Do Just One Thing

12/19/13

Can you recycle old printed photographs with your scrap paper recycling? Yes and no -- it all depends on how the photo was printed. If it was done in an old-fashioned chemical processing fashion, then no; if it was printed using modern digital technology, you can. How do you find out? Simply tear it: If the photograph rips with a clean tear, it can be recycled; but if it’s hard to tear and rips in layers, you likely have a non-recyclable photo that needs to be thrown in the trash.

12/18/13

Scientists at MIT recently conducted a study that showed that if people used a revolving door instead of a swinging door when entering a building, thousands of dollars would be saved every year per building in energy costs alone. On average, about eight times more air is exchanged with a traditional swinging door than with a revolving one. Think of the next time you’re in a warm restaurant on a cold winter day: When someone enters the building using a swinging door, gusts of cold air rush into the restaurant, which forces the heating system to go into overdrive to condition the room. A revolving door minimizes the gush of air dramatically since it creates a barrier with the series of rotating doors.

12/17/13

Do this one thing: Choose unbleached paper products to use in cooking and baking. Many white paper kitchen materials are bleached using chlorine, which has chemicals that can leach into your food from the bleaching process. Products like parchment paper, coffee filters and paper towels all have unbleached -- usually brown -- alternatives you can find easily at almost any supermarket. The cost is comparable, and the effectiveness of the unbleached products is just as good as the bleached ones.