Fast Facts on Recycled Glass

Glass is an amazing thing.  It’s made from natural materials, sand and soda ash.  Its unique qualities make it ideal for recycling.  When glass is recycled, it losses almost none of its original quality. Do you think recycling glass into something new uses more energy than it saves?  Nope. Recycling just two glass bottles uses the same amount of energy as boiling five cups of water.  Glass food and drink containers make up between 4% and 8% of all the waste generated in the United States, depending on who you talk to. That’s enough glass to fill the up one skyscraper every month. Only 28 percent were recycled.

Need more incentives to recycle your glass?  Here are more interesting facts on glass recycling from www.recycling-revolution.com.

• The energy saved by recycling one glass bottle can light a 100-watt light bulb for four hours or run a computer for 30 minutes.
• It also causes 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than when a new bottle is made from raw materials.
• A modern glass bottle would take 4000 years or more to decompose — and even longer if it’s in the landfill.
• Mining and transporting raw materials for glass produces about 385 pounds of waste for every ton of glass that’s made. If recycled glass is substituted for half of the raw materials, the waste is cut by more than 80%.

That’s definitely worth the time to seek out recycled glass products like ours for your next purchase, whether you’re replacing an existing item or shopping for gifts.  Recycled glass is surprisingly affordable.

Greener Living Fair, Sat. April 30

Hello Twin Cities! Please join The Pristine Home at Century College in White Bear Lake on Sat. April 30 from 10:30AM – 2:00PM.  It’s a zero waste event celebrating Earth Day.  Our favorite arctic explorer, Will Steger will be speaking at 10AM. Don’t miss it!  Click below for details!

GreenerLivingFair2011

If you’re planning to attend, please comment and you’ll be entered into our Earth Day Give Away drawing.

Earth Day Give Away, 3 Ways to Enter!

We at The Pristine Home LOVE Earth Day. By April 22, we think we’ve seen the last snowfall here in Minnesota, the grass is getting green and it’s time open up the rain barrel.  It’s the perfect time to celebrate the earth.

Green Kitchen Set

So, what could you win? We’re drawing for a Green Kitchen Set.  It includes a Bamboo Kitchen Towel and Dish Cloth in your color choice from MU Kitchen, a Laid Back Dish Brush from Full Circle Home, and a Come Clean DIY Cleaning Set, also from Full Circle Home.

Can you be bribed? We’re looking for product reviews.  If you’re willing to share your experience with some other eco-friendly shoppers, you’ll earn TWO entries into our drawing. What?  You’re not a current customer? You can still enter! Just tell us what you plan to do to celebrate Earth Day.

Here’s how to enter:

• Post a comment on our blog
• Post a comment on our Facebook Page
• Send us an email: info@ThePristineHome.com

Here’s the fine print:

All entries must be submitted by midnight, Sunday, April 24. You may enter twice. If you give two product reviews, you could have 4 entries. That’s a great way to improve your chances of winning! The winner will be notified by Monday, May 1.

The Pristine Home Earns Green America’s Business Seal of Approval

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Pristine Home Earns Green America’s Business Seal of Approval

Maple Grove, MN April 5, 2011 – The Pristine Home is pleased to announce it has been awarded the Green America Business Seal of Approval after completing a rigorous screening process. The seal is presented to businesses that go beyond product and service quality to set the highest standards in environmental sustainability and social justice, and work to solve environmental and social problems.

Green America is a not-for-profit membership organization founded in 1982 (formerly known as Co-op America until 2009.)

The Pristine Home is known for its superior organic bedding and bath linens, plus its unique sustainable kitchen products. They show exemplary concern for people and the planet with their corporate recycling program, environmentally friendly packaging and shipping policies, and participation in local environmental awareness events.  They join a vibrant community of over 4,000 environmentally and socially responsible businesses that have received this award.

“We’re thrilled to earn the Green America Seal of Approval,” said Lee Hemming, co-owner of www.ThePristineHome.com. “It’s one of the most respected and recognized symbols in the green marketplace and provides our customers the assurance that the home furnishings we offer fit their lifestyle.”

About The Pristine Home:

The Pristine Home was founded in 2008 inspired by the passion of the owners to use fewer natural resources to provide superior home furnishings with styles that draw the conventional consumer. A few of the brands offered by The Pristine Home are Nandina Bamboo Towels, Pure Rest Natural Pillows, Dreamfit Bamboo Blend Sheets, and Full Circle Home sustainable kitchen brushes. More information about their green principles and to access their products visit www.ThePristineHome.com.

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Earth Hour. Can You Curb Climate Change in 60 Minutes?

I have to admit, I’ve never paid attention to Earth Hour.  After all, it’s only 60 minutes.  So, I decided to explore it a little and see what it’s all about.  Earth Hour celebration started in Sydney, Australia in 2007 with around 2 million people turning off the lights in their homes, businesses, and cities to take a stand and say “I believe climate change is real!”.  By 2009, it had spread to over 4000 cities and 88 countries.

Earth Hour is scheduled for the last Saturday in March, (March 26, 2010) – between 8:30pm and 9:30pm your local time.  It’s easy.  Even Las Vegas is participating. Light a soy candle, turn off the TV, the computer, and any other unnecessary electricity gobler and spend 60 minutes contemplating how you might make a personal commitment to change your climate eroding ways or educate someone else. You might even make it a mini gathering with friends.

Earth Hour is organized by the World Wildlife Fund.  Visit their website to see what else you might do to help climate change.  I went to the ACT NOW tab, then clicked on the TAKE ACTION page and found a terrific list of people I could contact.   You need to enter your name and address and they provide the letter. Press SEND and off it goes. I thanked cool companies that are making changes to curb global warming with a simple email.  Have you threatened to write your representatives and just haven’t gotten around to it?  Here’s your chance.  Click on the Take Action item you like.  I chose, “Tell Congress NOT to slash funding for environment and conservation”. Enter your info and poof!  The letter appears with copies ready to be printed for your elected officials.  You can even customize the letter if you want.  The World Wildlife Fund makes it easy to be an activist.

What if you’re not quite a climate change advocate?  Maybe the first step is to become informed.  Sign up for a newsletter that interests you and get those brain cells thinking!

Have some fun while you’re at it!  Scroll down the home page and find the quiz, Find Your Inner Animal.  Be prepared. My inner animal is the proboscis monkey.  We have a frightening number of characteristics in common!

If the environment is something that’s important to you, celebrating Earth Hour is a great time to decide what you want to do about it, even if you have to wait until 9:30pm to print your letter to your Congressman.

Going Green Resolution Solutions – 6 Worthy Goals

Set Goals for A New, Greener Year!

I’ve long since given up New Year’s resolutions.  I’ve started setting goals.  Why? Resolutions are just too easy to throw out there at midnight and forget about by dawn the next day.  Okay, maybe not dawn, but you know what I mean.

So what’s your goal for adding a few more green values to your life?  Here are just a few suggestions:

• Find an eco-friendly dry cleaner. Just plug those words into your favorite search engine along with your city/state. You’ll be surprised how many are in your neighborhood.
• Use cloth napkins at least 3days/week. Hint: Our bamboo dishcloths are nice and gentle against the skin and an inexpensive solution!  A family of 4 will save at least 1 package of throw-aways in 1 year.
• Recycle something that can’t go in the curbside bin, like the old dehumidifier in the basement, the broken bread maker, or old electronics. Check out www.1800recycling.com for a comprehensive guide on where to recycle in your area.
• When something plastic is ready for replacement, look for something biodegradable to take its place. Traditional plastic is made of petroleum.  Petroleum products that were thrown out in 1950 are still sitting in the landfill in some form or another.  Hint: See our biodegradable kitchen scrubbers!
• Start a ride share-errand coop with friends in your neighborhood.  Drive to the targeted spot in town, park in a central area, split up to run those errands and meet back at a given time.  Remember when mom would call over to your neighbor? “Helen, I’m headed to the store. Can I pick up anything for you?”  Those were the days! Offer someone a helping hand and save some fuel emissions at the same time.
• Did you know that incandescent lights are going the way of the horse and buggy?  Why wait?  Stock up on CFLs now.

Are you motivated to try something new? Please share your New “Greener” Year goals with us!

10 Great Reasons to Shop Online for Holiday Gifts

Online Shopping. This could happen to you!

1. No need to beat back the crowds at the 4 am sales.
2. No circling like a vulture looking for a parking space.
3. Shopping in your fuzzy slippers is way better than strapping on the   mukluks.
4. Comparison shopping without the AAA triptik.
5. Avoid getting into your aerobic zone by having your gifts delivered for you.
6. Sip hot chocolate while shopping (just don’t spill on the keyboard!).
7. Avoid listening to “Santa’s Coming to Town”, sung by The Chipmunks, over, and, over, and over.
8. Waiting to ship gifts in the Post Office line is overrated.
9. The FedEx guy brings your doggies treats!
10. Have more time to bake cookies with the kids.
    

Brought to you by www.ThePristineHome.com. Please visit us for Green Gift Ideas!

Elements of a Well Made Bed, Part 3 – Don’t Short Sell the Sheets!

My husband is a do-er. He’s not one to ask if we’ve washed the sheets in the last decade.  He just changes sheets every weekend like clockwork.  One week, just after the bed was newly made, we both fought a couple of nights of sleeplessness. Thrashing, tossing around and general mayhem followed. My detective work quickly uncovered CHEAP SHEETS, literally.  These are the sheets that came with the comforter set, all complete.  The comforter was a great match for the guest room. The sheets were like polyester sandpaper.  We remade the bed  using our preferred sheet set and were back to a normal good night’s sleep in no time.

How do you choose a quality set of sheets? Thread count says a lot about the make-up of your sheets.  Thread count tells you how many threads are woven together per square inch.  More is not necessarily better. A thread count that’s higher than about 400 can only be created with multi-ply thread.  If the high thread count is combined with a low fiber length, that’s when you’ll find the sheet feeling heavier and perhaps less desirable, especially on sensitive skin. The lesson: Look for long-fiber thread for softer sheets.

New fibers are on the market and people are raving about these new beech and bamboo sheets.  If they’re made from 100% of these fibers, you’ll find them to be more like a jersey, stretchy fabric.  We tried a set of 100% bamboo sheets and they were very comfortable, lightweight and were cool sleeping in the summer. However they did “fuzz” when washed. The bottom sheet also was so stretchy that it never stayed put on the mattress.

Dreamfit Bamboo-Blend Sheets

Since then, my new favorites are the Dreamfit Bamboo-blend sheets. They are a blend of 70% bamboo and 30% cotton.  They’re very comfortable and do seem to regulate body temperature.  The feel is silky,yet sturdy, more like a traditional high end cotton sheet.  The bottom sheet has a patented stay-put elastic piece across every corner, in addition to the continuous elastic around the bottom.  Let me tell you these sheets aren’t going anywhere!  The only downside is that they’re not as eco-friendly as I’d like, since the cotton is not organic.  Does the 30% non-organic matter to you? Please comment!

The bottom line is your personal comfort level and your health. If you’re not comfortable, you’re not sleeping. If you have chemical sensitivities, choose organic first. What happened to my scratchy ones?  I threatened to tear them up and roll them into bandages for the Foreign Legion.  What do you do with your old sheets?

UP NEXT: Elements of a Well Made Bed, Part 4 – A Layer of Warmth

Elements of a Well Made Bed – Part 2, The Mattress Pad

Mattress pads have come a long way since the thin quilted cotton pad strapped onto the mattress.  There are memory foam pads, heated mattress pads, and mattress pads stuffed with almost any  material available from down to silk, to wool.  How to choose?

Some people use the mattress pad as the quick fix to an old mattress.  The mattress has become soft and unsupportive, so let’s just add another thick layer and limp along until we just can’t stand it anymore.  Seriously, if this is your plan, please, please invest in a new mattress set. Do not underrate a good night’s sleep!

Baby's Wool Moisture Pad

Mattress pads were originally used to protect the mattress from spills, and children who aren’t quite potty trained and to give us a breathable layer between the mattress and the sheet for comfort.  If you need serious moisture protection, then you need a waterproof pad.  These come in the form of a layer of rubber felted between fabric, or the rubber sheet (eew!) or the natural choice, a solid felted wool pad that is so tightly woven and purposely shrunk so that any liquid just can’t get through.  We recommend the natural choice, of course!

If you really want the pillow top feel and you don’t have a pillow top mattress, you’ll be tempted to go with the memory foam pad.  Please rethink this, as memory foam is made of polyurethane and is filled with chemicals.  When you open the package, you’ll smell the off-gasing.  You’ll change your mind and want to return the memory foam and good luck getting into the packaging again when that happens.  You’ll want to look for a natural rubber mattress topper instead.

Organic Wool Filled Mattress Pad

For basic year-round mattress protection, we recommend the wool filled mattress pad.  Now, I know you’re thinking about that scratchy sweater you got for Christmas when you were 10, but wool fiber has become the go-to choice for bedding comfort. Wool filling is cleaned, carded, and fluffy. It actually has better loft than cotton. Wool is water repellant and wicks away moisture from the body, which regulates the body temperature when you sleep.  If you share a bed with someone, that’s the trickiest part of making the bed; temperature regulation.  He’s hot, she’s cold.  Go with the wool filled mattress pad.  You won’t be sorry and you won’t have to change it out during the summer either.  With the organic cotton mattress pad cover, you’ll forget there’s wool filling beneath you.  Look for pad that has at least ¾” thickness to give some extra cushion for knees, hips, elbows, and shoulders.

Next up – How to choose bed sheets

Elements of a Well Made Bed – Part 1, Dust Mite Protection

Dust mites are a fact of life.  Just because we can’t see them, doesn’t mean they’re not there.  If you have night time allergies, that’s a big clue that you need to do something more to make your sleeping life a little healthier.  The first step is preventing the dust mite from burrowing into your mattress and pillow.  Enter the mattress and pillow barrier covers.  They prevent dead skin and the invisible critters from populating right underneath you.  Some barrier covers are actually made of plastic and people spray them down weekly.  It sounds a little antiseptic, not to mention uncomfortable, so luckily, there are other options.

We chose to offer the zippered organic cotton mattress barrier covers because they enclose the entire mattress with finely woven organic cotton and the zipper is constructed of tight fitting PVC-free plastic teeth that refuse to let dust mites through. These barrier covers are SKAL certified and tested for dust mites by an independent lab.  If you’re searching for dust mite covers, definitely look for the certification, and don’t forget your pillow barrier cover, too.

Other dust mite prevention includes the following:

• Wash your bedding in hot water (130 degrees F) weekly.
• If you wash in cold water, you’ll need a laundry additive like Allersearch or Dustmitex.
• Vacuum draperies, carpeting, and upholstery weekly.
• Kick the pets out of your bed and into their own.
• Buy washable stuffed animals, and don’t use them to decorate the bed.

Congratulations! You’ve just taken the first step to a healthier sleeping environment.

Next – Elements of a Well Made Bed –  Part 2, The Mattress Pad