Not only is cat litter not great fun to clean up (and buy), but most clay-based kitty litter is made from clay that is strip mined from the Earth, which is horrible for the environment. The U.S. Bureau of Mines estimates that in 1994 alone, approximately 1.5 million metric tons of clay was mined to make clay cat litter.

A good way to avoid clay litter, and to reuse, is to just use old newspapers as cat litter. Here’s how to make your cat(s) some homemade newspaper cat litter.

1) Sprinkle some baking soda on to the bottom of an empty litter box. This is optional, and helps absorb some of that atrocious cat pee smell.

2) Tear newspaper into narrow strips (less than an inch wide). Pro tip: It’s a lot easier to tear vertically than horizontally.

3) Use your hand muscles to tear those newspaper strips into pieces that are about half a foot long. Use a ruler if you want to, kitty will appreciate the extra precision.

4) Make it rain. Flutter, throw, or somehow get all that newspaper into the cat litter box. It should be over halfway full (it’ll flatten a lot when it gets wet).

Et voila, you are finished. It’s recommended to change the wet newspaper daily, or else it’ll stink up your house. Hopefully your cat will give the newspaper litter the ol’ thumbs up, and you’ll be on your way to a greener kitty litter box.

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Welp, I took about five minutes out of my oh-so-hectic (unemployed for a week) schedule and picked up some trash from a creek behind my house. It took less time than that to fill up a bucket with a bunch of litter. I was flabbergasted.

I found all this in about 5 minutes. I was shocked that people had wastefully tossed this into the creek; the Sprite still tasted great, yet it had been littered.

Someone had even thrown a whole chair into the creek. I wrenched it out with the fury of a hundred bald eagles.

So everybody, I implore you, take just five minutes and pick up some litter. If everyone chips in a wee bit, it will make a big difference, and global warming will be reversed and dodos will come back to life.

Forilla though, if you do decide to help out and pick up some litter, and for some reason you feel it’s picture-worthy, let me know, and I’ll put up your pictures and salute you.

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But it’s not “all good in the hood”, as Mister Rogers would say. Over the last month or so, I’ve cleaned out a LOT of litter just from my small part of the creek. The litter has ranged in size from tiny shards of broken glass to a metal chair to a freaking stop sign.

After cleaning all that mess out, me and Tiff decided to make some creek animals out of the junk, since all the trash had come from the creek. What follows may shock and even horrify you. Prepare to look upon the creek creatures.
CLICK THE PICTURES TO SEE A BIGGER PICTURE

Glassy the Turtle

Tiff’s abstract masterpiece.

Turkey Thing

Made from a gen-u-ine 40 bottle (and maybe an old racquetball?).

Glass Frog

If you use your imagination, this pile of reused glass might look remotely like a frog.

Simple Snail

Another Tiff creation. My blurry picture does not do this glass snail justice.

Parrot with Coke Bottle Body

He’s all spirally and mess.

Snake made from Broken Glass

That’s his tongue on the left.

Glass Hell Monkey

Its tail is made from a LipSmackers brush. He is one menacing mamma jamma.

We recycled all the leftover broken glass and old cans and bottles. All in all, it was a good way to reuse some litter, and make some “art” from it. If anyone else has done cleaned up litter from a creek or stream and made something from it, por favor let me know!

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Econo-Chem makes a very cheap (pennies a bottle), all-purpose, eco-friendly cleaning product. Part of their secret is that they sell you the cleaner in concentrated form, so it weighs less (lower transportation costs and less air pollution) and so you can dilute it to the strength you need. Let’s hear what Econo-Chem has to say about Econo-Clean, shall we?

Econo-Clean contains no phosphates, bleaching agents, acids or solvents. It works on a sodium-based lifting agent, which gets into the pores of a material, to lift and remove anything which is not permanently bonded.

To get the free sample, SIMPLY CLICK YOUR MOUSE BUTTON ROTCH HUR and answer some quick questions. Make sure you say that you’ll consider buying their product, and that you already have an empty spray bottle.

When you’re done, you’ll be the proud owner of some good ol’ Econo-Clean.

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There’s a company named Ecover that seems to be all about not using artificial fragrances or chemicals in its products. They only use plant-based fragrances, and they try to keep their cleaning products as “green” as possible.

Anyhoo, if you want a free sample of some Ecover Washing Up liquid (I’m guessing that means soap), then move your mouse arrow until it is hovering over this link, and then mash the mouse button with all your might. You’ll be rewarded with a flashy page with nifty sounds; ignore it, and click on the “free sample” link in the bottom right-hand corner.

I’m awaiting my free sample of Ecover soap; a green product, plus, since it’s free, it saves you some money.

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