Useless Tschaches and Useful Tschaches

My apologizes to those in the promo item business, but if I receive one more useless gift/favor/tschache, I'm going to send it back to the provider with a friendly note encouraging them to think of the environment the next time they purchase a plethora of these things.

Not too long ago, I received a stress "ball" in the shape of a dollar sign from a not-to-be-named vendor encouraging me to contact them if my dollars were feeling squeezed. Cute. Original. But what am I going to do with this after I've used it a few times (I think I've used it once so far). How do you recycle these things? I'm confident all of these dollar signs will end up in the landfill. What a shame. In the meantime, I'm researching a way to recycle mine...

Green Tip:
Useful Tschaches

When thinking of a way to promote your business or event or to thank your guests, think of the Earth first. Ask the following questions:

• Is it useful?
  
• Is it made of recycled materials?
  
• When the time comes to dispose of it, can you recycle or compost it?
  
• Is it being shipped from a location nearby or halfway around the world?
  
• What kind of packaging is used to ship it?
  

If you are looking for an Earth friendly item, contact my friends at PromoVision who gave me a bunch of great gift ideas that are easy on the Earth

• tote bags made of hemp and/or cotton
  
• t-shirts made of organic cotton
  
• pens made of biodegradable corn or recycled material
  
• pencils made of actual tree twigs (fallen twigs or agricultural waste)
  
• a greeting card that comes with a 2-way envelope with pre-paid return postage so that when the recipient is finished with the card, they can send it back to the manufacturer for reuse in creating new cards
  
• biodegradable and compostable cups with logo
  
• flash drive made of 100% recycled plastic