Sale Ends Never

All items 100% off, sale ends never--one can imagine the radio and t.v. commercials that might be used to promote the Brooklyn Free Store, an interesting concept and location where items can be taken for free or dropped off for someone else to use. Read Colin Moynihan's article in the 8/15/10 edition of the New York Times for the full story.

I love this idea. It reminds me a bit of what we do in smaller cities and towns when we put something out on the curb with a sign that says "FREE" and hope someone who needs the item snags it before the trash haulers come. It also is reminiscent of online swapping services like Freecycle, but there is something about having a physical place to go and browse that I think is valuable. Sometimes you don't know what you need or want until you see it, or maybe your desire isn't major enough for you to search for it online, but if it was in front of you and free, you could take it and consider yourself lucky. Plus, it may be that seeing this sort of give and take community spirit in person is what is necessary to inspire folks to set their unwanted items free, as indicated by the person in the NYT article who left a reusable tote bag at the Free Store in order to feel he was involved.

At any rate, I wish every town had a store like this one.

Fine Art Fridges Make Reuse Art Cool

ComEd is sponsoring a display of reuse art involving old refrigerators along the Magnificent Mile in Chicago through September 15, 2010, as a way of promoting their refrigerator recycling program.

Check out the coverage of this display and the ComEd program in Waste & Recycling News and on WGN.

The "VooDoo Hot Rod" shown in the WGN video clip is my personal favorite.

A Time for Reuse

Kudos to the Finger Lakes ReUse Inc.'s eCenter program and the Ithaca Youth Bureau's Computer All Stars program for offering a workshop in which participants can dismantle an old computer and use salvaged parts from it to make their own clock. Space is limited for this workshop scheduled for June 26, 2010 and a $5 registration fee will be charged. For more information, see the Finger Lakes ReUse web site.

Talk about making time for reuse! Turn too much e-waste on your hands into too much time on your hands. Save time in a bottle while saving time from a landfill. I could sit here coming up with groan-worthy phrases all day, but thankfully, I won't. :)

Green Thumbs in More Ways Than One

The kids and I are slowly but surely starting to get our garden planted and ready for production all by ourselves this year, and are already reaping the benefits of our lovely strawberry patch. The fruit trees are going crazy, and if I don't get all those little peaches thinned somehow in all my extra time (ha, ha), they're never going to produce properly. But that's another story.

We like to practice reuse in as many aspects of our lives as possible, and gardening is no exception. We have a couple large compost piles, which seems like the most obvious way to practice reuse while gardening. If you're interested in starting your own compost pile or learning more about the process, check out CompostMania.com and the resources provided on traditional and vermicomposting (using worms) from the University of Illinois Extension program.

But beyond the obvious, have you ever considered reusing containers for pots, making your own pots from reused materials, reusing containers to protect your seedlings, or other ideas? Check out this recent post from RecycleBank, written by Diane MacEachern for more ideas, as well as tips on how to recycle gardening materials and eco-friendly gardening products. Also check out these ideas for repurposing materials for pots offered by Better Homes and Gardens.

Do you have a favorite example of reuse in the garden that you'd like to share? Tell me about it in the comments section for this post.

Electronic Trash to Treasure

I have the privilege of being involved with some really cool projects as part of my day job. If you are creatively and/or technically inclined, consider entering the International E-Waste Design Competition. This contest is open to anyone 18 years old or older who is currently attending college or has graduated since May 2006. You can enter as an individual or as a team. The idea is to take e-waste that would normally end up in landfills and create something new, useful and appealing from it. There are two categories in which you may enter--"Designer/Artist" for projects more focused on the aesthetic, and "Technical/Geek" for projects that result in cool gadgets from electronic components. See the competition web site for full details. The entry deadline is April 1, 2010, and there are some serious prizes involved, as well as the opportunity to impress a jury of industry leaders. Registration is free and currently open, so put your thinking cap on and consider how the dearth of electronic waste that our culture creates every year could be turned into a valuable resource instead of an environmental burden.

Foiled Again--and Again

Life has been crazy and continues to be. I won't bore you with the details (though to me they are more heartbreaking and all-consuming than boring), but suffice it to say that have been one poor correspondent. I'm working to amend that and hoping that writing more again will help soothe my troubled soul as well.

I read an interest blog post today that I thought I would share about reusing aluminum foil. I must admit I'm not always as good about this as I should be. Occasionally I wash it and save it for reuse, but sometimes I'm just lazy. Reading this post by Jeff Yeager on the Daily Green has inspired me to be a bit more conservative with my foil. Yeager offers twelve ways to reuse your foil, some of which I have heard of before and forgotten, some of which I occasionally practice, and some which were new to me and sparked my urge to experiment (I gotta try the clothes dryer thing). Perhaps we should all cry "Blessings! Foiled again!"