Changing small habits in the way we use electricity can have huge results over time. As a Green Team Member, we invite you to make some changes in your energy usage and save money and show some environmental love in the process. And by all means, share the ideas you like with friends!

• Find a convenient place to collect recyclable items. Most things come from the kitchen, making it a good spot to set up a recycling center.
• Take leftover plastic bags back to grocery stores where they are collected and reused to make plastic lumber.
• Save water and time when recycling cans and bottles. You no longer need to rinse them out or remove their labels.
• Recycle junk mail or reuse it as scratch paper. To opt-out of certain junk-mailing lists, go to opt-out.cdt.org.
• Recycle worn-out rechargeable batteries like those used in cell phones, computers, or power tools. Go to www.rbrc.org to find a drop-off location in your area.
• Use scrap paper to write notes or take messages.
• Don't make more paper copies than you need!
• When you are finished reading a book, or listening to a tape or CD, give them to friends to share, or contribute them to book drives, libraries, hospitals, or charity organizations.
• Bring a canvas bag to do your grocery shopping, instead of taking paper or plastic bags home.
• If you have plastic bags at home, take them to the store and use them to pack your groceries, instead of bringing MORE bags home.
• Purchase concentrated cleaners and mix them with water, rather than buying more bottles of cleaning fluids and detergents.
• If you preferred the ready-to-use cleaners, buy them in bulk so you only have one container to recycle.
• Keep a recycling container next to your bin; this makes it easier to collect recyclable items.
• Make a list of the items you can recycle and paste it on your fridge and on the kitchen and garage walls, as a reminder to your family.
• Save newspapers separately in the newspaper bin; most counties have newsprint recycling facilities, where old newspapers are recycled to produce new ones.
• If you have corrugated cardboard, note that you can tie it up with string and hand over to the curbside collectors. Make sure the corrugated cardboard waste is dry.
• Drop used plastic grocery bags into bins outside grocery stores for recycling.
• Plastic cups, egg cartons and food trays are not biodegrade. Stop buying these items and find creative ways to use ones you have. Plastic egg cartons can be painted and used as a costume jewelry keeper.
• Food trays can be used to grow seedlings in the garden.
• Plastic cups can be used to grow small plants, seedlings, or as snail traps in your garden. Separate your glass based on color: clear, green and brown. Recycling centers prefer glass sorted this way.
• Sheet glass, light bulbs, pyrex and mirrors cannot be recycled along with container bottles, as they have different melting points and compositions. They may not be accepted by many recycle centers either. Use sheet glass, mirrors and light bulbs for decorative purposes.
• Recycle compact fluorescent light bulbs at your local IKEA store.
• Aluminum foil and foil packaging can be reprocessed into engine parts and other mechanical components. Always recycle these separately.
• Keep the lids and labels on paint and aerosol cans before you recyclable them so that recyclers know the former contents.
• Pass on computers and printers if they’re in good condition. There’s always a school or old age home that might need some computers.
• When you buy a new cell phone, don’t throw the old one away. Hand it in at your retail outlet and they’ll recycle it.
• Instead of throwing out excess cooked food, donate it to homeless centers, or make creative TV dinners.
• Make your own compost either in a compost bin or an open pile. Throw fruit cores, peelings and raw veggies into this compost.
• Add leaves and grass to your compost pile or donate to your local community’s compost. Don’t put these in landfills, as they can generate too much greenhouse gas.
• Used car tires make the best possible tree swings for your kids.