Tips for a Festive and Green Holiday!

I love Christmas time! This is my favorite time of the year. It is the time to get together, be thankful and set our new goals for the upcoming year.

Being from Venezuela and far away from my family makes me feel a little sad but at the same time I love to live here in Portland!
Portland is a great city and I am very proud to live in the great "Green" City of Roses. Here we recycle, reuse and reinvent and we are very environmentally conscious.

Here we have some tips to help to create a Green Holiday:

• Purchase gifts with minimal or recyclable packing (view Metro's waste-wise tips at www.oregonmetro.gov/holidaytips).
• Give a gift of experience, like tickets to a play, a spa service or a trip to the Zoo.
• After receiving a new gift, donate older, usable items to a local charity.
• Walk or use transit and shop at local retailers.
• Buy carbon offsets for greenhouse gas emissions caused by holiday travel (visit www.CarbonCounter.org).

And remember:

• Be a conscientious shopper.
• Create new expectations.
• Sometimes less is more.
• Set your goals.

Holiday Tree Recycling.

Holiday tree recycling is easy! . Be sure to remove everything on it such as ornaments and lights.
Here are some options for recycling for your holiday tree:

1. Put out the whole tree with your yard debris ($4 to $6 per tree)
2. Cut up the tree and put it in your green roll cart or in cans or bundles next to your cart ( no charge for roll cart pickup; $2.50 per additional can or bundle; all decorations must be removed)
3. Donate your tree to a non profit organization to recycle. Call the Metro Hotline at 503-234-3000 for drop-off or pick-up information (recycling fees usually range from $4 to $8)
4. Trees will not be accepted with garbage and will only be accepted with yard debris.

For more information: Call your garbage and recycling company, visit www.portlandonline.com/ods/carts or call the Curbside Hotline at 503-823-7202


RECYCLING WORKS!

Price vs Value

I love this,


" It is unwise to pay too much, but is worse to pay too little.
When you pay too much, you lose a little money-that is all.
When you pay too little, you lose everything because the thing
you bought was incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do.

The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little
and getting a lot-it cannot be done.
If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something
for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough
to pay for something better"


John Ruskin
English Philosopher 1819-1900