Consumer Reports has some cool info posted about how to recycle a car seat. Being that a car seat is mixed materials, it seems almost impossible to recycle, but apparently, if you rip that sucker apart it helps.

Consumer Reports recommends you:

  1. Remove all fabric, padding, and screws. Disassemble the restraint.
  2. Use a screwdriver to remove as much metal as possible
  3. Recycle all plastic and foam parts, and discard the rest.

Good advice. You can also check Earth 911 to see if there’s a car seat recycling facility near you, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. There are some major roadblocks to car seat recycling.

Visit Consumer Reports to read the rest of their car seat piece, which also discusses when to recycle your car seat.

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My sunscreen rational this year is that the safest sunscreens cost too much, as in wildly unrealistically too much for most families, so there’s a need to compromise. Thus, I posted some sunscreen choices that aren’t top of the line safe but that families can afford.

Image by emrank

Not everyone thought this was a good plan:

On Facebook someone noted, “I’m afraid your report will scare people away from the best sunscreens and lull them into thinking it’s okay to make “less safe” choices in this category. Families who aren’t outside as much or who work at avoiding peak hours or who do a great job with sun-protective clothing might be able to afford safer sunscreen options because they don’t use as much.

Another person noted much the same saying, “Clothing, shade and the fact that sunscreen is mostly only necessary during peak hours of 10 – 4 can greatly reduce the costs associated with sunscreen.

I got emails that mimicked the comments above. I don’t think any of the comments were out of line either. I agree that chemicals are icky and I totally get wanting to limit your exposure. Still, from a purely outdoor advocate point of view I don’t agree with other sun protection methods as much as I agree with sunscreen.

Everyone says, “Don’t go outside between 10am and 4pm”

Most people seem to agree that sunscreen is necessary, but everyone still points out that you can greatly limit your associated sunscreen costs if you stay indoors between 10am and 4pm. Logically, I get it. If I keep my son indoors for those 6 hours a day, I can afford to buy the world’s safest sunscreen, because he’d need very little.

I gave some serious consideration to whether or not staying inside all day was a suitable option for my family, and it came down to no. No, I’m not willing to keep my son inside for 6 hours a day. As frequent Growing a Green Family readers may realize, I’m a ‘kids belong outside‘ advocate and with good reason…

Keep reading this post!

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EWG Releases List of 2012 Affordable Sunscreen Options!

May 15, 2012

Okay, I know I’ve practically discussed sunscreen to death over the last couple of weeks here at Growing a Green Family, but I do have some big and useful news from EWG. First a quick recap of my mindset this year… I’ve been complaining about how “safe” sunscreen is too expensive. By “too expensive” I [...]

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Three easy steps to reusable bag common sense

May 12, 2012

There’s an interesting article over at MNN about how reusable bags are creating their own unique set of environmental problems. Writer Robin Shreeves, based on some info gleamed at Philly.com, notes that folks accumulate too many reusable bags, thus they end up in the landfill, making them no better than the plastic bags everyone is trying to [...]

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20 magical & creative DIY cardboard toys

May 11, 2012

I read a while back that while toys are a major seller in the U.S., green toys aren’t so much. In fact, the research I read said that green toy sales make up just 1% of all toy sales. That seems nuts considering all the problems with conventional toys. Still, in some ways I get [...]

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2012 Sunscreen Winners and Losers + Best Safe Sunscreens of 2012

May 10, 2012

I’ve been looking into sunscreens for the last couple of weeks and it’s clear that they’re all over the map when it comes to safety and price. Sunscreen can be hyper confusing – too bad, since all green families deserve safe affordable sunscreen. That said, I’ve narrowed down the best safe sunscreen options for all families, in [...]

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2012 Green Family Sunscreen Choices Organized by Price

May 10, 2012

*This post is part of the 2012 safe sunscreen series. If you’re interested in sunscreen by price, this is the list for you. All sunscreens are broken down into groups per price per oz and to save you some calculations, I figured out both your annual and monthly costs for each sunscreen choice as well. [...]

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Decent lower-priced sunscreens for 2012

May 9, 2012

If money is no object you can probably afford the safest, most chemical-free sunscreen. For the rest of us, some compromises are in order. First figure out how to panic less when it comes to more “toxic” sunscreens (this post also discusses chemicals in sunscreen). After you decide where you stand on chemicals, you can check out the list [...]

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When money is no object you can buy the safest sunscreen

May 9, 2012

I think green living compromises are a-okay. I think it’s smarter to lower your chemical burden in other areas, but if you want to spend less on organic food, and more on safe sunscreen, it’s fine with me. The prices below, per year, are calculated for kids and adults who spend a decent amount of time outside and [...]

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How to make homemade non-toxic sunblock

May 8, 2012

Many people say that homemade sunscreen is a safer, less expensive way to go than store-bought chemical sunscreens. Not having made homemade sunscreen before, I really have no clue if this is true or not, so I decided to check this option out. About titanium dioxide and zinc oxide The basic theory behind homemade sunblock [...]

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