One company makes toothbrushes and other conveniences from old yogurt cups. Another offers bowls made from old LPs. As more companies get creative with modern civilization’s discards, it’s only a matter of time before someone creates art for art’s sake.

I’ll admit, when I look at my weekly supermarket circulars, the last thing I think of is a cheekbone, or a swirl of brunette… but that’s exactly what Sandi Schimmel Gold has been envisioning as she collects circulars, catalogs and other direct-mail pieces from the mailbox and turns them into portraits like “Smoulder,” a 30”x36” close up (left) of a strikingly blue-eyed (and toned) woman with red hair. In her description of the art, Schimmel Gold points out there are icebergs, Hannukah candles and clouds in the woman’s face; and perfume bottles and Macy’s ads in the hair.

Everything came from junk mail.

“I create without waste,” Schimmel Gold writes on her website. “I upcycle junk mail, calendars, post cards, photos, old greeting cards, tags, etc… it’s all paper waste I collect. I use only water-based, acid-free, non-toxic materials to create my work. It is completely eco-friendly. I reuse and repurpose canvas, frames, etc. whenever possible.” more

Supermarkets have been quick to embrace the idea of bag recycling. Many stores even award shoppers who pull out reusable cloth or recycled plastic bags a few cents off their bill for making the effort.

Of course, the more bags that get used again, the fewer the retailer has to order, so they save some bucks. Untold thousands get removed from the solid waste stream and stay out of landfills. It’s a group effort everyone — retailer and consumer alike — can feel good about. “Hands across the aisle” and all that.

So, it’s difficult to tell what Pick ‘n Save was thinking when they tried a new policy that limited the bag rebates to customers using Roundy’s bags only. One store was unfortunate enough to try and pull this on a green living contributor to www.examiner.com. Check out her story, and what happened, here.

As you can see, this little story has a happy ending. Pick ‘n Save does care about the environment and the common good; and it wasn’t trying to enforce shopper loyalty or limiting its generosity to those who use only Roundy’s bags. The whole thing was just a little misunderstanding, right?

Roundy’s just needed a little reminder. Lesson learned.

(Photo courtesy of Redcherryhill, Flickr)

McCaffrey’s Market in Princeton, N.J., was really green today. Not only was a bagpiper roaming the aisles in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, the three-store retailer launched a unique organic waste recycling program that turns fresh food waste and anything not metal, plastic or glass into all-natural fertilizer.

“We’ve always been actively involved in anything that benefits the community, and this is really an extension of that belief,” Jim McCaffrey, the chain’s affable president, told me during a demonstration of how the program works. Indeed, it’s truly unique to see how thorough the process is, right down to the large rubber bands used to secure the compost bin liners used in the receptacles.

The receptacles are everywhere, along with posters reminding employees to separate any waste that’s recyclable. It required a significant effort to educate everyone in the store, according to Rocco D’Antonio, a principal in Organic Diversion, the firm coordinating the initiative.

“McCaffrey’s is an ideal candidate for this type of program because they already have a corporate culture that emphasizes recycling,” he said to me as we toured the back room, where an existing cardboard compactor has been joined by a new green waste device. And D’Antonio should know, since he also happens to be business development manager for Penn Jersey Paper Company, which supplies McCaffrey’s with all its bags and packaging. more

We had a chance to escape the office yesterday and attend the one-day Green Products Expo at the Marriott Marquis hotel in midtown, where more than 70 companies exhibited a wide spectrum of products and services.

Granted, not all were suitable for the supermarket channel (we skipped the displays for formaldehyde-free plywood and recycled flip-flop animal sculptures), but several categories were well-represented.

The first was bottled water — rather, stainless steel water bottles. The containers came in all shapes and sizes, and one even sported its own portable filter. There was also a focus on eco-cleaners for both home and laundry (a company highlighted an environmentally friendly car wax). more

Can’t afford to accessorize with a new cellphone or color-coordinated netbook? Then how about a reusable lunch bag?

A&P is taking the next step into eco-chic by introducing a line of five lunch totes made of post-consumer waste materials, to debut in February at all A&P banners, including The Food Emporium, Pathmark, and Waldbaum’s.

The chain, based in Montvale, N.J., was among the first to come out with reusable shopping bags a couple of years ago. I recall they had pretty bold graphics. These lunch bags must have the same designer.

The color combos include bright blue and yellow, red and white check, and orange, brown and yellow (shown). What’s not depicted here is the related verbiage on the other side of the bags, described in the press release as “clever”: “Hugs & Knishes,” “I’m On My Munch Break” and “Don’t Give Up the Chip.”

Umm… Suggestion. As a guy who often brings his own lunch to work I’d like to see A&P offer one that looks like a wrinkled, reused brown bag — to replace the actual wrinkled, reused brown bag I currently use. And if they have to add a saying, how about “Caution: Leftovers — Consume At Your Own Risk.”