Recycling keeps trash out of the landfills by reusing the waste for another purpose. Precycling stops waste before it happens. By implementing a few of these easy precycling tips, not only will you produce less waste, you can spend significantly less money.

1. Sign up with your bank to receive financial statements online. You may save a few trees and you can keep a closer watch on your account balance, preventing overdraft charges. Your bank will keep your canceled checks and past statements online to view at any time, so it will free up filing space at your house as well.

2. Many retail shops offer branded reusable mugs or sports bottles that are refillable at a discounted price after the initial purchase. For example, Starbucks offers a 10-cent discount to consumers who bring their own commuter mugs in for coffee. The company’s Web site says that U.S. customers used commuter mugs more than 13 million times in 2005 for more than $1 million in customer savings and immeasurable environmental savings from precycling (not using) the disposable cups.

3. Ask investment and mutual fund companies that send you annual reports and prospectuses to notify you when the reports are available online instead of sending paper copies in the mail. Not only are you saving volumes of paper, you are also saving the fuel that is burned delivering these reports to you via trucks and planes.

4. Use less bottled water. Try a water service or buy a filtration system or filtered pitcher for better tasting, cleaner water. Use refillable sports bottles to take on the road or to sporting events. Almost 2 million tons of plastic are used each year for bottled water, not to mention the energy that is used to manufacture and ship this bottled water to market.

5. Use Direct Deposit for your paycheck and pay your bills through Direct Payment-automatic deduction from your bank account. The paper you will save is just the beginning. The government spent $79 million in 2005 transporting checks from bank to bank. Much of this money was spent on fuel costs. Using these services will greatly decrease the amount of carbon dioxide released in the air from the fuel that is burned just moving checks across the country. Your long-term savings can be significant. First, you will save gas costs by not having to drive to the bank to deposit checks or to the post office to mail bills. Second, you will save close to $100 per year on postage and check costs if you sign up for automatic payment of all your bills.

6. Reduce your use of paper and plastic bags. Use a reusable bag to carry your groceries home. Some grocery stores offer a small bag credit when you provide your own bag. If you use the store’s bags, ask that the bags be filled to the top. Reuse the bags around the house for trash can liners and lunch bags. You can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10 percent.

Building a pole barn has become a much easier task today. With tons of available ready-to-use plans and blueprints, a handy homeowner can build not only a pole barn of two or even six horse stalls, but also add convenient sheds for tractors, feed storage or shelters. The plans can be used to build other kinds of pole buildings, including workshops, storage barns or garages. Simplicity, cost-cutting and durability are the main reasons why people still use poles, the oldest construction technique, to create simple buildings.

Poles have been used for centuries to raise huts and shelters all over the world. Poles rooted in earth forming a frame for the covering material, be it animal skin, wood or metal, provided enough warmth and protection, and could be built very quickly from whatever material was available. To build pole barns, people still use this technique, which hasnt changed much over the years. The materials have changed though, and today pole barns are covered with aluminum, steel and other durable lightweight materials, with insulation and sometimes wooden or brick facades.

Pole barns are becoming more and more popular because they allow the building of reliable shelter for animals or storage without money-consuming earth excavation, concrete foundations and general site disruption.

The cheapest way to start building a pole barn is with a pole foundation. Pole foundation is actually a pole that doubles as a framing member. Posts or poles are inserted deep into ground so they can bear a lot of pressure, sometimes as deep as 10ft. But thats almost all digging for the foundation that a pole barn builder can expect. The pressure is distributed evenly around the pole, and the construction becomes very stable and durable. The builder can dig the holes himself or using a power auger. The poles are secured by a small amount of concrete poured into the holes, saving money and labor, as full concrete foundations can be somewhat expensive.

The pole foundation gives the construction a lot of flexibility. A pole barn with pole foundation can be raised virtually anywhere, even in places where a traditional concrete foundation is not possible, for example, on a steep hillside or wooded area. Thanks to the pole foundation, a pole barn can be built very quickly without expensive ground excavation. Even coastal, earthquake and mountain areas are suitable for building pole barns and sheds. This way, pole barns leave the best land for raising crops, preserving the natural environment and are generally more environmentally friendly with their minimal construction techniques.

Another advantage to pole barns is that you dont have to make them visually perfect and manicured. You can use cheap galvanized steel for the roof and wood sidings, making the whole project very affordable. The only thing that is not worth skimping on, according to experienced builders, are storm clips. These are a valuable investment considering storms and hurricanes are hitting more and more often. Trusses also need to be of good quality as these parts of pole building construction will carry significant weight.

Pole barns and other pole buildings will cost somewhere in the area of $3,000 and upwards, depending on the size and materials available in your particular area. With simple instructions and plans, these buildings can be raised in no time, even if you dont have strong building experience.

Plastic Decking The Modern Solution For The Modern Home

Plastic decking will provide you with a low maintenance solution if you are building a new deck or repairing your old one. The material used in this type of decking does contain wood fiber or sawdust and wither recycled or new plastic. In contrast to traditional wood for decking, plastic never needs to be stained, painted or repaired. There are various colors available in the line of plastic decking. You can have decking that looks just like wood or you can get different solid colors to match the color of your home.

Decking plastic has many advantages over ordinary wood. For one thing it is moisture resistant. Most brands of plastic decking carry a 50-year warranty against decay, rot and damage due to insect infestation. The water resistant composition of plastic decking material helps to protect the wood fibers from any moisture damage. This decking material is well able to withstand the harshest of weather conditions. Even with a build up of ice and snow during the winter, the color will not scrape off.

Whether you want plastic decking for your patio or pool deck, this material is one of the best choices you will ever make concerning your home. It will beautify your outdoor living space and help to increase the value of your home. This plastic wood decking is recyclable and therefore environmentally friendly. It doesnt matter what type of traffic you have on the plastic decking material small children running and jumping, wheelchair, bicycles or a crowd of people for a party, the plastic in the decking will not crack or splinter.

You wont experience any swelling or shrinkage with plastic decking. During the first few months after you install it, you may notice that a little bit of the color has faded from the plastic deck material, but it is very insignificant. This does not constitute a reason to contact the company regarding the warranty because this occurrence is perfectly natural. Like all other materials, plastic wood decking has to get used to the temperature and the weather of your location.

You dont need any special tools when installing plastic decking. It is recommended that you use screws when fastening the plastic deck material to the wooden deck frame. When you are fastening it using this method, there is no danger of splitting the plastic or ruining the grain. You may have to use corrosion resistant stainless steel screws if you live close to the salt water. If the screws rust, this can mar the beauty of your plastic decking.

Your trees are an important part of your yard. They not only provide shade and comfort to your family and add value to your house, they provide an important cost-savings opportunity. “You can dramatically reduce your heating and cooling bills by planting trees and caring for them,” says Bayer Advanced™ Garden Expert Lance Walheim, a best-selling author and regular contributor to Sunset magazine.

Try this test: Take a walk through the woods on a hot day. Notice how much cooler it is? Leaves block sunlight. Take the same walk in the winter. It feels warmer because the trees, now without their leaves, allow sunlight through, while the trunks and limbs serve as a wind-breaker, thereby reducing windchill.

According to the Colorado State University Cooperative Extension, your winter heating bills could be reduced by as much as 25 percent and summer cooling bills by 50 percent if you place trees in the best locations around your home.

The east and west sides are most important to shade because of the path of the sun. Try to keep the south side of your home unshaded so winter sun can warm the house during the cooler months.

The ideal shade tree is about 25- to 50-feet high with a big canopy. A tree that size will partially shade the roof of a one-story home but will not get too big for most properties. You want to plant your trees at least 10 feet from the foundation to prevent roots from breaking through. Plant trees even farther from your house to avoid damaging it in a storm. Your home and garden center can recommend appropriate tree species for your landscape.

How do you keep your trees around for years? The key is preventing problems. Insects destroy more trees each year than wildfires. You can protect your trees from insects by using Bayer Advanced Tree & Shrub Insect Control with Merit. Mix it in a watering can and pour at the base of the tree. It’s absorbed through the roots and systemically moves through the tree, killing Japanese beetles, aphids, the Emerald Ash Borer, Hemlock Woolly Adelgid and other listed pests. One application lasts up to 12 months- longer than any other product.

All Bayer Advanced products carry a money-back guarantee.

Several manufacturers are currently selling ozone generators as air cleaners. The companies manufacturing these devices state they are safe and effective at controlling indoor air pollution; however, for almost a century health professionals and health organizations such as the American Lung Association have challenged these claims.

Sellers of ozone-producing devices often use fanciful terms to describe ozone. It is referred to in such terms as “activated oxygen” or “pure air”, which suggest that ozone is merely a healthy kind of oxygen. However, ozone is a toxic gas which has vastly different chemical and toxicological properties compared to oxygen.

Ozone is a molecule composed of three atoms of oxygen, as opposed to the oxygen we normally breath, which has two. The O2 molecule is stable and nonreactive, whereas the O3 molecule is unstable, tending to dissociate and produce an O2 molecule and one single ionized oxygen atom. This single atom acts as a “free radicle”, that is, it reacts with other nearby substances and changes their chemical composition. It is this ability to combine with other substances that forms the basis of manufacturers claims that it binds up organic particles in the air and removes them from circulation.

Unfortunately, the same chemical properties which allow ozone to react with organic material in the environment also give it the ability to react with similar organic material in the body, with potentially harmful health consequences. When inhaled, ozone can damage the lungs, and it is considered an undesirable substance that is a component of smog.

Inhalation of ozone at even low amounts can cause respiratory problems and throat irritation. In addition, ozone worsens chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma and impairs the body’s natural ability to fight respiratory infections.

A generally accepted theory of aging states that the cells of the human body age both due to genetic factors (loss of cell telomeres) and oxidative damage by free radicals. People are encouraged to eat a diet high in antioxidants, and many take antioxidant supplements, precisely to avoid the kind of damage caused by reactive substances such as ozone.

Most people recover from acute exposure to ozone, but according to a 1996 EPA study, long-term exposure may cause permanent lung damage. The EPA regards ozone as an air pollutant and has formulated air quality standards to enable local officials to warn the public when ozone levels in urban areas are excessive. When ozone (and other air pollutants) are high, asthmatics and patients with chronic lung disease are encouraged to stay inside, and healthy people are told to refrain from strenuous outdoor exercise which raises their breathing rate in the toxic air. Since people are advised to avoid ozone in the outdoor environment, it is difficult to understand why anyone would buy a device to purposely produce it within their own homes.

The FDA requires ozone output of indoor medical devices to be less than 0.05 ppm. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that workers’ exposure to ozone not exceed an average concentration of more than 0.10 ppm for 8 hours. The National Institute of Occupational Safety And Health (NIOSH) recommends an upper limit of 0.10 ppm which should not be exceeded even briefly. EPAs National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone is a maximum 8 hour average outdoor concentration of 0.08 ppm.

The EPA coined the phrase “good up high -bad nearby” to differentiate between ozone in the upper and lower atmosphere. Stratospheric ozone in the upper atmosphere about 10 to 50km (32,000 to 164,000 feet) above Earth’s surface helps filter out damaging ultraviolet solar radiation. This ozone layer is being decimated by CFC compounds used in refrigerators and coolant systems. After negotiation of an international treaty, the Montreal Protocol, CFC production was sharply limited beginning in 1987 and phased out completely by 1996, and a study by the American Geophysical Union shows the rate of stratospheric ozone destruction slowing.

Ozone Generators are ineffective in controlling indoor air pollution, because scientific evidence shows that at concentrations that do not exceed public health standards, ozone has little potential to remove indoor air contaminants, though it still has the longterm potential to cause lung irritation.

Vendors claim that ozone will render almost every chemical contaminant harmless through a chemical reaction whose only by-products are carbon dioxide, oxygen and water. This is false advertising for several reasons.

First, it takes months to years for ozone to react with many of the chemicals commonly found in indoor air (Boeniger, 1995); so for all practical purposes, this is useless. Also, ozone generators will not remove carbon monoxide (Salls, 1927; Shaughnessy et al., 1994) or formaldehyde (Esswein and Boeniger, 1994).

Secondly, in many cases where the reaction between the pollutants and ozone does occur readily, the by-products are as harmful or irritating as the original pollutants (Weschler et al., 1992a, 1992b, 1996; Zhang and Lioy, 1994).

For instance, a laboratory experiment was conducted which mixed ozone with chemicals from new carpet. Ozone did reduce many of the chemicals, including those which can produce “new carpet” odor. However, the reaction produced a variety of aldehydes, and the total concentration of organic chemicals in the air actually increased (Weschler, et. al., 1992b). Levels of irritating formic acid also rise (Zhang and Lioy, 1994).

Some of the byproducts of ozone reaction are themselves reactive and go on to produce further irritating and corrosive by-products (Weschler and Shields, 1996, 1997a, 1997b). Ozone producing devices turn an indoor environment into a seething chemical flask.

Third, ozone by itself does not remove airborne particles such as pollen and housedust. However, some ozone generators are manufactured with an “ion generator” or “ionizer” in the same unit to disperse negatively (and/or positively) charged ions into the air. These ions attach to particles in the air giving them a negative (or positive) charge so that the particles may attach to nearby surfaces such as walls or furniture, creating an undesirable grimy layer; or attach to one another and settle out of the air. In recent experiments, ionizers proved ineffective in removing dust, tobacco smoke, pollen or fungal spores compared to either high efficiency particle filters or electrostatic precipitators. (Shaughnessy et al., 1994; Pierce, et al., 1996).

Even at concentrations that greatly exceed public health standards, ozone is ineffective at cleaning the air. And unfortunately, there is evidence to suggest that in some circumstances ozone generating devices exceed tolerable output limits. Due to the varying brands and models of these machines, and the different room sizes in which they are eventually used, there can be great variation in the eventual concentration of ozone in the air.

In a study by Shaughnessy and Oatman (1991), a large ozone generator recommended by the manufacturer for spaces “up to 3,000 square feet,” was placed in a 350 square foot room and run at a high setting. The ozone in the room quickly reached hazardous levels of 0.50 to 0.80 ppm, 5-10 times higher than public health limits.

In a 1995 EPA study, several different ozone generators were tested in a home environment, in rooms of various sizes, with doors alternately opened and closed, and with the central ventilation system fan alternately turned on and off. The results showed that some ozone generators, when run at maximum settings in a sealed room, frequently produced hazardous concentrations of 0.20 – 0.30 ppm. When the units were run at lesser settings, with interior doors opened, concentrations generally remained within public health standards.

Due to this wide variation in output and concentration, it is impossible for consumers to know how much ozone is actually in the air they are breathing; in many ordinary circumstances, ozone generators can produce toxic levels. At least one manufacturer is selling machines equipped with ozone sensors that turn the machine on and off in response to ambient ozone levels, in order to maintain levels of this entirely undesirable gas within a”safe” range. The EPA is currently conducting tests to evaluating the reliability of these sensors.