In her Book of Rubbish Ideas, Tracey Smith takes us room by room through our homes and shows us how to reduce waste, or rather, how to reduce the amount of waste that we are sending to landfill.

In the first part of the book, Tracey explains all about the history of rubbish, how rubbish effects the planet and evil consumerist stuff like planned obsolescence.

The second part is the bit with the lists. Lots and lots of tips on how to be a pro-active waste reducer in the kitchen, the bathroom, the bedroom, study, utility room, entrance, garage and even in the garden. Have you ever considered taking yourself off the Yellow Pages mailing list, using an old tin can as a cookie cutter, or using ripped bike inner tubes as draught-proofing? No? Then you need this book, because for the newly green, this book offers insights aplenty into reducing your waste. If you are already living a pretty green life and looking for bigger ways to go green, you aren’t going to find anything new here.

Part three of the book offers case studies and the obligatory celebrity tips on going green.

I enjoyed Tracey Smith’s engaging tone throughout the Book of Rubbish Ideas. This is a lady that walks the walk and is enthusiastic to spread the word about green living.

I would buy this book for someone who has just got interested in green living.

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Terracycle has introduced a line of cleaners (All Purpose, Bathroom, Window, Degreaser and Drain), all with the Eco-friendly TerraChoice Certified Zerofootprint Seal. These cleaners, comparable to chemical cleaners, are packaged in recycled or ‘out-of-spec” soda bottles.

I went to work on my mirrors and my car windows this weekend, and after a minor mishap with spraying soap all over my windows, the TerraCycle Window Cleaner wiped it all up streak-free and clan as ever, without the ammonia smell. As quoted on their website, the cleaners leave no residue and are thus hypo-allergenic!

At $3.99 per bottle (except for the draincleaner), this product is not only environmentally responsible but is affordable. I can’t wait to get my hands on the rest of the products.

This is a guest post by Carolyn Algar, our correspondent in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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I was asked to review some products from TerraCycle, and to my joy found it to be stationery. I’m a Gemini, I love stationery. I collected stickers, paper, erasers, pens, in fact any type of stationery as a child, and still do have those tendencies, but I digress.

Item #1 is an Eco-Binder, made out of 100% recycled paper and 90% recycled steel. An attractive and sturdy binder. And once you have finished using your binder, Terracycle takes them back for further recycling.

Item #2 is Banana Paper. Yes, you guessed it… paper made out of recycled banana peels. There is none of that classic banana smell or to us scientific folk, no isoamyl acetate odour. The paper is compatible with ink jet and laser printers and copy machines. Save the rain forests, eat bananas!

Item #3 is a newspaper pencil. A whole sheet of newspaper is rolled around good quality graphite to form a trunk as hard as wood. Approximately 4 pencils can be made form each sheet of newspaper. I think the fun part of these pencils is that over time the oils from your hand will highlight the newsprint visible on the pencil surface.

Item #4 is definitely the coolest item of the bunch: A corn pen. Everything, but the ink refill, is made from material derived from corn starch, and will degrade within 12 months of being discarded.

And last but not least, item #5, the paper pen. Like the corn pen, everything but the ink refill is made from 100% biodegradable materials. In this case, the materials are used newspapers and 100% recycled paper.

Such fun items, and all can be used with a clean conscience.

This is a guest post by Carolyn Algar, our correspondent in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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