(Bonus tip: If you buy a new set of Calphalon Unison cookware at Williams-Sonoma, Calphalon will recycle your old pots and pans for free. Learn more at calphalonrenew.com.)

7/22/09

7/21/09

It may be time to get new pots and pans if yours are warped. Flat-bottomed pans need to make full contact to the burner for proper and efficient cooking. Any warped pans are best sent to the scrap yard for recycling.

7/20/09

If sipping lemonade underneath a tree in a swaying hammock is your idea of a lazy weekend afternoon, then this is for you. Choose a hammock-friendly spot and hang up a recycled plastic hammock. Gaiam (gaiam.com) sells a rope version that looks like a conventional hammock, but is actually made from 100 percent recycled plastic soda bottles. (The bottles are collected from curbside recycling, finely chopped and re-spun into rope.) It's nearly impossible to tell the difference between the green version and non-eco one. And because it's plastic, it's more water-resistant and less likely to soil or develop mold.