Back to School Shopping

Over 5 million Canadian children are getting ready to go back to school. This year, you can reduce the impact your back-to-school shopping has on the environment by making a few smart choices.

REUSE
Reusing items is the best way to minimize the impact of your day-to-day life. Send your kids to school with a reusable lunchbox and a water bottle. 

REDUCE
The best way to save energy and money is to not buy anything. Reduce the amount of new items you're buying this year. Take an inventory of the school supplies you already have on hand from last year and make sure not to waste money on new items that you don't need.

RECYCLE
We all know it's important to recycle paper and plastic items but you can also help drive demand for recycled goods by purchasing items that contain a high level of post-consumer materials. It's easy to find great eco friendly goods- check out Ecojot a Canadian company whose journals are made from 100% recycled post-consumer waste. As a bonus, Ecojot also donates a schoolbook to a child in need for the sale of each jumbo journal. Now that's some back-to-school shopping you can feel good about! 

8 Tips to Curb Your Waste

The Holiday season is here! Whether your plans include hosting or traveling, use our 8 tips to curb your waste and your carbon footprint. 

1. Take inventory on the pantry. If you can avoid a trip to the store, you'll save time, fuel and money. 
2. When you've used up an ingredient, make sure to rinse the container and recycle. 
3. If you are cooking the turkey in an aluminum pan, don't throw it away! By clearing it of all food waste and rinsing it out, you may be able to recycle it instead. As always, be sure to check with your city to make sure. 
4. Serve cans of beer without fear. Aluminum is infinitely recyclable and easier to process than glass. Consider making the switch to cans this season. 
5. Pack the freezer with your leftover turkey and fixings instead of throwing away. The fuller the freezer, the more efficient it becomes. Save energy and prevent food waste from heading to the landfill. 
6. Don't want leftover dry goods to go stale? Consider sharing your extra food with the less fortunate this season. Prevent food waste by helping someone in need. Donate to a food bank or shelter. 
7. Holiday traffic is the worst! Spare yourself the trouble and hit the road early. Stop-and-go driving adds wear and tear to your vehicle and the environment. Beat the rush and do them both a favour. 
8. Give the host or hostess a real gift, not extra trash. Wrap presents in recyclable or reusable materials. 

Happy Holidays! Good luck managing your "waste" line this year! 

Top 10 Tricky Items for Household Recycling

One of the easiest ways we can all be mindful of our impact on the environment daily is by managing our household recycling. It can be tricky to remember which waste products go in which bin. 
Keep this post bookmarked for a quick reference of our of top tricky reclyling items. 
(Note: this list covers recyclables in the city of Toronto Blue bin program. Outside of this region, please check with your waste management provider if you have questions about what you can recycle.) 


DO recycle 

• Clear plastic fruit and vegetable containers
• CD cases 
• Metal cans (place lid inside can and pinch closed)
• Aluminum trays, pie plates and roasting pans
• Aerosol cans (empty; put caps in garbage)
• Styrofoam cups and trays

DON'T recycle

• Aluminum foil food wrap
• Potato chip bags
• Plastic over-wrap (on pop cartons, water bottles, toilet paper)
• Milk bags

Important recycling tips

• Rinse containers to remove residue.
• Put items in recycling loose, not bagged
• Remove plastic covers and over-wrap from newspapers, magazines and cases of bottle water or other beverages. 

For more info, check WASTE WIZARD. This search tool lists over 1,500 waste items and how to properly dispose of them.

Green Spring Cleaning

Keep your Spring Cleaning green with these tips!

• Throw open the windows and breathe in fresh scents. Toss those spray air fresheners and if necessary, try some natural fresheners like baking soda. 

• Use spring-cleaning season as a reminder to go paperless. Opt out of as many bulk mail, catalogs and phone books as you can and subscribe to paperless billing. Here at National, our green billing option saves over 1 million sheets of paper a year! We’re proud to do our part in reducing paper waste.

• Clean up your dirty laundry habits. When the weather is nice, air-dry your clothes on a clothesline, in your backyard or on an indoor stand.

• Reuse- as you de-clutter and clean, look for alternate uses for your old products. Old clothes and towels can become rags for dusting and cleaning. Old newspapers are great for streak free cleaning of your windows.  

All of us at National Home Services are wishing you a clean and green Spring! 

Stay Eco-Smart While Entertaining

Here is the last post in our series an energy efficient holiday season! Today we will focus on keeping your home appliances running efficiently while entertaining and baking.

Kitchen Tips

• Keep the oven closed and use your oven light to check cooking progress. Your oven loses heat every time you open it to check on your baking.
• Wash dishes by hand, but don't keep the water flowing. Fill the sink once and rinse your dishes in cool water.
• Wait until you have a full load to run your dishwasher.
• Cook smart – plan out that meal to make the most of oven time. Turkey roasting at 400 degrees? Choose sides that can go in the oven at the same temperature.
• Embrace leftovers – ask everyone to bring a reusable container to fill with leftovers to take home.
• Make it easy – put out clearly labeled trash, compost and recycling containers so your guests don’t have to guess what goes where.

Vacation tips

• Unplug your appliances while you are away to stop them from draining unnecessary energy
• Turn your heat down (but not off!) and shut the doors of unused rooms
• Check if your water heater has a vacation setting and use it while you are out of town

Most of all enjoy spending time with your family and loved ones and enjoy the last week of 2012!

The Season for Giving

Tis the season for giving! Here at National Home Services, we are gathering donations of toys and gifts to support the Agincourt Community Services Association. We are thrilled to think of the smiles and joy these toys will bring when they are delivered.

During this time of giving, we try our best to remember to be green whenever possible. We are delivering our donations unwrapped but, one of the biggest areas of holiday waste is in packaging and wrapping.

Check out our tips to reduce the amount of packaging and wrapping you use.

Try out reusable wrapping ideas, like cloth bags, baskets and boxes.

Recycle your newspapers, brown paper bags or Christmas flyers into wrapping paper.

Instead of sending Christmas cards, send e-cards to your friends and loved ones.

Bring your own bags when shopping. Keep them in your purse or car so they are nearby when needed.

Think about alternative gifts that require no wrapping, like theatre tickets, museum passes, or gift certificates.

Give homemade gifts like these Gifts in a Jar. Check here for more recipes.

If everyone in Canada wrapped just three gifts in reused paper or gift bags, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 hockey rinks!