Styrofoam cups – It’s not biodegradable. Use reusable mugs or paper cups instead.
Paper towels – A waste of forest resources, landfill space, and your money. Buy dishtowels or rags to wash and reuse
Bleached coffee filters – Dioxins, chemicals formed during the chlorine bleaching process, contaminate groundwater and air and are linked to cancer in humans and animals. Use unbleached instead.
Overpackaged foods and other products – Excess packaging wastes resources and costs you much more.
Teak and mahogany – Every year, 27 million acres of tropical rainforest (an area the size of Ohio) are destroyed.
Chemical pesticides and herbicides – American households use 80 million pounds of pesticides each year.
Conventional household cleaners – Household products can contain hazardous ingredients such as organic solvents and petroleum-based chemicals that can release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into your indoor environment, positing a particular danger for children.
Higher octane gas than you need – Only one car in ten manufactured since 1982 requires high-octane gasoline.
Toys made with PVC plastic – 70% of PVC is used in construction, but it is also found in everyday plastics, including some childrens toys. Vinyl chloride, the chemical used to make PVC, is a known human carcinogen. Buy wood toys instead.
Plastic forks and spoons – Disposable plastic utensils are not biodegradeable and not recyclable in most areas.
Agreed on all. On the flip side, buy maple veneer that was grown and harvested sustainably. We cultivate and harvest veneer quality logs sugar maple, birch, ash and other trees from our woods sustainably and via selective cutting. This is the highest grade of wood. Timber from our forest at Sugar Mountain Farm in Vermont ships all over the world because of it’s high quality. Frankly it blows my mind the distances that some of the buyers come from. Many of our logs have gone to Europe and Japan. It is sustainable wood harvest that helps the balance of trade. Forestry is good if done well.