Eco Friendly Product Guide

I have never given sponges the consideration they deserve. I suppose, though, that sponges (the type that sway about on the floor of the ocean) have as much right to life as anyone.

Also I had failed (until hearing about Twistclean) to consider that the billions of sponges manufactured artificially every year might lead to unwanted piles of spongy waste with a detrimental impact on the environment.

That was the reason that the people at Twistclean decided to reinvent the sponge. Now you can get a range of household sponges that keep your house clean as well as your conscience. The materials they use are 98% biodegradable, plus they do their absolute to best to use all the raw material they take into the factory.

You can look at the Twistclean website for a list of suppliers. Unfortunately you cannot buy online and the website gives no indication of the prices of these little suck-ups — but if you are seriously into purchasing non-damaging household materials then Twistclean sponges may be the answer for you.

Fire & Light is known for it’s vast array of dinnerware, glassware, and other assorted products geared towards entertaining your guests. Since the start of the company in 1995, Fire and Light has manufactured products with over 91% recycled glass, turning it into raw material.

The glassware made through Fire & Light is aesthetically pleasing to the eye, and provides the eco-friendly consumer with a nice piece of mind when entertaining guests. Having unique dinnerware and household accessories is one thing, but serving drinks in an eco-friendly tumbler made of recycled glass is what we like to call entertainment on a clear conscience.

You can buy the glass tumbler set through such retailers as Greenfeet.com, starting at $22.95. You can check out the variety of products available through Fire & Light’s website.

The bath towel is a necessity, there’s no escaping it. When you get older and your college days consisting of “oh no, i haven’t done laundry, well…i guess I’ll just dry off with this shirt” are over, you find yourself making sure a)the laundry is always done and b)the house is always stocked with towels.

As you gain more awareness of the need for eco-friendly products, you may be pleased to find that you can combine the love of a soft towel with your love of the earth. From Viva Terra, these Hand-loomed Organic Cotton Towels are a perfect balance of comfort and environmentally friendly products.

These towels are made without the following: heavy metal dyes, chlorine bleach, synthetic finishing agents. That’s right, just hand loomed and soft organic cotton in place of any non-natural fabrics or dyes you may find in other towels. As far as pricing is concerned, the Bath towels are $39, the hand towels are $16 and the wash cloths are $7. Go organic. It’s good for you, great for the earth.

Furniture designer Robert Craymer has an eye for detail and contemporary style. His furniture is not only stylish (and would look great in that uptown loft you’ve been eyeing for quite some time), but it is environmentally sound as well! Craymer uses both natural and organic materials when creating his furniture. In addition, metal products (screws, springs) come from recycled steel, and the glue is non-toxic. Even the fabric used is organic; just the way nature intended it to be.

Vivavi.com has The RC Green “Alexander” sofa for sale. In addition, don’t forget to check out RobertCraymer.com. You can get info on all of his wonderful furniture designs, and even keep up with his personal blog, as he riffs on new innovations to his furniture.

Now go update the look of that living room! This sofa typically runs around $4200.

Household cleaning products. You think of them, and automatically, you think of a lot of chemicals…definitely not “all natural” and “made with plant based ingredients.”

Luckily, with the recent trend of green and eco-friendly products on the rise, Ecover.com has stepped up to meeting the challenge of environmentally safe, all natural cleaning supplies.

From the floor soap, which is made from plant ingredients and features quick and complete biodegradability, to the Laundry Wash, (which is also from plant based ingredients, is color safe, safe for your skin, and is completely biodegradable), there are a vast array of cleaning products for your home. Another advantage? No animal testing.

Check out the list of products on their site, and upgrade your cleaning products to ones that are environmentally sound.

Check out their where to buy section for a list of retailers.

Cali Bamboo has found a great, eco-friendly green solution to that backyard fence. They manufacture Bamboo Fence Products that will spice up the look of your lawn.

While it is true that normal fences come from wood, bamboo is sustainable resource, and a little bit more environmentally friendly than that stained wood fence you have in the backyard that is just rotting away over time. Not to mention, a bamboo fence will be unique, and you will become the envy of all your neighbors.

Start the new trend. You can request a quote off of the Cali Bamboo website when you look into their fencing. It’s a green solution to that tired old fence you have wasting away in the backyard.

Water Saver Technologies certainly lives up to their name. They are the creators of the AQUS System, which is an easy to install device geared towards water conservation in the bathroom.

Essentially, the main function of the AQUS System is to take water from the sink, filter it, disinfect it, and then transfer it right over to the toilet. This way, it can be used for toilet flushing. Think of all the gallons of water you can save a year just by installing an AQUS system to your home!

According to the Water Saver Technologies website, the AQUS “can save in excess of 8 gallons of fresh water per day for two person bathrooms with normal activities” (don’t question what abnormal activities are. Some things are left better unsaid). When you do the math, that’s more than 2,900 gallons per year for a two person household and quite a bit more per family of four.

You can purchase the AQUS system for your restroom from Vivavi.com for $295, and if you want to do some additional research of your own, stop by the Water Saver Technologies page at WaterSaverTech.com. As awkward as this may sound, happy flushing!

Cutting boards…they’re in every kitchen. You are always going to need one. There’s no escaping that fact. The guys and gals over at Preserve Everyday have come up with one that will fit your green needs…it’s a Cutting board made from 100% post-consumer recycled paper.

The board is knife friendly and dishwasher safe, and as mentioned, it’s made of 100% post-consumer recycled paper. You can’t really go wrong with a cutting board like this. When you are making that wonderful salad full of natural organically grown vegetables, what better cutting board to cut them on than this one?

Coming in two different colors, olive black and pesto green (because just calling them black and green would be too simple), the board also comes in two sizes: bar (8″x6″), and Prep (13″x8″). The Bar size goes for $12.99 and the Prep size goes for $24.99.

These lights are like something from a retrospective movie about the 1960′s. I bet my grandma really had lights that looked just like these.

America really is the land of opportunity. An outfit in New York calling itself Scrapile and comprised of two chaps called Bart Bettencourt and Carlos Salgado has as its sole mission to recover discarded scraps of wood from New York’s woodworking industry and create things out of the scrap. They make benches, dining tables, accessories, stools, side tables and whatever you want custom-made. Of course, nothing matches, everything is unique.

There are outlets for Scrapile products in Seattle, Brooklyn, Houston and Los Angeles.

Call these what you will — hanging patio lights or solar lanterns or eco-friendly Chinese lanterns or paper tree lanterns or Shoji Japanese party lights — they are beautiful no matter what name you choose.

The manufacturers are not so far wrong when they implore you to “hang these Japanese-inspired solar lanterns from a trellis or tree and enjoy their moonlike radiance”.

It works like this: yellow LED lights (the best type when it comes to solar power) are encased in paper-like weatherproof nylon. The light automatically switches on at night after being powered by the sun all day. The set includes an AAA rechargeable battery and a metal hanger. The shade folds flat for storage.

These beautiful imports are available from Real Goods individually ($29.00 each) or in sets ($79.00 for 3).