Feeling Green…

Feeling Green…

With spring just around the corner…we think…we are feeling green today and have found some cool ideas for your Bethlehem apartment. With snow still on the ground in Pennsylvania, this may be a refreshing change of view. We hope so…Love this hip modern living room with lime green walls and accent pieces. The pillows are gorgeous, and the chairs quite chic. Found at Lime Light Interiors.ca.

Donna Karan’s Floral Valley Bedding collection is just right or a green touch to your Bethlehem apartment bedroom.

We find this sage green kitchen refreshing and soothing. Note the palm plant near the window which adds interest and highlights the empty space. Take some of the hints here to highlight your own kitchen in your Bethlehem apartment.

A clock is always essential in your living space and this smart green find we think is precious…for good reason. We found this Green dots wall wooden wall clock at The Frog and the Princess….it may be kids stuff, but who will know if they find this in your Bethlehem apartment.

Okay, so I couldn’t resist this one. Having once lived in an apartment that was in an older house, we had antique glass door knobs like these on all the doors, though they were clear white glass. Found thesegreen depression glass handles at Remodelista.com.

The bathroom is perhaps the coolest place to add a touch of green. Green is a relaxing color, soothes emotions, and steadies heart rhythms. Green is the color of the heart chakra center. Decorating your Bethlehem apartment bathroom with accessories that feature some green tones, like these from DKNY, will give a subtle hint of this relaxing color.

We love the soft green colors in this Tiffany-style lamp. The one sitting on my desk right now has the same base. We found this beauty for your Bethlehem apartment at Glassical.com.Artwork is always the final touch to your new apartment. This green-toned oil on canvas is called Green Agave by Rhonda Raulston. This would be a nice final touch to any open wall space in your Bethlehem apartment.

If you are looking for an apartment in Bethlehem Pa, or are a landlord with an apartment available and would like to list it, visit Apartments i Like for information. If you are a renter, or are looking to make a move, Apartments i Like is full of free information and advise to make your move a breeze. See our Renters Corner above on this blog, or click here to get started.

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Recycling Firms More Valuable as Oil Prices Climb

Image: Flickr The Independent reported over the weekend that recycling firms are seeing a huge boost in the value of reused materials as the cost of oil and virgin resources continue to rise. One Massachusetts area firm noted prices of "$900 a bale for aluminum, $150 a bale for tin cans, $300 for #2 plastic, $70 for cardboard and $40 for mixed paper." Due to the spike in metal prices, recycling firms can see an increase of an extra $100 a ton for metals. These numbers are compounded when recycling firms cart away huge pallets loaded down with piles and piles of recyclables.
Why is recycling now such a big deal? Well a variety of reasons are now aligning to make recycling profitable.

"8% of the global oil production is siphoned off to make plastic each year. Recycled plastic, however, requires 80 per cent less energy to product. Recycled aluminum burns up 95 per cent less energy. Recycled iron and steel use 74 per cent less, while paper requires 64 per cent less."

In addition, one ton of recycled aluminum saves an average of $700 in electricity. And the EPA estimates that if recycling levels increased to 35%, it would save almost 2 billion gallons of gas each year.
As the battle over garbage heats up, and it becomes harder to site new landfills either due to NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) or the latest BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything), and as more and more landfills are closing, reuse and recycling will play a bigger role. Wall Street follows where the money is and that now includes following the value of several recycling firms. As the price of virgin materials continues to climb, and it becomes harder to open new landfills, being the company that makes something out of nothing will become a better place to be.
Limitations for recyclers - they still can't get enough of the right kind of garbage and this sort of thing has happened before. In the 70s and 80s, when oil prices climbed, prices for recycled materials followed, but when things slowed down, the recycled market followed. There is concern that the same will happen this time, except that this time is different - the environmental consciousness is way bigger than it ever was and society is more aware of the need to reuse materials. While recycling is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of environmental protection, lets hope the trend towards increasing recycling continues to grow. This is another blending where economics and environment can work together.