One woman's search to find greening in the world today …

Category Archives: reuse

A Breath of Fresh(er) Air

When we think of  sunny Southern California, clean air does not immediately come to mind. But I have to tell you, I just visited, and one thing I noticed in several cities was how smoke-free they were. Cities like Burbank, Glendale and Calabasas, to name a few, have bans in place to prohibit public smoking.  The cities just seem so CLEAN. No cigarette butts on the sidewalks. No walking out of a building only to be engulfed in a cloud of toxic secondhand smoke.

In fact, this is an especially hot topic in California right now – next week voters will weigh in on Proposition 29 – which is about imposing an additional $1.00 per pack tax on cigarettes and an equivalent tax increase on other tobacco products, with the revenues funding research for cancer and tobacco-related diseases.

There are no easy answers here. All I know is that, even in a smoggy city like Los Angeles, it was wonderful to breathe deeply and not gag on second-hand smoke…

Don’t Dump Your Paint!

“I have a random question I thought you might be able to answer. Someone left about 5 cans of paint in the alley behind my house (jerks!). Do you know how paint is supposed to be disposed of? I now feel responsible for disposing of it properly…” ~ Serina 
Great question, Serina!  Especially because it seems that we have a lot of leftover, unused paint. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “Every year in the United States, homeowners throw out 64 million gallons (242 million liters) of unused interior and exterior paint.” NASA measures it this way: ”That’s enough paint to paint 3,878,788 miles (6,242,304 kilometers) of highway stripes. To put that into perspective, it’s enough paint to paint 16 solid highway stripes from the Earth to the moon.” And finally, the U.S. Department of the Interior adds: “It’s also enough to fill 128 Olympic swimming pools.” Every year.
There is a great website that can tell you how to recycle all different kinds of things by zip code: Earth 911. (There is even an iPhone app – iRecycle.) Basically, paint is considered as hazardous waste. In many states, it is illegal to dispose of paint in the trash or down storm or sewer drains. (Not to mention just ditching it in an alleyway!) Paint can contaminate drinking water and ocean water. Special collection programs have been established to accept paint for recycling or proper disposal.
Other ways to deal with that paint could include:
  • Donate the paint so it can be reused. If you don’t have a friend who will be painting soon, consider donating to a local theatre group or school performing arts department. Or maybe give it to a charity such as Habitat for Humanity, that can use leftover paint.
  • Call the manufacturer. Often these companies have recycling programs of their own. Rather than wasting the paint by drying it out, they can recycle or reuse it.
  • Use it, even if you mix colors together, to paint areas like the garage, etc. Or use your mixture as a base-coat.
  • If it’s latex and there is not too much of it, leave the lid off (in a well-ventilated place) to dry it out. when it is completely dry, wrap the clump in a newspaper and trash it. Recycle the now-empty can.
Thank you for being such a good steward for out planet, Serina!

Just Say NO to Plastic Bags

After giving a good friend a birthday gift “wrapped” in a cute and colorful reusable grocery bag from Whole Foods, the conversation turned to what to use it for. She was excited to carry books in it – a great idea. Then, I took it a step further, and asked the big question, “Just what do you carry your groceries in?” In her defense, she had the good grace to look somewhat embarrassed as she gave me the answer I knew was coming. “Plastic,” she whispered. And then, more defensively, “Well, you are greener than I am.” NO excuse holds up at this point, especially since she lives in L.A., where the county already has a plastic bag ban in place. Plastic bags are just not OK.

There are at least four big reasons why plastic bags are harmful for the environment. Buzzle.com gives us the following list:

“Plastic bags litter the landscape. Once they are used, most plastic bags go into landfill, or rubbish tips. Each year more and more plastic bags are ending up littering the environment. Once they become litter, plastic bags find their way into our waterways, parks, beaches, and streets. And, if they are burned, they infuse the air with toxic fumes.

Plastic bags kill animals. About 100,000 animals such as dolphins, turtles whales, penguins are killed every year due to plastic bags. Many animals ingest plastic bags, mistaking them for food, and therefore die. And worse, the ingested plastic bag remains intact even after the death and decomposition of the animal. Thus, it lies around in the landscape where another victim may ingest it.

Plastic bags are non-biodegradable. And one of the worst environmental effects of plastic bags is that they are non-biodegradable. The decomposition of plastic bags takes about 1000 years.

Petroleum is required to produce plastic bags. As it is, petroleum products are diminishing and getting more expensive by the day, since we have been using this non-renewable resource increasingly. Petroleum is vital for our modern way of life. It is necessary for our energy requirements – for our factories, transport, heating, lighting, and so on. Without viable alternative sources of energy yet on the horizon, if the supply of petroleum were to be turned off, it would lead to practically the whole world grinding to a halt. Surely, this precious resource should not be wasted on producing plastic bags, should it?”

According to the Environmental Literacy Council, “It is estimated that somewhere between 500 billion and one trillion plastic bags are consumed throughout the world each year. In 1977, supermarkets began to offer plastic grocery bags as an alternative to paper bags. By 1996, four out of every five grocery bags used were plastic.”

That is beginning to change. Plastic bags are either restricted or completely banned in more than 25 percent of the world. In the United States, San Francisco led the way in 2007 with a local ban, followed the next year with a ban in Westport, Connecticut, and then in Edmond, Washington. In 2010 Los Angeles County, Brownsville, Texas, and Bethel, Alaska approved similar bans. In the first few months of 2011 bans went into effect in North Carolina’s Outerbanks Region, and similar bans at municipality level were imposed in India, Mexico and the UK.

It does take some getting used to – remembering to bring your bags. I leave an assortment of reusable bags in my trunk,  always at the ready. And in my town, in most of the store parking lots, there are signs reminding us to carry our bags into the store. You CAN get into the habit, promise. Paper or plastic? NEITHER, I HAVE MY OWN BAG, THANKS!!

Sweet As Sugar?

As I keep exploring the world of sustainability and how we make use of items that would normally be trash, it is rewarding to find something that has such a diverse life and , well, afterlife cycle.

What could be sweeter than sugar?  How about all the eco-uses for the rest of the sugarcane plant, after the sweet sugarcane juice is extracted from the stalks. Now, we know about the common kinds of sugar such as raw sugar, refined white sugar, brown sugar, cane juice. We also may be familiar with the drinks that have ingredients made from sugar like rum,  falernum, molasses, and cachaca (the national spirit of Brazil). And, Ethyl alcohol is used in such diverse places as thermometers, solvents and is what gives drinks their kick.

We may even be aware sugarcane can be used to make ethanol, which is basically fermented sugar that is gaining popularity as a fuel additive. In fact, the use of ethanol fuel alone or mixed with gasoline is increasing. The Indy Racing League has been using ethanol exclusively as its fuel since 2007.

But what you may not have heard about is Bagasse, which is what’s left of the stalk after all the sugarcane juice is removed. Bagasse has been used for cattle food, fuel, paper and paper products such as plates, and take home containers (replacing styrofoam.)

One of the best kept secrets is how sugarcane has been used in making fibers, fabrics and yarn. One company in Japan even used it to make a line of designer blue jeans, and other fashions for men. Sugar Cane Co.   What I am personally excited about is the beautiful hand knitting yarn made from Sugar Cane…

Who knows what else can be made out of this diverse, and very green product? It’s true, ONE MAN’S TRASH really is another man’s treasure!

** The line ONE MAN’S TRASH is a writing prompt form Be Kind Rewrite

Christmas, Wrapped

Yikes! It’s 2 days before Christmas, and there is a frenzy of shopping and gift wrapping happening all around us. Today is traditionally the busiest shopping day in December, as people get in some last minute holiday buying. And wrapping…

Here’s an amazing fact: we spend $2.6 billion a year on gift wrap. Wow – that’s BILLION!! Eco-chick.com shares with us the following stats:  ”It is estimated that almost 25 million tons more waste is created   during the holidays than over a typical ten-week period. The extra waste amounts to 25 million tons of garbage, or about 1 million extra tons per week! If every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet. If every American family wrapped just 3 presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields. The 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the U.S. could fill a football field 10 stories high. If we each sent one card less, we’d save 50,000 cubic yards of paper.”

I can remember back to a Christmas long ago – we had just purchased our first home, had a toddler, and money was pretty tight. Fancy gift wrap was definitely a luxury we couldn’t afford. So (and this was before the days that it was eco-chic to do so) I wrapped all the gifts with old newspaper. It was a blast – I sprayed the sheets with a bit of hairspray to set the ink.I KNOW there are different and  much greener ways to handle this now (and the inks and paper are different as well) but I was using what I had on-hand. What fun I had matching the topics to the presents – no doom and gloom stuff. Sunday comics for kid’s gifts, the Sports page for a baseball book – you get the picture.  And, bonus! Everyone who saw our tree with the presents underneath loved how creative and inventive it was!!

Some things to try this year:

  • Reuse old gift bags, or wrap from your stash. Some shops are even sending their customers out the door with gift bags instead of those cheezy plastic bags.
  • Better yet, let the gift be part of the wrap – if you are giving something made of fabric, like a scarf, use it to wrap smaller items in. Or, a wooden box can hold a treasure inside. Baking cookies? Put them on a pretty recycled plate. Be creative!
  • Use fabric and “real ribbon” that can be used again and again and again…
  • Give reusable bags (you know the colorful ones from the grocery store, Ikea, etc.) wrap items in tissue that pokes out of the bag festively. Tissue is relatively green if it is made of post consumer materials because it usually breaks down so easily. I am on the lookout to find small quantities of unbleached and not colored tissue. Any ideas?

Most gift wrap can be recycled if you cannot use it again. And, if it doesn’t have any metallic paint, dye, etc. Try to salvage it if you can, even if it is to cover a book. One fun idea is to run it through your shredder and use it for packing material next year.

Make being green with your gifting fun! Use your creativity, use up your old stuff, try not to buy new. Don’t beat yourself up at this point for what you did – or didn’t –  do this year. Relax, enjoy the holiday and put the challenge out to family and friends to see who can be greenest in their gifting next year. Prepare to be surprised and delighted with the green results. Well, that’s my Green Game, anyway…

Signed, Sealed, Delivered…

I love the holidays, and I am somewhat ashamed to admit a not-so-very-green secret –  I enjoy receiving holiday  cards from near and far, and packages that magically arrive in the mail. Even MORE, I enjoy sending a few cards to people I don’t see very often. And sending gifts, especially handmade ones? Priceless!! I don’t even mind the hustle-bustle of the long lines at the post office or Fed-Ex. This year, I have been on a quest to do this in a more eco-responsible way.

My first decision was that if I have blank cards in my holiday stash from years past, then these are OK to send to a few folks, with the thought that I am reducing my clutter by using them up. For well-wishing on a larger scale, I am thinking of using one  of the online cards available, or making up my own message to be sent electronically. A couple of good sources are; nice - Jacquie Lawson,  or naughty – Hipster Cards.

But how about those packages I want to send? Here are a few thoughts:

  • Reuse boxes and other shipping materials. It is greenest to reuse a box made of virgin trees rather than to buy a new box made from recycled content. Energy was already used to manufacture that old box or bubble wrap, so you are not using any more. The resources used or pollution caused by its creation can’t be taken back. The best thing you can do at this point is extend the product’s useful life. Plus, you’re saving money!
  • Use recycled tissue, newspaper, and for smaller gifts, plain popped  popcorn works like a charm (the person receiving your package and either compost it or feed it to the birds.) You can also take old gift wrap and run it thorough the shredder for fun padding.
  • Need to buy a box? Look for ones that that are made from recycled fibers or from fibers sourced from managed forests.
  • Try to avoid buying plastic packaging. Bubble wrap and other plastic packaging are made with petroleum – instead use biodegradable packing peanuts, which easily dissolve when exposed to water and leave no chemical residue, can be reused or even composted.
  • Traditional shipping “peanuts” are made of polystyrene, a petroleum-derived material that is not biodegradable. The good news? Clean, unwanted polystyrene peanuts are accepted at 1,500 packaging stores around the U.S. Call the Plastic Loosefill Council’s Peanut Hotline at 1-800-828-2214 for the names of local businesses that accept them. (UPS is one of them.)
  • Send your packages early enough so that you can use ground rather than air; ground shipping is more efficient than air freight (and usually cheaper too). Imagine my surprise today when I was given the option and knew that I was early enough to easily send by ground and have everything arrive on time!
  • Chose a shipping company that operates in an environmentally responsible way. FedEx operates a fleet of 93 hybrid trucks in 12 cities, while UPS has purchased 50 hybrid-electric trucks. And, even the US Post Office is becoming greener, and offering more eco-friendly options, including a full line of boxes and mailers that are certified Cradle to Cradle sustainable.

And, of course I’m also thinking of sending a few E-gift cards from  favorite online or local stores. And it (almost) goes with out saying, I am comitting to reuse and recycle the shipping materials that I receive in the mail this holiday season.

And then, I will have a whole year to find bubble mailer alternatives that are safe, green and waterproof. Any thoughts?

GreenBatteryLand – tip of the iceberg

It all started, as many of my adventures seem to, with a technical difficulty. I was using my trusty old computer mouse with my new Macbook Pro, and struggling mightily in the process. Since I go thru many batteries with my mouse, I decided that it was time to find a greener alternative than the single use batteries that were currently installed. The reason I use so many batteries is  pretty green, actually. Whenever I work backstage with musical theater productions, there is always a “give-away” box of AA and AAA batteries (each microphone gets new batteries every show, so it won’t fail during the middle of someone’s big song!) So, I am always using recycled and repurposed batteries.

Which is why I was in shock when I went to the drugstore to purchase 2 rechargeable batteries with their charger. There was a whole wall filled with nothing but various battery choices – single and multiple use. The rechargeable ones ranged in price from $15 to $50. I grabbed the closest, cheapest rechargeable ones and off I went to $charge them (and then to charge them.)

While I was patiently waiting for the “green light” to go on, I began googling. Here’s a small sampling of my findings:

  • There are over 8 million results for “green batteries”
  • And 1.25 million results for “green AA batteries” alone!
  • Someone wrote a 300 page book – Batteries in a Portable World: A Handbook for rechargeable batteries for non-engineers, which is supposed to be an easy read (by their definition)
  • And there is the more technical – Handbook of Batteries
  • Someone created http://BatteryUniversity.com
  • Another informative site is http://Greenbatteries.com
  • And I am definitely “not in Kansas anymore, Toto!”

According to Greenbatteries.com “every year over 15 billion batteries are produced and sold worldwide. Many are alkaline batteries which are discarded after a single use. Fortunately, thanks to ongoing advances in both rechargeable batteries and battery chargers, single use alkaline batteries can largely be replaced with higher capacity, environmentally friendly, rechargeable Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH), Nickel Zinc(NiZN) or Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries that last far longer in high drain devices – each time they are charged – and can be used many hundreds of times…saving you tons of money. There are, of course, still many requirements for Nickel Cadmium and Lead Acid rechargeable batteries.”

So, this leaves me at the beginning of a wonderful new adventure. I feel like I am gathering the travel maps and necessary equipment for my trek through GreenBatteryLand. This could take a while, I truly feel like I don’t know the language, customs and landmarks in this strange new place. I would love some traveling companions – and maybe even a guide or two. Sherpa!!

Share your stories, tips, and knowledge with us if you’d like to (I know I would love to hear.) One early discovery I made: while it is not generally necessary to put your batteries in the refrigerator or freezer, keeping them cool could help prolong their lives. My take? It couldn’t hurt!

But what about my poor computer mouse? While the rechargeable batteries work great as batteries in all kinds of other applications, unfortunately, we couldn’t revive my mouse. But that may be a whole different adventure saved for another day…



eco-judgement…or GRUDGEMENT

Here I am – five weeks into My Green Adventure – weekly posts about creating eco-awareness for me and others, in a positive, fun way. So why am I feeling judgement ooze in? This is NOT positive and NO fun at all!! For example, here I am at my local coffeehouse, with my reusable mug in hand. What do I notice? That I am the ONLY one with a mug that is not paper. Maybe your favorite coffee place is different. I certainly HOPE it is! I once did the math on this – suppose I got one paper cup of coffee everyday for a year? That equals 365 paper cups going into the landfill. Now suppose that same coffeehouse sells 1,000 paper cups of coffee in a day? Now, that’s 365,000 cups in one year into the landfill. And, we’re just talking ONE coffee place. Don’t get me started on the trees!! Whew! Now, before I tar and feather everyone who is holding a paper cup (because of course I am feeling rather “holier-than-thou” about now, holding my own mug) – maybe it is time for me to remember the time just last week that I was out without my mug. I wanted some coffee, and so I became one of those paper-cup holding villains. Or what about the time I was out shopping with a friend, who tossed a big bag that was easily recyclable into a garbage can. I did call her on it, and she just said,” Oh – you are just greener than I am.” as if that made it OK! Many of us do the best we can at any given moment, and getting all high and mighty about being greener doesn’t serve anyone. It actually can make the offender resist your best efforts in creating awareness. We do know that like energy attracts, and so keeping that positive, non-judgemental attitude is the shortcut to creating the space for people to change. My challenge and my promise: I am willing to let go of  my “green judgement” – hereafter known as my GRUDGEMENT – and find ways to learn and pass on that knowledge in ways  that are fun, inspiring and makes people actually think it is a great adventure to be greener themselves. I’d love to hear your ideas, questions, comments about how GRUDGEMENT shows up in your world, and how you handle it…