Thank you to Hefty® for partnering with me on today’s blog post! As always, all thoughts expressed are sincerely my own! Thank you for supporting the brands and initiatives I share with you here on Sabby Style! Xoxo
Hi friends and happy Wednesday! In honor of Earth Day earlier this week, I’m teaming up with Hefty® to talk about a topic I’m extremely passionate about; Sustainability! Fun fact about me that most of you don’t know – during my two years in Graduate School, I served on Student Government as a Senator and was the Chair of the Sustainability Committee! I worked tirelessly on campus and city-wide efforts to raise awareness regarding the 3-R’s – Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle – and worked directly with students, faculty & staff, and the citizens of Omaha on Earth Day events. Some of my favorite projects include; launching Zipcar, which is a nationwide car sharing/car rental program, and creating ‘Save Energy, Turn of the Lights’ light switch plates that were installed in every dorm room on campus!
After Graduate School, I took my passion for sustainability to the next level and began working for Keep Omaha Beautiful, which is a nonprofit organization that fosters environmental and community stewardship through education, service, and advocacy. As the Education Program Director, I worked one-on-one with kiddos of all ages to teach them about recycling and water conservation and shared simple steps they could do at home to help our planet and community!
Sustainability, and recycling specifically, is very near and dear to my heart, so when my friends at Hefty®wanted to partner to share the amazing news about the Hefty® EnergyBag® program I was so excited to join them! Nerd Alert – Legit, this program is awesome! There are so many things that unfortunately go in the trash because they aren’t allowed to go in our green recycling bins. So, when I read up on the new Hefty® EnergyBag® Program, my mind was blown. This program allows you to put tons of plastic household and kitchen items in the Hefty® EnergyBag® orange bags that otherwise would have to be thrown away!
Not to get all technical on you, but you have to know how much GOOD the Hefty® EnergyBag® Program CAN and IS doing! By participating in the program, you are directly:
- Helping to achieve fewer tons of landfill waste
- Helping to convert hard to recycle plastics into alternative energy, which can be used to power businesses, cars and homes
- Creating more local energy resources and less fossil energy dependence
- Helping to provide a solution for plastics that currently do not have sufficient mechanical recycling end uses
- Helping to improve the quality of other recycling streams
After reading the list (see below) of all the types of items, I wished we had this program years and years ago. The Hefty® EnergyBag® Program combined with our city recycling program will truly help our planet and make a world (see what I did there!) of a difference for generations to come!
I’ve bolded the items I throw away the most and will for sure be putting into our Hefty® orange bags!
- Toothpaste tubes
- Cake mix liners
- Snack bags
- Plastic cups, plates and bowls
- Foam products (Cups, plates, to go containers, packing peanuts)
- Stand-up pouches
- Condiment packets
- Salad bags
- Squeezable pouches
- Laundry pouches
- Potato chip bags
- Pudding cups
- Frozen potato bags
- Plastic cheese bags
- Plastic pet food bags
- Frozen fruit bags
- Frozen vegetable bags
- Candy wrappers (Tony, I’m looking at you haha)
- Plastic liners from powdered mixes
- Microwaveable pouches
- Plastic straws and stirrers
- Plastic utensils
- Juice pouches
- All other non-recycled plastic bags
So who’s with me?! To participate in the Hefty® EnergyBag® Program, simply collect the plastics listed above, close the bags when full, and place the bags inside your recycling bin during your scheduled recycling pick up. And that’sit! No need to sign up! If you’re in the Omaha area, I purchased the Hefty® EnergyBag® orange bagsfrom Hy-Vee, but you can also find them at Bakers, Family Fare Supermarkets, Menards or online at www.heftyenergybag.com.
I’m beyond thrilled to put our Hefty® EnergyBag® orange bags to good use, especially as we begin to clear everything out of our house in preparation for our home renovation! I’ll be sharing a Spring-Cleaning post and how we use the Hefty® EnergyBag® Program in our home, so stay tuned for that!
