Of course everyone has heard of recycling glass, aluminum, plastic and newspaper. How about recycling:

Plastic bags. The bags we get from the grocery store can be reused. I use mine to carry lunches to work, and to pick up dog poo. Several grocery stores local to my area (Maryland- Giant and Safeway) have collection bins solely for plastic grocery bags. You can recycle your bags simply by dropping them off. 

Even better than recycling plastic bags is to buy sturdy tote bags for groceries and reuse them over and over again. Here is a great site for reusable bags: www.reusablebags.com I love the ACME Workhorse Style 1500, because it folds into a teensy size and fits any purse. Gentle on the hands, unlike plastic grocery bags. For even more conscientious bags, consider cloth bags, which are available all over, but this is one place you might consider: www.papernorplastic.com

White paper. Some local governments won't offer paper recycling, but many offices do. If they do not recycle white paper at your office, encourage them to begin such a program. If they do recycle white paper, make sure you are using it to the full advantage. You can encourage reticent coworkers to put their paper in the recycling bin instead of the "circular file". But it's always good to reuse the paper before it's recycled. That saves trees' lives. If your office uses one-sided paper, go ahead and use the other side for scrap paper or notes before tossing it in the recycle bin. I cut the papers into quarters for To Do lists or notes while talking on the phone, or for short memos attached to papers.

Plastic rings. Do you work in an office that has a soda machine? If it is anything like my office, once a week a company comes and stocks cans, leaving behind a stack of plastic rings that held the cans together in six packs. These rings are RECYCLABLE. More than that, though. They are dangerous to the wildlife. Birds in particular seem to get the rings tangled around their throats or beaks and then cannot eat and starve to death. It sounds hard to believe, but I have seen the photos. This was big news many years ago, and companies promised to make easily breakable rings. Environmentalists declared a victory and walked away. Well, I personally do not think the job is done. Maybe the new breakaway rings failed, I can only speculate. But I challenge you to take a set of rings and with your opposable thumbs and strength, try to break a ring. If they were breakaway rings at one point, they are no longer. Cut up the rings making all closed loops open, and then toss them into your plastic recycling bin.

Styrofoam peanuts. UPS Stores will gladly accept your packing peanuts and reuse them. If you are like me, and order often from the Internet or catalogues, you will find that you quickly collect a bag's worth. UPS makes it very easy to simply walk up and drop off your recycling bundle of joy.

Eyeglasses. Old eyeglasses can be donated to nonprofits that will reuse them to provide glasses for the needy. The Lion's Club is an organization that has been recycling eyeglasses for years. You can find a collection site and read more about their program here: www.lionsclubs.org/EN/content/vision_eyeglass_recycling.shtml

Cell phones. Verizon will gladly recycle your old Verizon cell phone for you. Several organizations offer to recycle cell phones of any make or model. Dispensers at the exits of The Baltimore Zoo provide mailer bags to take home and mail in your cell phone for recycling. Free and easy. Charitable Recycling Program will even make a donation to a charity for every cell phone you send. Find out the details at www.charitablerecycling.com/CR/home2.asp See also www.call2recycle.org for a listing of stores near you that will recycle cell phones.

Batteries. Old batteries can be terrible for the environment. Help us all out by dropping them off at a Best Buy or Staples location around the country. Call first just to double check; some locations might not be participating. If you don't like Best Buy or Staples, which accepts most battery types (alkaline and rechargeable), then many other stores will accept either rechargeable batteries or cell phone phones, see www.call2recycle.org for a list. For a list of places that recycle alkaline batteries, try earth911.org or www.batteryrecycling.com or www.biggreenbox.com 

Composting. I consider composting to be the ultimate recycler. It takes a huge portion of household waste and turns it into natural fertilizer for plants and gardens. Yard waste and old or rotted food products (except protein and dairy) as well as tea bags and paper, can all go into the composter. Composting can be done anywhere, even if you have a small apartment. Gaiam (www.gaiam.com) and other retailers offer a spinning compost bin that can fit onto just about any apartment balcony.

Junk. We all have times when we decide we have junk we don't want anymore. Old books, clothes, jewelry, pots and pans, etc. Don't just throw them away. Some old clothes like undershirts make excellent rags to use for dusting your home or polishing ritual tools. The rest of the junk can be a treasure to someone else. You could sell the stuff in a yard sale, give it to friends/family or donate it to Goodwill Industries. Also consider using Freecycle as a network that connects people getting rid of stuff with people who want stuff. www.freecycle.org By reusing this stuff we save resources that would otherwise be used in making new junk. And the ratty sweaters that are threadbare? Undo the threads, cut them small, and you can set them out in springtime for the birds making nests. They love that stuff. 

"Recycle" your body. Traditional burial is most earth unfriendly. It involves replacing your natural body fluids with chemicals and preservatives, then encasing your corpse in hardwoods or metal boxes, that are then entombed in cement cases in the earth. This will not prevent your corpse from decaying, but does rob the animals and plants of your life-sustaining protein and minerals. Not to mention stealing precious open space, and replacing it with manicured lawns that are unusable for anything but housing cement boxes underground.

We all know that cremation is an earth-friendly way to quickly convert our bodies into fertilizer. By spreading our ashes on the ground, or under a tree, we return back to the earth. Our bodies, empty shells no longer of use to us, will nourish the ground that once nourished us. Its good karma. This used to be the only earth-friendly choice of dispensing with our physical remains. But nowadays, if you want to bury your body, allowing it to be slowly returned to the earth without the application of fire, you have an option in green burials. So far it seems that one place in the US is offering green burials (with many available in the UK). Memorial Ecosystems has created a nature preserve and cemetery near Westminster, South Carolina, where the traditional elements of a cemetery are no where to be found: no manicured lawns, embalming fluids or metal vaults are permitted. Instead, the 32-acre Ramsey Creek Preserve is managed as a native ecosystem complete with flowing streams, wildflowers and mature forests. More details are available at their website: www.memorialecosystems.com

Clean Up

Wherever you go, if you see trash floating around, pick it up. Put it where it belongs. Sometimes the trash is even recyclable. At the beach, the ocean frequently burps up styrofoam and plastic trash. Its fun to chase it down and collect it for proper disposal.

Adopt a wooded area where you can go for meditation, relaxation, and communion with nature. Every time you go there, also take a garbage bag and clean up beforehand. The energies of the woods will be that much more connected and pleasing.

And you don't need a special sign with your name on it to "adopt" a highway and keep it clean. If you feel it is an eyesore and you have time, simply stop and clean it up.

Buy Earth Friendly

BUY STUFF MADE OF RECYCLED MATERIALS. Recycling is only as good as the consumers will absorb. If we do not buy recycled materials, the impetus to recycle can die. Companies will not be able to afford to recycle without buying at the end stage. Green Marketplace offers panoply of products made from recycled materials. Check them out at www.greenmarketplace.com

Purchase cleaning products that are gentle to the earth, without the harsh chemicals that can end up in run off on our farms. Again, Green Marketplace is a good resource.

Purchase household paper products that do not use bleach or dyes. Paper products filled with bleach or dyes are not as kind on the earth as they decompose. Choose paper plates over plastic coated paper plates. They break down faster in the earth.

Purchase gardening supplies that are gentle on the earth. Avoid the harsh chemical stuff that can cause trouble with the water supply. If you rather let someone else do the yardwork, you don't have to employ the chemical spreading companies. NaturaLawn of America is a company with branches around the country that offers 100% pesticide free lawn services. You can find them at: www.nl-amer.com

Avoid overly packaged products at the grocery store. This means go for cereals that are in bags, not cereals in bags within cardboard boxes. Also buy in bulk.

Buy organic, free range, and/or environmentally sustained food products. These environmentally friendly food products are easily available in natural markets, and some of these products are creeping into mainstream corporate grocery chains. Read labels carefully to find the best choices. For a listing of some food labels and what they mean, go to www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200211/ecolabels.asp#4 For guilt-free coffee sipping, consider organic, fair trade, shade grown coffee. You can find it at www.groundsforchange.com or www.highergroundstrading.com 

Buy Energy Star certified appliances. Energy Star is a government program. Certification under Energy Star represents the top 25 percent of energy-efficient appliances; electronics; building supplies; and lighting, heating, and cooling equipment. Specifications vary by product and are revised every three to four years. Appliances that are Energy Star approved can be found anywhere; you will see a blue star sticker on the appliance.

Doing some building, remodeling, or other project involving wood? Insist on buying certified wood. Launched in 1993 by a World Wildlife Fund—led coalition of environmental organizations, industry groups, and indigenous communities, the Forest Stewardship Council certifies responsible management of forests around the world. Its standards limit average clearcut size to 40 acres, prevent conversion of natural forests to plantations, prohibit the use of genetically modified organisms, limit chemical use, and address labor concerns. To learn more about the program go to www.fsaoax.org. Ask for FSC certified wood at your local home improvement store or lumber yard.

Consider solar energy for your home. There are government incentives to make it easier to acquire the solar equipment. Thermal energy is also an option which is highly reliable and will have the added benefit of reducing your energy bills. The more renewable energy sources we use, the gentler we are on the earth. 

When buying a car, consider buying one that gets high mileage to the gallon, and gives off low emissions.  Also consider that there are ELECTRIC hybrid cars available for sale. Toyota makes the 4-door Prius and hybrid Camry. Honda makes the 2-door Insight and the 4-door hybrid Civic. More hybrids are coming to the market each year, so consider that there are many options and you may be able to find your dream car in a hybrid option. But watch the mpg information. Some new hybrids are not necessarily high in mpg. If you are choosing between a hybrid SUV or a standard economy car, the economy car may get better gas mileage. The U.S. Department of Energy offers a side-by-side comparison of gas mileage and gas emissions of various hybrid models at www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/hybrid_sbs.shtml

Invest in green funds. Green funds are mutual funds that only invest in environmentally responsible companies. This means your money is not going into creating harmful chemicals, weapons, or infamously polluting companies. There are two such funds: Green Century Fund at www.greencentury.com and New Alternatives Fund at www.newalternativesfund.com and Vision Capital Investment at www.visioncapitalinvestment.com

Do Good Deeds

Adopt a pet from a local animal shelter.

Have your pets spayed and neutered to reduce overpopulation and reduce the number of animals that end up in a shelter.

Plant trees with a local environmental group. In Maryland, you can work with Treemendous Maryland. www.dnr.state.md.us/forests/treemendous/