Environmental Concerns


RECYCLE CAPS WITH AVEDA

Aveda found that a majority of plastic bottle caps do not get recycled today. 

Often these caps end up as litter or trash, ending up in landfills and beaches or migrating into our rivers and oceans. Birds and other marine creatures mistake them for food with tragic results. The magnitude of this pollution problem is devastating to our oceans and wildlife.

You can be part of the solution by joining Recycle Caps with Aveda.

Aveda is announcing a new recycling initiative that helps extend the current boundaries of recycling and elicit participation from all corners of our community. With the help of our network of salons and stores, in partnership with community schools, we are building a new recycling program for plastic bottle caps in which caps are collected at stores and schools and then sent by Aveda to our recycler where the material is recycled into new caps and containers. Aveda has been able to work closely with our suppliers to develop ways to make new caps and containers from the recycled caps. We hope to ship new products using this reworked, environmentally friendly material later this year.

Join the Recycle Caps with Aveda campaign. Bring your plastic caps into an Aveda Store and feel great knowing that they will be repurposed into new Aveda packaging and kept from entering our waterways and harming wildlife.

CLICK HERE to learn more

“Recycling Tips for Gardeners”

Newspapers and Paper Bags ... you can always recycle newspaper and bags, but you can also use them in your garden. Once your plants have broken ground and have a couple inches on them, you can lay out the newspaper and bags on the bare areas. This reduced weed and grass growth, and means less work for you! Just make sure to use newspaper that has little to no color ink. Once you lay the paper out cover it with mulch or just wet it a bit so it sticks to the ground and doesn't blow away.

Don’t forget about cardboard Egg-Cartons ... instead of throwing out those cartons, save the bottom to start seedlings. Then after you are finished with the seedlings you can tear the cardboard up and use it as a base in potted plants.

Every day across America millions of pots of coffee and tea are brewed, with millions of pounds of wet grounds, filters and bags being thrown in the trash. This is both wasteful and foolish. Coffee by-products can be used in your garden ... sprinkle used grounds around plants before rain or watering, for a slow-release nitrogen. Dilute with water for a gentle, fast-acting liquid fertilizer.  Use about a half-pound can of wet grounds in a five-gallon bucket of water; let sit outdoors to achieve ambient temperature. Mix into soil for houseplants or new vegetable beds. Encircle the base of the plant with a coffee and eggshell barrier to repel pests.

Rain barrels can be used to save water for plants during dry periods. They can also be arranged to slowly release the collected rainfall to areas that can soak up the water, reducing storm water runoff. Keep in mind that rain barrel water is not considered ‘drinkable’ or potable and should only be used to water non-edible plants, like flowers or lawns. A rain barrel is inexpensive and easy to make and the savings is well worth the investment. Check with your local nature centers, online, or at garden centers to learn how you can make your own.

One last fun piece of trivia I learned at school this week ... did you know that iTunes just reached 10 billion downloads. Can you imagine the environmental savings that generates? How many CD’s aren’t made ... plastic cases aren’t thrown away ... and plastic wrappings aren’t being sent to our landfills! It is even saving the cost recycling plastic!

It is fun and interesting to ‘Google’ information about garden recycling ... if you get the chance check it out for yourself ... you never know what you will learn that will help you with your garden plans this year!

Submitted by Lynn Jackson