Home Depot might give away CFLs once in a while, but its purported eco-label, “Eco Options,” doesn’t mean shit. As the New York Times points out:
Plastic-handled paint brushes were touted as nature-friendly because they were not made of wood. Wood-handled paint brushes were promoted as better for the planet because they were not made of plastic.
This is really taking eco-labelling down to new lows.
I’m all for the beg-n-borrow method when it comes to home improvement stuff — I mean, how often does one really use a paint brush? You’ll often find your neighbors are more than happy to lend you their rarely-used tools — and by asking, you might make a new friend :)
If that fails, try Freecycle or Craigslist before hitting Home Depot.
And if you find yourself at that chain, know that you’re smarter than this monolith! Evaluate your purchases with a more discerning eye than Home Depot’s extremely loose definition of eco-friendliness, and go home green happy.
[image from Home Depot; Crossposted on BlogHer]
Another tip: Check if your city has a tool-lending library you can borrow from.
Comment by Jasmin — June 29, 2007 @ 1:41 pm
This is a very useful information for my husband who is going to re-paint our home this weekend as part of his do-it-yourself home improvement project. In doing so, he bought gallons of insulating and heat reflective paints from add4green.com because he is convinced that using such paints to re-paint our home’s roof, interiors and exteriors will help us save energy and reduce our heating and cooling cost. As a housewife who deals with budgeting my husband’s monthly income, I think any kind of saving is worth the trouble.
Comment by Abbey Taylor — August 30, 2010 @ 8:15 pm