A new “green” service is available in the Cincinnati area.  You might call it a version of Freecycle for moms.

From the release:

Freepeats.org connects Cincinnati-area parents with baby, children’s and maternity items.

Atlanta, Georgia – November 16, 2008 – Angie Wynne, founder of the popular frugal parenting website, Baby Cheapskate (babycheapskate.com), recently announced the expansion of Freepeats.org, an online forum which allows parents to pick up gently-used baby, kid, and maternity items for free from nearby parents who have finished with them.

“Preparing for a baby’s arrival is expensive,” says Wynne, “and so is raising one. Common estimates put the cost at $10,000 in the first year alone. And this is at a time when many families are trying to get by on one parent’s income. At the same time, many of the expensive baby items parents spend their money on get used only for a very short time. There’s still plenty of life left in them. If parents can find good-condition second-hand clothing, toys, and gear, they’ll shave hundreds of dollars or more off that $10,000 total. Besides that, we’ll keep usable items out of the landfills.”

Freepeats opened in the Cincinnati area on November 16. Freepeats groups are also up and running in 36 other major U.S. cities with dozens more openings planned for 2009. “I want parents all across the country to have access to the savings that Freepeats offers,” Wynne says. “We’re opening the forums just as fast as we can.”

For Cincinnati-area residents who join Freepeats there’s be a $4.95 nominal, one-time membership fee. Meanwhile, it is Wynne’s hope that residents will get hundreds of dollars’ worth of gently-used baby items for the price of the cost of the gas it takes to go pick them up locally.

Freepeats has now registered more than 14,000 members. Offerings have included bouncers, swings, cribs, infant formula, baby and toddler clothing, zoo tickets, diapers, strollers, high chairs, baby gyms, parenting books, toys, and more. The site has been featured at Discovery.com’s Planet Green website, Apartment Therapy.com, Nickelodeon’s Parents Connect website, Green Deals Daily, Readers Digest, and others.

The Cincinnati Library has been ranked among the top 10 libraries for the third year in a row.  Of the 79 libraries in cities with 500,000+ populations, the Cincinnati Library ranked #10.

A strong library is an incredible resource in a community looking to be livable and green.  You can walk in almost any community of Cincinnati and find a Public Library branch.  The opportunities for learning through borrowing books and other materials as well as attending thoughtful programs are many in the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

Consider the Books on the Banks Program, free wi-fi and internet access, and all the Library has to offer.  Hav eyou ever taken advantage of the online catalog system?  You can save resources by supporting and borrowing from your local library rather than purchasing all of your own materials.

The Cincinnati Zoo is encouraging all visitors to bring their own treat bag for HallZOOween this year.  Think pillowcase - gives you more opportunities for goodie collection.  That’s just the beginning of a green Halloween: check out this list of suggestions to have an environmentally friendly (as opposed to environmentally spooky) Halloween.

From the HallZOOween website:

Be Green this Halloween! Halloween can be spooky and fun, but it doesn’t have to be scary for the environment. Here are some tips for having fun this Halloween the green way.

• Make costumes out of old clothes, trade last year’s costumes with friends, or purchase your costume at a second-hand shop.

• Pass on the vinyl masks—they emit toxic fumes. Paint your face instead using homemade face paint.

• Make your jack o’lantern from an organic pumpkin bought at a local farmer’s market and light it up with beeswax or soy candles, which burn cleaner than traditional candles.

• Once you’ve finished carving your pumpkin, roast the seeds to make a healthy snack for you, or set them out for wildlife.

• Use a reusable cloth trick-or-treat bag, or even just a pillowcase.

• Trick-or-treat in a safe neighborhood where you can walk from house to house instead of having to drive.

• Light your way from house to house with a flashlight that uses rechargeable batteries, or better yet, one you can crank or shake to light.

• Light the path to your front door with luminaries made by nailing holes in empty tin cans.

• Switch out your incandescent porch light for an energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulb or LED light, or even better, burn candles instead.

• Sit on your front porch to hand out treats instead of opening and closing the door, which wastes energy.

• Give out organic candy—yes, they make organic lollipops, chocolates, and even gummi bears!—which can be purchased online or at natural food stores, or go with an even healthier option like granola bars or raisins.

• Compost your pumpkin instead of throwing it in the trash. Go ahead and smash it first—it will help start the decomposition process.

Get more green Halloween ideas from GreenHalloween.org!

And speaking of compost, are you ready to try Vermicompost?

This shot is a handful of the good stuff, taken at Emersion Design.  They are turning coffee grounds and other selected food wastes into a valuable, rich, planting soil.  Just add worms and watch them eat away at your discards and leave you the gift of compost.  Enjoy this vermicompost Q&A with Nikki Marksberry at Emersion Design.

Why Vermicompost?
Emersion Design had a recycling program before we had office furniture, phones or computers. It is important to us to keep as much as possible out of Mt. Rumpke (during our recent office expansion, 99.27% of all construction waste/debris was diverted from the landfill). Emersion started a vermicompost for several reasons; 1. It’s portable and can easily be controlled indoors, 2. It’s inexpensive to start especially if you make your own 3. And because worms are cool!

How do you get started?
I heard an interview with The Worm Lady on NPR and was “hooked.” There are a number of websites about vermicomposting and Shawn Hesse – an architect in our office and the local USGBC Chapter President- had a book with step by step instructions how to make a worm bin. We took a big Rubbermaid container, drilled holes, added food scrap, newspaper, and worms. Viola!

Where is your bin?
We keep our bin in our break area under the table.

What do you put in it?
Anything that can biodegrade goes in our vermicompost. Coffee Grounds, apple cores, spoiled leftovers, and then we cover the food with bedding made of white paper or newspaper

Doesn’t it smell?
We have had no problems with odor or other bugs. As long as there is enough bedding on the food only the worms are happy and other critters stay away.

How long does it take to make compost?
The food is eaten by the worms within a couple of weeks (it takes less time if the food is spoiled and already growing mold or fungus). It takes three to five months before there is enough worm castings or soil to harvest.

What do you do with the compost?
For now the compost has gone to office plants and to my neighbor’s organic garden. It’s great fertilizer!

When my building began recycling, the trash we made was cut in half.  When I look at what is in my trash can right now, I see a combination of useless garbage and food waste.  What can be done to make use of food waste and keep it out of the landfill?  Compost!

Feed your garden and help reuse resources instead of sending them to the landfill by composting.

If you’re looking for a reason to start or expand your compost, look no further.  The Hamilton and Adams-Clermont County Solid Waste Districts are sponsoring a compost bin sale on Saturday, September 27th from 9am to 3pm at the following locations:

1) Anderson Township Farmer’s Market
7832 Five Mile
2) Colerain Township Community Center
4300 Springdale

The “Earth Machine” compost bin retails for $80 but will be available to residents of the participating counties for only $37!  Please bring cash or a check to take advantage of this incredible deal.

If  you need more guidance to get started, there will be composting experts on hand to help.

There is a lot of paper in our lives; way beyond office paper, junk mail, and magazines.  Here are a few more answers to help you get the right mixed paper into your recycling bin.

Question: Can sticky papers like post-it notes be recycled?
Answer: Yes

Question: Can restroom and kitchen paper towels that have been used to dry hands and counters be recycled?
Answer: No. There is bio residue and grease (similar to the case with pizza boxes) left behind that contaminates the paper so it cannot be recycled.

Question: Can I recycle shiny papers like receipts, movie tickets, and coupons?
Answer: Yes! These are all considered mixed paper and are indeed recyclable.  Even if you choose to shred your receipts, you can recycle the paper shreds.

Question: Can I recycle paperback books?
Answer: No.  Rumpke cannot accept these, but you can donate them to the public library or take them to a Half Price Books store for resale.

Question: Can wrapping paper be recycled if you get all the tape off?
Answer: Rumpke’s manufacturers will only allow a very small percentage of wrapping paper in a bale, and if there is too much it will not be accepted. At this time, Rumpke advises against adding wrapping paper to your recycling. However, back in the day, my grandma collected wrapping paper at holidays, trimmed the edges, ironed it on the lowest possible heat, and reused it. I hear it also makes great book covers for text books.

Thanks to Amanda Pratt of Rumpke for the facts!

Some things that seem like they are recyclable are actually not accepted in Cincinnati.

Question: Are dishes, mirrors and window glasses accepted?
Answer: The single stream sorting technology employed to sort recyclables cannot sort these items. Also, the type of glass used to make these items is not useful to the manufacturers using the glass Rumpke Recycling processes.

Question: Can I recycle small metallic things like staples, paper clips, and wire hangers?
Answer: No. Staples still need to go in the garbage with your paper clips. Remember to reuse those paper clips as many times as you possibly can before trashing them. I always like to give my mutilated paperclips a final goodbye by sculpting them into mini-modern art. Wire hangers from the dry cleaner can be returned to your dry cleaner and reused. There are also many clever ideas to turn wire hangers into things to use around the house like funky book shelves.

When you can’t recycle, reuse!  Get creative and craft gifts for all your friends and family out of your used hangers and mirrors.  Save the good stuff for your next yard sale or give it away on Freecycle!

As we mentioned yesterday, most paper materials you recieve in the mail are recyclable.  Here are a few more questions about postal items and whether they can find a new life in your recycling bin.

Question: Can bubble envelopes for mailing be recycled?
Answer: No. The paper outside cannot be separated from the plastic bubble wrap inside and the mixture is contaminated.

Question: Can I recycle Tyvek-type mailing envelopes?
Answer: Yes.

Question: What about stickers or sheets of address labels?
Answer: No. Sticky labels cannot be recycled because there is too much adhesive involved.  When I recieve an excess of address labels in the mail from organizations, I cut off my address and give the sticker squares with pictures or designs on them to my nieces.

Question: When I recycle my cardboard and boxes, do I need to get all the labels off?
Answer: If you are recycling corrugated cardboard, you do not need to remove labels. They will disintegrate in the recycling process.

Thanks again to Amanda Pratt and Rumpke for the facts!

Need a bin?  Check out details on how to get a recycling bin.

Have a bin?  Keep filling those bins with boxes and your other recyclables, the Mayor is counting on us for his recycling challenge!

Most paper you deal with on a day to day basis is recyclable in Cincinnati.  Feel free to drop white paper, colored paper and newspaper in your bin.  But what about other papers?

Question: Can I recycle junk mail and envelopes with see through windows?
Answer: Yes! All junk mail can be recycled including envelopes with windows.

Question: Can I recycle catalogs and magazines?  What about the staples?
Answer: Yes!  All catalogs and magazines can be recycled, even with staples in the binding.

Question: Can I recycle a phone book?
Answer: Yes!  Drop these in your Rumpke bins and they will be recycled.

Thanks again to Amanda Pratt at Rumpke for the facts.

If you weren’t already including all these things in your curbside recycling bins and drop-off points, now you can!  Remember whenever possible, remove yourself from mailing lists and use the backside of your paper for notes and grocery lists.  Then, clean up the counter and fill your recycling container with paper, paper, paper!!!

Have you ever wondered what you can and can’t recycle? Some things are obvious like bottles and cans, but there are a few grey areas that we all wonder about.

In the Greater Cincinnati area, Rumpke provides residential and commercial recycling services. We recently had the chance to speak with Amanda Pratt, corporate communication manager with Rumpke Consolidated Companies. With input from Amanda and tips from RumpkeRecycling.com, Live Green Cincinnati is able to shine some light on those local recycling grey areas.

Question: Can I recycle a pizza box?

Answer: No. Pizza boxes cannot be recycled because the grease contaminates the cardboard making it unusable in the manufacturing process. Unfortunately you need to direct your pizza boxes to the garbage can. Better yet, take the box out of the equation and eat in at a restaurant for your next pizza craving.

Stay tuned for more recycling tips over the next few days!