8/9/13

What should you do when your curling iron or hair dryer goes bust? First, replace it. Second, don't toss it in the trash: Recycle it. While you can't toss these broken hair care appliances in your curbside recycling, you can drop them off at a scrap metal recycling facility to be disposed of properly. Anything that is made with at least 50 percent metal -- aluminum, steel, copper or brass -- can be recycled. Scrap metal yards will sort the metal out from broken appliances and make sure it gets made into new metal products.

8/8/13

While line- or air-drying your laundry is energy-efficient, it isn't always the easiest for many people. One way to improve the efficiency of your dryer and protect your clothes is to remove cotton-blend items from the dryer. These items, blended with polyester, will be only slight damp and can be hung on hangers. Since they are a cotton blend, the polyester will help prevent wrinkles, eliminating the need for ironing, too.

8/7/13

Choosing a leather sofa for your living room may seem like an eco-friendly choice -- leather is technically a natural material. But since a cow's natural skin isn't the shiny, deep brown or black you normally see in leather sofas, that means the leather has been treated, most likely with chromium. The chemical tans the leather a deeper color and treats it for wear and durability. The problem with chromium is that you can develop an allergy to it when you have leather-treated furnishings in your home. The eco-friendly alternative is to look for vegetable-dyed leather, which uses nonchemical ingredients to achieve the same look. The only caveat? You have to treat it with oils regularly to keep the leather supple and durable. If that sounds too cumbersome, skip leather and look for canvas or cotton instead.