Eco Friendly Friends

Megan: Oh crap, my annoyingly eco-friendly friend, Julie, has come to the rescue right before I can take a bite out of this delicious-looking meat pie. Good thing she’s here, I was just about to enjoy myself… Maybe if I walk fast enough I can turn the corner before she looks up from her phone and sees me. Oh wait, I’m sorry, I mean her recycled timber-covered iphone. Give me a break for once. Actually, it looks kind of cool… Okay, here goes… Don’t look at me, don’t look at me, don’t loo--

Julie: Megan!

Megan: Dammit. Julie! Hey…

Julie: Oh my god, Megan, I’m so glad I bumped into you.

Megan: Oh, well, I’d say the same but—

Julie: Don’t even waste your breath, you look exhausted. Feeling’s mutual, I’m sure! Anyway, the reason I’m so glad is because I have something I’ve been meaning to give you! You mentioned you were having trouble drying your clothes sufficiently?

Megan: Yeah, like, ages ago. I’m surprised you remember.

Julie: Well, I have something for you that might help. Eco dryer balls!!

Megan: Oh, here we go.

Julie: They’re these two balls that you put in your machine to soften/dry your laundry – and without any chemicals. They’re so much faster than the softeners that use electricity, and they’re so much cheaper. But for you it’s for free, because I already bought it.    

Megan: Gosh, Julie. Thanks, this is actually great… Where did you find it?

Julie: This Australian online store called todae. I found the store at http://www.greenfinder.com.au/. Hey, I actually bought this iphone case from todae!

Megan: Oh yeah? I was just admiring it. Well, thanks so much for your help. Dammit, I hate it when she’s right AND tasteful.  

M Cups Review

Looking for something fancy to measure your ingredients with? The Fred M Cups are Matryoshkas made to measure! The M Cups come in a set of 6 dry-measure cups, nicely designed as the traditional Russian matryoshkas. The M Cups measure 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 3/4 and 1 full cup! Another good thing about these lovely cups that they are built from heavy-duty, food-safe, long-life engineering plastics. Also useful, easy to store and ofcourse, quite charming.

The M Cups are available in the colour red or white; I got myself a white version yesterday and I really like them. They fit so well between all my other kitchenware! If you want to got hand on 6 of these measuring matryoshkas, I bought them at Todae Lifestyle Store.

Homewares to Make the Office Homely

Is your desk at work bringing you down? Is it more a prison than a place of employment? Bring a bit of personality to your work with a heartwarming Homeware. We think the Pen Grass Stand from Todae is a bit of alright, bringing the outside in.  While there are many other Homewares Online to delight your desk,  we got to thinking about how other creative kids have made their offices more outdoorsy. 

It was hard to go past the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris with its vertical garden designed by botanist turned vertical landscape designer Patrick Blanc. But this organic architecture is hardly unique and luckily you don't have to go all the way to Paris to find it.

Greenhouse St Georges Terrace in Perth's CBD is a cafe/bar/ restaurant all about sustainability with the exterior of the building  "...clad in corrugated iron covered by a vertical garden with about 4000 terracotta pots filled with ivy and strawberry plants."

Not only that but their Furniture includes chairs made from old road signs, bar stools and tables made from recycled wooden palettes and light shades made from reclaimed fencing wire. Clever.

Wishing you a greener workplace,

Grace

Keep Cups Review

Hi everyone. A couple of days ago, I was drinking my coffee out of  my regular coffee cup. Since I am getting more and more interested in eco-products, the idea of getting a eco-friendly coffee cup popped up in my mind. After some research, I found a nice looking coffee cup which is also environmentally friendly!


Let me introduce you to the Keep cup; the Keep cup is a funky and environmentally friendly reusable coffee cup made from polypropylene. The plug is a polyethylene polymer called TPU and the thermal band is made from silicone, which is safe food grade plastic, which makes the Keep cup a nice green alternative for the regular coffee cups! 


I bought it a couple of days ago and I even experienced more benefits; it is at a takeaway size, are lightweight, easy to carry and are dishwasher safe, microwaveable and splash proof! A lot of benefits in just one small cup, the Keep cup is a product to stay if you ask me! If you also want to try out this amazing product, you can buy it on this website: click!

Outdoor Living for the Birds

There's a world of eco treasures out there to delight you, but we've found one that will make you smile and see in the dark when you're next Camping.  Meet our Eco LED Penguin Torch (...in my head he's called Albert). 

But what does our Albert really have in common with penguins? We figure...

* Penguins don't fly. Neither does Albert...unless thrown.

* Penguins have short legs and no knees. Sadly, Albert has no knees either.

* Penguins are mostly black and white in colour. Funnily enough, so is Albert.

* Penguins use sign language to communicate with each other. Albert can flap his wings (and create light!) which has to be some form of sign language, right?

So how can we help our penguin friends?  Today, penguins face a number of threats including the destruction of their nesting habitats, introduced predators such as dogs, rats and foxes (which eat their eggs and young) and competition with fishermen for fish and shrimp. Yet the biggest threat to penguins is climate change. 

Now here's where Albert can help! Being one of our clever Hand Powered Products, Albert can lessen your dependence on batteries (when you choose to use dynamo power to work him).

Wishing you a de-LIGHT-FULL day,

(Yep, went there)

Grace

What Eco Products are having the most positive impact?

 When considering which Eco Friendly Products to invest in, the sheer quantity and range of Energy Saving Products and the like can be a little overwhelming.

But the thing is even changing one of your habits can have a hugely positive effect on our wee planet.  Take coffee cups for example.  In the US alone, 23 billion disposable coffee cups were used in 2010. That's the equivalent of 8.5 thousand Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of waste.  So by switching to reusable cups, like the Hookturn Re-usable Coffee Cup, you'd be giving our trees a much needed break.

But what is actually so harmful about disposable coffee cups? Why is it that every Eco Store seems to be spruiking them so hard?

It comes down to a few major factors:

* They're made of bleached paper.  Recycled paper is too leaky and flimsy to hold liquid. So that means a lot of trees are needed to meet the demand. In the US in 2010, 9.4 million trees were cut down to make cups.

* You can't recycle them. In order to stop the paper cups from leaking and to help them retain heat, the cups are coated with a plastic resin called polyethylene. Once it ends up in landfill, it decomposes and releases the greenhouse gas, methane, into the atmosphere.

* Resource intensive manufacturing. To manufacture paper- trees need to be cut down, wood turned into chips then the chips need to be washed and processed.  All up it requires a lot of energy, water and trees i.e. not so good for the planet.

For more coffee cup facts, check out:

http://www.sustainabilityissexy.com/table.html

Wishing you a guilt-free caffeine kick,

Grace

Bamboo Homewares - are you in touch with your inner panda?

At Todae.com.au, we love our Homewares and our planet. We've had our eye on the Bamboo Bath Towels ever since we discovered what a eco-friendly resource we have in bamboo. 

Not only does it leave cotton in the dust with its silky feel and hypoallergenic qualities, bamboo thrives without chemical pesticides and is completely bio-degradable.

As if it that wasn't enough, this clever little evergreen manages to grow all year round at a super speedy rate. Plus it doesn't need much water, which is perfect for our Aussie climate.  No need for replanting - after the stalks are cut off, the plant continues growing and is ready again for harvest in three to four short years.

The pandas may be onto something. Sure, you may not want to eat 9 - 20 kilos of bamboo a day, but you can enjoy it in your towels and Furniture.  For more, handy creations, check out our range of HomewaresOnline.

And if all this bamboo talk has got you pondering pandas, learn more about them and see what conservation efforts World Wildlife Fund are making by clicking here.

Hope you're having a pand-tastic (ugh...sorry) day,

Grace

Kitchenware: Not So Fantastic in Plastic

Ever wondered the best way to get the necessary items for your kitchen without treating it to an overdose on plastic?  If you’re like me, and you’ve suddenly become increasingly aware of the effect simple ordinary kitchenware has on your own backyard then it might help to know that there are easy alternatives.

First, though, if you’re wondering ‘wait a second, what affect does a simple glad wrapped sandwich have on the environment?’ Your basic kitchenware items like glad wrap or sandwich bags are not biodegradable, and contain highly dangerous chemicals that seep out whilst in the rubbish tip.  Enter: the biodegradable garbage bag! Something as simple as switching your garbage bags to ones that will easily, and naturally break down in the environment later on will make a HUGE difference to the amount plastic you’re wasting. Think about it, how often do you change your garbage bag a week? Well, if it’s two times a week you’re saving more than 96 bags of unnecessary waste a year! Another brilliant alternative is stainless steel Tupperware. Stainless steel Tupperware is an easy alternative to traditional plastic Tupperware. Not only do you instantly have a microwaveable safe container to whip out of the fridge, and use, but you’re also significantly cutting down on your plastic waste. If you’re thinking, well, I can’t exactly pick up biodegradable garbage bags at my local store. Yeah, you’re right, but there is a huge variety of eco friendly products online. The best way to get a hold of these is to look at kitchenware online. The best, and most innovative green items, I find, can be found via kitchenware direct sites.

http://www.ehow.com/about_5591699_harmful-effects-plastic-waste-disposal.html

- Jemma