What do fast-food restaurants, many Starbucks shops, dry cleaners, pharmacies, and even some liquor stores have in common? Drive-thru service, my friends. You simply pull up, hand over the cash, and claim your goods.

Now you can add drive-thru recycling to the list. Throughout October and November, Green Piece Indy will host Rush Hour Recycling events from 7 to 9 a.m. around Indianapolis. Just fill your car with cardboard and electronics, show up at one of our convenient locations, and pull up for service. A friendly representative will unload your car and send you on your way. For a list of events and acceptable items, visit our website.

Northwestside commuters
October 7 - Bjava Coffee parking lot, 5510 Lafayette Rd.
Participants will get a coupon for a free small coffee.

Downtown commuters
Nov. 12 - Earth House Collective, 237 N. East St.

Ready to recycle your pants off? Bring gently used jeans to the Indianapolis City Market (222 E. Market St.) between 7:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on October 7. ButlerUniversity’s Public Relations Student Society of America chapter will be collecting jeans to recycle for their Cotton: From Blue to Green denim drive. Through the program, donated jeans are recycled into insulation that will be used in Habitat for Humanity homes.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

While the President’s cabinet frets over what to do about healthcare, you’re still fretting over your medicine cabinet, wondering how to dispose of that expired bottle of Aspirin. You know you shouldn’t flush it down the toilet since that can pollute groundwater, lakes, and streams. And though you’ve debated slipping your leftover sedatives to your hyperactive dog, you know better.

Happily, Marsh Pharmacy has the remedy. They’re hosting Clean Out Your Medicine Cabinet Day October 3 (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and October 4 (11 a.m. to 5 p.m.). Bring your expired and leftover pills, capsules, and liquids in their original containers with the original labels intact to any Marsh Pharmacy. Not sure about a particular item? Follow the guidelines below, or call (317) 594-2408 for more info.

• No aerosols, inhalers, or Nitroglycerin products.
• Only one type of medication can be in a single container, no mixtures.
• No pill organizers will be accepted.
• No controlled or illegal substances. Check with your regular pharmacist if you’re not sure whether a medicine is controlled.
• Medicines that have the words ”toxic,” ”corrosive,” ”reactive,” ”ignitable,” ”flammable,” or ”poison” will not be accepted. (We’re not really sure why you would take a medicine labeled “poison” in the first place, but hey, we’re not medical professionals.)

Help reduce groundwater pollution this weekend. After all, no one wants a taste of their own medicine.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

It’s official: Autumn is here! And like sands through the hourglass, so are the warm days of our lives. Pretty soon, Old Man Winter will come a’calling, and you’ll begin spending a lot more time indoors. With the windows sealed. Breathing in less-than-fresh air that could contain, among other things, volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs are commonly found in paint and have been linked to cancer, asthma, and other respiratory problems. The good news is: several companies now offer paint containing little or no VOCs. For more eco-friendly painting solutions, consider the following numbers.

3
The number of low- or zero-VOC paint brands widely available in Indianapolis. These include The Freshaire Choice, Aura by Benjamin Moore, and Harmony by Sherwin-Williams.

1
The number of local painting services dedicated to using low-VOC paints.
Green Brush Painters is a division of Indianapolis-based T. Scott Schmitt Painting Services.

0
The amount of paint that’s washed down your drain when you use the LifeMaster Wash System by Dulux. The company developed a cleaning product for latex paint tools that separates paint from water so the water can safely be poured down the drain and the paint can be dried out and disposed of in the trash.

30+
The number of household hazardous waste items and electronics you can safely dispose of at this Saturday’s ToxAway Day behind Glendale Town Center. Bring your half-empty paint cans, burned-out fluorescent light bulbs, old cell phones, and other materials to the Glendale Mall Overflow Parking Lot, 6101 N. Rural St., between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on September 26. For a list of acceptable items, visit SustainIndy’s ToxDrop site.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

WALBICUS isn’t the latest mega-discount superstore. Nor is it a relative of the adorable Australian wallaby. Rather, it’s simply a clever acronym for Walking, Biking, Carpooling, or taking the bus. And whether you attend a church, temple, mosque, or someplace else, you’re invited to WALBICUS to worship services September 25-27. Any of these beats driving alone in a car. Indianapolis Green Congregations, a local interfaith network that supports Earth-care ministries, is asking Hoosiers of every faith to participate in the event. Congregations that have already agreed to participate include Second Presbyterian, St. Luke’s United Methodist, Epworth United Methodist, Unitarian Universalist Church of Indianapolis, and Trinity Episcopal.

To find out what your congregation can do to become more eco-friendly, consider attending “Green Stories: Faith and Environmental Awareness in Congregations,” a half-day workshop taking place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 30, at Unitarian Universalist Church of Indianapolis (615 W. 43rd Street). The $15 per person workshop fee ($10 per person for groups of three or more) includes lunch and a copy of EcoFaith, a book by Charlene Hosenfeld.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

There was a time when living in an energy-efficient house meant carving your abode into a hillside and living off the land like the folks from ABC’s Lost. But who wants to hunker down in a hatch all winter? If you dream of living in a completely sustainable home but lack a proper frame of reference, you’re in luck. Just in time for National Energy Awareness Month, the Indiana Renewable Energy Association (InREA) has teamed up with the American Solar Energy Society to bring their free National Solar Tour to the Hoosier State. The Indianapolis event takes place Saturday, October 3, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (other tours will take place in Bloomington, southwest Indiana, and northern Indiana on the same day; check site for details).

Billed as the world’s largest grassroots solar event, the tour offers the chance to visit homes and buildings that use solar energy and other sustainable technologies as a means of reducing utility bills and carbon emissions. Whether you’re considering incorporating energy-saving appliances into your home or ready to go completely green from the ground up, the tour provides practical cost estimates as well as tips on saving money through federal, state, and local incentives.

Make plans now to attend Solar Tour ‘09. It might just be your home’s big chance to shine.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

If you do just one green thing for the rest of the year, we hope it is this, IPL customers: Enroll in the Green Power Option. It’s as simple as placing a call (261-8222) or filling out an online form. By choosing IPL’s Green Power Option, you pay a small premium each month and, in exchange, IPL purchases Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). Each REC represents one megawatt-hour of electricity produced by a renewable source, primarily wind generation. Still not convinced? Read below to get the facts on renewable energy.

FICTION: Renewable energy isn’t affordable.
FACT: A typical household (one using about 1000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month) signed up for IPL’s Green Power option at the 100% level would incur an additional monthly cost of $4.20. So, for the same cost as a venti latte, you could be doing big things for the planet.

FICTION: Programs like this are just a form of “greenwashing” and have no real effect.
FACT: Over a recent 12-month span, Green Power Option customers purchased enough electricity from renewable energy sources to save 57,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions from being released into the atmosphere. That’s the equivalent of getting 10,500 passenger cars off the road for one year.

FICTION: The Green Power Option does nothing for Indiana’s economy.
FACT: Over the past year, the sources of IPL’s Renewable Energy Certificates have included both wind and landfill methane gas generation located in Indiana. The company also recently purchased additional Indiana wind RECs, which should meet the requirements of their Green Power customers through the end of the year and perhaps into 2010.

Not an IPL customer? Other local power companies offer similar opportunities, like Duke Energy’s GoGreen Indiana and the EnviroWatts program offered by many local REMCs. Learn more about Indiana’s Green Power offerings and be sure to check in with your utility provider.

We now pronounce you ready to reduce your carbon footprint. You may now rock down to Electric Avenue.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

We haven’t always been fans of worms. Other than the occasional fishing trip, we didn’t much have a use for these slippery, slimy suckers. But that was before we knew about worms’ favorite food: garbage. Icky as it may seem, worms can be a huge help in disposing of your leftover food scraps, including fruits, vegetables, and coffee grounds. The result: nutrient-rich compost you can use in your gardens and flowerbeds. Before you head into your backyard with a shovel, it’s important to know the basics of vermicomposting. Check out this story Meghan wrote for this month’s Indiana Living Green magazine.

And keep in mind…

• Not every worm species is suited for composting. Red worms work best in Indiana. In warmer clients, you can also use African night crawlers.
• Worms need bedding materials (such as coconut husks or shredded paper), not just food, to compost.
• Animal products, including eggs, meat, and dairy, should never be placed in the compost bin. Worms can’t digest these materials.

Looking for a great vermicomposting bin? Check out the Wormtopia, available at Worm’s Way in Bloomington and online. Or you can Good Search “DIY vermicomposter” for options on how to make your own. Be sure to store your compost bin in a location that keeps a consistent temperature between 60 and 75 degrees. We suggest keeping them in your wiggle room.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

P.S. Worm’s Way coupons are available in Green Savings Indy coupon books.

If you’ve put off visiting the Indianapolis Museum of Art because you’re more of a get-your-hands-muddy than a gaze-at-Monet-paintings type, we have news for you. The IMA is hosting two free events this month related to growing edible delights in your own backyard. Then, in November, head over to Butler University’s Clowes Hall to hear how gardening with native plants not only means less maintenance, but also a more sustainable plant and wildlife population.

Luscious Landscaping with Fruiting Trees, Shrubs, and Vines
Thursday, September 10 at 7:30 p.m. at the TobiasTheater.
Learn from Lee Reich, PhD, about edible landscaping and, more specifically, how to grow shadbush, gumi, actinidia, medlar and other ornamental fruiting plants that can be used to beautify your yard. Free; ticket required. Reserve ticket at www.imamuseum.org , by calling 317-955-2339, or at the door.

Autumn Equinox
Sunday, September 20 from noon-4:30 p.m. IMA Grounds, rain or shine.
Celebrate the first day of autumn at the IMA’s historic Oldfields orchard and vegetable garden. Browse a special farmers’ market, tour a rain garden that captures runoff water, or take a guided tour of the gardens. IMA horticulturists will be on hand to talk about food cultivation and natural dye.

Gardening for Life: Clinching the Case for Landscaping with Native Plants
Tuesday, November 3 at 7:30 p.m. at Clowes Memorial Hall, Butler University.
Dr. Doug Tallamy, Professor and Chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, will discuss how healthy wildlife populations are directly dependent on native plants and the steps gardeners can take to increase biodiversity in their own yards.

So give yourself a break from yard work and get to one of these fun events. You have all fall to rake.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

By now, most everyone knows that buying local foods means getting a fresher product. It also means a smaller carbon footprint, since the food travels far fewer miles to get from the field to our forks than produce grown out of the state or country. Our favorite reason for buying local is much more selfish: warm fuzzies…that good feeling we get when we place cash in the hand of the farmer who grew our food.

If you’re trying to figure out what all the fuss is about with local foods, we invite you to participate in Indiana’s Going Local Week 2009. The idea is simple: just eat one Indiana food at each meal, from September 6-12. It doesn’t matter if you prefer corn or cantaloupe, radishes or rack of lamb. Visit a farmers market, a restaurant that uses local ingredients, or seek out locally grown foods at your neighborhood grocery store. If your store doesn’t carry local foods, ask the store manager why. Victoria Wesseler offers a number of other fun Going Local Week suggestions on her website, including information about upcoming Indiana food events, such as Tipton County Pork Festival, Valparasio Popcorn Festival, Marshall County Blueberry Festival, and more.

If you want to continue the celebration of local foods throughout the month, join Whole Foods on September 26 (86th St. from noon to 2 p.m.; Carmel from 4 to 6 p.m.) for Local Fest. Stop in to sample local delights, including beer and wine!

If a hands-behind-your-back blueberry pie eating contest isn’t reason enough to get on board with eating local, we’re not sure what is.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan