What's a Girl to Do?

A small thought for today, motivated by Real Simple magazine's column that features new ways to repurpose items in your house:

What do you do with plastic bags? I mean when you are done with using them for their original purpose?

After having radically reduced the amount of plastic bags in my house by religiously carrying by canvas shopping bags with me everywhere, I find myself pondering ways to make the most out of the few plastic bags that now make their way into my house.

I have even stopped using the smaller plastic bags that the grocery store offers for produce. Instead I load hard fruits into one canvas bag that has a zipper. And for soft fruits I use an invention my mom made. She has repurposed the mesh bags that onions come in (see photo) and now I carry those with my canvas bags.

But what about the plastic bags that rice cakes come in? And what about the plastic bags that line cereal boxes? What's a girl committed to helping mother earth to do with those?

Here are some of my ideas. The rice cake bags go with me when I walk my dog. I know there are products you can buy that package a scroll of plastic bags that attach to your dogs leash, but i forego that expense and fashion convenience in favor the economy and ecology of reusing bags I have already paid for. And the cereal bags make great liners for my guinea pig's cage.

What about you? What are some of the inventive ways you are reusing plastics that come into your house?

Beachcombing

Our 7th annual April beach day at Hammonasset was wonderful. Nearly 25 of us hung out, played and enjoyed the crisp ocean breezes all afternoon. I bribed the kids to leave the beach with a promise of a stop at DQ! I always look forward to combing the beach in search of nature's treasures. This year was no exception. However, my finds broke my heart.

After walking less than half a mile down the beach, our trash bag was more than half full. I wanted to shout, "Really? We're not beyond littering? People really still do that?!!!" But nobody would have heard me as the waves rolled on and on.

Once my emotionalism had passed, I started to itemize what was in the trash bag. In addition to a month-old half-rotten flip flop (and this is on a state beach that gets routinely groomed) and more cigarette butts than I could count, the predominant items found on the beach were pieces of Dunkin Donuts coffee cups. Soooooo depressing to me. As we head into Earth Day, consider bringing your re-usable coffee cup when you buy your coffee at your favorite local coffee house. And if you do purchase coffee in a disposable container, I implore you to recycle the cardboard wrappers and iced coffee cups (most are 1s).

Single Stream Recycling

I am having a deep and satisfying relationship with my new single stream recycling bin. A little odd perhaps, but totally true. I have spent the last two years developing systems for sorting different categories of recyclables and schlepping various items to myriad locations. Our previous garbage company (Nu Life) would only do curbside recycling for certain plastics (1s and 2s), metal cans, corrugated cardboard, and newspaper. Other junk mail had to be sorted separately and hand delivered to the recycling center. Hard plastics (3s-7s) don't have an in-town alternative. I would sort all my 5s on their own as I knew that Whole Foods, there's one near my office, had a free service for recycling 5s that returns the material into tooth brush handles.

Well, the super-dee-duper good news is that All Waste bought out our old company and they offer single stream recycling for everything. It has made my life so much better...I have less sorting to do and less is going in the trash can. My word of advice for today: it really matters who you hire to be your garbage company.

What Can You Sustain?

What is it about the turning from one year to another that compels us to make lists? The one that has been collecting in my head lists the practices I have changed around my house in order to be a better steward of the Earth's resources.

The reason I feel the need to share this list is my passionate belief that it's only the changes we can sustain that are meaningful. This, by the way, is true for anything you are trying to change: your diet, work out plan, house cleaning habits, work ethic, etc. If the plan you make is one you are going to quit on (or worse yet, is one that you know sets you up to fail) discouragement reigns.

So I share the earth-friendly habits that I have sustained:
• using only phosphate free dish and laundry soap.
• using paper towels and toilet paper made from 100% recycled paper.
• using cloth napkins at the dinner table for numerous meals versus paper napkins which get one-time use and add to the household trash.
• faithfully using curbside recycling services for cans and bottles, newspaper, and corrugated cardboard.
• taking junk mail, magazines, and various other types of packaging to the recycling center in town (open Mon, Thur, and Sat) reducing my trash significantly.
• recycling rain water and water from unfinished pitchers or glasses for watering outdoor gardens and/or indoor plants.
• using canvas bags for all purchases, even when it is not convenient; I keep canvas bags in both our cars and often tuck a couple into my purse just in case.
• this one might fall under TMI, but like Jack's Mannequin's song says, "When did society decide that we have to change or wash a T-shirt after every individual use?"; I have taken to wearing outerwear, like sweatshirts and even jeans (egads!) numerous times before washing and thus reducing laundry/energy consumption, water use, and detergent use.
• while our town doesn't offer recycling services for hard plastics (number 5s, which includes things like yogurt containers, soda bottle lids, etc.), Whole Foods offers free recycling for hard plastics.
• purchasing needed household items from consignment shops versus buying new; ask me about the totally groovy wine rack I found for my Mom at Goodwill for $2!!!
• composting household garbage like egg shells, coffee grounds and such (things that could go down the garbage disposal and burn energy to run the disposal, or go in the trash causing me to use more trash bags and add to the land fill) now go into my compost pile and will eventually get turned back into my veggie garden. I am not 100% on this one and I know the key is to move the composter closer to my back door when the weather is cold!!!
• buying local dairy products, fruits and veggies means no one is trucking my food from far away and burning more fossil fuel in the process.

I am smart enough to know that I am not smart enough to quantify the effects of all this change, but I am certain that it amounts to something good. How about you? What are you doing that I am not. Help a sistah out and share your ideas.