Porcelained out? Carve your niche with an alternative sink for soaking up greener materials like certified teak, bamboo, recycled metal and glass and friendly painted ceramics. You can even experiment with poured concrete with 50% recycled fly ash, as seen in the striking orange basin by Jeremy Levine Design.

Here is a handful of other options we rounded up:

From William Garvey’s Fusion Line of handmade sinks from certified teak grown in the mixed deciduous forests of South Asia.

Spotted at the Story Hotel in Stockholm, these decorative ceramic bowls make brilliant bathroom basins.

Recycled aluminum and brass vessel sinks from ECO round out the eco bath and are paired well with a bamboo plywood or stone tile counter top.

Handblown recycled glass emerges as sensuous craft for the bath with the clear tortoise trim Classic design (above) and Ocean shell (below) from Bear Creek Glass.

Main Image: Jeremy Levine Design

Where would Malibu be without its surfers and where would its surfers be without safe water?

That’s part of the driving energy behind the Legacy Park project. Construction has been launched this week as veteran wave riders joined Malibu City Council to reduce stormwater pollution in Malibu Creek, Malibu Lagoon and world-famous Surfrider Beach.

According to the L.A. Times, the sand breaking drew pioneering surfers Cal Porter and Richard Davis as well as Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, state Sen. Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills), Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica) and Malibu-ite Victoria Principal.

The cost of the major undertaking: $50 million. The benefits of cleaning polluted ocean waters by October 2010? Priceless!

“Legacy Park is going to act as Malibu’s environmental cleaning machine,” said Mayor Andy Stern. “It will reduce pollution from stormwater, improve the city’s water quality, and allow residents to enjoy the health and recreation benefits of an open space area and a clean ocean.”

The City of Malibu envisioned a central park that functioned like an environmental cleaning machine to reduce pollution impacts and improve water quality in areas used daily by residents and tourists from around the world. This following a lawsuit last year by two environmental groups (The Natural Resources Defense Council, NRDC, and the Santa Monica Baykeeper) to stop allowing urban runoff carrying bacteria and toxins to flow into coastal waters.

The groups argued urban runoff  is the major culprit of coastal water pollution and contact with the pathogens and chemicals, such as cyanide, aluminum and fecal coliform, sickens beachgoers and damages marine life.

The motto of the project: It’s a central park. It’s an oasis. It’s an environmental cleaning machine.

The goal is for Legacy Park to transform 15 acres in the Malibu Civic Center area into a park and stormwater treatment facility, one that captures and cleans more than 2 million gallons a day of stormwater and urban runoff. The water is disinfected and then recycled.

The City says Malibu Legacy Park will be “the only park in California where five coastal natural habitats are linked and accessible: the ocean, lagoon, stream, seasonal wetland and coastal bluffs, and where the development of five habitats on-site will serve as an outdoor educational and living learning center.”

The park will also be a civic attraction with an amphitheater, a Malibu culture commemorative area and educational kiosks.

The City is still seeking donations to support the project. A gift of $500 or more will get you recognition on the park’s permanent honor wall.

Membership in the Legacy Leadership Circle, which is limited to 100 families, begins at $25,000.

Naming opportunities in the park are available for gifts of more than $25,000.

Donations of $5,000 or more are eligible for our three-year pledge program.

Contact the Legacy Park Campaign at (310) 456-2489, ext. 232, or email info@malibulegacy.org.

Main Image: Pnoeric

Image One: City of Malibu

This is a new SIGG water bottle with a Keith Haring lady liberty design, part of a limited edition series celebrating America, land of the free, home of  thirsty. Perhaps you could score one of these cool designs for free by getting rid of an old SIGG bottle that contains poison, and you can enjoy the benefits without having to worry about exposing your body to a synthetic drug known to disrupt normal endocrine function.

I simply won’t stand for that in a water bottle. How about you?

If you bought a metal SIGG bottle before August of 2008, you have until Halloween to trade it in for a bottle with the new and improved EcoCare liner free of bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic sex hormone chemical linked to cancer and neurological problems. In other words, switch that trick for a treat.

What is the trick in the SIGG exchange program? Last week, Steve Wasik, chief executive officer of SIGG Switzerland, shocked the reusable water world by admitting that the liners were made with an epoxy resin that contains BPA. As Elaine Shannon of the Huffington Post pointed out, this was an about-face from his previous posture that the bottles simply didn’t leech the harmful chemical and were totally safe.

“He decided on his authority, consumers didn’t want or need to know more,” Shannon observes, adding it is difficult to see Wasik’s stance as anything but cynical.

Wasik’s posting on the SIGG website explained that the BPA debate has heated up dramatically in the last 12 months with the conversation progressing from a focus on leeching to the mere presence of BPA in products. He stresses that this dialogue has evolved to the extent that “some states are considering legislation.”

In fact, last May, Chicago was one of the first U.S. cities to ban the sale of baby bottles and sippy cups containing the chemical and the Food and Drug Administration recently announced it would undertake a new BPA review. In 2008, the FDA resisted recommending retailers discontinue using products that contain BPA until it had completed its risk assessment process. “However, concerned consumers should know that several alternatives to polycarbonate baby bottles exist, including glass baby bottles,” the feds said.

Meantime, you have to follow your own instincts and decide if you want to exchange your SIGG or simply find another aluminum or other bottle brand.

In terms of determining if you have the old kind of bottle, SIGG has provided the best kind of crisis PR fact sheet on its site with visuals that show the difference between the bad and good liners.

The EcoCare liner has a dull, pale yellow appearance while the former liner has a shiny copper bronze appearance.

For details on the exchange program and other issues pertaining to the safety of these bottles, go to the My SIGG website.

Aluminum Cans
I’m a soda addict, and I can go through a 12-pack faster than a roll of toilet paper. Even if you only drink a couple throughout the week, add your significant other or roommates into the equation, and the cans can pile up pretty quickly. Instead of tossing them in your recycling bin, bag up your plethora of cans and bring them to your local recycling center for some extra cash. You can also take them to a reverse vending machine, as long as they’re not crushed.

Plastic Bottles

The same goes for plastic bottles. Keep in mind that the majority of recycling centers pay by the pound, so save gas by accumulating as many as possible before taking a trip.

Glass Bottles

In addition to aluminum cans and plastic bottles, you can also bring glass bottles to a nearby recycling center or reverse vending machine to get money back.

Printer Cartridges

Hang on to your empty printer cartridges and send them in to be recycled by eCycle Group or similar programs. While you’re at it, get your office in on the action, too. You can also bring them to a nearby Staples, but you’ll receive store credit instead of cash.

PCs and Laptops

Computers become obsolete quickly, and that means more outdated electronics in the landfill. But, it doesn’t have to be. Send in your old laptop or personal computer to Gazelle or search online for similar sites to get money back.

Cell Phones

My puppy recently mistook my cell phone for a chew toy. When I told a friend, she told me that I could send it in to Buy My Tronics for cash – even if it’s mangled beyond recognition.

iPods or MP3 Players

So, you upgraded to the iPod Touch, and you’re wondering what to do with your old MP3 player. That’s an easy one; there are a number of web sites that pay you to send it in, including You Renew.

Car Batteries

If your car battery goes dead, call the company you bought it from to determine their policy. Since dead batteries can be reused to manufacture new ones, many companies will pay you to bring your it back.

Digital Cameras

Get cash for your old digital camera by sending it to Gazelle or other similar programs.

Game Consoles

Have you outgrown your game console? Even if it’s broken, you can still send it in to Buy My Tronics or similar sites for cash.

Calculators

Sure, that heavy graphing calculator got you through accounting classes in college, but it hasn’t seen the light of day since. Get money back by sending it in to You Renew or similar programs.

CDs and DVDs

Trade them in at a local music store or send them in to sites like Second Spin to receive cash in return.

Books

Sell your old textbooks and novels to Cash 4 Books or similar programs.

Feeling really resourceful? You can also recycle…

Copper
Salvage copper from singed electric cords, leaky pipes and other sources, and bring it to a scrap metal center for cash. Chances are, what you manage to recover is worth more than a bag full of cans and bottles.

Brass
Like copper, brass is worth more than your typical recyclables. So, turn rusty old hinges, door knobs, plumbing fittings and more into cash at your local scrap metal center.

Images: bitpicture, shazari, Muffet, Ev0luti0nary, lainBuchanan, Rene Schroeder, strollers, thingsimade, infomatique, Ciaran McGuiggan, Ken@okinawa, automatthias, henrybloomfield,

Say that six times fast, and then find your favorite pair of gardening gloves and let’s play with dirt. These pots are worthy of plenty of playtime.

Whether you want to grow your green indoors or out, the metal spun recycled aluminum Pod by PAD is the perfect planter. It’s sturdy, lightweight and powder coated in a choice of six sexy colors. (Say that six”¦never mind).

The Pod comes in two simple styles (both 16″ D x 10″ H). And if your space calls for it, choose one of the steel stands (15″ or 22″ high) for a layered effect. There’s something seriously eye-catching about these planters.

The Pod was officially unveiled at the Dwell on Design show in Los Angeles last weekend. It’s available to purchase at A + R (online or in the Venice showroom) for $156. The stands are $105 and $110.

I’ve never really thought of planting as playtime, but suddenly I’m feeling inspired.

via Josh Spear