reuse Archives - MomStart

Spring Clean and Organize Your Tech with Microsoft

February 22, 2012 by Momstart 6 Comments

I did a poll on twitter and asked if it’s soon enough to write about Spring cleaning and most people said yes it’s too soon, but they still wanted tips for winter cleaning. So if you’re still organizing for the New Year or ready to clean out for Spring, don’t forget to consider your tech and be green about cleaning out your tech.

Remember when Summer gave us some green tips on how to deal with your technology a year and a half ago. She gave us some really great tips and Microsoft has a few of their own versions of these great tips but just to remind you, here are Summer’s tips. Dispose of Batteries Properly. Know Local Places to donate used toys, electronics, and other items. Donate used items to charity. Find places to Sell Used Electronics Find, and ways to properly dispose of electronics and make some money doing so at Microsoft among other places. Remember you can Recycle Cell Phones through Operation Gratitude, and Turn off Vampire Appliances to save energy. Microsoft recently sent me some other great ideas and ways to clean up your tech at the Microsoft Store. Here are their tips:

Out with the Old, In with the New (In Store): Already have your new PC and need to get rid of your old one? Just bring your computer, phone or other device into the nearest Microsoft Store and they will happily recycle it for you. Even better, if they determine your computer still has value, we’ll give you a Microsoft store gift card for that amount. Just like Summer said, make some money off your old appliances. We’ve been doing that with some of our old stuff.

PC Tune-Up (In Store): Let trained technicians at a Microsoft Store closest to you help improve the speed, performance, and security of your PC. I’ve been really bad about this, I usually just deem my machine to be out of date and in need of replacement. It’s a good idea if you’re not ready to upgrade to just get some help with the one you have. Plus it’s greener to use your machine as long as possible.

Sign up for a Personal Trainer (The Tech Kind): With Microsoft’s One-Hour Personal Training sessions at $49.99, you can learn at your own pace, the way you want to. Get the most out of your PC experience with a one-on-one training session with a Microsoft Answer Tech. You can customize your hour to concentrate on the topics you want to learn about most, like creating documents or newsletters, organizing your email inbox, creating photos and videos with Windows Live Essentials, and much more.

Get dedicated one-on-one time with an expert – ask the questions you want and learn the way that works best for you
Learn from the comfort of your own home or office – you’ll receive your training remotely via chat and phone
Training covers the latest Microsoft software, from the company that designed Windows 7 and Office 2010
You’re learning experience is tailored to the topics you want to focus on

· Manage the family calendar online: With Windows Hotmail Calendar, you can keep track of everyone’s schedules all at once. Don’t worry about trying to remember what time to pick up the kids from soccer practice and make it to your dentist appointment on time; it’s all in your calendar and easily accessible online or on your mobile phone.

I’m a Microsoft Windows Champion and this information was provided to me by them.

Reuse A Shoe Three Ways Shoes Can Be Repurposed

December 27, 2010 by Momstart 5 Comments

So Christmas is over, what did you get? Do you need to pair down? We tried to keep Christmas small around here, but I do need to go through the toys. WOW, seeing all of the presents under the tree made me remember back when I used to have mounds of presents under the tree. Today, Summer has a few tips on how to pair down, especially how to pair down on shoes!

If you got new clothes for Christmas don’t forget to go through your closet to consider clothing for donation to a charity of your choice . But if you got new sneakers and your old ones are not donate able then consider repurposing, reusing, and recycling your old shoes with Nike. They will make your shoes get the kind of game you only wish you had! Your shoes will become an athletic surface — field, track, court, or playground.

Nike will take your sneaks (any brand) and grind them up. (yes, they take your used shoes and repurpose them) They use the 3 portions of the shoe for different purposes … or should I say repurposes. First, the rubber from the outsole of the shoe can make track surfaces, interlocking gym flooring tiles, playground surfacing and even new Nike products like shoes or on clothing as buttons and zipper pulls. Then, the foam from the midsole is used as a cushion for outdoor basketball and tennis courts, as well as futsal fields. Lastly, fabric from the upper portions is used in the creation of cushioning pads for facilities like indoor synthetic courts and wood courts.

You just need to turn those shoes in to any Nike store or certified Nike collection center or mail them into Nike. Be sure you adhere to their guidelines to help them cut down on waste — both time in sorting and literally trash of shoes they can’t recycle.
Even if you didn’t get new tennis shoes consider going through your family’s stock pile for out grown or old shoes just lying around and turn them into Nike so they get used. Come on … Just Do It! (Okay, that was cheesy, but you get the point.)

About Summer:

Summer is the President of our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living.

Ways to Properly Dispose of Your Batteries Recharge, Recycle, Reduce!

December 12, 2010 by Momstart 2 Comments

I know that we have tons of batteries and we’re trying to convert over to all re-chargeable batteries. All of the brands out there now make rechargeable batteries and chargers but it is almost inevitable that you are still going to use some non-rechargeable batteries as well. So, with Christmas coming and all of those extra batteries, what do you do with the old, none-chargeable batteries?

Mom Start’s green guru, Summer has some tips for us when it comes to disposing of those none rechargeable batteries.

Many toy packages have 1 of 2 sets of words: “Batteries Not Included” or “Batteries Included”. Everything seems to run on batteries these days! And that means a lot more trash, especially if you’re sending those batteries to a landfill. Did you know you can recycle those batteries?!? Yeah, recycle! In our area of Seattle many libraries, city halls, community centers, and churches do their part by collecting non-rechargeable. Places like electronic stores and groceries stores will offer bins for disposing of rechargeable batteries. Both types of batteries should not be placed in your trash.

I just did a search on Google about local places to drop off those batteries. There is a place called Total Reclaim that takes batteries for Alaska, Washington, and Oregon. I also found that If you have less than five pounds of batteries, take them to the nearest Emedia program to recycle batteries as well as cell phones, "electronic media" such as CDs, and inkjet cartridges.

Now Summer has a suggestion on which brand of rechargeable battery we should use.

In my house we personally love (and have been using) eneloop rechargeable batteries by Sanyo. We have purchased ours at Costco but I’m sure many other fine retailers also carry them. They come pre-charged for your convenience. They say they hold their charge longer than their competitor by only diminishing their power by 15% over 1 year as opposed to other batteries diminishing to 0% power over 1 year. Eneloop batteries can be recharged 1000 (so that’s 999 batteries saved). Do your part and buy smart!
If you’re getting rid of batteries but can’t find a recycling facility visit Call2Recycle online or call them at 1-800-822.8837.

We actually use the same brand in our house. I would have to say that having your product at Costco is going to get it in a lot of people’s houses. They last, work great and we keep using them over and over again!

About Summer:

eBay Green Team Introduces The eBay Box

November 16, 2010 by Momstart 9 Comments

Last week I spent some time in San Jose with eBay learning about different things going on around eBay. They have a great advertising campaign with Samantha Bee called the “Unwrap Attack” and it make me laugh until I cried it was so cute, real, and funny. Of course I’ll have more on that later this week, but I was so excited by The Box that I just had to share it today.

showing off the eBay box

The eBay Box is made of 100 % recycled material, and printed with an earth friendly water based ink. The eBay box is quite an exciting opportunity eBay is using as a community builder within eBay. Sellers receive the boxes and register the eBay box at thebox.ebay.com. Just by registering the box you will receive one eBay buck. How exciting is that, earn money and save the environment at the same time. Who does that? eBay does that!. Then after you sell something on-line at eBay or recycle some type of electronic product with ebay’s electronic recycling program, they will buy it back from you and then re-sell it through one of their seller’s stores, so trade in your used electronics. I was amazed at how eBay supports their users and already has a community among the company, buyers and sellers and this eBay Box project is just going to make it an even bigger community. Then ship your box.

On the side of the eBay box it says,

“If this box is reused 5 times, here’s what you contribute to the planet:

13.8 lbs of wood preserved for the future,

27.3 gallons of wastewater flow saved,

3.1 lbs of solid waste not generated,

849,767 BTUs of energy not consumed,

15.2 lbs of greenhouse gasses not generated.”

I’m not generally a green blogger, but with all of the packages I receive every week, I’ve been noticing which companies or PR agencies are trying to use environmentally friendly packaging and who is not and most are not. I have so much waste every week and that’s why I’m impressed with eBay and the fact that they are aware of how much waste goes into shipping. Even recycling uses natural resources, so reusing is even better than recycling, but for those of us that are just starting to recycle, at least we’re doing something to be eco-friendly. I urge you to follow in eBay’s steps and go even greener this Holiday season and into next year.

Disclosure: In accordance to the FTC Guidelines and WOMMA Code of Ethics, I am disclosing that my time, travel and accommodations have been compensated by eBay for my participation in the Love to Give campaign. Although I have a material connection to eBay, any publicly stated opinions of eBay remain my own.