Folding t-shirts? Get the cardboards ready.

My mother-in-law has been through my closet, so she has seen how messy it can be each time my children rummaged through the drawers for their clothes. To avoid being embarrassed and branded a "messy person", I have resort to hanging all my children's clothes on hangers. I can do that because I have a walk-in wardrobe with large closet space.

If like me, you do not like the notion that your children will grow up deemed inefficient, then it is time to teach them some folding tricks.



Here is an upgraded packable version.

What about the cans?

I have written about how tabs from aluminum cans have been re-used by Dr Therdchai Jivacate in my earlier posting. So, what can you create with the cans?

I have discovered a website, Tesscar Aluminium Craft, that provides 5 easy steps to cut a can up to work on. If you find the instruction easy, then take a look at their free instruction for creating a shark. You can get the template for it at Fiddlersgreen.

If you think this is the craft for you, then explore creating just about anything by taking a peek at what are available on Tesscar Aluminium Craft.

Be careful. If it hurts, recycle them (or damn) cans instead.

Recycling Nursery Rhymes

It is always easier to recite verses that rhyme. I can still recall my "One, Two, Buckle my shoes" verses, which I picked up more than 40 years ago! So, if we want the next generation to remember to do all 3Rs, it is time that we recycle one of those Nursery Rhymes we have learned. How is this for a start?

One, Two
Think before I throw

Three, Four
What can I use it for?

Five, Six
A frame made of twigs?

Seven, Eight
The stuff I used to hate

Nine, Ten
Can be made treasured gem.

So, where did I get the idea from? I attended a workshop organised by the Sungai Long Buddhist Society for facilitators of the Sunday Dhamma School. The fun filled workshop was conducted by Professor Lim of University Malaya and he kindly shared with us that he picked this idea from Responsibility Exercise, a free handout posted on Character Counts Teaching Tools.

The next workshop will be held on 13 January from 2.00pm to 6.00pm. Care to join us?

Having fun? Not on this island.

Think "island" and what you see in your mind's eyes would be tropical sun, coconut trees; a place to have fun on. Sail towards the North Pacific Gyre and you will see a very different kind of island. It is named the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" because of the vast quantities of plastic and marine debris drawn towards the swirling vortex of ocean currents.

Plastic takes a long time to disintegrate in the environment and are more likely to end up in the stomachs of marine birds and animals.



Find out from Algalita Marine Research Foundation how this can affect nature and what we can do about it.



What else can you do about it?

Read about California's Take-It-Back Program to make it easier for customers to recycle their plastic bags at their grocery stores.

Answer Helle's call from Australia for plastic bags so that she can create something beautiful out of them.

Be a Creative Recycler and get hooked on Abandoned Material Arty-fication projects.

A Keepsake? Found in my packaging.

My friend, Meredith, is migrating to Australia. See what I have created for her as a farewell gift.



Just so that she will remember me, I have attached my business card with the SwirlinWhirl necklace I made her. Business cards are usually misplaced and forgotten. Just so that this will not happen to mine, I have made it into a bookmaker. Meredith has lots of books written by Anthony Robbins and it will come in handy.



Meredith travels a lot, so I am not going to give it to her in a box as it will be too big and cumbersome to pack in her luggage. Also, the white paddings in custom made jewellery boxes turn yellow with time. This lovely pouch is a better option. If Meredith decided to keep my creation in her own jewellery box, she can keep this pouch as a potpourri holder.



I just have to drape the necklace over my card to keep it in place.



I like it that she can see what is in the see through pouch. No rummaging through boxes to find the piece she wants to wear. I am also happy that my choice in packaging this gift will not result in any unnecessary waste.



Have a safe trip Meredith. May all things best follow you and your family wherever you may be.

Tips for Recycling Boy at KAB

Recycling Boy of "Keep America Beautiful", one of the superheroes I posted about, has a problem getting people to recycle properly. If he can fly long haul, he would be able to study how people in other countries solved this problem.

In Taiwan, the people there would never missed the trucks for garbage and recycling because they play melodic music to warn of their arrivals.



On top of that:

1) Residents must place their recyclables only in city-approved trash bags that can be easily purchased from 7-Eleven.
2) The truck for collecting recyclables comes five nights a week and drives slowly down the streets or park at a designated spot.
3) The truck accepts only certain items on certain days, example, Styrofoam trays and cardboard dumpling boxes, are collected only on Mondays and Fridays.
4) Residents have to heave the bags onto the truck themselves.

I am sure that this concept can be modified to fit the lifestyle of any country facing the same problem. Imagine a truck with music playing driving around the neighbourhood streets. That should get the children interested enough to check out if the ice-cream man is around the corner and learn instead about recycling. Your 2-in-1 solution.

Do you want to know why the Taiwanese are willing to make these efforts? Julia Ross has the answer for you in her write up about "What I Picked Up About Trash in Taipei" during her stay in Taiwan.

Gift boxes? Start collecting tissue boxes.

I have touched on the fact that as a consumer, I may be paying more for a product based on the packaging it comes in. In order to change my buying habits I have decided to make my own packaging.

Here is one I created out of a tissue box.



I have taken the trouble to wrap it up nicely so that it can also double up as a gift box when I need one. As it would defeat the purpose of reducing waste if the recipient would not consider keeping the box, I have created it to fit a "Chest of Drawers" that the recipient can learn to create.

See it fits into the chest nicely.



If you are not into colouring the "Chest of Drawers", you can always make use of paper bags your purchases came in to decorate it.



The instruction on how to create it can be read off "Drawers cum gift boxes"

Toothpaste? Not for teeth only.

I taught the children some equations for green environment in my PowerPoint slide:

Natural Alternatives-chemical waste=less pollution
Waste composted=less waste=less eyesore+less stench

However, I think some of the children are too young to understand what going organic is about. They may also be too young to read and understand labels on products to make the right choices if they have any say in household purchases. So, what can I do to put the right message across through their parents?

Using toothpaste as an example would be a good start. Do you know that toothpaste can be used as a cleaner for your jewellery? So, before you throw away that tube of toothpaste that you can no longer squeeze anything out from, cut off its top and you will be amazed by the amount left over inside the walls of the tube. You may even have excess to wash your cup and saucers with.

So, before you consider throwing away your coffee or tea stained cups and saucers, give them a rub with the toothpaste. I think toothpaste is a better choice than the chemically abrasive detergent that you would have to use to get the job done.

After you are very sure that all the residual toothpaste has been used up, following is another equation the children can work with:

Waste+Constructive Usage=conserving natural resources=green environment

Get the children to cut the tube into strips as shown in this picture.



These will come in handy when the school reopens and you have more than one school going child wearing different sizes, patterns and colours of socks. Use one to hold each pair of socks neatly together.



Don't miss out doing the same for your tube of facial cleanser to give your face extra washing out of it.



So, no more rushing in the mornings to locate a full set of socks for each child.

And touching on going organic, my A to Z Guide For An Environmentally Friendly Garden may get your children interested in taking up gardening.

Year ending. Keeping old calendars?

Calendars for the year are used 365 days only. I let the children think outside the box by asking them if one can extend their usage time? What would generate an interest for someone to keep them? Following are some examples of what I would hold on to.

I received this calendar from the Sungai Long Buddhist Society and it carries 12 moral messages with interesting pictures that I can cut out for my children to read.



This one carries pictures of Chinese paintings with lovely proverbs to go with them.



Colourful pictures of marine life in this calendar would be great for creating paper beads.



This calendar has a write up of the characteristics for each animal in the Chinese Zodiac. Cut them out and you can create a little booklet for someone who would be interested. It would be nice to attached with gifts, cut out of such nicely written attributes, to someone who is born in that year.



I kept this year 2006 calendar because it carries 365 recipes with pictures for each dish!



Other than the printings, check out its attachment. I love this Chinese knots that is attached to this calendar.



What about those with nothing useful printed to keep them for?



I paste pictures of green places that I would like to visit that I have read from the newspaper. It would come in handy if my husband would like to take the family out for a ride but have no idea where to go.





I told the children about a workshop, Aunty Meredith, one of their Dhamma school teachers conducted. Aunty Meredith said that if you want something, keep an image of it and visualize in your mind that you will get it. That is the law of attraction.

I hope what I taught the children with my calendars will attract thoughts of reducing, reusing and recycling and lead them towards a green living. May they be innovators of future products that are sustainable.

What Would Macgyver Do?

I do not know what Macgyver would do but if my rolls could talk, this would be their reports.

"Would you believe me if I tell you that I attract hot dishes?"



"Drawing papers love being hugged by me".



"I cannot express how happy I am with my make-over. Thank you (sob)...thank you, so much".



"I have been so sad without Napkin until Socks came into my life".



"I have always been one of the croissants waiting to be served by the girls when they played house, until...



... the boys discovered me.



"What do you mean when you said this is my origin?"



Merry X'mas and a Happy New Year

Year ending. Are you keeping tabs?

In Malaysia, we have already celebrated Hari Raya and Deepavali and Christmas is around the corner. As with most festive occasions, canned drinks are one of the "must buy stuff" for our friends and relatives who are expected to visit.

So, I took the opportunity to show the children a news article about the efforts of Dr Therdchai Jivacate who is head of the Mobile Artificial Legs Production Unit and General-Secretary of the Prostheses Foundation, set up in 1991 under the royal patronage of the late Princess Mother. He is a prosthesis specialist, who has created joints for artificial limbs out of tabs pulled off aluminum cans. Why just the tabs and not the cans? This is because the cans take up space and will smell over time if there are any leftover liquids.

Just 3,000 pieces of tabs, which weigh up to one kilogram, will enable the organisation to make the joints of at least two artificial limbs. The idea of using the tabs and being self-reliance by getting all the materials for his artificial legs from local sources reduced the cost of production and enabled the foundation to provide them free to amputees.

Dr. Therdchai has a surplus of tabs provided by local collections throughout Thailand. So, it is not necessary for the children to collect and send them to The Prosthesis Foundation as it would be costly. But I think this is a very good example of a recycling cause for the children to learn about. I hope that this story will remind them to keep tabs in the little book they have created, of what they can do with recyclables other than sending them to the recycling centres .

Come to think of it, this can become a touchy subject if I did not get the right message across. So, just in case they have the wrong idea and their parents started complaining, then I will suggest that they be shown this slide to explain what being unsustainable is all about.

Teaching children? You need superheroes.

It is not easy to teach young children if you cannot gain their attention. Moreover, this is their school holiday and they should be having fun. I decided not to show them this slide on energy and cost saving tips as it would have bored them. They are not the ones paying the house utility bills after all.



Here is another with the same message that they can relate to.



If watching heroes is fun, how about teaching them how to find a recycling cause to become a hero of? I started off by teaching them how to create a book to take down some "howtos" notes. Material used to create book? Used A4 size paper, that is blank on one side, of course.



Once they have that ready, I let them watched a slide on the "KAB Man", which I hope will give them some inspiration.



Then I showed them some junk mails promoting a supermarket with lots of pictures of stuff on sales. I asked them to look out for such junk mails at home and asked them to write down in the books they have created what they can "Reduce, Re-Use or Recycle from the product printed on the brochure.

My 10 years old son has been inspired by the slide. He said he wants to be "MIB Man". What? "Man in Black" for recycling? He corrected me. It's "MAB Man" and that stands for "Malaysia Always Beautiful Man".

That's my hero.

Shopping? Buying product or packaging?

I have to admit that when I am out shopping for gifts, I have been guilty of choosing product based on the packaging the product came in. I think people tend to shop in this manner as my children have been victims of "beautifully packaged" gifts before. When all the lovely wrappings are removed, there is nothing much to enjoy in the package.

I came to realised this when I was trying to look out for information to share with the children at the workshop conducted at Sungai Long Buddhist Society. Here are some slides from YouTube that will make you wonder if you are actually paying more than you should because of the packaging. Find out what you can do about it.







So, other than changing our shopping habits, what else can we do about it? Hmmmm..., how about creating our own packaging? I will definitely be looking into that. So, watch out for some DIY packaging ideas in my future postings.

If I am your friend,,,

A cartoon from YouTube to go with a poem I wrote for the children at a workshop I conducted.



You are my friend
On my lush green playground
I love watching you play
Having fun with my toys
I am always there for you

If I am your friend
Would you litter my playground?
Would you destroy my toys?
Will you be there for me,
your good friend, Earth…?

Underwears? Yes, can be recycled.

The Sungai Long Buddhist Society organised a holiday camp for children of age 6 to 13 in the community and I was requested to conduct a workshop on pollution and the concepts of "Reduce, Re-Use and Recycle".

That put me on a search for slides and information that I can share with the children. I know that the younger children love action heroes and would enjoy watching cartoons. The older ones who are already aware of what pollution and 3Rs are about would need some surprises to get them to pay some attention.

Here is one that I have discovered from YouTube.



I know that this slide is a hit with the children because they kept recounting the story. Though underwears are not recycled in Malaysia yet, the slide is a good way to widen their horizons and get them to question what waste material other than paper, glass and aluminum can be recycled.

A mother of one of the participants became very concerned when she heard about the scene where the hero tried to commit suicide because he failed to persuade the Japanese to recycle their underwears. I cannot blame her for bringing this up to my attention because a 12 years old Indian girl in Malaysia committed suicide when she did not do well in school. So, be mindful if you are showing this slide to the children. Take time to explain that committing suicide is not the right or only way to solve a problem.

Did I discover any other interesting slides? Let me show you in my next posting.

Against incineration? Support activists.

We almost had an incinerator built at Broga, which is within the township of Kajang where I live, so, I can relate to this email request for support to release GAIA activists. They are currently being detained in Bandung, Indonesia after taking part in a local protest against incineration and for climate justice.

The proposed RM1.5 billion thermal incinerator in Broga would have been Asia's largest incinerator if not for the efforts of the residents there and nearby Semenyih who protested to stop the project. Alice, a resident in Broga, tells you her story in this video.



Subsequently, the incinerator project was canceled after taking into consideration the high cost to construct, operate and maintain it. I read from USJ Community forum that many experts have estimated that the cost of burning every tonne of rubbish could be as high as RM240 compared to only RM25 per tonne for the current landfill method. Also consider the cost to transport the waste to Broga. A very large volume would have been required to sustain it.

Broga's safe and before the next incinerator project is approved for development, let us work on saving activists.

===================================================================

Dear Friends,

We write to request GAIA members and friends across the globe to seek the
immediate and unconditional release of the following GAIA activists who
are currently being detained in Bandung, Indonesia:

1. Gigie Cruz, GAIA, Philippines
2. Neil Tangri, GAIA, USA
3. Shibu Nair, Thanal, India
4. Yuyun Ismawati, Balifokus, Indonesia
5. Roni Tabroni, People's Alliance against Waste-to Energy (WTE) Plant,
Indonesia

(please see their brief profiles below)

Gigie, Neil and Shibu arrived in Indonesia last Saturday, 1 December, to
campaign for "Zero Waste for Zero Warming" at the UN Framework on Climate
Change Conference that will take place in Bali on 3-14 December.
Balifokus, Jala-Sampah (Garbage Network) and GAIA are planning to convene
a civil society forum tomorrow on waste and climate.

Before heading to Bali, Gigie, Neil and Shibu traveled first to Bandung
City to take part in a community people's assembly against a proposed
incinerator. This event was organized by several environmental groups
campaigning for climate justice. The activity, which drew the warm
support of over 2,000 people, also formed part of the GAIA Global Day of
Action against Waste and Incineration.

At the rally, Gigie, Neil and Shibu spoke about the ill effects of
incinerating waste, advocated for Zero Waste and conveyed their solidarity
with the local campaign against incineration and for environmental health
and justice. They did not attack the Indonesian government in their
statements before the assembly. After their well-applauded speeches, the
police accosted them, together with our Indonesian colleagues Yuyun and
Roni, and brought them to the police station where they underwent lengthy
interrogation. The police also seized their passports. All of them are
currently detained in a police station in Jalan Jaya (or Jaya Street) in
Bandung.

There are no formal charges yet against Gigie, Neil and Shibu, but there
is an expressed threat of deportation if our Indonesian friends do not
succeed in persuading the authorities to set them free and let them fly to
Bali for the UNFCC events. We are unaware of the charges against Yuyun
and Roni, both of whom are Indonesian citizens.

TAKE ACTION: We call on you to please register your concern and appeal
for the immediate and unconditional release of Gigie, Neil, Shibu, Yuyun
and Roni, so that their human rights are fully restored and that they are
permitted to travel to Bali.

1. Please CALL/FAX the Indonesian Embassy / Consulate in your city.
2. Please CALL/FAX the Bandung Police Department (+6222-4204666, foreign
affairs unit) and the Bandung Immigration Department (+6222-7275294).
3. Please E-MAIL Mr. Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary, UNFCC Secretariat
(secretariat@unfcc.int).

Terima kasih banyak-banyak (Thank you very much) for your immediate response.

Sincerely yours,

Manny C. Calonzo
GAIA Secretariat
Unit 330, Eagle Court, Quezon City, Philippines
TelFax: +632-4364733
E-Mail: mannyc@no-burn.org
Web: www.no-burn.org


1. Gigie Cruz, our assistant coordinator, has been working with GAIA
since 2001 in various capacities, including membership, campaign and
information support. Her most recent task was to coordinate last week's
Global Day of Action against Waste and Incineration.

2. Neil Tangri is one of GAIA's esteemed founders. He wrote the GAIA
report "Waste Incineration: A Dying Technology." He recently rejoined GAIA
to coordinate our work on waste-to-energy and climate change)

3. Shibu Nair was part of the 3-person team from the global south who
went to California for GAIA's first Zero Waste fellowship. He works
closely with Jayan, a GAIA Steering Committee member from India. Shibu
was part of the Thanal team who hosted the Waste Not Asia Meeting held in
January 2007 in Trivandrum, Kerala

4. Yuyun Ismawati is Executive Director of Balifokus and a GAIA member
for many years. She attended the GAIA Global Meeting in Spain in
September 2007, where she played a very active role in the members'
deliberation on the funding of waste disposal technologies under the CDM
of the Kyoto Protocol. Yuyun sits in the national advisory committee on
CDM.

5. Roni Tabroni is from the People's Alliance against WTE Plant, one of
the groups formed to question and resist a planned WTE facility in
Bandung.

Recycing eWaste? Are you doing it right?

Do you know that they are companies in USA who will take your electronic waste (eWaste) off you to be recylced?

While you can get paid for paper, glass or aluminum cans you recycle, you may have to pay company, like GreenCitizen for recycling some of your electronic equipment. So, when you have to pay for recycling eWaste, what "services" are you paying the amount for? This video will give you an idea.



If you do not want to take the "green action" and pay just to get rid of eWaste, there are some other options that you can look into featured in this video.



So, before you discard your eWaste indiscriminately consider the following facts:

1) Your eWaste may land up in the backyard of poorer countries.
2) Toxic chemicals from your eWaste could be contaminating the environment.
3) Incorrect methods used to reduce the eWaste may be affecting the health of many innocent workers.

Oil spill? Go find hair and mushrooms!

As Malaysia is a peninsula, this useful low cost tool invented by Phil McCrory could come in handy should an oil spill occurs on our straits. The following video features some volunteers using hair mats he has invented to cleanup oil spill from a cargo ship that hit the San Francisco Bay Bridge this year.



The hair mats used are supplied by Lisa Gautier who runs a nonprofit called Matter of Trust through which these are donated for emergency oil spill. She collects the hair from salons and send it to Georgia to be woven into hair mats the size of doormat.

So, what's the mushrooms for?

After the hair mats have been used to soak up the oil, oyster mushrooms and straw are layered on them to grow up to 6 weeks and by 12 weeks the mats turn into soil that are good enough to use for landscaping along roads.



Always love a 2-1 solution. And if you are a Salon owner or a Dog Groomer you can make it a 3-1 solution by signing up to mail your hair to them.

I wonder if our coconut husk would make a great oil spill sponging tool...

Global warming? Take an interest!

Check these videos produced by a high school science teacher if you are wondering if there is any truth to the global warming issues that you have heard about.

The Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See (9.33mins)


Cannot make a decision as to what you should do next? Start by forwarding these videos to everyone you know and let them decide. In fact, this cool teacher has produced them in such a manner that even your children will find these usually "dry messages" engaging.

Patching Holes #3: The Manpollo Project (With Explosions) (10.56 min)


How It All Ends (9.58 min)


He even had his videos indexed to make it easy for you to follow through what he has created. So, if you missed one of his points and could not quite understand what he was trying to convey in one of the videos, just look through the index he has posted in the following video for the one you should be viewing for answers. Take a shot at indexing the videos for him if you can do a better job.

How It All Ends: Index (9.28min)


And, yes, you can do anything you want with his videos, including, making a profit out of them if you can. His objective is that YOU champion this cause to create the awareness of global warming.

Finally caught your interest? You can have all you want of wonderingmind42 and what he is into.

Just find the time and take some actions.

Coffee beans? Found in poo.

I was watching "Bizarre Foods" on Discovery Channel this morning. This time food expert and host, Andrew Zimmern, was down in Vietnam trying out Vietnamese coffee. What can be so bizarre about drinking coffee? Well, the farmers of these special coffee do not harvest the beans off the tree.

I saw one looking around the plantation floor and picked up something that looks like poo to me. Yes, there is nothing wrong with my eye sight; he is looking for droppings from civet, which is a kind of weasel. Look at it more closely and you can see coffee beans stuck all over.

These coffee beans have a unique flavor as they have been partially fermented by the digestive enzymes of the civets. Once the dung are washed off, the beans roasted, you have your Civet coffee ready to be grounded for brewing.

I did a research and discovered that most of the world's supply of Civet coffee is sold in Japan. People in USA are drinking it too. Then, there is Kopi Luwak from Indonesia, which is reported by Forbes to be the most expensive coffee in the world.

Infact, Kopi Luwak managed to provide better living condition for the poor farmers in Indonesia. 40% of the online sales are shared with the farmers, enabling them to buy portable generators for electricity for their homes and improve their lifestyle.

So, who said you cannot make life better with poo?

America buying trash?

I have just discovered from watching a video "Trashed" that country like America imports trash into their country from Canada for a fee. What attracted my attention was that people are able to find fresh produce in garbage! Think about the hungry children in war torn countries.

Are you throwing away what you shouldn't? Maybe this trailer from "Trashed" will remind you what you have been throwing.



If a developed country like America would consider cutting down tress to create landfills for trash imported from another country, I wonder if it is because they are looking into developing bioreactor landfill. What's the difference?

In traditional landfill, like what we have in Malaysia, waste is dumped and buried. In the absence of oxygen, the waste decomposes very slowly. The same process occurs in bioreactor landfill but gallons of water per day are injected into the waste "cell" to facilitate the growth of bacteria.

The water used will be recirculated through the "cell" and this additional step makes organic material such as paper, food scraps and wood decompose more rapidly. When the waste decomposed, methane is produced and the gas can be "captured" to be used as fuel. Another advantage of bioreactor landfill over traditional landfill is that since the waste decomposes rapidly, this free up more space for incoming waste.

All landfills, traditional or otherwise, have some risks factors. They include:

1) the escape and combustion of gas
2) collapse of waste and decomposing material
3) leachate of potentially hazardous liquid into water sources.

So, it is still your call. You can:

1) start reducing by buying less
2) find ways to reuse before discarding
3) recycle whatever is possible
4) keep throwing, thinking that it will land elsewhere
5) be motivated to act reading "Letter Written in Year 2070".

MyKad Recycle Rewards Community Programme

I have been given a task by the community in the neighbourhood I am part of. I am looking for someone to collect the organic waste we have collected after cleaning up the park.

I know for a fact that some recyclers use organic waste to run their paper mills and may be willing to pay for them. It's great if I can locate one near Bandar Sungai Long. The fee we can collect from recycling can be used to organise activities we have in mind.

My search for "organic waste for fuel malaysia" brought me to Eco Web. From there, I search for companies in Malaysia and discovered that Brunswick Industries Sdn Bhd is running a "MyKad Recycle Rewards Community Programme" as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

This means that as long as you are a Malaysian with MyKad, you will be rewarded with "nRinggit" for turning in your recyclables. You can use your "nRinggit" to redeem shopping vouchers, electronic or electrical product and even cash.

So, where can you send your recyclables to? They have a niffy box on the left hand side of their website for you to enter your postal code to locate the recyclers nearest you. Sadly, the participation level of recyclers towards this programme is low and I discovered that only 3 companies in Perak are participating.

Not one to give up, I browsed Kementerian Perumahan Dan Kerajaan Tempatan website, which is one of the links posted there. I made a few calls and discovered that you can get a free copy of "Kitar Semula Directory" that lists recyclers at the following address:

Ministry Of Housing & Local Authority
Pusat Bandar Damansara
50782 Kuala Lumpur
Cik Tahlia: Tel No: 03-2099 2370

So, what are you waiting for? Spread the news about "MyKad Recycle Rewards Community Programme". Look through the directory and inform the recyclers in your locality about your interest to participate and get them involved.

You can participate through any of these programmes:

1) As an Organisation Member by involving your company.
2) Encourage your family, friends and neighbours to join you as Individual Member.
3) If you have the venue and human resources to collect and sort recyclables find out if you can join as an Operator.

Can't draw? Can't sew? Can't stick? Can write?

I have written a lot of suggestions on this blog for going green through:

1) providing crafting ideas and links to free tutorials
2) creating practical cost saving solutions
3) highlighting inspiring ideas from successful entrepreneurs

But if you have not being inspired because you can't draw, can't sew, and don't enjoy sticking, here is what you can do. Write to your heart's content and I have just the right motivation for you to start. You can be paid for doing it by blogging!

What can you get paid to write about? Here's the answer...



And if you would like to spread some words about are keeping the environment green, do some research and blog about:

1) conserving energy and natural resources
2) gardening
3) going organic

Why bother? Upload a picture of yourself or your love ones or pets on your blog profile. Each time you start to write think about the healthy environment and the lovely things you can get with the money you are working on receiving. What can you get them or yourself?

Stop dreaming and get on to writing!



Here is another incentive for you once you have started your blog.



I am looking at my picture and thinking about what I will soon be getting...

A mess? Get organised with some waste.

These are empty bottles from the Propolis that my family have been taking. I have decided to use the bottles for storing seeds to be given away and I have even managed to design a holder for them. But what can I do with the caps, rubber pumps and glass tubes?



I have been wondering for a while now until I came across this bunch of leftover crayons I have collected over the years. Looking at the discoloured mess, I can understand why my children have not been using them.



Now I know how I can get them to once I have removed the glass tube from the rubber pump and pull it out of the bottle cap.

\

Push the crayon into the rubber pump and it will extend its length and form a very handy holder for the crayon.



Once the crayons have been pushed into the rubber pumps, leave them on. When the crayons are stored this way, they will not be pushed too closely together and be discoloured.



Watch my daughter at work with her "new" crayon.



It is great to be able to tear her away from watching cartoons and playing console games with stuff that would have been thrown away.



Can't find those rubber pumps? If you are ready to melt your crayons, you can create art and very cute refrigerator magnets with them.

Now let's see how I can organised those odd pencils, colour pencils, pens and pencil leads with some Tetra Pak drink cartons I have collected from my son's recent birthday party.



Though I managed to sort and segregate them with the drink cartons, they topple over easily. I managed to find a 27x12.5cm platic tray...



... to hold all 12 of them and Mummy's dream of some semblance of tidiness came true.



Extend the life of those short pencils by getting yourself a pencil holder. The one shown here is beaded.



Might as well also work on oranising the pages torn off old school exercise books. This I managed to do with a basket that came with a hamper we received.



I have managed to rejuvenate most of my "have been hanging around". So now, it is down to the bottle caps and glass tubes. Maybe I will have the answers for you in my next posting.

As for the bigger stuff that you have been amassing, I have that covered in the following topic:

Maximize your stuff? First rework your storage.

Planting trees? Get 10 free!

Thinking of planting trees but you have no idea how to go about it? If you are living in America, you are in luck because all you have to do is be a member of The Arbor Day Foundation and they will send you 10 free trees, guaranteed to grow in your area or they will replaced them free.



On top of that, you will also receive:

1) A Free Copy of The Tree Book, your expert guide to tree care and conservation.


2) Arbor Day Foundation's bimonthly publication.
3) Member Savings of 33% - 56% on the purchase of trees, plants and bulbs.

The annual subscription fee is USD10 but if you are a member of Woodmen of the World, you need only pay USD7.50.

If you are living in Malaysia and thinking of planting timber trees commercially, you can look into getting an 80% or 90% loan for your venture from "The Forest Plantation Loan", offered by the federal government. This is a 15-year programme to ensure that there will be enough raw material supply for the plywood, veneer and furniture making factories in the years ahead.

The loan is not open to applicants who intend to grow oil palm trees and species of high commercial value you can consider planting are:

Kelempayan
Bantai Binuang
Rubberwood
Khaya
Acacia mangium

If you opt to plant rubber trees, you will have to be able to fund 10% of the investment in your plantation. Eligible participants will receive RM5,400 per hectare. Applicants for other kind of timber trees must be able to fund 20% of the investment and if eligible, will receive RM3,200 per hectare. You will start repaying the loan once your trees are mature enough to be harvested. The payback rate of 3.5% is not compounded.

Need more information about trees before you take the plunge commercially or for a greener environment?


Maybe The Tree Guide posted by Arbor Day and the tree database from World Agro Forestry Centre will help you some.