All cigarette butts will then be donated to Toronto-based TerraCycle, which specializes in recycling, to make lawn chairs, says Légaré.   The twenty or so organizers will also give smokers pocket ashtrays to encourage them to "collaborate in the preservation of the environment".   According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, cigarette butts are at the top of the blacklist of the biggest polluters found near Canadian shores.   Last year, a record number of cigarette butts, 560,432, were collected across Canada's shores.

These zero-wasters have ditched the trash can almost entirely. Pick and choose from their tips for going zero waste to shrink your own waste (plus any eco-guilt).   These days, knowing how to recycle isn’t enough. Zero waste is the sustainability method of the moment, and it’s not just a passing fad: Living with less is one way of preserving the environment and already-dwindling resources, and going zero waste is actually almost (dare we say it) easy.   There’s a lot of garbage out there. The United States sent 137.7 million tons of trash to landfills in 2015, according to the Environmental Protection Agency—and a recent report found we’re on track to run out of space in landfills within the next two decades. China is importing fewer of the recyclable plastics we’ve been sending there. And far too many items don’t make it to landfills or recycling plants in the first place: Think of all the litter along our roads and the sad stories about sea turtles with straws in their nostrils and whales with bags in their bellies.   In some ways, this problem is bigger than any one person. To make a real dent, we’d need our legislators to support more plastic bans, regulate wasteful industries, and be more aggressive about protecting the planet beyond the waste problem. Still, our actions do make a difference. The more consumers and voters start caring about waste reduction in their day-to-day lives, experts say, the more businesses and governments will make it a priority.   “The best thing we can do, environmentally speaking, is not produce waste in the first place,” says Jenna Jambeck, PhD, professor of environmental engineering at the University of Georgia and a National Geographic fellow specializing in solid waste. “I’ve been totally convinced by my research that, taken collectively, small choices make a difference. These choices, even if we aren’t perfect, add up to significant positive impacts over time.”   These choices include everything from utilizing zero waste disposal options to adopting a zero waste lifestyle—making decisions large and small that move the needle in the right direction, even a little. You’ll see the impact in your life too: less clutter, money saved, new peace of mind. You don’t have to take every step experts suggest here—do what works for you, and you just might find life is better with less garbage in it.   Start with these tips for going zero waste, straight from practiced zero-wasters—including the mind behind Zero Waste Home—and you’ll be off to a great start. You may even find yourself surprised by how easy using less can be.  

Use what you already have.

  “I don’t encourage anyone to go out and buy things, like a pretty stainless-steel water bottle or organic-cotton shopping bag, in order to go zero-waste,” says Tippi Thole, founder of the zero-waste website Tiny Trash Can. “We should be buying less, not more! If I have a plastic item in good working condition, I use it as long as I can.” Manufacturing reusable tote bags and water bottles tends to use a lot more resources and energy than manufacturing the disposable versions, so don’t churn through them.  

Refuse first.

  People are constantly trying to give you single-use stuff: a flyer on the street, a sample in the store, a bag of stickers and knickknacks at a birthday party. “No matter how much you reduce, reuse, and recycle, you’re still the target of many items,” says Bea Johnson, author of Zero Waste Home ($11; amazon.com), who says her family of four creates only a pint of garbage per year. “Say no on the spot to stop it from becoming your trash problem down the line.”  

Rearrange the trash.

  Moving the kitchen trash can somewhere inconvenient, like the garage, forces everyone in the house to consider whether items could be composted or recycled instead. “Just by rearranging the bins and shocking everyone out of the habit of tossing something into the can, we halved the amount of garbage we produced,” says Larkin Gayl, who shares zero-waste tips on Instagram at @unfetteredhome.  

Pack reusable necessities.

  Think about the single-use items you pick up most in the outside world (coffee cups? utensils? to-go boxes? straws?) and stash a reusable version in your bag or car so you always have it with you. “We even carry a growler in our car for beer emergencies!” says zero-waster Sarah Schade, an art and design student in Traverse City, Michigan. When you come home, remember to wash your reusables and put them back so they’re ready to go the next day.  

Borrow before buying.

  You borrow books—why not borrow a weed whacker, stand mixer, or circle saw too? Borrowing things like tools and kitchen gadgets saves you from shelling out for something you’ll only use a few times a year. Plus, Lepeltier adds, “connecting with neighbors when you borrow something makes in-life connections and creates community.” Searchmyturn.com and buynothingproject.org/find-a-group, or write a post on Nextdoor. You can also rent tools from many hardware stores and Home Depot locations.  

Do a trash audit.

  It might sound icky, but poke through your garbage can to find your household’s worst waste offenders. (Or just make a note—and ask those you live with to do the same—of what you toss in a typical week.) “Pick the thing that shows up most in the garbage and find a swap for it,” says Gayl. For example, she noticed a ton of granola bar wrappers in her trash and started making batches of grab-and-go snacks instead.  

Don’t feel like you have to make everything yourself.

  “I’ve experimented with sourdough and making kombucha, but I’m not running a Whole Foods at my home,” says Chloé Lepeltier, who blogs about her low-impact lifestyle on the site Conscious By Chloé. The idea is to find habits you can sustain, so only DIY if you enjoy it.  

Green your period.

  If you’re up for it, Schade endorses switching to a reusable menstrual cup. Made out of silicone, it typically lasts a year, replacing the 240 or so tampons you might use during that time. (It also keeps packaging, applicators, and sometimes agrochemical-intensive cotton out of the trash.) Or consider period underwear like the ones from Thinx or Dear Kate—they may not eliminate your need for tampons entirely, but you’ll cut back in a big way.  

Raise tiny tree huggers.

  “Kids are often the best place to start in your waste-reduction journey because they tend to be more sensitive to the problem and don’t have the bad habits we adults do,” says Thole. Ask children to help cook (and therefore eat less food packaged in plastic); fill up at the bulk bins together; and talk about the materials that go into making a plastic toy—and the landfill the toy will end up in. But be warned: Soon enough, they may call out your eco-blunders.  

Invest in a TerraCycle bin.

  The company TerraCycle accepts many items that can’t always be recycled locally, like coffee capsules, toothpaste tubes, and potato chip bags. It partners with brands—including Arm & Hammer, Brita, Garnier, Honest Kids, even Solo cups—to offer free recycling of their products. Or you can buy a bin or pouch for a specific need. It’s pricey (pouches cost $42 and up), but that’s a deterrent to creating trash, says Gayl: “The cost to recycle motivates me to think before I purchase.”

Extrair, usar e descartar. Por décadas, esta tem sido a abordagem padrão de produção e consumo. As empresas fazem a extração de matérias-primas e as transformam em produtos, que são comprados pelos consumidores, que por sua vez os descartam, gerando desperdício. Mas, à medida que os avisos sobre a mudança climática e a degradação ambiental se tornam cada vez mais frequentes, as pessoas estão começando a desafiar a sustentabilidade desse modelo. Muitos líderes empresariais e governos – incluindo a China, o Japão e o Reino Unido – argumentam que devemos abandonar esse sistema linear em favor de uma chamada economia circular de fazer, usar, reutilizar e reutilizar de novo e de novo.