This weekend, your television will probably be on, waiting for the kick-off and those famous commercials that even the non-fanatics look forward to watching every Super Bowl Sunday. You and your fellow spectators will break out the nachos, the hot wings, and the craft beer to snack on while you root for your favorite team.
In all of this excitement, the last thing that’s likely to be on your mind is how sustainable your party is! But there are plenty of ways you can plan a green event, and still ensure a great game day for you and your guests – no matter which team takes home the winning score.
Starting line-up
No matter what eats you decide to lay out on the table for everyone to nibble on during the game, there are always some local options to consider. If you want to put out a sustainable spread, hit up your neighborhood farmer’s markets and shops for the best variety you can find – extra points if it your items come in recyclable packaging! When you buy snacks and finger foods with this in mind, you’re actually helping to cut down on all the carbon emissions that would have been released into the atmosphere to transport those other selections over farther distances.
Defense
It seems so simple to just pick up some Styrofoam plates and cups for your Super Bowl shindig, but sometimes those disposable options aren’t the eco-friendliest ones on the shelf. When you’re stocking up, make sure you check the packaging for indications that your choices are recyclable. Not only will it save you time cleaning up, but you’ll be doing the planet a huge favor!
And there are two game day strategies to reducing your household’s waste; if you feel industrious enough to break out your cookware, we recommend using those same dishes for serving and storing wherever possible. Nothing says “touchdown” like not having to do the dishes right after the main event, right?
Game-winning plays
If you don’t have some sort of system in place at home already, you’ll definitely want to set up a recycling station for everyone to use that day. Even if all of your dishes and utensils are eco-friendly, you can bet that if some of them will end up in the general trash can rather than your recycling if you don’t have a clearly identified receptacle. Before anyone shows up for pre-game festivities, we suggest putting one front-and-center in your kitchen. Or, if you have a great program near your home, you might as well line up your separate bins and make it easier to keep materials in their proper place before your next pick-up.
Whether you’re a die-hard football fan or just in it for the fun, your game day party is perfect for reintegrating (or reinforcing) a solid recycling and sustainability plan in the home. For more tips to help you keep that momentum going throughout the year, stay tuned to Carolina Fibre’s blog. Or, follow us on Facebook and tell us all about how you make your environment a little greener each day!

Living in an apartment or a condo is a great way to immerse yourself in an urban neighborhood, or even to cut costs when you move in with a friend. But communal living styles also have their drawbacks; including sometimes turning a blind eye to your neighbor’s poor recycling habits.
But no matter where you live, there are always more methods for making your environment a little greener. Some residences may seem easier to manage than others, but the technological age has given us all an extra set of eyes to keep track of our in-home habits. So while you may have just moved into that apartment complex or condo community, it’s not too soon to jump on improving your sustainable routine!
As a commercial recycling company in the Greensboro area, Carolina Fibre doesn’t directly work with homes and families to cut down the impact they have on sustainability in their neighborhoods. But to help get you started on the right track, the staff has done a little research to find one of the most comprehensive green apps we’ve seen so far. By implementing this program in your home, you can begin monitoring your own carbon footprint and discover new ways to change your lifestyle, step by step.
Oroeco
With personalized tips that can help you save money on your daily purchases and reduce your carbon footprint, Oroeco is a stellar example of an app designed for green living. This particular program breaks it down by your habits, from what you use on a regular basis – including water and other resources – to the things that you buy and how they’re disposed of when you’re done with them – like clothes or processed foods.
You can even use the app to connect with others who are trying to live a healthier, eco-friendlier lifestyle. By registering in your area, you and your friends and neighbors can compare your impacts and even compete with one another for the title of Climate Champion!
As it learns about your habits and purchasing proclivities, Oroeco begins to build a profile for you, as well as provide you with an analysis of what areas of your daily life are leaving the greatest imprint on the planet. It then compiles suggestions and alternatives for how you could minimally change your typical spending patterns or activities to make better use of natural resources as well as spend smarter no matter where you shop.
While it may sound a bit invasive to report minor details of your personal life – such as how often you did your laundry or what sort of snacks you bought during your last grocery run – to an app that can compare your habits to those of other users in your area, Oroeco is also an effective way to let someone else plan ahead for you. By allowing the app an insider’s look at the way you live, you and your roommates or neighbors can get a head start on your New Year’s resolution to live more sustainably.
Need more tips for everyday recycling? Stay tuned to Carolina Fibre’s blog, where we outline everything from holiday-themed projects to news in the recycling industry.

When you think of recycling, or adopting more sustainable habits, what are the first steps to come to mind? Normally, we would think of recycling in the home, maybe in the kitchen or as a general communal system for the household.
But have you ever considered recycling with your pet? You may not realize it, but owning a dog or cat can be the golden opportunity to invest in some sustainable brands, or even try your own hand at making some of the items that you know you’ll use every day.
Since the pups here at Carolina Fibre are all about recycling and preserving the planet, we thought we’d share a few of our favorite methods for green living when you’re a devoted pet parent.
Why Recycle with Your Pet?
When it comes to the animal life, both in your home and out in the world around you, littering and general poor sustainability practices take their toll. The health of your pet often depends on the health of your home, even if your dog or cat is frequently outside. So, when you establish some green patterns in and around your home, you can give them a safe environment in which to exist. We often consider the health of fellow humans when we talk about the importance of recycling, but our animals are just as sensitive to the way we treat the planet.
Best Practices
If you’ve got a furry friend and want to know how best to cultivate a green environment, some of the best places to start are located in your pet’s favorite locations: the kitchen and the backyard! For this reason, we recommend initiating a home recycling program that revolves around meal times and play times, whenever those may be for you and your pet. This can mean storing pet food in reusable containers, making your own toys for your dog or your cat, and even finding innovative ways to reuse or recycle dishes and other pet essentials.
DIY Pet Supplies
From water bowls to pet collars, there are plenty of pet supplies that you can make yourself and still cut down on the amount of waste you dispose of on a regular basis. The best part is, your dog or your cat will thank you for the effort! Whether you decide to invest in some eco-friendly materials to craft your own toys for dog park excursions, or find new ways to green your kitchen and living areas so that your pet can benefit, you can expect to see a healthier, happier pet.
As we get closer to the start of a new year, do yourself and your pet a favor by looking into sustainable alternatives to your everyday routine! The staff here at Carolina Fibre have got plenty of tips to help you get started; stay tuned to our blog for more in the months to come.

You’re there every week. Most people spend at least one meal-time on-location, or in its vicinity. And while it’s easy to complain about its constraints on your free time, at least it pays the bills, right?
You may not always be able to land your dream job, but there are definitely methods of making the work environment a happier, healthier place for you and your coworkers or employees. We recommend finding a way to get everyone on board with a recycling plan! It can be difficult to create a strategy that works for all of the staff, depending on your industry and the number of people you’ll need to accommodate. But with the help of Carolina Fibre’s consulting services, your company can get on a greener track in no time!
The question is, how do you get everyone to keep up with sustainable workplace practices? Before anyone has the chance to fall back on old habits, try introducing a managing app that will help keep all the employees – and yourself – in check. There are quite a few out there to help remind users about pick-up days and times, what is and isn’t recyclable, and even monitor group recycling efforts.
My-waste
Our experts decided to give one of these apps a try and find out just how effective it was in helping businesses maintain a sustainable workflow, and My-waste was easy to use and could be customized to individual or group needs! While it’s advertised as the perfect household recycling tool, we found that its features were also easily adapted to the workplace, especially on an individualized employee level.
With reminders about pick-up locations and lists of what can be recycled based on a user’s postal code, it’s easier than ever for employers to set up an account and keep their teams informed as to what common office items can be recycled right from their place of business. Users can also access this data base and set personal reminders for waste disposal and recycling drop-off points to continue the green trend after quitting time!
Available on both iTunes and Android, My-waste is compatible with digital assistants like Amazon Alexa, meaning its users – you and your colleagues – have even more ways to monitor office-wide recycling initiatives through access to quick responses for all of your sustainability questions. Sticking to a greener strategy is easier than ever when you can carry helpful tools like this one at your fingertips: literally!
If you’re ready to implement a sustainable attitude at your place of business, the recycling consultants at Carolina Fibre are here to help! Just contact us to set up an appointment to talk about your office’s needs and capabilities, and we can help you get started. In the meantime, check out the My-waste app and see if it’s the right tool for you and your coworkers.

We all have that friend or family member (or maybe this person is you!) that absolutely loves to cook. It doesn’t matter what style of dish it is, or how long the process takes; the at-home chef is eager and willing to give it a try.
But more often than not, cooking – whether experimental or just whipping up tried and true standbys – inspires messes of epic proportions in the kitchen. A lot of the products we then use to clean up those food splatters and accidental spills, even the rare case of broken glass or ceramic, are recyclable until they come into contact with food products. Then it gets harder for most recycling centers to properly break down those materials in order to reuse them. In addition to recycling all that you can, you and your culinary-minded friends could use a few neat ways we’ve found will help cut down on the waste you make while you cook!
Reusable containers
You’ve heard it before; keeping reusable containers around the kitchen can not only mean less plastic going into landfills, but also less hassle and cost for you. But eco-friendly receptacles for leftovers don’t have to end at Tupperware products. Many at-home cooks are also investing in glassware for storing their meals, and even find pieces that can be used in keeping entire dinners for more than one fresh and ready to be reheated at a later date. So go ahead, cook up a storm when the mood strikes – sustainable container options make it easier than ever for you to have fresh feasts at any time of day, and without putting further strain on the planet.
Washable cloths
Every chef’s least favorite part of cooking is the aftermath, but cleaning up is just a part of getting to make a mess while you create in the kitchen. Rather than reach for paper towels, try using some washable cloths for some of the more manageable mishaps. Paper towels are convenient for tossing in with the garbage, especially when messes consist of liquids and other more difficult to clean residues. But when your wreckage involves more dry goods, try using a cloth that you can add to your laundry basket and cut down the number of paper towels you go through; your planet and your wallet will thank you!
Clean-up sessions
Every chef is different; some prefer to clean as they go, while others would rather make their messes and worry about tidying up when the meal is finished. Whichever method you prefer when cooking at home, be sure to use resources like water and paper products sparingly. If you time your clean-up sessions to be the most effective and to consume fewer resources that may or may not be recyclable by the time you’re through with them, then you can save yourself extra effort as well as keep a sustainable pattern in your cooking routine.
Cooking can be a great communal experience, so why not get everyone on board with an eco-friendly system, too? If you’re willing to try a new recipe with off-the-wall ingredients, then using a few of these tips to make your kitchen a greener environment should be like cracking an egg. Stay tuned to our blog for more!

Recycling containers on suburban streets, multiple bins lined up in front of the local grocery store for all manner of recyclable materials, and reminders in office buildings and shops to dispose of waste responsibly: these days, North Carolina is home to a statewide initiative dedicated to habitual sustainability. Even in just the last few years, it’s seen a significant improvement in the overall environmental impact of its citizens.
But in a culture that’s generally enamored with social responsibility, connectivity, and going green in whatever ways possible, it’s easy to lose sight of how far we’ve come versus what we could be doing better, or what we hope to accomplish yet. But here at Carolina Fibre, we believe in giving credit where it’s due! So, where does North Carolina stand in sustainability efforts?
According to a recent study from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, the state as a whole saw a 5% increase this year in the recycling of co-mingled materials. Thanks to some great outreach efforts and that green mindset we mentioned, it seems that our greater community has pulled ahead in terms of general mindfulness and recycling efforts in daily routines.
And while Wake County did experience a minute decline in its recycling rates last year, that isn’t to say that it lags behind the rest or that its residents aren’t doing their part. In fact, when the county rolled out new recycling containers for households approximately a decade ago, the recycling program received a substantial boost that has remained fairly level since then. The city of Raleigh was even counted among the greenest cities in the country last year!
If you want to contribute to North Carolina’s success, here are a few steps you can take to live a little greener:

• Search your county and town websites to find the recycling centers closest to you.
• Implement a sorting system at home to make it even easier to separate materials that need to be picked up by a waste management service from those that can be recycled or repurposed.
• Shop for recycled products in your local stores.
• Encourage your office mates to use their supplies wisely, and reuse what they can.

With the services and facilities offered by Carolina Fibre, it’s easier than ever for businesses as well as individuals to jump on board with green efforts in North Carolina. Contact us today if you’re ready to get started on your company’s commercial recycling plan!