We are a nation obsessed with pharmaceuticals. We spend vast sums to manage our health, and we pop pills to address every conceivable symptom. Some elderly Americans take as many as 30 drugs a day, some of them merely to counteract the effects of others.

These millions of doses do not disappear harmlessly into the digestive system, researchers have determined, but instead make their way back into the environment where they may contaminate drinking water and pose a threat to aquatic wildlife.

Instead of flushing your controlled substances, expired, unusable, unwanted household prescriptions or over the counter medications, bring them to this safe drop-off:

Saturday, April 10th from 9am-1pm

Sister’s Hospital, St. Joseph Campus

2605 Harlem Road

Cheektowaga, NY 14225

For more info call (716) 858-6800 option 3

Please bring medications in the original labeled container (blacken out personal information).

Over 100 exhibitors at the Buffalo Niagara Green Expo will help you GO GREEN in your home, body, garden, business, career, & community.

The Green Expo is a free event that will give you the opportunity to learn about the worlds of sustainable energy, weatherization and energy efficiency for buildings, green landscaping and gardening, holistic health, and so much more. (you know we’ll be there, come stop by our table)

SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2010
10AM – 6 PM
Walden Galleria Mall

Visit the Bflo Niagara Green Expo website for more details:
http://buffaloniagaragreenexpo.wordpress.com/

Last night I visited Josh Smith in the studio to talk on his show “The Way Up”. With me was Marcus Wise, owner of the new and awesome 464 Gallery. We had a great time chatting about Buffalo ReUse and 464 Gallery, and thanks to Josh for being such a great host!

To listen to the interview, click here! The name of the show is “Art & Something”. Also, make sure to check out Josh’s show every month, as well as the other local radio shows on Think Twice Radio.

Restoring an architectural gem? Keeping an old home together? Need cost-effective tricks to save old windows, reuse salvage materials, find space for another purpose?

Meet the people with the know-how at the House Restoration Fair, Saturday March 27^th from 10 am to 2pm. The Fair will take place at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society Museum located at 25 Nottingham Court at Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo. General admission is $8, or $6 if you’re a Historical Society member.

Speak with craftsmen, artisans, material suppliers, and contractors at display tables AND see presentations of first-hand experiences from a carpenter, homeowners, and architects. We’ll be there….will you??

While searching for more ways to turn recycled newspaper into seed-starting pots, I stumbled across an article about ways to ReUse old phone books (you can also use phone book pages to make pots for seed starting). I thought this was very interesting, especially considering our office got two of them last summer (since the building is a double), and we barely used either one. The ease with which one can search the internet for a business’s phone number has made these print directories almost obsolete.

Less than 16% of Americans recycle their old phone books. Become one to recycle! You can also call your local phone company and see if they have an opt-out program. OR, here are some ways to REUSE:

1. Make a booster seat for your child. Most of us probably remember sitting on a phone book to reach the dining room table better. Go a step further and cover the phone book with some cotton batting and a fabric remnant to make it even more comfortable.
2. Use them, sheet by sheet, as an alternative to paper towels. Clean windows and mirrors.
3. Next time your kid needs to papier mache something, use pages from your old phonebooks.
4. Crumple the pages into balls to use as packaging filler for delicate objects.
5. Shred the pages up and COMPOST them!!
6. Use one as a kneeling pad for when you’re working in the garden.
7. Use stacks of the pages (10 pages thick or so) to kill the grass where you want a new garden bed. Simply lay the stacks of pages over the grass (overlapping them a bit), wet them down, and cover them with mulch, shredded leaves, or straw. In a few weeks, the grass will be dead and you have a new garden bed!

Turns out the producers of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition were SO impressed with the City of Good Neighbors that they would like to make a return to Buffalo! This would be the FIRST TIME they have come to a city twice (can I get a “Let’s go Buffalo!” chant?). Says Casting Supervisor Morgan Fahey: “We are looking for the deserving people and inspiring families that America can really root for.”

To be eligible, a family must own their own single family home and be able to show producers how a makeover will make a huge difference in their lives. Families can apply – or you can nominate a member of your community – by sending a short description of the family story to castingwesternnewyork {at} gmail(.)com. Each nomination must include the names and ages of every member of the household along with a description of the major challenges withing the home. All nominations must also include a contact phone number.

More info can be found at the Extreme Makeover website, which you can visit by clicking here.

The deadline for nominations is February 26th, 2010 so don’t delay!!! Let’s really show America what WNY is made of.

Who knew coffee filters could serve so many purposes? Better than paper towels, and a lot less expensive! Thanks Marsha for finding these interesting ways to use coffee filters. Here’s my top ten:

1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers.

2. Clean windows, mirrors and chrome…coffee filters are lint-free so they’ll leave windows sparkling.

3. Filter broken cork from wine – If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.

4. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.

5. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.

6. Use as a disposable snack bowl for popcorn, chips, etc. Less dishes to wash.

7. Use them to sprout seeds. Simply dampen the coffee filter, place seeds inside, fold it and place it into a plastic baggie until they sprout.

8. Use them to wrap Christmas ornaments for storage.

9. Keep in the bathroom, they make good “razor nick fixers”.

10. Protect china by separating your good dishes with a coffee filter between each dish.

<–One crafty person made a dress out of coffee filters!

And if none of these ideas sound good to you, they are always great to use in your coffee maker.

Getting spring fever yet? We don’t blame you – we are too! That’s why we’re hosting a day of Garden Daydreaming. Come by our office at 158 Eaton St. between 2 and 5 pm on Thursday, January 28th to relax, browse through our extensive collection of Garden Design books and seed catalogs, and imagine all the possibilities. You can plan out your garden, place your seed orders, and consult our greenspaces coordinator. The sky’s the limit.

We had a lot of fun hosting a series of Wednesday Workshops before Christmas, coming up with fun DIY crafts such as making  stockings out of recycled sweaters, cinnamon ornaments, and recipes in a jar.

We will be holding two “handmade holidays” workshops this February. The first is on Wednesday, February 3rd, and the holiday we’re celebrating is the Super Bowl (ok ok, not technically a holiday but it could be). We will be making coasters to be put to use during your Super Bowl Party. The workshop will run from 4-5pm at 158 Eaton St.

The second workshop is the following week, Wednesday February 10th. This time we’re celebrating Valentine’s Day. Come to 158 Eaton St. to make romantic candlesticks out of spindles from old staircases. What a great way to ReUse! The workshop will run from 4-5pm.  For both there is no fee, but a suggested donation of $5.

Hope to see you there!!

Our continued and generous supporters at the The Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo are creating a new website and they would like your input. The website will connect Western New Yorkers interested in environmental news and activities to the many environmental organizations doing great work in our region.  Sounds awesome to us!

Complete the survey (it takes just a couple minutes) by January 15, 2010, and you will be entered to win an iPod nano or $100! To be eligible to win a survey prize, you must live in Western New York. Click here to access the survey.

Green on, WNYers!