The first time I put wire hangers in a blue box many years ago -- I was shocked when I came back to the curb and they were still there! You would think wire hangers would be an obvious thing to recycle. Wrong.

But now there may be a solution that could prevent 300 million wire hangers going to Canadian landfill sites every year.

The greener option is the E-Hanger. It's made out of 100 per cent recycled material, is provided to dry cleaners for free and paid for by companies that advertise right on the cardboard hanger. Ad agencies call it a billboard for the bedroom.

 Andy Farris with E-Hanger In-Home media says "feedback has been great because many people don't know what to do with all their wire hangers." He says "Now once you are done with your E-Hanger you can put it straight into your blue box for recycling."

Dry cleaners have to pay as much as 7 cents for every wire hanger so getting free eco-friendly cardboard hangers is good for their bottom line as well as the environment.

Howard Berman with Crystal White Cleaners has been in the dry cleaning business for almost 50 years and has seen as many as a million wire hangers pass through his store. He says "This is a great idea because we want to be environmentally conscious."

E-Hanger is also working with larger dry cleaning chains like Parkers, Cadet and Sketchley to get the E-Hanger in their stores as well. It's an interesting concept likely to "hook" the public and "hang around."

For more information check www.ehanger.ca

Key Points:

  • The E-Hanger is made from 100 pe cent recyclable materials and printed with vegetable soy-based ink
  • Marketers can use eHangers as a sustainable form of marketing by printing ads, coupons or samples on them
  • Wire hangers are made of low-grade materials and are not accepted as part of the blue bin recycling program
  • Every year, about 300 million wire hangers are dumped into Canadian landfills (about 90 per cent of metal hangers and 85 per cent of plastic hangers)
  • In the U.S., about 3.5 billion wire hangers end up in landfills and don't decompose for over 100 years
  • A similar product called The Smart Hanger (www.thesmarthanger.com) is also produced in Canada
  • In the U.S., there's a similar product called EcoHangers (www.ecohangersexpress.com)