Blog Archives

Plan menu to use up leftover food

6/26/2026

Reduce food waste by planning your menu around unused ingredients, leftovers, and perishable items in your refrigerator.

The Pennsylvania Resources Council reminds us that good meal planning can help reduce food waste. Unused food wastes the energy and resources expended to produce and transport that food. It also adds to your grocery bill. Be aware of unused ingredients and leftover food and plan your menu to incorporate them. Use up your oldest ingredients before they go bad. Left over ingredients from another recipe? Add them to your next meal. This practice saves on grocery money for you and wasted resources for the planet.

Photo by Susan O'Donnell

Organic food protects birds

6/19/2026

Purchasing organically produced food supports agricultural practices that protect birds.

Birds spend a lot of time in and around agricultural fields. Pesticides and herbicides that are applied to crops can be ingested by birds both directly through berries and seeds that they eat and indirectly by consuming prey such as fish, mammals, and insects that bioaccumulate toxins. Pesticides kill not only the target pests but a broad range of insects that birds rely on for food, especially for their young. Growers that use organic practices are not putting these toxins into the environment that could harm birds or accumulate in the insects and fish that they eat. It also preserves biodiversity and insect food base for birds. A study in Finland found a correlation between organic livestock farming practices and bird abundance. Use your purchasing power to support organic farming practices. Be organic in your own garden as well!

Photo by Susan O'Donnell

Fix leaky toilets

6/12/2026

Save water by fixing leaky toilets. It may be as easy as replacing the flapper.

According to Week& contributor Danielle Smyth*, “simply checking for leaks will save hundreds of gallons of otherwise wasted water. If there is no water in the toilet tank, the rubber seal on the flapper is probably damaged, and all of your water is leaking into the bowl and down the drain. This can also be indicated if your toilet is constantly running as the refill tube attempts to top off the reservoir.”

To determine if you have a leaky toilet, add a few drops of food coloring into the toilet tank, wait an hour, and see if the color has leaked into the toilet bowl. Installing a new flapper is inexpensive and easy to do yourself. Swarthmore Hardware carries universal sized flappers. Just follow the installation instructions on the packaging.

*Danielle Smyth, “How many gallons of water does it take to flush a toilet?”, www.Weekand.com, last updated 3/8/2021.

Photo by Susan O'Donnell

Recycle IKEA furniture

6/5/2026

Furniture is the U.S.’s largest category of discarded household goods. Gently used IKEA furniture can be exchanged at participating stores for store credit or recycled responsibly there.

Customers can fill out an online IKEA Buyback & Resell form, receive a value estimate, and bring gently used IKEA furniture to any participating store.

Read more at earth911.com

Photo by Susan O'Donnell

Plan menu to use up leftover food

Organic food protects birds

Fix leaky toilets

Recycle IKEA furniture

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