Eco-art

I've been thinking lately about how I can make my art practice friendlier to the environment, and most likely my health too.  Some ideas are pretty common sense and just require me to not be lazy.
Here is what I got so far:

-Stop using disposable pallets. I love them for the easy clean up, but really, I could just use the perfectly good wooden one I have. This will make mother earth happy by not throwing dried paint into the landfill, and save me money every time I need new pad of pallet paper.

-Stop using paint thinner. Obvious, I know. I haven't used it much, but have gotten into the habit of cleaning my brushes with it the last few months. The very best brush cleaner I have used is Masters Brush Cleaner. It is a mild, solid soap that works wonders for cleaning oil and acrylic brushes, or even oil paint stains from clothes and carpet. Genius.

-Re-use stretcher frames. My mom will thank me for this. I recently went through a storage room in my parents house, that has become the island of the misfit artwork. There were so many old paintings that I didn't know what to do with (and not worth showing to anybody), so I've been removing the used, crappy canvas and replacing it with fresh stuff. (This is also helping in my quest to save money.) Their is something satisfying about stretching canvas. Reusing frames leads to my next point:

-Re-use old crappy canvas. I've worked in art supply stores for many years and it has turned me into an art supply junkie. There is nothing better than a brand new, fresh, shiny white canvas to indulge my art habit. So, I am dealing with this by gessoing over my old not-worthy stuff and using them again. I've never been a fan of having texture of another painting underneath the current one. But I am dealing... (deep breath) This works for acrylic paintings, but you can't gesso over oil paint. My discard oil canvas are currently being reclaimed and made into an experimental art project. More on that later...

-Brush on varnish instead of spray on. The spray varnish is just too easy, but I'll deal with that too.

-Use recycled paper where I can. Thankfully nowadays there are many choices when it comes to sketchbooks and drawing paper. The Robert Bateman brand sketchbook is a good choice for recycled paper. There are unbleached and hemp paper options too. I guess this one can work into my habit of not finishing sketchbooks because I am swayed by the lovely clean pages of a new, unused sketchbook. (that's the junkie coming out) Now that I think about it, I should gather any scraps of whatever paper I have around and make a new sketchbook. That way there will be an interesting variety of paper to use and I can clean up all the scrap floaty paper I never know what to do with but can't bring myself to throw out.

-Use old rags instead of paper towel. Check.


Like I mentioned, these are all pretty common sensy, but will make a small difference in art material waste.
Any other ideas?