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Send your kids back to class this year with eco sense! With the guidance of this instructable, you and your youngster can create a one of a kind lunchbag. Be creative and incorporate other durable and unique materials like fair trade foil coffee bags and other packaging from your recycling bin! While you’re at it, bone up on money and Earth-saving tips and tricks for packing garbage-free lunches!
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May 29th
Renovate Restore Rebuild Recycle
Your best source of used and new building materials at a fraction of retail prices. Come in and see us.
8832 62 ave
Open weekdays 9-6 (Thursdays til 8), Saturdays 9-5.
Your invited to join us on May 29th, we are celebrating three years in business and would like to thank you for helping us achieve that!
It’s people like you who contribute to the Reuse philosophy that make a difference to our environment and our world.
Cheers
Sherry and Dave
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“When you contribute to the “Reuse” philosophy you make a difference to our environment and our world.” It’s easy to do.
Visit us at;
www.homereusables.com
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(NC)—Installing a new patio this year? A driveway or walkway? Now is the time to consider how this can be an upgrade and an environmentally sound improvement. One pavement that meets both requirements is permeable interlocking concrete pavements (PICPs). They look like popular concrete paving stones but work in a different manner. PICPs have a small space between the pavers. This space is filled with small stones that allow runoff to filter down between the pavers. The water filters down further to stone layers beneath that store the water. Finally the water will filter into the soil, reducing stormwater runoff and pollution.
Every Canadian homeowner can have a positive impact on the home environment through improvements that lower pollution. PICPs offer an environmentally-friendly solution and they are aesthetically pleasing. They are available in many shapes, sizes, textures and colours. Homeowners can even select a lighter more reflective colour and reduce the heat island effect created by existing asphalt pavements. Read the rest of this entry »
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(NC)—Run a search on dirty dishes on the internet and you will find that not only is this a topic of much discussion and debate, it is a highly personal and emotional issue.
Forums offer advice, suggestions and tips for how to hide those dirty dishes when company comes—in the oven, under the sink, in the laundry basket—to name just a few. Some write to vent their frustrations—“how can so many dirty dishes pile up so fast when there are just two of us?” one woman asks. A highly-rated video shows three young men dealing with their angst when the kitchen is overrun by an unsightly pile of dishes and cookware. The problem is solved when one waves his hand and the dishes magically disappear, no doubt accounting for the popularity of the movie. Read the rest of this entry »
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(NC)—While it’s relatively new to us, cork flooring has been used in Europe for centuries because of its resilience, durability and surprisingly versatile, attractive designs. Today, cork is taking North America by storm due to all of those attributes, plus its unsurpassed eco-friendliness and sustainability.
Cork is hand-harvested, and no trees are harmed in this ancient practice. Century-old cork trees, harvested every nine years, still thrive in the forests of Portugal and Spain.
Eco-engineering of modern cork floors allows them to be installed over existing flooring including tiles. And, once installed, cork doesn’t merely beautify the home, it mutes and muffles sound with its natural acoustic properties, provides exceptional cushioning and warmth with its natural insulation properties, and is hypo-allergenic to safeguard your family’s health. Read the rest of this entry »
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The temptation has always been there for eco-house builders. It’s those damn windows; they are just so useless once the sun goes down. There must be some way to insulate them once they no longer need to be seen through, right? Read the rest of this entry »
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Oh, how the little things can make such a big difference! As some of you may have noticed, our green kitchen reno slowed to a stop. There has been nothing to report for several months, which was really demoralizing, especially as I prepared newsletters with updates from other bloggers who were building entire green homes from scratch!
Meanwhile we were left with an assortment of glaring niggly finishing tasks that we had neither time nor energy to complete, not to mention a floor that turned out nothing like what I had imagined.
Enter Super Dad. Read the rest of this entry »
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(ENN)
CHICAGO, Nov. 23– Modern culture’s gift-giving often comes at the expense of our environment (during the month of December, it’s been estimated that households generate and extra 1 million tons of garbage per week). The holidays are the perfect opportunity to make a significant, long-lasting difference for the environment – by giving gifts that actually help people consume less, preserve natural resources and save money.
“We pioneered the concept of gifting reusables five years ago,” stated Vincent Cobb, founder of Reuseit.com. “With each reusable you gift, you effectively empower the recipient to reduce thousands and thousands of disposables. The net effect is enormous.” Reuseit.com is a one-stop-shop for hundreds of innovative, high-quality, eco-friendly reusables that continue to give back after every use.
To help consumers select the right reusable for anyone, the company has created a comprehensive Gift Center to make the process easy, with buying guides, videos and hand-picked gift ideas For Him, For Her, For Kids and more. Below are the company’s Top 10 overall reusable gift picks for the holidays – innovative, well-designed products that help replace some of the most common disposables. Read the rest of this entry »
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Mention reclaimed materials and the image pops: salvaged wood beautifully repurposed as paneling or flooring. While reclaimed wood is indeed one of the most popular reused materials, the range of materials sought and available extends far beyond that.
“Reclaimed wood is a classic, and it’s an idea most people are familiar with,” said PlanetReuse operations manager Tim Bensman. “But we’re seeing a growing market for steel, doors, access flooring, granite and marble. Steel, especially, offers huge potential for reuse, and along with that a huge potential for cost savings as well as a greater ability to achieve additional LEED material reuse credits.” The LEED MR system awards credit for reuse of a variety of reclaimed materials. PlanetReuse works with the design team early enough in the process to allow a huge list of options for consideration. Read the rest of this entry »
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The Mill Creek NetZero Home is substantially completed.
The stucco is finished on the outside. We went with a cement-based stucco because of its looks and durability.
Peter Amerongen built a brick wall behind the wood burner. We used the bricks from the foundation of the house that used to be standing on the property. This wall adds more thermal mass (to capture both solar and wood heat) to the house, as well as a bit of history. Read the rest of this entry »
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