Some call them Cultural Districts. But we’d rather refer to them as Regions of Recycling Excellence. That’s because dozens of merchants in Broad Ripple Village, Fountain Square and on Mass Ave. are recycling cardboard, glass, scrap metal, paper, and plastics with help from Workforce Inc. The next time you’re at one of the participating restaurants, bars, or shops, be sure to thank them for their commitment to recycling.

Broad Ripple businesses 
Ambrosia
Artifacts
Barley Island
Boogie Burger
Broad Ripple Tavern
Brother’s Bar & Grill
Bleeker Street
Casba
Corner Wine Bar
Crackers
CT Pepper’s
Monkey’s Tail
Naked Tchopstix
Niche
Old Pro’s Table
Periwinkle
Red Mango
Union Jack Pub
Usual Suspects
The Vogue
Wellington Pub

Mass Ave businesses 
Arts A Poppin’
The Best Chocolate in Town
Eye Candy
The Frame Shop & Franklin Barry Gallery
JC Bicycle Sales & Service
Mass Ave Toys
Mass Ave Wine Shoppe
Nurture
Old Point Tavern
R Bistro
Schmidt Associates
Silver in the City/At Home in the City
Watts Blooming

Fountain Square businesses
(don’t have a full list of Workforce Inc. recyclers)

If your business is looking for ways to recycle in the office, contact Workforce Inc. at 532-1367 or look in to one of the following resources:

EcoRewards (an Abitibi Bowater program that pays for recyclables)
Rays (offers residential and commercial recycling)
Republic (offers residential and commercial recycling)

We haven’t been this excited since Project Runway’s Christian Siriano fashioned a dress out of Reese’s peanut butter cup wrappers! On October 22, the Indianapolis Museum of Art will host Project IMA: Fashion Unbound, a runway show featuring apparel made from unexpected materials, including those that have been reused or repurposed.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

Whether you’re a Lance Armstrong wannabe or simply wheel around the neighborhood on your vintage Schwinn, chances are good that you’ve had to replace a few bike tubes (the inner part of the tire that keeps it inflated) along the way. Rather than tossing out the busted tubes, take them to the recycling bin at Bicycle Garage Indy. (Both the northside and southside locations participate in the program.) The stores also have recycling bins for Clif Bar wrappers, thanks to the company’s partnership with Terracycle.

And while we’re on the subject of bikes…

If you’re in the market for a new two-wheeler and would prefer a greener option, consider going with a pre-owned bike (we like the ones at Indy-based Freewheelin’ Community Bikes). Or, if you prefer buying new, opt for a bike built in the USA. Why? Bicycles built in the states have fewer miles to travel from the manufacturer to you, resulting in far fewer CO2 emissions. Locally, Speedway Handmade Bicycle Works offers two high-end custom brands - Don Walker Cycles and Speedway Brand - that are handcrafted onsite. For a more budget-friendly option, Meghan suggests checking out Republic Bike, a colorful, fashion-conscious line of Dutch and fixed-gear custom bicycles that are built in Miami.

Don’t reinvent the wheel trying to green your bike experience! With these few simple steps, it’s as easy as a cruise down the Monon Trail.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

Even if you’re a dude, you know that Girls Night Out always involves lots of wine and lots of makeup. Like, tons. Now you and your gal pals can up the environmental ante on your next GNO by recycling wine bottles, wine corks, and empty makeup packaging at the following retailers. As for your old Spice Girls CD, you’ll have to find a way to properly dispose of that.

Wine
Whole Foods Market has always offered in-store recycling, and recently added wine cork recyclingto their repertoire.

Target stores now offer comprehensive recycling binsfor glass bottles, as well as aluminum cans, plastic beverage containers, plastic bags, MP3 players, cell phones and ink cartridges.

Makeup
All Origins locations now accept empty makeup tubes, bottles, and jars for recycling (regardless of manufacturer).

Through their Back to MAC program, for every primary packaging container you return to a MAC cosmetics store, you’ll receive a free lipstick in return.

Lookin’ good, Earth angel!

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

All these years, you thought “99 Bottles of Beer” was just an easy way to kill time on a roadtrip. But hidden inside those simple song lyrics is important environmental advice: Take one down and pass it around. On that note, Traders Point Creamery wants you to pass their glass bottles back to them when you’re done. The company just launched a bottle take-back program. Simply remove the labels of any used Traders Point Creamery milk or yogurt bottles and bring them back to the farm. Why go to the trouble of reusing when you can recycle the bottles? Reusing is actually greener than recycling because far fewer resources are used to clean and sterilize an old bottle than to break it down and create a new one. Plus, it’s kinda cool to know that you’re helping Traders Point Creamery lower their costs so they can continue selling their delicious products in classy glass bottles instead of boring plastic ones.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

Stuck in a toxic relationship with your household hazardous waste? If you’ve been stockpiling half-empty paint cans, old bottles of bleach, used motor oil, and the like in your basement or garage, it may be for one of the following reasons.

1. You’re devising a terrorist plot.
2. You belong on TV’s “Horders.”
3. You’re not sure how to safely dispose of these chemicals.

We’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and guess that it has something to do with #3. And you’re in luck: This month, organizations around the city are offering drop-off sites where you can recycle or safely dispose of your household hazardous waste (including paint, cleaners, and compact fluorescent light bulbs) and unwanted electronics (like old TVs and computers). Some events will even recycle your old tires! For a detailed list of acceptable items, please visit the event’s website.

IUPUI Toxaway Day

When: April 9 from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Where: Parking Lot 401, 1324 Indiana Ave. (across from the Herron Sculpture/Ceramics building)

Johnson County Solid Waste Management District’s Spring Clean Up Day
When: April 17 from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Where: JohnsonCounty 4-H Fairgrounds, 250 Fairground St., Franklin (enter off US 31 between Dairy Queen and Wendy’s)

City of Indianapolis Earth Day ToxAway Event
When: April 24 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Location: 3 locations around town

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

Whether you call them juice boxes, drink pouches, Capri Suns, or something else, those squeezable little containers tend to pop up everywhere from the school cafeteria to youth soccer games. And while they’re great at quenching thirst, they’re not so great for the environment.
Fortunately, there’s now an easy way to upcycle (that is, converting useless materials into usable ones) these and other lunchbox staples while raising money for your fave nonprofit.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

Flushing unused medicine down the toilet or pouring it down the drain is a prescription for disaster: most of the chemicals end up in our lakes and streams. Throwing it away in garbage bags is no safer, since pets and children can accidentally ingest the stuff. Before you work yourself into a tizzy about what to do with all of your expired or unwanted OTC and prescription meds, take a chill pill: there’s an easy, safe solution.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

March may go in like a lion and out like a lamb, but when it comes to recycling, you sometimes feel like a spring chicken…always wondering where to take those difficult-to-recycle materials like cardboard, electronics and EPS foam.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

We all know that reusing and recycling materials helps the planet. Now is your chance to help some of its most disadvantaged inhabitants. Indianapolis-based Disposal Alternatives Organization (DAO) is collecting crutches, wheelchairs, canes, and prosthetic devices to donate to Physicians for Peace for their Haiti operation. Every item received will be transported to Haiti to support medical relief efforts there.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan