What to do with wire hangers?

Recycle or reuse wire hangers so they don't end up in the landfill

When you take your clothes for “green” dry cleaning (find one near you; search “dry cleaners list”), bring some wire hangers with you, and ask the dry cleaner to recycle them.

Another option is to donate wire hangers to thrift stores and donation centres in your area.

Or reuse wire hangers in the garden to control vines and guide tender plants.

Find other DIY ideas for reusing hangers here.

Likewise, if you don't want to be bothered, visit the Metro Vancouver Recycles website for information on recycling facilities.    

Reusable gift wrap from Refabrica

Reusable gift bags are gifts in themselves—and show there's no shame in regifting

The gift wrap industry sells somewhere between $2–5 billion of product every year in North America, much of which ends up in the trash after a single use. So why do we even wrap our gifts?



For the most part, it's to create an element of surprise. But it seems pretty wasteful, cutting down trees and using lots of energy to make pretty papers that will only be ripped apart in order to get at our gifts.



Yes, there are some recycled-content gift wrapping papers out there, and some pretty stylie ones to boot (like from our friends at Ecojot). But at the root of it, the concept of using gift wrap can be challenged. It's not the golden rule of gift giving.



And there is another way to wrap gifts that still looks great, keeps the element of surprise and treds lightly on the planet.

 

Reusable gift wrap

I run a sustainable corporate gift business in Vancouver and this past spring I was lucky to meet Diane Flanagan of Refabrica, a local Vancouver business that manufactures beautiful gift bags from fabrics reclaimed from the furniture upholstery industry.



The concept is simple: give gifts in reusable bags that look cool so people want to gift and regift with them again and again. The bag itself is a gift and can be used for various things, like taking shoes to the gym or picking up groceries from the store. With a selection of sizes, there are bags for different types of gifts, from books and wine to candles and spa products.



I'm a firm believer that the real value in a gift is well more than the object of what's being given or received; it's in the story—and not only the story from where it came but also of where it's yet to travel. Reusable gift bags show thought for the long-term: the bag will go on a journey, it'll be used and reused, gifted and regifted.



Reusable gift bags respect your relationships and the environment, your family, friends, clients and employees. I'm sold, Refabrica bags are all good.



Refabrica bags are available locally in Vancouver at Book Warehouse and www.itsaulgood.com.    

Plastic Soup

In the middle of the near-deserted North Pacific, where marine life is limited and wind is practically non-existent, the all-too-common pieces of floating trash are the only visible indication of an ocean-altering problem lurking in the dark and churning waters below. Garbage from all over the globe collects here and has created an underwater landfill that spans an area estimated to be at least twice the size of Texas.

This garbage patch lies within the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, a massive watery vortex formed by wind and ocean currents. Ocean debris, most of which is plastic, is pulled into the gyre and slowly circulated.

An example of the kind of plastic detritus
recovered from the North Pacific
Subtropical Gyre garbage patch.