Okay, so I searched the Earth911.com website for a close drop-off location. I found one a few towns over next to my Trader Joe’s. Last week I loaded the car with my boxes and headed over to the Town of Hempstead Department of Sanitation Recycling Drop-off. I got there and it was a zoo. A ton of people with trunks and backseats and flatbeds full of junk. “Where do I put my cardboard,” I asked. The guy in the blue shirt waved me over to Dumpster #1. I backed my car up to it, got out and looked in. It was filled with carpeting, bagged garbage and other debris. Wait, what happened to recycling? I could send my cardboard to a landfill by putting it in front of my house. I wanted to avoid that fate. There must have been a mistake. I went to another guy in a shirt. “Excuse me, I want to recycle my cardboard.” Again, I got a thumb in the direction of bin #1.

Now I was getting frustrated. I went to a third guy and explained my fate. “Do you have cardboard? Then put it into bin #1,” he said. “But that’s all garbage,” I said. He walked away without another word. I kept my boxes in my trunk and drove off close to tears. This was not what I wanted. I wanted to recycle. But I also realized that this, this feeling was not what I wanted, either. Recycling is supposed to make you feel good. I did not feel good. In fact, I felt a little foolish and nutty. Not to mention hot. (It’s crazy hot here in New York.) I came home and left the boxes in my car.

This weekend we went to my friend’s house. She told me that she puts all her cardboard — including cereal boxes — in her recycling bin and they are picked up and carted away. As long as I flattened all my boxes I could leave them there at her garage. Her mother-in-law, she said, did the same thing. She doesn’t like wasting resources, either, I guess. I left it, of course.

This morning, though, I wanted answers. (And a place to get rid of my cardboard that doesn’t entail pizza grease-caked sandals.) I called the town sanitation department. Seems like the guys in the shirts were telling me the truth. “That is just a sorting container,” the woman on the phone told me. “It’s a convenience for our residents. It goes up the hill where it is sorted. We try and recycle everything,” she said. Whew! I feel much better, but I also feel a little worse. I am so mistrustful these days when it comes to everything environmental. I really need to relax a bit. I know that. The point of this blog — the point of what I am doing, really, is to do the best that I can do. And that’s all anyone can do, right? So I’ll be back to the town dump next week, cardboard in hand and a cooler head, I hope.

Hey, are you following me on Twitter? Have you joined my Facebook Like page? Thanks in advance if you have!

Kenneth Cole sells shirts to support the Gulf cleanup efforts.

I have a big problem with plastic. It’s everywhere. Everything we buy — even at environmentally-conscious stores — is wrapped in it. Bread comes in plastic bags. Cereal is in a box. Inside the box: a plastic bag. Most cheese is wrapped in plastic. Even the paper milk cartons we use are lined with plastic. Very disheartening. It was making me really sick. With everything going on in the world today couldn’t I find a way to reduce my plastic use? Which brings me to my first Favorite:

PlasticBagRecycling.org. This site is where I found out I could recycle, “grocery bags, retail bags (hard plastic and string handles removed), paper towel and toilet paper plastic wrap, plastic newspaper bags, plastic dry cleaning bags and all clean, clear bags labeled with a #2 or #4.” Oh, and bread bags, Ziplock bags, potato bags, and others. Sweet. I was able to search for drop-off locations in my area, too.

Of course, there are other types of plastic that weren’t covered on the above site, which led me to my next Favorite:

1-800-RECYCLING.com. This site is wonderful. You click on the type of plastic (using the number on the bottle or packaging) you want to get rid of, enter your Zip code and receive a list of where you can take your junk. And it’s not just for plastic, either. You can also search and find drop off locations for electronics, paper, glass, metal, automotive, yard, household and hazardous waste, too. (Who knew Target takes Plastic #2?!?)

Once I get rid of all the plastic in my house I’ll need to tackle all the piles and piles of clothing I have. Especially since my little girl is outgrowing stuff and my husband is tossing a lot of his unwanted work clothes. I needed a place to get rid of everything in an eco-friendly way. Enter my next Favorite:

Bigwardrobe.com The site, which is finally making its way to the U.S., is part Craigslist and part eBay. Dedicated to clothing as well as a limited number of household items, you set a price, upload photos and sell. You can also find really nice stuff to buy. Right now most of the items are located in Europe, but it’s worth browsing around. Buying on the site is free; it will cost you one euro to sell, however.

And speaking of clothing: my last Favorite is from a press release I got via e-mail. Kenneth Cole is raising money for Gulf cleanup by selling t-shirts. All of the net profits will go directly to AWEARNESS, The Kenneth Cole Foundation, which is committed to supporting the Gulf efforts. They come in 14 colors and 12 slogans. (Cute and poignant: “We Can All Clean Up Well,” and “I Clean Up Well,” are two of the 12.) They are a little pricey at $35, but worth taking a look at. Oh, you can only buy them on the company’s Facebook page. Just thought you should know…

Hope you have a great weekend. By the way: Are you following me on Twitter? Find me @NaturalAsPosMom. I tweet pretty regularly throughout the day. Also, see the little brown button to the right? The one that says Top Mommy Blogs? (You might have to scroll down a bit.) Well, can you click on it and then click to vote for me? I’ve fallen out of the top 100 and I’d like to move back in. You can vote once a day…

M.A.C. Cosmetics. For every six pieces of M.A.C packaging that you send back to the company, you’ll receive a free lipstick via its Back to M.A.C. program. Yes, you have to mail it in, but the packages are pretty light so it shouldn’t cost too much — or create too large of a carbon footprint.

Origins. This company rocks. It just does. Aside from the fact that many of the products are organic and free-trade and are rated pretty solidly on the Skin Deep Cosmetics Database, they are willing to take back any and all cosmetics packaging for recycling or energy recovery. (Plus, you’ll take home a free sample of an Origins product.)

Aveda. While you can’t drop off your product bottles, the company will take back caps — all your caps, actually. From the website: “This includes caps that twist on with a threaded neck such as caps on shampoo, water, soda, milk and other beverage bottles, flip top caps on tubes and food product bottles (such as ketchup and mayonnaise), laundry detergents and some jar lids such as peanut butter.” Yes, you’ll have to get your school involved, but it’s such a good program!

EcoTools. When brushes go bad — or hand creams or body washes get old — you don’t have to throw them out. According to the company’s site, you can turn in old items and get coupons for an EcoTools equivalent. From the site: “For each item turned in, participants will receive a coupon for a free EcoTools alternative! [Up to $7.99 value, limit 2 coupons per person, per household]. To continue to show respect to the earth, items collected will be recycled.” Nice, right?

Bond No. 9. Got old perfume bottles? Heading to New York City? While you’re there you can bring your old bottles to the company’s store and it will take them for recycling and give you a free purse spray.

Know of any programs I’ve missed? Please let me know. Up until now what did you do with your old bottles, sticks and tubes?

It’s got a full flip out keyboard, lots of apps, a touch screen. I can check my personal email and my work email. I can text. I’ve even approved blog comments from the phone while sitting in a spin class. (I’ve also tracked an entire spin class playlist using the Shazam app.) Oh, yeah. And I can make and receive phone calls. My G1 is my indispensable toy. With it, I can actually leave the house and stay in touch with work, the kids, friends and family without losing my mind.

Okay, so about two weeks ago my touch screen stopped working. I was too busy to do anything about it. (Stupid, stupid, STUPID.) I just used the track ball to navigate around. That was fine until all of a sudden the rest of the phone died, too. I started getting an “android.process.acore has stopped suddenly. Force close?” error message. Now I can’t make or receive calls. I can’t check email, either. (For some wacky reason I can get text messages, though, and use my browser.) That’s why, early last week, I called T*Mobile.

The nice customer service person explained that I was outside the one-year warranty by 12 days. Great. So they couldn’t really help me. They referred me to HTC, which makes the phone. HTC told me that they would take my credit card, charge me around $30 or so for diagnostics, but that a touch screen problem would probably be about $225 to fix. WHAT?!? I only paid $195.51 for the phone! Sheesh.

I hung up and moped around for a bit until it hit me: Could it be possible? Did I buy the phone with my American Express card? I went to my account online and, hands shaking, ordered a PDF of my old statements. Was it on the May or June statement? I ordered both. And there it was on the May statement: $195.51 charged at my local T*Mobile. Score! American Express extends your manufacturer’s warranty. So my one year manufacturer’s warranty became a two-year warranty.

I dialed the extended warranty line and got a nice guy on the phone. Yes, he said. I was entitled to make a claim. And did I want a check or a credit on my account should the claims adjuster accept my claim? Ummm. Neither, I said. I want the phone FIXED. It’s got my contacts on it. It’s got my photos. It’s got my apps. I don’t want a credit. I want my PHONE back. Doesn’t a warranty mean you’re going to fix it for me? But alas, that’s not how the program works, he said. I know, I know. I shouldn’t be complaining. But…sigh…I love that phone. (Insert bigger sigh and dramatic sob.)

Before we got off the phone he told me I have to wait for the insurance adjuster to deal with my claim, which could take up to 45 days. I can’t go without a phone for more than a month so I have a decision to make: What to do about my phone. Do I waste $30 on diagnostics when the HTC guy pretty much told me that touch screen problems are $200+ jobs? Do I go to T*Mobile to buy a new phone? Do I try the new cell phone repair store up the block? (Funny thing. The place just opened. When I first saw it I scoffed at it. WHO would need a cell phone repair shop, I wondered. Indeed!) I guess I’ll sleep on it. And in the meantime if you need me, text me. At least that function still works.

Which phone do you have? Do you love it? I only want a slide out keyboard, so please don’t tell me about how much you love your iPhone…

My personal playground.

Take a look at the photo above. Ignore the fact that it is an obvious attempt to give my kids all the stuff I never had as a child. Also, that it looks like a daycare or a school. Then take another look. Know how much I paid for everything? About $300 total including the swingset. Amazing, right?

The swingset came from a garage sale. The woman just wanted it out of her backyard. I paid about $250 including the cost of having her “man” disassemble it there, drive it to my house and re-assemble it. I had Wood Kingdom, the place she bought it from, come and give it a good tune up, which included tightening all the screws, staining it and checking it all to make sure it was in good working condition. While I was there paying for the appointment I found the nice rock climbing wall. It was on clearance. My mom (and maybe my in-laws) picked it up for Katelyn’s birthday a few years ago.

The Little Tikes 8-in-one tube and slide combo was free. A neighbor was throwing it away. I got the first half of the pieces on Monday night. I brought it home and my husband was mad since there were so many pieces missing. He wanted to know why I brought home a bunch of junk. Don’t worry, I told him, I’ll be stalking the house on Thursday night. They will put the rest of the pieces out there and I’ll be there to grab them. They did, and we got a cool, much-sought-after item. That big playhouse in the back? $40 at a garage sale. The guy even dropped it off in my driveway. The triangle climber was $8. Another garage sale. I picked up the merry-go-round off Freecycle for free, of course. The sit and spin thingy was a Craigslist find. $20. I got the castle on Craigslist, too. I can’t remember what I paid, but it wasn’t too much. The two rollercoasters? I got one in the garbage and paid $5 for the other. Everything else was free from the trash.

The see-saw from last night's trash collection.

Last night I added another piece to my playground. I was driving home when I spotted a Kettler see-saw out with someone’s trash. It was beautiful except for a bent center piece. Knowing how wonderful that company is I grabbed it. This morning we called Kettler. Once I pay for a replacement piece I will have a beautiful quality piece of equipment that Keira has already pronounced, “Mine!”

Okay, so who cares that I am feeding my childhood issues with garbage? Everyone should. More than half of the items in my backyard were earmarked for the trash, including the steel seesaw. It makes me sick at heart to see how much stuff is just tossed out without a thought as to where it’s going to end up. You know where it goes, right? It all ends up in a landfill somewhere in Pennsylvania or Ohio. Lots of plastic that will never degrade. Metal, too. The sad part is that most of the items could have been put out on recycling day where they would have found new life as decking or building supports or whatever they would have been made into.

Anyway, I write this post to remind people to think before tossing. Can that item be put out to recycle? If it’s metal, does your town have a scrap recycling program? Mine does, and I’m calling it to pick up my old metal glider that rusted and broke in the big hurricane-that-wasn’t. Again, I’m not trying to make anyone crazy. I’d just love to see more of us think about our waste stream with a little more care. Recycle, reduce, reuse, right?

How’s your week going? Do you ever garbage pick? If so, what was your best find?

Last year 24/7 Wall St. put together a list of the top ten greenwashers of America. I’m not going to regurgitate the list. You can click through to read it. It’s made up of mostly energy, oil, and chemical companies as well as a paper company and an automobile manufacturer. The WebEcoist also created a 2009 list. Again, click through to read it. You’ll notice that Dow Chemical made it on to both lists. Today I read another greenwashing award story, and not much has changed in a year. Dow Chemical, called out for its egregious greenwashing in 2009 is yet again on a list — this one written by The Wall Street Cheat Sheet. Dow Chemical, according to the story, actually sponsored an Earth Day event — Live Earth’s Run for Water event — and yet that sponsorship was only a drop in the bucket compared to all the money it spent paying fines levied for air and water pollution.

So what’s my point? As you walk around trying to make good decisions for the environment think before you buy. Companies can tout their greenness as much as they want, but it’s up to us to make sure they are doing what they say. As a recent USA Today article points out, we have to do the legwork and vote with our wallets. A product might say it’s environmentally sound, but if it’s packaged in plastic and lots of it look for another option.

What products have you left on the shelf lately because they seem too green to be true? What’s your biggest eco pet peeve?

Smaller but just as important: cities across the country started banning plastic bags, and recycling is way up. Washington D.C. saw plastic bag consumption drop from 32 million per month to 3 million once a plastic bag tax went into effect. Another great example: last month the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) announced its 2009 stats for paper recycling. A whopping — and record — amount of paper was recovered and recycled. Close to two-thirds (63.4 percent) of paper found its way to a recycling plant.

Meanwhile, plastic water bottles, which litter our dumps, are getting lighter and smaller, according to analysis by the Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC) for the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA). The weight of a water bottle is down 32 percent. The bad news, according to the same source: only 30.9 percent of all plastic water bottles are recycled.

Still, we’re talking about the environment. Most of us are doing something, too. Everyone is going to be writing a lot about the issue today, too so I’ll keep this short. But I did want to take the opportunity to thank you all for reading this blog and caring about the environment — and me. Have a great, green day!

It’s Saturday, so I’m not going to write a long blog. I’m sure you don’t want to read a long blog. But I did want to put this out there: Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution is great. But while we’re at it how about fostering some love and concern for our earth? Jamie says he wants real, unprocessed food, but where are we going to grow that food if we keep polluting our waterways and killing our ground with plastic and chemicals like Bisphenol A (BPA), which NEVER go away. Never.

So on this Saturday evening I say can we take it to the next level? While we’re teaching those kids to love what is found in nature, how about we show them that it’s important to protect nature. We must find a way to eat while at the same time avoiding waste. Kids should be recycling and — if they have to use disposables — they should be using more earth-friendly options. Companies like BioSmart Packaging are a good example. But I still think that the best option is to teach kids how to go completely green by using metal utensils and ceramic plates and cups like they do in Nashville or some of the other schools that have taken the waste-free lunch challenge.

Because the real revolution is more than just eating the right foods. The real revolution keeps our bodies and our environment clean and healthy.

Hope you’re having a good weekend! How does your school handle the environmental issue of food service? Would you consider advocating for a waste-free cafeteria?

I didn’t want to give things so I went with something edible. Candy, I thought. Everyone likes candy. I hit the store and bought 20 bags of candy. Every bag was — what else? — made out of plastic. Sigh. Then I had to figure out how to package it up so people could take it home. I went to AC Moore armed with my 40% off coupon. I looked at white take-out containers. I looked at mesh bags. I looked at little white boxes. The take-out boxes and white boxes were $1.49 for four. I had to make 28 favors. Expensive. The mesh bags were $4.95 per dozen. That might work. But then I realized the candy would be able to fall through the little holes. I looked at the last option and realized my choice was staring me right in the face. The plastic bags, which were $1.95 for 30, were the best choice. Reluctantly, and with a heavy heart, I purchased the plastic. That night everyone ooohed and aahhed over the favors, opening them up at the table and munching on their booty. Despite the success, I was still less-than-thrilled about my choice.

This coming June is Keira’s second birthday party. Again I will be faced with the favor dilemma. What will I get for all those kids that’s not disposable, plastic, or stupid? Books come to mind. Maybe cookies wrapped in some sort of recyclable paper? (It’s not like I can give babies candy.) I have no idea. But I do know that — at least for the rest of April — I will be sticking to my resolve and not buying anything to make up for the large wasteful plastic purchase I made this weekend. I know that must sound crazy to some but I just feel so strongly about plastic bags in particular that I feel like I let myself down.

Hope everyone had a good weekend. I have no voice today. None since leaving the party yesterday. I have a cold and a cough and, based on past illnesses, I’m just going to have to ride this out. Anyone have any get-my-voice-back-quick suggestions?

Take wrapping paper. What’s it made of? Paper, of course. Paper like your old newspaper. Paper like the printer mistakes you recycle. Paper like your junk mail. You can recycle it by simply tossing it in with your regular paper recycling bin. The one exception: Foil wrapping paper, which should go into the regular trash.

There’s other waste, too. We open lots of cans of stuff, empty bottles of stuff, too. In the hustle and bustle of the day it might seem easier just to toss it in the trash. However, if you take the time today to bring your recycling bin into the garage (or place it outside the backdoor), it will be a lot easier to recycle and less tempting to trash. And how about all the packing materials and cardboard you will inevitably find hanging around the house? Get rid of cardboard with your regular newspaper recycling. (Yes, all those doll and truck boxes, too!) Packing peanuts and bubble wrap find a second life at places like Mail Boxes Etc. or the UPS Store. You can find the closest place that accepts both at the Plastic Loose Fill Council’s Web site, where you can find a Drop Off Center search right on the front page.

And there you go! Off to my sister’s house now. Hope everyone who is celebrating has a happy and healthy Christmas. Those of you who have celebrated already, or will celebrate next month have a few fun days off. Enjoy!