Sustainable Dishwashing Part II: Reduce, ReUse, Recycle Plastics
Nothing gets my anxiety level higher than petro-plastic bags & wraps. Plastic takes hunreds of years to decompose while it does nothing but ensconce a loaf of bread or piece of meat that will be digested in days. Even organic foods comes wrapped in it – ouch. I am trying to let go of that which I cannot yet change so I breathe deeply and re-use and recycle.
Mine is a real and not ideal household. Cooking is not my forte and I buy a fair amount of frozen food rather than let paper wrapped foods go bad; using petro oil bad, killing animals needlessly, worse. Not all family members are as committed to zero waste as I am, so I attempt to keep damages to a minimum, thusly.
If you have identifiable containers or spaces for each, the process becomes easy for you and family members.
Flexible plastics triage (quatrage?).
- A) GROCERY/DRUGSTORE/TAKEOUT bags, BREAD & other hole-less bags of suitable size. Place with dog supplies for dog poop on walk or with cleaning supplies to line trash cans. IKEA sells a handy durable dispenser to attach inside a cabinet door for.
- B) XL/UNUSUAL shaped bags: Keep a few for future storing/protecting/carrying needs. I keep these with large handled paper bags.
- C) ZIP-LOC style bags (purchased or that foods come in): Put in sink for washing. See below for more details
- D) RECYCLE @ GROCERY: Every other flexible PETRO-plastic. More details below.
- E) Is the plastic CRUNCHY & CRINKLY? Chances are good that it is actually a bio-plastic i.e. made of cellophane, corn, etc. See below.
Drying set up for recently washed zipper-style bags
CATEGORY C: Zippered plastic bags. I pay more for the heavy duty kind with good zippers that work more than once; I probably get at least 10 uses out of each bag. Wash with soapy water, cold rinse (germs thrive in warm but not cold water; boiling temps that would kill germs will melt the bags). I have a couple sets of wooden upright plate racks that I keep just for bag drying as well upending them on my knife block when I run out of space. As I wash them I check for leaks and mark leaky bags with an X in permanent marker so I don’t reuse for airtight situations. I put them back in the boxes they came from. I feel comfortable re-using mine for food; others may not. I use the newer looking ones for food, the sadder ones for myriad uses. It feels like a lottery winning when I take in an XL zipper bag from frozen chicken pieces. Great for storing camping supplies or other large items in dirty places such as garages or attics. Keeps dust out of craft supplies.
CATEGORY D I store in the largest plastic bag in the collection. I can recycle at Safeway, Whole Foods and many other markets. They use these to manufacture composite porch wood, bender board, picnic tables and many other products. Included in the category are:
- Rigid frozen food bags (quick-rinse for stuck food)
- Produce bags,
- Air filled bags used as packing material (kids love poking holes to deflate these),
- Category C bags past their prime,
- Dry cleaning bags,
- Shrink wrap from warehouse store purchases
- Almost any kind of soft flexible plastic that comes my way
CATEGORY E: CRUNCH OR CRINKLY. I haven’t been able to find a definitive way to distinguish petro- from bio- plastic, so this is the best I can do if there is no marking on the plastic. These are eventually biodegradeable but probably aren’t appropriate for your compost heap. If you have compostable waste collection with your trash, put it in that container. If not, ask your city government or waste management company to add compostable separation as part of the next contract period. Otherwise, it goes in the regular trash for now 🙁
Packaging, Plastics, Polymer, Re-use, Recycle | Comment (0)
Shells, Sand & Gardens
Crustacean Exhibit @ NY Museum of Nat’l Science
Grains of sand are as numerous as the stars in the firmament so it would would be a fruitless task to assess the source from which each grain was ground over the eons. Their origins could be from stone, bone, shell or sea detritus worn down by time.
We do know that sand is wonderful for many gardens as both a soil amendment and landscaping aid or element.
Being an inveterate recycler and composter, I was considering the possibilities for shells of the beer-steamed mussels we had just finished enjoying. I had considered offering them on Freecycle to a crafter that might have a creative idea but decided to try to take responsibility for our trash on my own property.
Always starved for inexpensive path and working area materials I’ve added them to the chunky stones and brick where I keep my planting supplies. As they get crunched to pieces, dust flys in and fall leaves crumble between the stones, new dirt is forming. Next year I can pick up the stones and gather that soil from the weed barrier to add to my compost.
Another form of sand is in those little silica packets that come in many electronics. While still sand, we have no idea where they come from or what they have been exposed to. I toss these in my stone pathway but Laura of “Make Life Lovely” has many other great ideas, so check them out!
Composting, Gardening, Landscaping, Re-use, Recycle | Comment (0)To Mother Earth, With Love on St. Valentine’s Day
St. Valentine was a priest in Rome in the 1rst Century CE. “He was caught marrying Christian couples and aiding any Christians who were being persecuted under Emperor Claudius and subsequently imprisoned, then beaten, stoned and beheaded for trying to convert Claudius, himself. One legend says, while awaiting his execution, Valentinus restored the sight of his jailer’s blind daughter. Another legend says, on the eve of his death, he penned a farewell note to the jailer’s daughter, signing it, “From your Valentine.”
Popular customs “associated with Saint Valentine’s Day had their origin in a conventional belief generally received in England and France during the Middle Ages, that on 14 February, i.e. half way through the second month of the year, the birds began to pair. the day was looked upon as specially consecrated to lovers and as a proper occasion for writing love letters and sending lovers’ tokens.”
Forest Ethics suggests that Valentine’s Day is the perfect opportunity to get creative. In the spirit of the holiday, send your loved ones a handmade card out of the very junk mail clogging your mail box.
Making your own valentine is easy. Check out our facts about junk mail page for quick facts to share with your friends, and start cutting up those glossy mailers sitting in your recycle bin. With a pair of scissors and a little glue, you’ll have a valentine in no time.
And don’t forget to tell your valentine to sign the petition at http://www.donotmail.org!
If you have the time, they’d like you send them a picture of your valentine on Facebook, Flickr, or just attach it in an email. (If you send an email, please make sure it’s under 8 mb.)
