GreenYour.com

Congratulations. You've ordered organic, fair trade roses to show your commitment to the earth. Now you just need an eco-friendly vase to complete your green bouquet.

Find it! Eco-friendly flower vases

When placing a flower order, be sure to let your florist know you don't want a vase—recyclable paper wrapping is the best option. That way once your flowers arrive, you can arrange them yourself in your own eco-friendly vase.

This might mean reusing a vase you already have or making one from items sitting around the house (jars, cans, wine bottles). There are also many vases available that are made from recycled and other earth-friendly materials. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Using eco-friendly flower vases helps you go green because…

• The obligatory glass vases that often come with flowers may otherwise end up in landfills. It takes a glass bottle about 1 million years to break down in a landfill.[1]
• The amount of energy and resources used to create glass bottles (or vases) from recycled materials is less than the amount needed to create bottles from virgin materials. Less energy means less pollution.

According to reports published by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2005, 10.9 million tons of glass containers (including beer, juice, soda, and other bottles) were disposed of in the United States; 2.8 million tons were recovered for recycling.[2] It's estimated that an individual glass bottle, when recycled, saves enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours.[3]

When opting out of the complimentary glass vase isn't possible, reusing or recycling it are both eco-friendly options. Glass is 100 percent recyclable and can be recycled over and over again. Recycling cuts down on consumption of raw materials because recycled glass can be substituted for about 70 percent of the raw materials that would otherwise be used to manufacture new glass. Glass can go from recycling to the store shelf in 30 days and approximately 80 percent of recovered glass is made into new glass containers.[4]

Another option: Buy vases made from other types of recycled or eco-friendly materials (even paper!), which means fewer virgin resources are used to create them and fewer toxins are released into the environment during manufacturing and after disposal.

External links

• Container Recycling Institute
• Earth 911: Find a recycling or reuse location near you.
• US Environmental Protection Agency - Frequent Questions about Recycling and Waste Management