toy box

Now there is a way 3: Send your cork to Terra Cycle

If you are big wine lovers like us, you might be going through the similar dilemma. What do we do with all these corks? Seems like we can compost them (link) but there is a way to "upcycle" it. We just signed up for Cork Recycling at TerraCycle. (there are 44 spots still available to participate in this program). You pay the small shipping fee (unless you have a bulk of cork then you can sing up for prepaid shipping program). We like their suggestion of using recycled envelop, old cereal bag...etc to ship the cork. TerraCycle collect the shipped corks and make new items like cork board.
*check out their other program for Yogurt Cups, Energy Bar Wrappers, Drink Pouches, Bottles and Cookie Wrappers.

LA to TJ Mobile Conference: Connecting Goods, People, Idea

We had an opportunity to attend LA to TJ Mobile Conference organized by Colors of Green Committee and Latino Urban Forum. The conference was hosted in a very unique style. We took a train from Union Station in Downtown LA to Santa Fe Depot in San Diego. Along the way, train passed multiple spots that are either controversial and/or influential to LA region's economy and wellness including LA River, 710 Freeway and Irvine great Park Site. Each speaker spoke briefly about key topics such as air quality, health, housing, open space, transportation while train passed by the area relevant to those topics. Our organizer James Rojas put it in the perfect sentence. "Our slide show is the view from the train".

Listening to the speaker on the train

Few interesting points we learned from the conference.

Ready for being fashionably anti-car?

Los Angeles MTA (metro) ridership is hitting the record highest while the infamous LA traffic is starting to show the decline in congestion (link to LA Times). It might be the beginning of LA consumers' mindset change from heavily car dependent to fashionably anti-car. For those of you who are ready to make the shift, we came across perfect bicycle basket carrie that could also be used as a shopping basket at the grocery store. Who wouldn't be tempted to pull out the old bicycle from the garage when we have such a whimsical accessory? 

Dwell on Design: HOM outdoor shower

We thought HOM outdoor shower w/solar panels is great way of using both kit-a-part parts and locally available resources (ex. use of locally grown plants as filler for the shade). Wondering about the possible application for disaster situations.

Household Hazardous Waste & E-waste @ Pasadena Rose Bowl

We dropped off our out-of-life Epson printer at Hazardous Waste Collection held at Rose Bowl on Saturday. (link to previous post). It was impressive to see how organized the process was and how easy and accessible it was for residents. It might have been one of the best public service we have ever encountered living in LA for last 13 years. (link to more photos)
Guys in white suits came to pick up the items from our trunk. We were not allowed to step out of the car.
Everything was very organized and we were able to drive-through in 5 minutes.
He was the one who got our Epson printer out of the trunk. Thank you!
 

Now there is a way 3: Household Hazardous Waste & E-waste

For people who are around Pasadena, there will be a HHW (Household Hazardous Waste) collection at Rosebowl this coming Saturday hosted by County of LA Department of Public Works. Their online calendar shows dates/location for other collection throughout LA. We're bringing our old Epson printer and other cleaning products which we have replaced with cleaner items.

Stuff they will collect:
- Old batteries
- Flourescent light bulbs
- Out of life electronic devices
- Mercury thermostats
- The chemical-based household products: cleaning, painting, beautifying, lubricating and disinfecting the house, yard, workshop and garage

Here is an address to this Saturday's collection at Rose Bowl.
Location: The Rose Bowl, Parking Lot "K", 1001 Rose Bowl Blvd., Pasadena 91103

Dwell on Design: Sun Table

We saw this cool outdoor coffee table at Dwell on Design LA. Called Sun Table designed in Brooklyn, NY. The table top can be tilted in order to maximize the exposure to the direct sun light.  It takes 4 hours of sunny day to fully charge the table and gives 5~6 hours of laptop usage. It works great as a table too. I saw a guy jumping on top of the table to show the stability and it looked pretty sturdy. Object like this helps us to harvest our own energy needs w/o completely changing the lifestyle. Also it provids convenience of "ready-to-plug" feature to the areas where there is no outlet (like your yard). Great idea.

Now there is a way 2: Sell your old Ink Cartridge & cell phone!

Our reader John has informed me about eCycle Group. (Thank you so much John!)  Now you can recycle ink cartridge & phone and make some cash out of it! And he says that they have great customer service. We want to give a try to see how it works and what is the experience like. Who is in it with us?

Now there is a way 1: Ink Cartridge & small electronics

We are starting to identify diverse opportunities to recycle items that are not easily recyclable at home. To keep informing readers with these options, we will name this series "Now there is a way".

Series one is Free recycling program that is being done as a collaborative effort between US Postal Service and Clover Technologies Group. LA is one of the beta city with this program. If you live in LA area, you can find white/green envelops in Post Office lobby area. You can put your out of life ink cartridge, cell phone, PDF, MP3 player... in the envelop and simply drop it off at the mail box. Postage is prepaid by Clover Technologies Group who refurbish/recycle/reuse parts collected from this program. They have pretty impressive "Zero waste to Landfill" policy. They do everything they can to avoid contributing any materials to the nation’s landfills. Now that's called great system!

Regeneration in Eagle Rock

If you're in Eagle Rock area, swing by the eco-friendly store Regeneration. A lot of what they have is hand-made out of recycled materials. Because their collection is little bit too niche, it's hard for us to imagine that it will become a go-to-place to find sustainable everyday products but will be a good place to shop for gifts or one of the kind items.