Day 42 of our Green Year: What About Pillows?

After waking up this morning with pains in my neck from the poor pillows I have been sleeping on, I decided that I have to get new pillows. However, to keep with Our Green Year, I have to do two things. First, I have to find a way to recycle the pillows I have without throwing them out. Second, I have to get pillows that are not going to be produced in a way that is harmful for the environment.

Things you can do for your pillow, rather than simply throwing them out include:

1. If you want stuffed pillows that go a bit further than most, take the stuffing out of your old pillows, and then take your stuffing and put it in your new pillow. Then, take the pillow case, hand wash it and air dry it and use it as a sack for vegetables.
2. Keep it in your animal's pen or cage so that they can sleep on it, or donate it to the SPCA or vet so they can use it for the pets they have.
3. If you camp, you can cut it in half, sew it along the open end and make it into small camping pillows.

When you are looking to buy new pillows, you can get some from Loolo Textiles, which uses a process to make pillows that are free of toxic chemicals and by-products, and can even be composted when you are done with them. That is right, you can compost your old pillows from Loolo Textiles. Within a year, they will bio-degrade.
There are several other companies who use soy-based fabrics in their pillows, which will help you when you need to decide on the pillow you want that is not only comfortable, but also earth-friendly.

Do you know of a company that sells soy-based pillows or earth-friendly pillows? Then let us know!

Remember, if you have pictures of you doing green things, fire them off to us and we will put them on our blog to show the world what you are doing (crwbaird@gmail.com)