Recycle
• Save the leaves taken from your hot tub for mulch.
• Buy equipment and supplies with the greatest amount of postconsumer recycled materials. Even plastic hot tub pumps and hot tub filters are now being made with recycled materials!
• Never throw away an old piece of equipment. Take the motor to a rebuilder (who can use the parts and may even give you a few dollars for it); take the old filter or heater to a scrap metal dealer.
• Replace the net on your skimmer instead of buying a new one. Other maintenance tools may have replacement components, so try before you buy.
• Use discarded stockings or panty hose as catch bags on hot tub vacs. Miscellaneous
• When painting a hot tub or deck, use paints with low volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to protect air quality.
• When sanding, chipping, or grinding, control the dust and properly dispose of all residue. It may contain fine particles of old paint, metals, or chemicals which can pollute the air you are breathing in the vicinity or harm plants and pets.
• When landscaping around the hot tub, avoid trees that drop lots of leaves; and don't create dirt planter areas near the water where wind and rain will flush debris into the hot tub. Organic debris causes more chemical use, and as noted above, you're trying to cut down.
• In some places (such as California), storm drains flow directly to rivers and the ocean. Thus anything that drains from your deck into the storm drains also flows to natural water courses. So don't use detergents or harsh chemicals to clean your hot tub deck unless you want to be swimming with the same pollutants! |
