Appliances & Kitchen Gadgets

(Credit: Milestone)

One major frustration for those of us who hold a combined love for yogurt and respect for the environment is the lack of recyclability of yogurt pots. Someone who eats one every day in their packed lunch will contribute more than 250 of them in a year to landfills, which are constantly expanding under the weight of our garbage, and in many cases, doing so unnecessarily.

Some companies, thank goodness, are diligently exploring ways that we can use everyday items, like these yogurt pots, that would otherwise end up spending several years in landfills.

This kitchen by Milestone is a prime example of this shift, boasting itself as the first kitchen to be made entirely out of recyclable materials. The cabinets are made from recycled yogurt pots, which give them an organic speckled look that reminds me of quail eggs. Each cabinet requires 700 pots to make, keeping three year's worth of lunchtime yogurt trash out of landfills. The worktops are also works of plastic art, constructed entirely out of post-consumer vending machine coffee cups, and the cabinets are partially made from recycled wood chips. Move to the sink and you'll find that's it's made from recycled steel, and is again recyclable after you're finished with it. Even the lighting is conservative, using only around 5 or 7 watts, depending on where they are located.

In an ideal world, we would be able to live comfortably without upsetting the natural balance of the earth, building houses without destroying fragile ecosystems, and using appliances that would be conservative in their energy use and made with biodegradable materials. The reality is that at this point, we are far removed from this sort of living. Instead, we have to search for opportunities to do what we can, when we can. And thankfully, companies like Milestone continue to innovate and make that possible.

(Credit: Prepara)

It's hard to ignore the incessant messages to buy local, plant a garden, check for organic labels, and lead a sustainable lifestyle, yet most of us dismiss these suggestions as practices that require too much money, time, and effort.

And it's true--they really do.

Last summer I went through a green phase, heading to the plant store to purchase soil, seeds, shovels, pots, and everything else that Martha Stewart suggests I buy. Well, $120 and two weeks later, I had forgotten I'd even planted a garden and deemed my project a failure.

Thankfully, there is hope for busy and forgetful people like me. The Prepara Power Plant doesn't require any soil, planting, or high maintenance. Herbs, small vegetables, fruits, and salad greens grow quickly, as the container provides the seeds with the right amount of nutrients and water.

It's not completely care-free, though--you must water the container and place it in sunlight (such as a window sill). But unlike outdoor gardens, the Power Plant Mini is always visible, so don't bother with excuses for neglecting your innocent plant.

Fresh food without bugs, dirt, digging, and worrying sounds like the perfect package. (Plus I can tell all my friends how green and sustainable I am.) Prepara lists the product for $39.99, but it can be purchased on Amazon for $29.99.

The trend has expanded to include even the simplest kitchen gadgets. Take this toaster by Morphy Richards, for instance: dubbed the 'Ecolectric," it promises an evenly browned slice of toast every time for an energy cost of 35 percent less.

The secret to its energy savings is in its automatically closing lid, which retains heat for faster toasting and less waste. And the toaster isn't the only thing that saves energy--because it has a motorized bread carriage, your toast comes out of its own accord. The chamber holds a variety of different sizes of breads (up to two if you're hungry).

The Ecolectric is available in black or silver in the U.K.

Cooking it old school.

(Credit: SUN OVENS International )

Last night, the kids wanted pizza. My 30-minute pizza recipe calls for heating the oven to 500 degrees. I live in Houston. It is June. It was, shall we say, slightly warm in my house last evening. I do not enjoy heating the house just to feed my children.

I'm not sure a Sun Oven would solve my problems, but it is a cool concept, and a nice way to experiment with greening your footprint a little.

The Sun Oven can be used for anything you'd cook in a conventional electric or gas oven and most things you cook on a stovetop. You can't fry with it, although you can bake, boil, and steam. Cooking temperatures vary depending on the brightness of the sun and how often the oven is refocused to follow the sun, but generally speaking, you can cook at 360 to 400 degrees.

Cooking time is pretty similar to using a conventional oven, at least according to the manufacturer. You can refocus the oven to follow the sun every 25 to 30 minutes--but, sometimes clouds hide the sun, so... yeah. But on the bright side, it's nearly impossible to burn anything in this oven.

You can also use the oven as a slow-cooker. Prep your dinner in the morning, put it in the Sun Oven, and focus the oven where the sun will be at about the halfway point. At dinnertime, enjoy your slow-cooked meal.

You can buy one Stateside for less than $300, and part of the proceeds go to providing Sun Ovens to families in developing countries where resources are scarce.

Worm food never looked so good.

(Credit: Real Goods)

The idea of composting appeals to many of us. But what if you live in an apartment with a small balcony? Or what if you just aren't going to get out to the compost pile in the back yard after every meal?

Sure, you could just get a big bucket for scraps and keep it under your sink, but it might start to smell pretty quickly. And if you're like me--meaning, you have small children, but you refuse to childproof your cabinets--well, the places my imagination goes aren't pretty. Visions of children eating worm food just don't sit well with me.

Consider this stainless steel kitchen compost crock. It's attractive enough to sit on your countertop, and it has some pretty cool practical features, too: a 1-gallon interior holds about a week's worth of scraps, the activated-carbon-filter lid traps odors and lets air circulate, and the removable handle makes the bin easy to carry.

The filter lasts about six months and can be replaced. So now what's your excuse?

(Credit: Envirogadget)

This Solar-Powered Lunch Box makes it possible, managing to bring hot food to the outdoors without polluting the greenery in the effort. Teo Song Wei developed the concept as a green way to keep warm foods warm until you're ready to eat them.

As the idea is still a concept, you might have to stick to sandwiches for the time being. If it ever becomes a reality, you'll find me with my heated eats by the pond in the park.

(Credit: Great Green Gadgets)

Since the invention of agriculture, people have tried to come up with smarter ways to water plants. Those with indoor gardens have ultimate control over the amount of H20 that goes over the plants, and have only to rely on their gardening sensibilities to gauge how much to use. Those with outdoor gardens, however, are subject to the laws of nature. And with all that outdoor space comes a bigger garden, not as easily watered by hand.

Many people opt for garden timers that space out watering times, but these create a potential for waste. On rainy days, why not let Mother Nature do the hard work? This Cyber-Rain Automated Irrigation System plans to do just that.

Cyber-Rain checks local forecasts over the Internet, and automatically adjusts your watering timer to account for differences in precipitation. The payoff is a savings of 70 percent of your normal watering costs. It controls up to eight customizable zones and can be installed outdoors.

The Cyber-Rain is available for $399 at Smarthome.

(Credit: Envirogadget)

Like many of my colleagues, I pack my lunch when I go to work. One thing that has always bothered me is the number of plastic bags that go to waste as a result. I try to reuse them as many times as possible, but I can't help but be bothered when I throw them away because I know that they'll end up in a landfill or in the ocean. What's worse is that the plastic utensils my work provides are just as bad at biodegrading as these plastic bags are. As of late, I'd like to use a reusable lunch box and utensils, but I don't always have the space in my bag for transporting them home. Thankfully, some designers have found a way to incorporate recyclable materials and multifunctional practicality into lunch packaging.

These Spoon & Box utensils and packaging--created by designers Won-Jae Lee, Jun-Yong Lee, Sang-Jun Hahn, Sun-Kyu Kim, and Yeo-Wool Kang--represent a true blend of convenience and environmental consciousness. Your lunch is carried in the cardboard box, and when you're ready to eat, you remove the perforated portions on the handle, and the removed pieces can be modified and used at eating utensils. When you're finished using them, they can be recycled along with your other cardboard recyclables.

OK, so maybe using cardboard utensils with spaghetti and meatballs may end up as a mushy paper mess: but the idea holds for dryer lunches, and could be used to handle simple lunch assembly tasks like stirring tuna with mustard for tuna salad or scooping beans, rice, or hummus. In any case, I'd feel better risking a soggy spoon than throwing another nonbiodegradable plastic bag.

So, sometimes I admit things out loud that I'm sure makes other people hate me--such as when my cleaning lady does the laundry, she uses too much soap. It makes me crazy. I know, I know, the heart bleeds, right? But at the end of the day (at least Tuesdays), half a box of laundry detergent is gone with only two or three loads of clean clothes to show for it.

Wash away a lot of packaging.

(Credit: Purex)

Purex has developed a new concept in laundry room management: Complete 3-in-1 laundry sheets with a load's worth of detergent, softener, and static protection all in one sheet.

The sheets are ridiculously simple to use. Drop it into the washer to release the detergent during the wash cycle. Then move it over to the dryer along with your clothes. The heat from the dryer activates the fabric softener, which doubles as a static remover. Toss the sheet after the load is dry, and you're done.

The first time you buy the sheets you'll need to get a starter kit--it includes a refillable dispenser you can use to store your sheets and keep them safe. Afterward, pick up the refill packs and just keep refilling the dispenser.

According to Purex, it developed the new product with an eye to sustainability. I'm hearing the argument on less packaging -- it cuts packaging by almost 50 percent. But the company also says that if everyone in the U.S. switched to the laundry sheets, "41 Olympic-sized pools worth of water would be saved each single refill purchase versus purchasing a standard 50oz bottle of liquid detergent!" I'm having trouble following the argument--are they saying liquid detergent is mostly water? Because I can't figure out how using these sheets would use less water in your machine.

Also, according to Purex, using the sheets reduces CO2 emissions from transportation by 67 percent. That may be true, but you're still using your dryer if you're using these sheets, rather than hanging your clothes on the line. Which is perhaps a realistic approach--as much as I love the idea of line-drying, I haven't yet made that leap, and I can't see it happening as long as I still have children of bed-wetting age.

Purex is offering a money-back guarantee on the sheets, so you can try them out risk-free--just keep your original receipt and apply for the rebate by December 31.