Where Can I Wednesday

We've all made the purchase: whether it's shoes, purses or food. There are always those dreaded little silica packets that warn, Do Not Eat. Those silica packets aren't deadly, regardless of all those warnings. Instead, Silica gel is a desiccant, a substance that absorbs moisture that protects products through shipping and making it from the manufacturer to your home. Here's 10 ideas to reuse Silica Packets:

Whether you're getting a weekly share of your veggies from a CSA, farmer's market or grocery store, it's easy to end up with a stack of those veggie cartons. So what can you do with all those extra cardboard & plastic boxes and cartons? It's a perfect question for... Where Can I Wednesday?

Once you adopt your sustainable kitty, you'll know they need lots of play time and attention. Want to keep your cat entertained but not spend a boatload? No worries - you can create a DIY recycled cat scratcher for (practically) free! As you may know, Pounce DeLeon is well aware of his Carbon PawPrint between his food, litter and treats. I wanted to make sure his scratching post was recycled and aligned with his sustainable values - plus it saved me some cash. The cardboard cat scratch project began on one evening after work... Find out the instructions (and see more cat pictures!), after the jump!

Heading to your local bank or any sort of street fair tends to have one giveaway: Free Pens! And who doesn't need writing supplies - even in this digital age? Yet a few 'free' pens can stack up to a pile of half-full, glutenous answer to the mighty pen-or-sword  debate. Which brings us to our Where Can I (Wednesday) question: Where can you recycle used pens?

Our Twitter (and offline) Friend & Health Coach Ali Shapiro has a recycling conundrum to address with one of her bathroom essentials: @greenphillyblog Any ideas on how to recycle burnt out electric toothbrushes. It says recycle appropriately but don't know where! — Ali Marie Shapiro (@AliMShapiro) May 6, 2013 Good question Ali! You can't toss those electric toothbrushes in your single-stream recycling bin. We reached out to the Philadelphia recycling powers, who addressed the problem: (Find out how/where to recycle old toothbrushes, after the jump!)

Do you have half-used medications and unused drugs stashed around your home? Perhaps a prescription you didn't take completely but it's sitting in your medicine cabinet? Those pill bottles just clog up your cabinet space and can be a P.I.A. Luckily, there's a collection event on Saturday for your unused drugs. (Find out where & when to dispose of your unused prescriptions safely, after the jump!)

As many of you may see on our Instagram and Twitter feeds, my new pet Pouncey has quite the range of accessories since his adoption. Although he does try to reduce his carbon catprint, we were both offended when my 'Pouncey toys & treats' mail order came with a box filled of packing peanuts. So what can you do with this tiny styrofoam confetti? (Find out, after the jump!)

I recently held a small gathering at my casa and wanted to welcome my guests with local, delicious beers. The more local the beer, the less carbon to get that beer from the brewery to my apartment. Plus, the added bonus of my choice to pick up the beer via hoof would only decrease those carbon emissions. However, carrying the beer on foot for a few (but long!) short blocks caused a dilemma: I didn't want to carry glass bottles all the way home. My new criteria was a case of aluminum cans. Find out more about these beer covers and where to recycle them, after the jump!

Feel like you want to get out and meet new sustainably-minded people? You're not alone. During our recent plastic bag reduction happy hour, we met a few new Philadelphians who were interested in finding green events - but had no idea how. But the weather is getting warmer and Philadelphia is kicking up its sustainable activities. How can you get outside and active? Whether you’re brand spanking new to Philadelphia have accumulated many rosters of Phillies t-shirts, we have 8 ways to meet new Philadelphians: