tap water rocks!

As I was doing my research on my next blog entry, I wanted to leave a comment to the wonderful people at tap water to let them know how happy I am with my new bottle. I was surprised and delighted when I got a response the next day.  See below-

Melissa Amato says: I'm so happy with my tap water bottle and have gotten
quite a few compliments on it at work! I purchased one for myself and
another for my brother-in-law, who is as environmentally-conscious as I
try to be. Hopefully he'll be as thrilled with it as I am. I'm going to
feature tap water on my green blog I'm starting. I hope to send more
people your way in the near future!!

Thank you for what you do. My only hope is it will catch on soon and
people will realize the damage they are doing to themselves and our earth
by using single-use drinking containers.

-Melissa A.

i just wanted to write back a quick note to say:

thank you SO much melissa! i am delighted to hear that you received them and that you like them :)

thank you for your support and kind words.
make a difference- beautifully!
racquel.

Recycling in the Amato House

Since starting this blog, I’ve started to realize my impact, my “carbon footprint”, my ability to do something on an individual level and hopefully, educate others to do the same.  One of the first things I did was to incorporate a new recycling system in our home.  I investigated Loudoun County’s recycling requirements

Materials Accepted
Plastic Bottles and Jugs*	Glass Bottles and Jars
Aluminum Cans	Steel Cans
Newspapers	Magazines and Catalogs
Cardboard and Paperboard	Phonebooks
Office Paper	Junk Mail
*Leesburg Recycling Centers accept most plastic containers #1-7

We have multiple stations at our house and I’ve become semi-anal about it, but I think it’s very important to not chuck something just because we’re being lazy. There are too many people in this country with that mindset.

Loudoun County Recyclables:

-        Cardboard

-        Office Paper

-        Newspaper/Junk Mail/Magazines & Catalogs

-        Plastic, glass & aluminum (cans and foil)

-        Styrofoam

Other Recyclables:

-        Plastic bags: grocery bags, Ziploc – zipper top cut off, bread bags, etc (reuse some for doggy doo bags; recycle the rest most grocery stores)

-        Compostable waste (vegetable scraps, fruit peelings, etc)

-        Plastic Screw tops (Recycle Caps with Aveda)

-        Wine corks (Recork America)

-        Medication (Leesburg Pharmacy)

-        Tennis shoes (Nike Reuse-A-Shoe)

Because we’ve been disappointed in our community’s “Recycling” area, we take it to one of Loudoun’s recycling centers.  Even then, however, we’ve been sad to see people dispose of materials which are not recyclable (Big Wheels? Fake trees? DVD Players?) or carelessly putting them in the wrong containers (it's marked CARDBOARD ONLY for a reason).  It discourages us a bit, but doesn’t deter the overall purpose.

Since we have such little control on where our recyclables actually go, I think the quickest contributions are in the form of reusing and reducing.  Of course recycling is of vital importance, but I feel that by reducing the amount of energy I use or by reusing items which I would normally toss, is a fast way to see results and feel good about my contribution to our society of indulgence and selfish wastefulness. 

My next post is how I stopped using plastic water bottles, permanently.

Back to M*A*C Program - Completed

I use MAC products fairly religiously and have since I was in high school. Before it was a status symbol, now it's because I think they have the coolest eye shadow shades around! I purchased a bunch of products years ago and realized I was running out of all of them at the same time so I decided to investigate MAC's recycling program, Back to MAC.


Here's what the website says:
Because we share your commitment to the environment, M·A·C accepts returns of its primary packaging through the Back to M·A·C Program. By returning six [6] M·A·C primary packaging containers to a M·A·C counter or M·A·C Cosmetics online, you’ll receive a free M·A·C lipstick of your choice as our thanks to you.

I planned a trip to the mall already so instead of using resources to mail the products, I decided to drop them off at my local store in Fair Oaks Mall.  I had with me: 

• 1 empty eye shadow pan
• 2 empty paint tubes
• 1 empty lip glass
• 1 empty blush compact 
• 1 empty mascara tube

  It was a very painless process and the sales girl had obviously done the transaction many times.  Unlike the website, however, where only a lipstick is offered, if you return your products to the store, you can choose from a lipstick, lip glass or eyeshadow.  Thrilled, I picked out a new smokey olive green from the hundreds of hues and was on my merry way within 5 minutes.

All in all, a wonderful way to feel better about using expensive make-up, but because of your diligence, get something free in exchange! I would highly recommend hanging onto your primary packaging of all make up, even if it's not MAC because my next post will reveal a company willing to take back items that aren't even theirs!

Entering the Blog World

I've been thinking a lot recently about the impact I personally make on the Earth... and I started feeling really guilty. It's not that I don't know about reducing, reusing and recycling, it's just that I sometimes forget. Or get lazy. Or just plain don't realize there may be a better way of doing things. Well, as I embark on my 30th year here in this world, I decided to change that. 


My passion in life is education in all shapes and sizes. I don't believe true learning happens in a classroom, but in the world as part of our everyday choices and interactions. The more information you have, the better equipped you are to make a decision- bottom line. When you are given the opportunity to make an informed decision, you can embrace this choice and take ownership of your actions. If these actions become more focused on lessening our impact on our Earth, "green" won't just be an adjective. It can become a verb, YOUR verb.


This blog is my attempt to spread green knowledge so you can have as much information as possible before you just do what you've always done. Perhaps once you see there are other choices rather than just throwing something away for the next individual to deal with, you too will start to feel a bit guilty and make some small changes. One day maybe those will turn into your new way because you've been shaken out of auto-pilot to focus on what you're consuming and disposing of on a daily basis.


No matter what the outcome, I look forward to teaching you some things, and learning myself along the way. My goal is not to simply re-post information or to preach about being more environmentally friendly. I will, whenever possible, test the topic I am writing about so that I too can decide if this is something I want to embrace as a lifestyle change or if it's not for us right now. 


I truly hope you enjoy our adventure together.