Sometimes you just need a cup of coffee or iced tea while out and about. But you can do it in a more sustainable way by using a reusable coffee cup. Fact: Americans throw away about 25 billion foam coffee cups a year. Many places will pour your coffee or ice drink into a reusable container if you ask. Smartplanet , Reusit and Starbucks make reusable coffee containers. Many of these products are BPA-free and therefore healthier to use. You can have your coffee on the go and be sustainable too!
Bisphenol-A (BPA) is an estrogenic-like chemical used in many plastic products. BPA can can interfere with hormones and normal development in children and has been linked to everything from infertility to diabetes to heart disease. Some products—such as sippy cups for toddlers—advertise themselves as being "BPA-free". The presence of BPA in the linings of many canned products has been less publicized. Several manufacturers , such as Eden Organics , have voluntarily stopped lining their cans with BPA. Weruva is one of the few pet food companies to have canned food with BPA-free linings. Four Swedish reporters decided to do some informal research about BPA in canned foods. They ate nothing but canned food for two days and doctors found that their BPA levels rose between 2,800 and 4,600 percent. These levels are below what the Swedish government estimates to be safe, though what is a safe level of BPA is still being debated. Since April 2012, the Swedish government outla...
While most Americans dispose of about a half ton of garbage per year, the Johnson family in California has only a handful of waste every six months. Seems incredible, doesn't it? The Earth911 article about this remarkable family, stresses several basic factors in their ability to reduce waste: 1. Buying in bulk (i.e. no individually wrapped items) 2. Using reusable bags and containers at all times 3. Buying only what you really need 4. Avoiding any purchases containing or wrapped in plastic 5. Getting off catalogue and junk mail lists Bea Johnson, the mom of the family, says that shopping is like voting. She chooses environmentally sound products and does not "vote" for ones that are disposable or overly packaged. While she does write to manufacturers to request that they alter the packaging or other aspects of their products, Bea says that living a zero waste lfestyle is neither time consuming nor expensive. Bea Johnson is using a mesh produce bag for her...
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