Traveling Ted is a blog that takes readers along on my adventures hiking, canoeing, skiing, and international backpacking. Many blogs focus on one aspect of backpacking, but I tackle both the outdoor adventure side and international exploration as well.

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Repreve TurnItgreen

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.

Repreve green beanie

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.

Coffee cup waste

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.

Repreve recycled fiber

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.

Public transportation

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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