TurnitGreen with Repreve
Many people think that a green lifestyle is an effort that is not worth their time. Being sustainable is a commitment, but not every green act is hard labor. There are many things you can do on the road or at home that can make a difference that only take a slight lifestyle adjustment.
For this post, I am teaming with REPREVE in order to highlight ways people can make a difference in keeping our planet green. REPREVE is a recycled fiber that helps turn plastic bottles you recycle into cool stuff you can wear and use every day like this eco-friendly beanie. One Repreve green beanie is made from six recycled bottles.
TurnItGreen – An eco-friendly green beanie selfie
1. Use a personal to go coffee cup
A few years ago, I bought a $20.00 Starbuck’s personal coffee cup. I carry that with me almost everywhere I go and refill when I purchase coffee. In that amount of time I have saved over 1,500 coffee cups from the garbage. I get a ten cent discount every time I use it at Starbuck’s, so it has paid for itself many times over.
TurnItGreen by limiting your coffee cup waste by buying your own personal cup
2. Use canvas bags instead of plastic ones
I remember sitting in the back of a parked bus in Vietnam looking at a vacant lot while we were waiting to move. Hundreds of discarded paper bags swayed across the empty lot like tumbleweeds. Instead of using a plastic bag every time you shop, bring a canvas bag instead. Tuck one inside your backpack. The memory of the wasteland of plastic bags moved me to sing this song with a little help from Keith Richards and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones.
3. Make an effort to recycle bottles
Instead of throwing away your bottles, make sure you recycle them. When I am traveling, I sometimes keep my empty bottles in a small backpack and wait for an opportunity to place them in a recycle bin instead of throwing them away. I do the same at home. If I buy a can or bottle, instead of throwing away the empty, I will take it home and put it in my recycle bin; therefore, I ensure it does not go to waste.
The U.S. plastic bottle recycling rate is less than 30 percent—so less than one-third of all plastic bottles get recycled. Most people don’t think about what happens to plastic bottles after you recycle them. So REPREVE is on a mission to get the word out: Just recycle more. And buy REPREVE products.
TurnItGreen by Recycling your bottles so Repreve can make green beanies and other eco-friendly clothes from recycled fiber
4. Use mass transit
When I travel abroad, I always use buses and trains instead of cars. I do own a car at home, but I try and use public transportation at home in order to give my car and the environment a break.
Turnitgreen by Taking public transportation helps save gas and emissions
5. Buy products that use recycled fiber
Next time you are buying an outdoor jacket, take a look at Patagonia or North Face. There are many outdoor brands going eco-friendly and using Repreve recycled fiber.
A lot of brands you love use REPREVE to make their products greener:
• Volcom graphic t-shirts are made with REPREVE, using 2 recycled plastic bottles.
• One Patgonia fleece jacket with REPREVE has 40 recycled plastic bottles, so you can be a real “active-ist.”
• Life Khaki by Haggar uses REPREVE to put 7 recycled plastic bottles in every pair of pants; so wear what you believe.
Other brands made with REPREVE: The North Face, Polartec, Patagonia, Beija-Flor, Lauren Conrad’s XO(eco) by Blue Avocado, Swiftwick socks, and more.
Enter the Repreve TurnItGreen contest
Dates:
– You can submit entries from 1/17 – 2/2
– Voting will take place: 2/3 – 2/7
– The winner will be announced: 2/10
Grand Prize: $5,000 cash
To celebrate the X Games, REPREVE invites participants to share how they “turn it green”, or how they live a more sustainable life by recycling or reusing materials, by sharing an image or video on Twitter, Instagram or Vine with the hashtag #TurnItGreen and tag @REPREVE.
Once you share the image or video with the hashtag, your entry will be judged on creativity, extent of turning it green, and brand relevance. There will be 4 entries selected as finalists, where they will be voted on by visitors to Repreve[dot]com.The image or video with the most votes will win a $5,000 cash prize. The other 3 finalists will receive a REPREVE Jacket and a Go-Pro camera (retail valued at over $500).
A big thanks goes to Repreve for sponsoring this post. My love for sustainability and keeping it green is purely my own.
TT
The goal of Traveling Ted is to inspire people to outdoor adventure travel and then provide tips on where and how to go. If you liked this post then enter your email in the box to get email notifications for each new entry. Daily travel photos are excluded from your email in order to not flood you with posts. There is no spam and email information will not be shared. Other e-follow options include Facebook (click on the like box to the right) or twitter (click on the pretty bird on the rainbow above).
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Okay, I just bought a lime green bomber beanie. I figure, since I look ridiculous in any kind o’ hat, I might as well get something that will really stick out and give me an opportunity to promote Repreve AND the world’s most talented adventure travel writer and photographer.
Maybe I’ll go back to see if they have a matching long vest so I can “flash” anybody who doesn’t respond to the fashion statement of just the beanie.
Jay Gordon recently posted..Cowboy poetry in Willits, Mendocino County
Jay,
Thanks for not only reading the post, but actually supporting Repreve and the environment. It means a lot to me and Mother Earth for you to actively support the initiative. Thanks again and cannot wait to see the picture on Facebook.
Good tips/options for all of us..
Cheers…
Charles Higgins recently posted..2014 Las Vegas Super Bowl parties and top ten sports book suggestions
Thanks Mr. Las Vegas 🙂
moving abroad and living in the middle of nowhere has actually made me waaay better about all of these things–especially the canvas bags at the grocery store and ditching starbucks altogether. definitely hoping i keep up once we re-locate back to a city where being wasteful is unfortunately really, really easy.
the lazy travelers recently posted..no travel required: #traveltuesday
Great to hear you are not lazy about the environment.
you will be so proud of me! i score 4/5 on a weekly basis – we are pretty good at the recycling, i love patagonia and i only drink coffee in non-paper cups. I do take the train to London. And for supermarket shopping, always reusable bags. Surprised, or what?
@mrsoaroundworld recently posted..A luxury weekend in Madrid, Spain
I am not surprised Mrs. O. Most travelers are really good at recycling as they appreciate our planet enough to explore, so they usually take care of it.
Another thing you could do from a blogger stand point is to highlight green initiatives in the hotels you visit when you do your reviews. Some hotels proudly support green initiatives while some continue to be wasteful. It would be a good addition to the criteria you use to review a hotel.
Only thing I don’t do is take public transportation. Just not that easy from where I live. But yay for me and the family for recycling and using canvas bags. Like you in Vietnam, the whole plastic bag debacle really hit home for me when I was in Tanzania. Empty plastic bags – and bottles, actually – everywhere.
Francesca (@WorkMomTravels) recently posted..About turning 40…
I don’t take public transportation to work either. I could, but it takes twice as long, which is considerable seeing it is already a 45 minute to one hour trip. I will try and do it more in the future.
We are bad about forgetting our canvas bags. It’s a little thing, but it has to become a habit. I try not to use water bottles at all and I also use a reusable coffee mug.
Trips By Lance recently posted..NBA Road Trip: Discovering Family Fun With the NBA
It is difficult to always be diligent about it, but the best you can do is try and focus more on it. I try to have canvas bags on hand in my car, so if I take a trip to the grocery store on the way home, I have a bag. When I take that bag into my place, often times it stays there, so next trip I have no bag, so I know what you mean.
This is worth sharing Ted. I hope people would realize that a simple recycling and reusing of plastic is a big help. Thanks for the tips in staying green while traveling.
They seem pretty obvious, but with only 30% of the bottles in the U.S. actually recycled, I guess more reminders are needed.
i have to admit, i was far better at these tips while we were still traveling on the road. i’ll try and be much more conscience about those coffee runs — it’s hard when your work gives them out for free. :T thanks for the reminder, Ted!
Kieu recently posted..Snapshots from Franz Josef Glacier
Sometimes it is unavoidable. Every little bit helps though, so keep working on it.
Amazing posts Ted. I usually use my canvas bag while shopping. If everyone can do that simple recycling act, the world could be the most safest, secure and healthy place to stay.
Jeff recently posted..Finding Accommodations for Your Next Vacation
Thanks Jeff,
It really does not take a lot of effort to do a lot of good.
I try and do as many green things as I can in every day life. On Calgary we walk almost everywhere. I never buy bottled water. I recycle and reuse whatever I can.I have warm Patagonia clothing made out of recycled pop bottles.And I think that beanie is pretty darn cute.
Leigh recently posted..5 Easy Cross Country Ski Trails in Banff National Park
Thanks Leigh,
I am not surprised that you lead a green lifestyle.
this may surprise you but i’ve been good about these things for a long long time. LOLA an environmentalist? nah…just realized how easy it was to recycle and not be wasteful! 🙂
lola recently posted..One Day Stay: Montreal, Canada
As I mentioned to Mrs. O, I am not surprised and pleased to hear it.