Morning shows are fun, but they are kind of rough on a Monday morning! I have a new respect for all those morning show professionals who do it 5 days a week!

We had a great time with Ebru Today talking about getting greener in the kitchen. I kept my tips to things that were relatively easy, low or no-cost or in fact saved money. My philosophy on having a Green Diva kitchen is pretty simple and involves for basic ideas: a Green Diva Kitchen should . . .

• produce yummy food
• be healthy
• be earth-friendly
• low-stress!

6 Easy Ways to Have a Green Diva Kitchen

1. Use Cloth Napkins

• Paper products currently account for one-third of the municipal waste in the U.S. – great case for using cloth napkins and dishtowels
• Paper products: paper v. cloth napkins – manufacturing cloth napkins takes a little more energy, however to wash and reuse them multiple times makes up for it and saves a LOT of trees
• you can also easily make your own from remnants

2. Buy More in Bulk

• Buying bulk for dry goods can save on packaging AND money! Example: Organic dried cranberries on average are 98% less expensive than their packaged counterpart
• Between a quarter and a third of all domestic waste is packaging: much of it food packaging
• To buy bulk goods, find a food coop or buying club near you at LocalHarvest.org

3. Recycle Even More

• About 80% of what Americans throw away is recyclable, yet our recycling rate is only 28%
• Recycle as much as you can
• Try avoiding buying food and products with lots of packaging
• Buy food and drinks in recyclable packaging such as glass jars or tin cans
• Buy bulk

4. Use Only Eco-Friendly Sponges and Dish Towels

• Most sponges are plastic and contain dyes, and synthetic disinfectants like triclosan, which has been determined to be a health hazard to humans and ecosystems by the EPA
• Use a sponge made from natural and sustainable materials
  • Cellulose sponges – made from wood fibers – they biodegrade in landfills and go through a far less toxic manufacturing process
• Landfills are filled with paper towels and there no way to recycle or reuse them
• It takes about one year for the paper to biodegrade, the thicker the towel the longer
• It’s cheaper to skip the paper towels

5. Remember to Use Reusable Shopping Bags

• Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1 million sea creatures a year
• The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is twice the size of Texas and it’s floating somewhere between San Francisco and Hawaii. It weighs 3.5 million tons and is 80% plastic
• If everyone in the United States tied their annual consumption of plastic bags together in a giant chain, the chain would reach around the Earth’s equator 776 times!

6. Composting is Easy

• Compost is excellent for garden soil
• If you don’t have a garden, look for community compost program
• Fruits and veggies, coffee grounds, tea bags, egg shells (rinsed and crushed), rice and pasta
• Reduces your garbage output significantly

Most of us have three options for waste: the trash, the recycle bin and the compost bin. When it comes time to decide what goes where, it can be fairly obvious. The soda can? To the recycling bin. Orange peels? To the compost bin. But there are a few items that can be confusing, especially if you are new to composting. Here are a few items some people mistakenly throw in the compost pile.

Bread Products

All bread products, including cakes, pasta and baked goods, shouldn’t go into the pile because they can attract pests.

Cooking Oils
Another kitchen item that should head to the trash bin because it can attract animals and insects. It smells like food to them. Additionally, it can upset the moisture balance of your compost pile. …read more of 11 Items Not to Compost here