When buying furniture for your backyard, it may not seem like the greenest solution to buy plastic pieces, but it all depends on what kind you buy. Recycled plastic lumber furniture is made entirely from plastic bottles collected from curbside recycling. Unlike wood, plastic lumber does not splinter, warp or rot, and its color is solid from the top all the way to the core of the furniture. You can leave it unprotected outdoors, and it’s virtually maintenance free. To clean, just rinse with a garden hose. And the best part? If you ever need to replace it, it’s recyclable.

Buying new cartridges for your inkjet or laser printer can cost a lot of money. But there are simple ways to get a rich-looking printout, all while cutting the ink use nearly in half. The software EcoFont uses a font with small dots in the characters, though to the naked eye, it looks like a normally printed font. Instead of printing in draft mode, which can look drab and lower in quality, this special software removes unnecessary black space in each character.

Many homeowners use outdoor lighting as a deterrent to keep wild animals like raccoons, skunks and possums away from their home. And, for a short period of time, the lighting does work. But as wild animals get acclimated to their surroundings, they quickly get used to the lighting. To prevent wildlife from rummaging around our homes, the best approach is to keep food sources away. Clamp down trash can lids, and place recycling bins out in the morning. And if you do use lighting, go with the motion-sensing kind. The sudden flood of light can still be enough to warn wild animals to stay away.