It’s not easy being green, especially in a world of sport utility vehicles, Peterbuilts, and Cadillacs. Whenever I get passed by a large truck I can feel its gravity pulling my Prius in. But I decided that if I’m going to go green with my car I’m going to do the same with my car products, some of my favorites are below.
Recycled Floor Mats
Recycled floor mats make a great addition to a car and you can find them made from 100% recycled materials, mainly rubber and nylon. Kraco make a good product at a low cost of $17.95 that I use, alternatively there are other good recycled mat products by Olympus and MatsMats.com if you’d like more of a rug look.
The Air Freshener
You know that little green tree that hangs from your dashboard and makes the car smell nice? Well, they get thrown out. A lot. Consider using a sachet bag instead of a traditional air freshener. They can be made with organic materials like potpourri and the material inside the sachet can be replaced easily. Etsy is a great place to find them if you don’t want to make them yourself. Persnickety Home is a rather good store for sachets.
Waterless Car Wash
Okay, so you’re an environmentalist, so why waste a ton of water cleaning your car? It’s easy to order waterless car washing systems that are also made from green materials. I’d recommend the Freedom auto wash spray as a good choice. At $15.95 it may or may not cost more than your current car wash soap but I can testify that it does a great job on the exterior without any harm to the paint job.
Tire Pressure Monitors
Want to keep your miles per gallon high? One easy way is to keep an optimal tire pressure. These are pricy but there’s a wide array of gadgets on Amazon. There’s a myth that overinflating your tires will improve the mileage drastically, in fact at high speed the effect is negligible, but it is a fact that underinflated tires will hurt your mileage at all speeds and increase the chance of malfunction. Your tires are worth driving on so they’re worth watching.
Child Car Seats
Other than driving well, the biggest worry on the road may be your car seat. Some studies show that these seats can have toxic chemical in them so it’s worth making sure that you get one that’s green and clean. You might want to consider going with Britax for your car seat as they have vowed to eliminate PVC and brominated retardants for their seats by the end of 2012, Graco has also made a similar promise and deserve consideration as well.
