Wondering who these adorable guys are?

Hustle over to Inhabitots to learn more about a cool new website designed for Recycle Glass Week. Bonus, you’ll score tips that will help you teach your little one how to easily recycle glass.

Read the post – HOW TO: Teach Young Children to Recycle Glass.

Recycling should be a family affair but often recycling can seem very complicated to little kids. Take it from me; at age five Cedar “recycled” some of our silicone homemade popsicle molds claiming, “They looked recyclable!“  Reluctant adults in your home may actually not get recycling or they may be using their lack of know-how to get out of recycling.

Either way the following tips can make recycling easier for the entire household and if everyone knows how to recycle there’s no excuses.

Know the laws: You can’t encourage the family to recycle properly unless you know your local laws and policies about it. Locate your state’s government website and then type “recycling” into the search box once at the site or call your local garbage company.

Have a family recycling meeting: Which recyclables go in which bin, which stuff is actually recyclable vs. trash and which items can be composted, reused or donated before you recycle are key topics to cover with everyone. WHY we recycle is also an excellent topic. For little kids there’s no need to drag a meeting like this on for hours – just cover the basics.

Keep talking: In my experience it takes a while to introduce new green issues to the family. A meeting is good start, but with kids especially you have to keep talking. Work in little conversations about recycling. Kids may not get all of it in one sitting but eventually small conversations start to add up in their thirsty little brains. One excellent place to discuss recycling is at the grocery store. For example, when buying a product ask your child, “Do you think we’ll be able to recycle this? Or will it have to go to the dump?”

Hang a poster: You and the kids can make a recycling poster to hang up that includes visuals of typical items your home uses and can recycle – i.e. cans, glass jars, paper and so on. Search old magazines for images to use on your poster, take some photos of actual items or draw pictures freehand.

Have a dedicated home recycling area and then label it: Every home needs a dedicated home recycling center (but that’s a much longer post). For now keep in mind that a recycling center should be easy for kids to reach and not move around (like from the garage to the kitchen and back again). After setting up your bins label each bin with text for older kids and adults and little pictures for younger kids. Recycle Now is meant for schools but they have an excellent collection of recycling sticker labels you can print that would also work great for home bins. If you can’t find some waterproof recycling labels check out Planetpals for some free recycling clip art; print it; then affix pictures to your bins with clear packing tape.

Put your kids in charge: When you give a child responsibility in the form of “You’re in charge of making everyone do this” kids tend to take on a task with gusto. My son, for example, at six and seven years was in charge of lights (keep them off), reusable bags (don’t forget to take them) and checking the thermostats. He did other green stuff too – but these were his major, “In charge” tasks and he kept up with them perfectly. Now he’s a little crazed actually about lights being off actually – but I guess I’d rather have him crazed then not.

Make it meaningful – plan a trip to your local recycling center AND drive by the trash dump as well so your kids can see their actions in well, action. Visit a neat recycling website for kids or read a cool kid-friendly book about recycling; Recycle!: A Handbook for Kids is a good choice for younger kids, although it’s a little older so you’ll have to update your child on newer recycling issues.

How are you involving your kids in the recycling process?

In My plan to cut out excess packaging, I discussed my plans for cutting out excess packaging this year. However, first I need to know which packaging I have that’s excessive and can be cut, so a small green home audit about said packaging is in order.

I went through my bathroom and found the following packaging – along side each I’ve made notes about which I can cut and which I’m not so sure about.

Packaging in my bathroom:

• Organic Body wash – this was an unnecessary impulse buy and one I don’t need it and two I can cut it by using unwrapped bar soap, homemade body wash, or fill a reusable container with body wash at the natural food store.
• Organic Shampoo – I rarely use shampoo and don’t need a special kind so I can get a refillable bottle instead.
• Conditioner – I have naturally curly hair (blah) and use a super charged, really good organic conditioner. Since I can’t find a decent conditioner in bulk, I don’t know if I can cut this. One option is to make my own conditioner. I make hair masques, but I’ll have to look into conditioner.
• Organic face wash – I should make my own like I used to, but not sure if I want to. I like my current face wash.
• All natural facial grains – I LOVE these facial grains, but I can make my own in a reusable container, they’re not as good IMO, but close.
• Organic shaving cream – well, I could quit shaving, or figure out how to make my own. This is a bath product I haven’t ever tried to make though, so I’m not sure. We’ll call this a maybe.
• Razors – I use recycled razors from Preserve. Right now I like shaving, so I suppose I’ll keep them, but I don’t love how the Preserve razors work. My goal is to find an eco-razor I like better.
• Bath scrubby – I usually have a washable bath scrubby in the tub, most of the time made of natural hemp – right now though for the last year I’ve been using one made with organic cotton fibers. Since I use them to death and rewash, I’m not concerned.
• Lip gloss – OMG I have so much lip gloss that it’s embarrassing. I LOVE lip gloss, especially my Tarte lip gloss. I think though what I’ll do is just commit to buying new Tarte and one take along organic lip gloss when I run out, then recycle the packaging. Another option is to make my own lip gloss more often.
• Deodorant – This is one of the biggest baddies in my bathroom. I don’t buy organic or natural because I’ve never found one I like that works. Trust me, I’ve tried a ton too.  The perfect goal would be to find a healthier one that works in less packaging, but I’m not holding my breath.
• Cosmetics – I actually own very few cosmetics. I don’t really wear make-up much due to the excess packaging and time involved. I have maybe 4-5 organic products, but they were all sent to me by companies for reviews and all have recyclable packaging. However, it’s not like I’m out there buying cosmetics.
• Body lotions – I actually have two bottles of lotion right now, (impulse buys) which is not cool. I used to buy only bulk lotion. However, I think what I’ll do here is switch over to just using my organic soy lotion bars. I LOVE these bars and the packaging is not only reusable but recyclable.
• Face lotion – I hate my current face lotion, and frankly don’t use it much. It’s an organic brand that turned out to be lame. I would like a good face lotion, but I think I’ll stick with making my own unless I can find a brand I actually like that comes in recyclable packaging.
• Q-tips – not organic, and come in lame packaging. I’ve never seen them in bulk though, but I bet could find them in organic cotton. They’d still have the packaging though, but I use them for various things, so I’m not sure I’d give them up.
• Nail polish remover and nail polish – this along with the deodorant above is a big bad, but I like cute nail colors. Darn it. I need to switch over to just using more natural brands of both. Goal – better brands and just a couple of colors.
• Female products – I actually have various sorts; reusable pads, organic tampons, and organic pads. I should cut out all non-reusable pads, which I never used to use ever (not sure why I half switched? Lazy maybe). There are lots of options that are not disposable, so being lazy is a bad excuse.
• Hand soap – I always buy bulk soap and refill my refillable container, so I’m doing good here.
• Toothbrush and toothpaste – I only buy recycled toothbrushes from Preserve and I recycle them when I’m done. I’m not sure what to do about the toothpaste situation. I currently use Tom’s of Maine cinnamon clove paste with fluoride. I know the debates about fluoride, but I’m on the side of it’s better. I’m not sure if I could make my own. I’ll look into it, because it would cut out the packaging. However, one good thing is that the tubes are recyclable so maybe this is some packaging I could keep.
• Floss – my dental floss comes in plastic packaging and while I do toss it in the recycling bin, I’m not 100% sure it’s recyclable. I need to cute out floss packaging, but since I don’t know anything about it, I’ll need to look into it.
• Oils – I don’t use perfume, but I do use essential oils. The packaging is recyclable though, and I use them to make homemade beauty products, so I won’t be cutting them. Note, I rarely buy them.
• Hair ties and clips – I use little plastic bands and plastic hair clips right now if I want to wear my hair pulled back. I could quit that and just use a piece of cut hemp like I used to.
• Comb – I have a plastic comb, which will probably last many more years. I should buy a more sustainable, non-plastic version the next time I need one though.

Whew. That’s a lot of bathroom stuff, and I’ve got a lot less than most people I know, which is scary. All in all my audit revealed the following…

• There’s some non-reusable packages I can cut. Shampoo, lip gloss, body wash, and facial grains. I’ll need to get some refillable containers that are non-toxic for these products or buy less (like with the lip gloss).
• I need to research floss and see what’s out there that’s eco-friendly.
• My bathroom is pretty non-toxic overall. I use mostly organic products, but I could find a better, more eco-friendly versions of deodorant, cotton swabs, and nail care products.
• I need to do away with non-reusable female care products and plastic hair clips and bands.
• I need to find out if it’s possible to make homemade organic shaving cream.

If I do all this, it’ll save on lots of packaging and result in a healthier bathroom overall. Coming up soon, I’ll run green home audits for packaging in the kid’s bathroom, kitchen, and pantry too.

Now, is there any excess packaging in your bathroom that you could cut?