Celebrate World Vegetarian Day next weekend with great food and fun. Even if you’re a carnivore, October 1st is a great day to try a local vegetarian restaurant. Check out happycow.net to find vegetarian restaurants in every US state as well as most countries around the world. Angelinos will appreciate Vegetarians in Paradise, a website that offers up reviews of vegetarian restaurants in and around Los Angeles. Or try your hand at your own vegetarian creation using one of VegNew Magazine’s thousands of recipe ideas.
Folks living in San Francisco can enjoy World Veg Festival next weekend, October 2-3. While Bostonians will want to check out the 15th annual Boston Vegetarian Food Festival at the end of the month on Halloween weekend. The Phuket Vegetarian Festival in Thailand is arguably the most elaborate vegetarian festival in the world.
Ok, we’re always touting the benefits of going green right down to your skivvies. But if you’re greening your underthings with some gorgeous new organic bras, what do you do with the old bras? Well, you recycle them, of course! The Bra Recyclers over at brarecycling.com will give new life to your old bras.
So what are the Bra Recyclers all about? Here’s their story according to their website:
We are a textile recycling company specializing in recycling bras and providing deserving women in our communities who are facing challenges with a basic lingerie staple.
We are creating awareness about delaying the number of re-usable textiles, such as bras, that are unnecessarily being sent to landfills that could be used for women and girls in our communities who are experiencing challenges in their lives
We are using simple encouragements to develop, blossom, and renew positive attitudes and self-esteem.
You can leave your old bras at one of their drop off locations or mail your washed, functional bras to:
Bra Recycling 3317 S. Higley Rd, Ste 114-441 Gilbert, AZ 85297
One commenter in the last post mentioned that they were uncomfortable purchasing items that are individually wrapped in plastic. We agree, the plastic wrap has got to go. So here’s a list of companies that are doing their part in getting rid of the wrap.
Companies that send items unwrapped in bulk
bgreen – our most eco company in terms of packing and shipping. They do all their manufacturing in Los Angeles about 8 miles from our warehouse. Most of the time we don’t even have their items shipped; we schedule a time when someone’s already out and about and have the products picked up directly. So there’s virtually no transportation cost from them to us and everything is unwrapped. Their smaller items, like panties, don’t even have hang tags.
Perfectly Imperfect Tees (PI Organics) – another Southern California based company that ships all their products without bags. Sure, their dresses wind up a bit wrinkled from them to us to you, but what’s a little steamer or touch of ironing between friends? Their lingerie also comes without hang tags.
SOS From Texas – from seed to shirt this company works completely in the USA, and ships all their products bag-free in bulk
Jim Morris T-Shirts – their environmental-themed screen printed tees always come in bulk without hang tags or bags. They source the tees from a variety of places from the USA to India, so there are some transportation costs, and they use conventional screen printing methods. But the lack of packaging and a commitment to charitable giving make this small company a good choice.
Pants to Poverty – this UK-based poverty-fighting powerhouse company has traditionally sent their panties in bulk with no tags. Their most recent line of Angel Wing and Angel Print panties came in adorable recycled cotton gift boxes for the holidays. While we love the look of the boxes, they’re environmentally impractical. We’ve talked to them and they assure us they’ll be going back to bulk shipped items in the new year.
Companies improving packaging options
Goddess Gear – this small, woman-owned business does all their manufacturing in Colorado and ships whole size runs in a single bag. So all smalls for example will come in one plastic bag. Generally that will mean 2 -5 items per bag instead of individually wrapped.
Earth Creations – this USA manufacturer has just announced that starting in 2010 they will also be doing a complete switch to corn-based bags. All of their current products are still in plastic, but we’re excited that they’re making the switch.
We take bulk-shipped items and wrap them in a single piece of 100% post-consumer recycled tissue paper before we ship them. All bulk items go in one tissue together. This keeps them clean and hygienic for shipping. But if you really don’t want even that much packaging, just let us know in the comments section of your order and we’ll let all your items roam free in their shipping envelops. 🙂
On a side note, our commenter mentioned that it might be better to just buy from a local, non-organic store to avoid the packaging. I have personally seen items shipped from China in individual plastic bags get taken out of their bags and hung on hangers (from the days of college side jobs). Just because you see something on a hangar doesn’t mean it didn’t come in a plastic bag.
I’ll address shipping options (boxes versus tyvek versus reused/recycled bags) in the next post.
November 15 is America Recycles Day. (Of course, looking at the name, I immediately wonder why there isn’t a World Recycles Day.) In 2009, I wonder why we need this. By now, recycling should be a gimme. There are recycling drop off stations in almost every city and town; many of us now enjoy curbside recycling; and there are tons of information sources from Real Simple and E-Magazine to the Environmental Protection Agency on how to recycle just about anything. In addition, there are fabulous groups like Freecycle and resources such as Craigslist where you can sell, swap or just give away your old stuff to someone who might want or need it.
November 15 isn’t the one day in the year when you should recycle. It’s a day marked out to evaluate how you are doing on recycling. Let’s all try to improve recycling efforts both at home and in our workplace. Of course, the less you use, the less you need to recycle. Maybe November 15 is the day you finally buy that reusable Starbucks cup (or the equivalent at your favorite coffee shop), start packing your child’s lunch sandwiches in Tupperware instead of zip lock bags or put out a bin in the office to collect cans. (Hint: if you don’t want to recycle them yourself, you can often find a Girl Scout or Boy Scout troop leader that will pick them up for you.)
Whatever you do, make one change starting now. Add one small step to live greener. You may be surprised by how good it feels.
I had planned on doing a post about eco-wrapping later this holiday season. Today I was going to write a bit about the first ever Eco-Model, Rachel Avalon, who won the Project Green Search eco-model competition. I had the chance to meet Rachel very briefly last week at the first ever Green Bloggers Convention. (On a side note, it’s thrilling to see all these new environmentally-focused events popping up. More and more people are taking action to dance lightly on our planet.)
To my surprise, while I was looking for an introduction on Rachel, I found this fantastic little video that she produced on… you guessed it… eco-friendly gift wrapping. So here’s Rachel introducing herself better than I ever could with some awesome green holiday tips.
In addition to all of Rachel’s great ideas, one of my personal favorites is wrapping gifts with the Sunday comics section. If you happen to have any old maps lying around, they also make great wrapping paper.
Reusable gift bags are good in a pinch as well. Although many of them are made from virgin materials, well made ones can be used again and again. I’ve had some holiday gift bags pass back and forth between family members for years. Just fold them after use and store them for next year.
We offer a selection of tree-free gift bags made from a mix of kenaf, hemp, sugar cane, flax and recycled materials that will last through many gift exchanges.
If your child is asked to sell gift wrap through a school or event fundraiser, be sure to mention to the coordinator that you’d like to see recycled gift wrap on offer next year. Many of the fundraising companies don’t receive a lot of requests or feedback, so letting them know what you would purchase can really make a difference. If you have a chance to write or e-mail the company directly, take it.
As a final thought, if you’re purchasing any holiday gifts from FaeriesDance.com, you can always have us gift wrap them for you using 100% recycled apparel boxes (65% post-consumer) with 100% post-consumer recycled tissue paper and 100% post-industrial recycled kraft gift wrap finished with natural raffia ribbon. New for this holiday, we just got in this festive tree motif recycled kraft wrapping paper design.
