Category Archives: Eco Friendly Home

Costco Will Recycle Electronics

Yesterday I talked about whether or not you should repair or replace broken electronics. I briefly mentioned that you could recycle, but I forgot to mention one more resource for disposing of them.

Costco has partnered with Green Sight to recycle old electronics. They buy back those that still have some value, but if they don’t want to buy it, they will still take it for free. Much nicer than having to pay to recycle them. They’ll even give you an estimated value online.

Once you’ve filled in your information, they ask for your address and send you a prepaid shipping label. You get your payment in a Costco Cash Card. Seems like a pretty nice deal for getting rid of unwanted electronics

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Smarter Not to Repair?

Having successfully fixed my leaking dishwasher recently got me thinking about how easily many people throw broken gadgets and appliances out. Not even trying to recycle them in many cases; just throwing them out.

broken tv

There’s a list in AOL’s Money & Finance section that drives me nuts. It’s a list of 5 things you should never repair.

I know many gadgets are hard to have repaired, but to say you shouldn’t even bother checking it out really makes me mad. Especially since the list includes computers. The quick version of the list is:

  1. Computers
  2. Digital Cameras
  3. MP3 Players
  4. Microwave Ovens
  5. Cell Phones

I was smart when I got my computer and got the extended warranty. That’s not a smart move with a lot of electronics, but I’ve found it to be a must with computers, and every time I’ve bought one on a computer I’ve gotten my money’s worth. My computer I’m using right now has already had its power supply replaced once. Shouldn’t have needed it as it is not that old (coming up on two years, I think), but it did, and that would have been an expense if I hadn’t had the warranty. It’s had more minor work done too.

The other items mentioned I do understand are much harder to decide to repair. After all, they’re cheaper than a good computer, and repairs are expensive. It has long been an annoyance that disposal makes more sense than repair for so many things now.

I do agree that one of the smartest things you can do is to properly protect your electronics. They recommend that you have a sleeve for MP3 players, so that they are not so easily damaged. That’s just good sense.

Then again, the best thing you can do in terms of the environment and your electronics is think about which ones you really need at all, and how often you really need to upgrade. I buy computers when the old one gets beyond repair, my cell phone has survived a thorough soaking courtesy of my son, my digital camera is 5 years old and still going strong. I like it that way.

Once your electronics do reach that point, use resources such as Earth 911’s electronics recycling guide to figure out how to properly dispose of your electronics.

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Feeling Proud of Myself – Fixed My Dishwasher

I’m not that great at repairs, but if it’s something that requires research online to figure out the problem and not too much tool use, I may well be up for it. And that turned out to be the case with my dishwasher.

I noticed this morning when I ran it that it was leaking out of the bottom of the door. Did a search on Google and came up with ApplianceBlog.com’s forum. Found out that a leaky dishwasher door can be caused by the door vent being gunked up, and that they just pop right out.

So I looked inside,saw a vent I could pop out and ewww! Put me in mind of rotten cooked cabbage. The smell was horrible.

Cleaned it out and now there doesn’t seem to be a leak anymore.

Feeling pretty good about this because my landlord’s tendency is to replace rather than check out the chances for repair. I didn’t mind when the washing machine broke and they did that, since I had already figured out it was well beyond my meager abilities in that area, and the machine had a few other problems that I had been working with anyhow.

But replacing the dishwasher turns out to not be necessary, and even though it took my time and won’t save me any money, I’m happy. It’s one dishwasher that’s not going to junk quite yet.

Thinking on the Impact of the California Wildfires

It’s taken me a few days back home to really get back into the blogging groove. I was fortunate enough to have my mother’s house to evacuate to, but living in a house with 11 other people is not exactly what I would call restful. Add in a rather large number of dogs, and things were pretty crazy over there.

ashes came in under the door

But things are calmer now in my area. My home did not burn. My sister’s home did not burn, although the fire came very, very close. My in-laws home did not burn. My mother’s home didn’t even get an advisory evacuation because it was so far from the flames, thank goodness. We were all extremely fortunate.

But of course the air has been simply terrible, so bad the kids aren’t supposed to play outside. And I now know a lot about where my house leaks – that’s where the ash came in. The front door leak was no surprise, and seeing which windows leaked more or less was educational.

But of course the environmental impact is there. The ashes contain whatever chemicals were in the homes that burned. You know how bad that can be. And if this post on Green Options has it right, this could be something of a cycle building, due to global warming.

I know a lot of people have trouble associating global warming with increased risk of fires. It’s not that things get warmer that causes the fires, folks. It’s that the cycles of drought and rain become more extreme. More brush grows when it’s wet, and it gets drier and drier, easier to burn as droughts extend. Hence, more large fires when fires happen.

We’ve been in quite a drought of late. They were already talking about conserving water supplies and how we’ve been tapping into reserves before this; I fully expect this talk to get very serious now, especially if we have yet another dry winter. That will probably be another impact of the fires. I’ve been wondering how much of our water supply was used up fighting it.

One of my hopes is that more homeowners will think about what they plant after this. In a place like this, drought resistant plants are a must. If it’s not too easily burned, so much the better. There are plenty of plants that do grow pretty well out here without constant watering. Some are quite pretty.

Now I’m just sitting indoors at home, hoping that the spot showers that have happened elsewhere will happen in more places (especially anyplace still burning) and help to clean the air a little. I really do look forward to being able to let my kids play outside freely again. You know how crazy kids get when they’ve been mostly cooped up.

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Nonstick, Cast Iron and Other Cooking Gear

I’ve been happily making the switch from the nonstick frying pans my husband and I got as wedding presents to cast iron frying pans. I have a small one and a large one now. The large one really makes me happy because while it’s lightweight for a cast iron pan, it used to belong to my grandmother.

I also got some of her cooking pots. I think they’re stainless steel over aluminum or some such. But still a great improvement over my nonstick ones.

I’ve just come to mistrust nonstick of late. They say it’s safe when used correctly, but you know it wears off, meaning the Teflon does get into food, just a little. I don’t like that, especially since it means that you have to replace them when it wears off.

I got a bit of teasing for being so interested in such practical things when we went through Grandma’s house, but it allowed me to replace things I had been waiting to replace. It’s the usual conumdrum you face when you don’t want to consume more, but don’t like what you have. This was a chance to get things I knew I wanted without shopping.

I must say, I love how cast iron cooks. It’s a bit of extra work to care for, and you don’t put it in the dishwasher, but it’s worth it to me. When you need to get new frying pans, I do recommend it.

For other cookware, there are a lot of options beyond nonstick if you look around. Silicone is all over the place, but I don’t know enough about it to want to use it for muffin pans or other baking supplies. On the other hand, those rare occasions where I make muffins or cupcakes I use the paper liners anyhow. Nonstick seems kind of redundant with that. I’m rather fond of Pyrex baking sets for other purposes, although I understand that they can impact baking time.

My suggestion when you need to get cookware is to look for pieces that are safe to use and will last just about forever. Cast iron is good, high quality stainless steel can be good. Try to avoid anything with a nonstick coating that will wear off over time or has questionable safety. It can be a real pleasure owning thing that will last a lifetime.

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