What: LunchBots

Features: Dishwasher safe stainless steel lunch containers that can be reused over and over for waste-free lunches.

Green Factor: They’re made from the highest quality stainless steel and contain no plastic, BPA, phthalates, or VOC’s and independently lab-certified to be lead-free.

Bonus: Use the following coupon code for 15% off an order from Lunchbots: BACKTOSCHOOL

Win It: One randomly selected winner will score a set of Uno and Duo Lunchbot containers! Just leave a comment telling us what you’d pack in a Lunchbot. Giveaway ends at midnight  8/27/10; $30 value. Open to US residents only. Official Rules.

Extra Entries: Tweet about this giveaway (be sure to include @greenmomreview in your tweet) and note in your comment that you tweeted the giveaway to receive an extra entry.

I bought the Energizer Weather Ready Carabineer Crank Flashlight a little over a year ago for my daughter’s Brownie camping trip. We have a few other flashlights but they always seemed to be missing when we needed one and if you’ve ever let your kids use flashlights, you know they have a tendency to leave them on and kill the batteries.

Of course, we do have a ton of rechargeable batteries around here, but they’re always in use and I was tired of doing the battery shuffle every time we needed some so a flashlight that relied on hand power (because it’s pretty hard to misplace your hands!) seemed like a logical choice.

Well, over a year later, I’m here to tell you that our little hand-crank LED flashlight is still going strong. It’s never needed batteries plus it’s survived two camping trips, a road trip, many household adventures and well, it’s survived my kids, so I’m declaring it a very wise purchase on my part!

(Now, we got ours at Target and I saw them a few months back in my local store but I didn’t see this exact model on their web site so I’m linking to Amazon—but you probably can find them at Target or at a home improvement store.)

Find It Here: Amazon.com

What: Chopstick basket

Features: It’s a folding basket made entirely of recycled wooden chopsticks! After being thoroughly sanitized and dyed with tea, the chopsticks are fashioned in to a stylish little basket that folds almost completely flat when not in use.

Green Factor:  After spending several years in China, American designer Brian Parks saw the waste, as well as the potential, of single-use wooden chopsticks and put them to good use instead of in the trash.

Bonus: 10% of the sales from this item are donated to the Chesapeake Climate Action Network

Find It Here: Eco-artaware.com

What: Tie Tote from Rebagz

Features: Rebagz produces one-of-a-kind handbags, totes, backpacks, wrist wallets and more that range from fun and funky to sleek and glamorous.

Green Factor: Each bag is hand-woven using recycled juice packs and rice sacks, which means they’re all completely unique.

Bonus:  All of Rebagz’s products are made using recycled materials, under fair labor conditions. As well as donating proceeds from their Statement Makers line to various organizations, they also give $1 from every order to Global Exchange.

Find It Here: Rebagz

These days, so many people I know go to the bookstore when they want to read something new. Going to the library doesn’t even occur to them.

How has this happened? I really don’t know. But it’s just another branch of consumerism, and all those books that we read just once become clutter in our lives, collecting dust on shelves in our homes. And then we need bigger and bigger homes to store all those books that we hardly read anyway, because we’re all too busy earning the money to pay for the books that we hardly even bothered to read more than once.

The logic is twisted.

So go get a public library card—when a new book comes out that you want to read, check the online library catalogs before rushing to the bookstore for your own personal copy. You’ll save a huge amount of money over the years.

And while you’re at it, why not take along those books you don’t plan to read again and donate them to the library or a thrift shop so others can read them as well!

Author Leanne Veitch is a mother of two living on an organic farm in New Zealand. She writes about activism, simple living know-how and her experiences on the farm at her blog, Cluttercut

What: Coconut Palm Bowls

Features: These brightly colored coconut shell bowls are absolutely delicious! Once the coconut meat and milk is harvested, the shells are cleaned, polished and coated with a food-safe lacquer. Each bowl is uniquely shaped; sets of four come in Mango, Cayenne, Basil Green and Spearmint Blue

Green Factor: Turning coconut shells from by-product waste to pretty dinnerware is a brilliant way to use what would otherwise be sent to the landfill

Bonus: These babies come from a totally renewable, sustainable resource and would make a fabulous wedding gift for your fave green couple!

Find It Here: re:modern

What: Hemp coffee filters

Features: These reusable coffee filters are easy to use—simply rinse clean with water or a bit of soap and let dry between brewing

Green Factor: Think of how many times a year you make a pot of coffee. How many paper coffee filters are you throwing away each year? Using a reusable coffee filter—like these, which are made of all-natural, plastic and chemical-free hemp—means fewer trees are harvested and less waste is produced.

Bonus: Available in two sizes, for less than ten bucks!

Find It Here: Nubius Organics

What: Sketchbooks, notebooks, journals and more

Features: Stylin’ sketchbooks from ecojot have sturdy, durable covers and bright, funky designs!

Green Factor: All of ecojot’s wares are made with 100% recycled paper, free of acid and chlorine. They’re decorated with vegetable-based inks, protected by corn-based packaging, and no new trees were cut down to make them

Bonus: Check out their Buy One, We Give One campaign. With a goal to promote literacy in developing countries, ecojot donates a notebook for every sketchbook, journal and jumbo journal sold

Find It Here: Amazon.com

What: Biodegradable pens and pencils

Features: From Paper Mate comes a line of pens and mechanical pencils that are almost completely biodegradable and compostable. While the refill and grip are not yet biodegradable, the outer casing, which makes up the majority of the instrument, breaks down in about a year.

Green Factor: Comes in plastic-free, all paper packaging. Made from corn-based materials and plant-derived sugar. Click here to see how they break down – it’s neat!

Bonus: These pens and pencils are refillable and thus reusable, too!

Find It Here: Paper Mate

Win It: We’ve partnered with Paper Mate to give away $25 worth of biodegradable pens and pencils to one lucky winner!

Click here to fill out our simple entry form. Just enter PM05 as the giveaway name and tell us the four colors the biodegradable pens come in! Giveaway ends 05/12/10; $25 value. Open to US residents only. Official Rules. Giveaway closed.

On our Blog: The Pollution INSIDE Your Home

What: Filtered water bottle from Bobble

Features: A Bobble bottle (say that three times fast!) is a portable, reusable water bottle with its own in-house carbon filtering system. Powerfully absorbent and low-maintenance, Bobble’s carbon filters meet or exceed NSF International Standard 42 for chlorine, taste and odor reduction

Green Factor: Annually, Americans spend $17 billion on bottled water, and 1.5 million barrels of oil are used a year to make the bottles themselves. One of Bobble’s carbon filters represents three hundred plastic water bottles; filters typically last up to 2 months/150 litres. Bobble bottles are made from recycled material and are recyclable; they’re also BPA, Phthalate and PVC-free

Bonus: Retails for under $10 and it’s made in the USA

Find It Here: Amazon.com or JCPenney

On our Blog: The Pollution INSIDE Your Home

What: BorrowMe

Features: BorrowMe lets you borrow, lend or rent anything from anybody in your area. Make the most out of what you’ve got, whether you’re looking to buy, sell, rent or lend. Joining is easy; create a quick profile and you’re ready to go!

Green Factor: The benefits are obvious! Not only is recycling and re-circulating the stuff we don’t want cheaper, it reduces consumption. And less consumption = less waste

Bonus: This site’s got something for everyone, with emphasis put on the Frugal Folks, Young Moms and Students communities

Find It Here: BorrowMe.com

Also Check Out: Manny & Simon Wheelie Toy giveaway (ends April 14)

What: Regreet

Features: From Christie Eichers comes a unique idea–Regreet, a way to reuse greeting cards and reduce paper waste. The idea is simple: put one of Regreet’s signature labels over the original sender’s message, and then write your own. Apply a journey label on the back of the card, pop it in one of Regreet’s envelopes, and you’re all set! The neat part about the Regreet system? Each journey label has a tracking code, so you can keep track of where your card goes through Regreet’s website.

Green Factor: Save money (we all know greeting cards are ridiculously overpriced!) and the environment by reusing cards instead of buying them

Bonus: Regreet donates a portion of their earnings to nonprofit organizations; this year, they’re supporting 4-H, The Nature Conservancy and Susan G. Komen for the Cure

Find It Here: Regreet