Green Tips of the Week

Safely store and dispose of 9-volt batteries

4/10/2026

9-volt batteries should not be thrown away with trash. They are hazardous waste. Store fresh 9-volt batteries in original packaging, not loose.
9-volt batteries can start a fire if not stored safely. Store upright in original packaging. If loose, cover the positive and negative posts with tape to prevent them from contact with metal objects. Bring to a hazardous waste disposal site for proper disposal. Keep an eye out for collection events.

Read more at NFPA.org

When in doubt, leave it out of the recycling bin

4/3/2026

Do not put something in the recycling bin just because you hope it is recyclable. When in doubt, leave it out.
Any items that are not recyclable have to be sorted out of the mixed recycling. The sorting machinery catches some of it, but many items have to be removed manually. Waste and recycling collection has become the fourth most dangerous job in the country, after roofers, fishing and hunting workers, and logging workers. Many injuries and deaths are caused by items that should never have been put in a recycling bin. Film plastic (especially plastic bags) gum up the sorting machinery and has to be removed by hand. Large items like pieces of wood and broom handles do not fit in the machinery at all and also have to be removed by hand. Leave these out of your recycling.

Read more at earth911.com

Plastic plant pots are not recyclable curbside

3/27/2026

Don’t recycle black plastic garden plug trays. They can’t be identified by the sorting technology at most recycling centers even with a recyclable code because the dark color absorbs the scanner’s light.
Even if a recycling center could sort them, they would need to be cleaned of leftover soil and roots, which is not practical for curbside programs. You can reuse them or take them to Home Depot for reuse, however, and look for the many compostable alternatives out there.

Read more at earth911

Avoid AI searches

3/20/2026

Skip AI when you don’t need it. For a quick answer, use a smaller or faster model to save energy, while reserving AI for tasks that genuinely require it.

Every time you ask AI for a recipe, draft a report, or ask for a summary, a data center draws power from the electrical grid, generates heat that must be cooled with water, and produces carbon emissions. A single query seems trivial. Multiplied by the billions of daily AI interactions now occurring worldwide, the cumulative impact is anything but.

Read at earth911.com

Insulate hot water pipes

3/6/2026

Insulating your hot water heater pipes retains heat in the water that reaches your faucets, saving energy and money.

According to PECO, “Insulating your water heater pipes can help recover lost heat, decrease the time required for hot water to reach your faucets, and save you money. You can install foam insulation yourself in just a few hours.” By retaining heat, the water that reaches the faucet is at a higher temperature. This allows you to reduce the temperature setting on your water heater, further saving energy and money.

Insulating your hot water pipes is an inexpensive DIY project, and the materials are readily available at hardware stores.

Photo by Susan O'Donnell

Water-efficient hand dish washing technique

2/27/2026

Using an efficient dish-washing technique, you can save water when washing dishes by hand.

Modern dishwashers are generally more energy and water efficient than washing dishes by hand. If you don’t have a dishwashing machine or just prefer handwashing your dishes, there are steps that you can take to minimize your water and energy consumption. Perry Santanachote describes the two-basin method in her article on Consumerreports.com (updated by Molly Bradley, October 29, 2023; retrieved November 30, 2025). Another method is to wash the lightly soiled dishes over the more heavily soiled dishes and pots to allow them to soak as you wash. Always turn off the faucet when you are not actively using the water.

Photo by Susan O'Donnell

Clean your bird feeders

2/20/2026

Keep bird feeders clean to prevent the spread of disease among birds.

Keeping a filled bird feeder helps our avian neighbors find enough food in our human-transformed suburban habitat. However, it is important to keep those feeders clean to prevent spreading diseases among the birds. Plastic and metal feeders are easier than wood to keep thoroughly clean.

Photo by Sean O'Donnell

Swarthmore Curbside Food Compost Program

2/13/2026

Participate in Swarthmore Borough’s new Curbside Food Compost program to reduce the amount of trash sent to be incinerated. Collected food waste is composted into usable soil.

Swarthmore Borough now offers curbside food-waste collection with pick-up every other week. All residents were provided with a 5-gallon bucket. This program helps divert food scraps from trash incineration and instead keeps it in the cycle by converting it to usable compost. This in turn reduces trash disposal costs. More information about the program, including the pick-up schedule for your area, is on the Swarthmore Borough website, including FAQs with additional information. Some items that you can dispose of through this program include bread, coffee grounds, fruit and vegetable scraps, soiled pizza boxes (stack under the bucket at the curb), wine corks, and spoiled cheese. The program does not accept any meat or containers, even if they are labeled as compostable. A complete list of what items are accepted can be found here. If you need a bucket, contact EZ Composting ([email protected]). The cost of this service, including one 5-gallon bucket, is included in Borough taxes. If you produce more food scraps in two weeks than can be contained in just one bucket, you can order additional buckets directly from EZ Composting for a fee.

Photo by Susan O'Donnell

Reuse your reusable items; don't buy too many

2/6/2026

Use what you have as many times as possible. Reusable items do not have a lower carbon footprint if they’re not used enough.

The biggest problem with reusable items is that we have too many of them. Extend a reusable product’s lifetime as much as possible. Avoid buying more, even if it is reusable. Having a large collection of reusable water bottles uses more resources than having just one to replace disposables.

Read more from the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability

Regular dinner menus reduce food waste

1/30/2026

Predictable theme nights (e.g., pasta Monday, taco Tuesday, breakfast-for-dinner Wednesday…) reduce mental load, time, money, food waste, and family friction at dinner time.

Curb decision fatigue! The idea to theme dinners is that you do the same thing every week.

Read more at thewellplannedkitchen.com

Photo by Dennis Sylvester Hurd, flickr

<<Previous