Power OF the People

Get off your butt and do something today


Or better yet, sit right there and do something today. If you're bored, and obviously you are, because you're sitting here reading this, then I've got a couple of projects for you. I promise they won't take long and they're all for very good causes!


Take Back The Filter Campaign

You all know Beth at Fake Plastic Fish is one of my favorite bloggers. She kicks plasstic and I wish I had half the energy, focus and dedication she has when it comes to following up gripes about corporate apathy with bonafide action.

Anyhow, Beth has started a grassroots campaign urge Clorox to take responsibility for the millions of plastic Brita water filter cartridges that are disposed of each year.

The original Brita company in Germany has had a program to collect and recycle used filter cartridges ever since 1992. They process them in their own facility, separating the materials and recycling or reusing them. The North American branch of the company was sold to Clorox in 2000. Clorox has not provided any way to recycle these used cartridges.

Clorox and Nalgene have teamed up with the FilterForGood campaign to encourage people to give up bottled water and opt instead for the combo of reusable bottle and Brita filter, to cut down the amount of plastic bottle waste. This is a great effort. But Clorox has not addressed the plastic waste from the water filters themselves, as the Brita company has done in Europe.

Beth is trying to convince Clorox to follow the principal of Extended Producer Responsibility and provide a way for its filter cartridges to either be refilled or returned and recycled.

So here's how you can help. Please go to http://www.takebackthefilter.org/ now (yes, "now", what the f? You're just sitting there... click on the freakin' link already. But then come back when you're done, because I've got more homework for you.) and sign the petition. Then, start sending your used Brita cartridges to Beth so she can deliver them en masse to Clorox.


The Gap Between Reality and Fantasy

This issue started last week when Orgie posted about the unsolicited plastic bag Old Navy sent her. Around the same time, my sister told me about how Old Navy doesn't reuse or recycle their plastic hangers -- they just toss them in the dumpster. Well, I told Orgie about this and she jumped on it like a drunken quarterback on the prom queen.

Long story short: Orgie is urging everyone to call The Gap (parent company of Old Navy and Banana Republic) and ask them what, exactly, is their policy on hangers. So far, Orgie, Arduous and I have all called and we've gotten three different answers. So just for fun, give them a call at 1-800-GAP-STYLE, option 4, option 4, and then option 2. Let's see if we can't get them to institute a company-wide policy on hanger reuse or, at the very least, a policy on giving a consistent answer to annoying eco-dork inquiries.

More Like a Don't

The Crunchtastic One has decided to bare it all for charity. No, she's not stripping down to let us see if she truly is green all over. She has challenged her blog readers to help her raise money for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. If she can raise $10,000 by May 10th, she'll shave her head.

As of this writing, she's just shy of the $2,000 mark. So, if you haven't already contributed (oh hell, even if you have) please just drop a couple bucks in the plate. I'm telling you, every little bit does make a difference. Even if you just skip the morning latte today and donate the $3.00 you save, that would be AWESOME! Thanks!

350 PPM

OK, I've mentioned this new charity before, but wanted to let you know that they're starting to make the presses. After hearing about 350.org in my Riot for Austerity Group, I checked it out. It is a brand new organization that is trying to raise awareness of the general public about global warming. (350.org is from the same people who brought Step It Up to worldwide attention last year.) It has the backing of Bill McKibben, a long time environmentalist and author of several great books including The End of Nature and Deep Economy. (I just finished Deep Economy and I HIGHLY recommend it).

Anyhow, 350.org is just trying to get their name out there right now and I'm trying to help. Here's some info from their website:

350 is the red line for human beings, the most important number on the planet. The most recent science tells us that unless we can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million, we will cause huge and irreversible damage to the earth.

We’re planning an international campaign to unite the world around the number 350, and we need your help. We need to make sure that the solutions the world proposes to climate change are to scale with the level of crisis that this number represents. Everyone on earth, from the smallest village to the cushiest corner office, needs to know what 350 means. The movement to spread that number needs to be beautiful, creative, and unstoppable.

What we need most right now are on-the-ground examples for how to take the number 350 and drive it home: in art, in music, in political demonstrations, in any other way you can imagine. We hope this project will grow tremendously in the months to come, and it helps all the more if people can see the great things others are doing already. We will connect actions all around the world and make them add up to more than the sum of their parts-but we don’t have all the ideas and all the inspiration. We need you to act on yours.

So if you've got any ideas to help these folks get the word out, by all means, stop by their website and lend them a hand!

Well, I guess that's enough homework for one night. But, if I catch you loitering around here again, you can bet your bippy I'll find you something else to do. Hoodlum.

#199 - Brusha Brusha Brusha

Choosing a Greener Toothbrush

Brush your teeth. Round and round.

Circle small, gums and all.

A small, soft toothbrush the round-and-round way, will keep your gums healthy and stop tooth decay.

So brush very carefully three times a day.

Go round and round. Round and round.

OK, those of you between the ages of, I'd guess 30 - 40, are all singing along and reminiscing about Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Greenjeans. The rest of you, however, are starting to wonder if I'm off my freakin' rocker. The good news? You're all correct. There are no wrong answers here.

Today's post, if you haven't guessed already, is about brushing my teeth. Which, btw, I only do twice a day and I do the up-and-down thing, not the circle small. Does that make me a bad person? No. What does make me a bad person is the fact that, for the past five years or so, I've been using an electric toothbrush. Yes, apparently Burbanmom is too lazy to move her wrist up and down for four minutes a day. Well look out Richard Simmons because from now on, that's going to be my new exercise regimen.

Yes, last week my electric toothbrush finally kicked the bucket. I replaced it with a new eco-friendly alternative - the Preserve Toothbrush. According to their website:

The Preserve's handle is made of polypropylene. It is an efficiently recycled material--its strength does not break down in the recycling process. Polypropylene's recycling efficiency means it is commonly reprocessed and cleaned... Polypropylene is available in many sources of post-consumer and pre-consumer recycled plastics, labeled #5. Presently our main source is from recycled Stonyfield Farm® yogurt cups... The Preserve's materials are also completely recyclable. The handle and bristles are effectively recycled together--the polypropylene and nylon actually strengthen as they combine in the recycling process. Preserve's postage-paid envelope assures that your used brush will be turned into plastic lumber.

So that's nice, right? After I use it for six months I can mail it back to them and they'll downcycle it for me. OK, it's not as earth-friendly as using my finger, or brushing with a willow branch or something, but it's definitely a step in the right direction. And so, in honor of my new toothbrush, I present to you my version of the Tommy Toothbrush jingle (sung to the tune of Three Blind Mice):

Brush your teeth. Up and down

Unplug from the wall, it's not hard at all.

A small soft toothbrush made from poly-propylene.

Will keep your teeth healthy and you'll feel a little green.

But not in a green-teeth way, cuz that doesn't seem clean.

Go brush your teeth. Brush your teeth.

[Sitting here, waiting for Preserve to call me and either offer to buy my song or pay me to stop]

Savings:

Two batteries (albeit rechargeable ones) every six months. Also will avoid all the impossible-to-open clamshell packaging they use to encase the replacement heads.

Difficulty Level: 1 out of 5

It's nice to go back to a manual brush. Really. I screwed up when I bought this one, though and got a soft bristle brush instead of a medium. Now I'm stuck with it for six months. Oh the hardships I must endure to be green.

#165 - Drawing Conclusions

Recycling Crayons

Got kids? Then you've got crayons - and lots of them. I have an entire Huggies Wipes tub chock full of crayons. I'm not really sure where they all came from. Every year, over two BILLION crayons are sold. I do believe about a third of them are in my house. And they appear to be multiplying daily.

So what do I do when the kids finally outgrow coloring? Or when their crayon colletion outgrows the tub? How cheesy would you feel giving a box of "used crayons nubs" to friends... or even to charity? You probably wouldn't do it. Neither would I. But would you just throw them in the trash? That's no solution. Crayons are made from paraffin wax - a petroleum product - which takes many, many years to biodegrade.

Well there's a company out there that recycles broken, stubbed and well-loved crayons. They remanufacture them into different shapes and resell them. It's called The Crayon Bin and they have a really neat program set up to help individuals and schools recycle their crayon bits. Here's some info straight from their site:

Crayons-4-Crayons Program

This program is an excellent teaching tool, as well as a great way to recycle broken and well loved crayons. It teaches kids the responsibility we have to our environment and the processes involved in recycling. This is a recycling program that allows kids to really do something to help the earth on their level.

Every child has crayons, they're everywhere!!! Rather then discarding them why not let "TheCrayonBin.com" recycle them. We all know that when we discard or throw things in the trash they end up in the landfills. Landfills are in short supply and waste management companies are looking for new locations to put a landfill. Most people don't want a landfill in their "backyard" so why not try to recycle and reuse to the extent that we can, to keep as much as we can from being placed into the landfills.

The best part about the program is the Crayons-4-Crayons Exchange. For every pound (a little more than 100 crayons) you will receive a set of new "Recolor Our World Crayons" made from recycled crayons. They come in different shapes like animals, shells, stars, dinosaurs, hearts and more. Since we do not add or remove anything from the crayons during the recycling process, they are still as safe as the nontoxic ones you use everyday. We place a warning on each package that crayons are not recommended for use by children under 3 years of age.

We also have another very special use for the crayons we recycle. They are recycled into what we call "Recolor Our World CrayonTops". These crayons are a special shape made for kids and adults with difficulties in fine motor skills. (Stroke, Autism, Cerebral Palsy or Arthritis) Please ask us about these crayons. As far as I know we are the only Group manufacturing these special crayons, new or recycled.

You may contact us for shipping instructions or we will gladly come to your South Jersey location to pick up your "well loved" crayons and send you some "Recolor Our World Crayons" for every pound of crayons you donate.

Remember to recycle the crayons you get from restaurants, left over crayons from around school as well as those around the house. We encourage schools to place a Crayon Recycle Bin or box in the corner of the classrooms to make it easier for the students to recycle their crayons.

Please do not remove the wrappers, they can get messy and during the recycling process they are turned into Campfire Starters so everything part of the crayon gets recycled. If you would like to sort them by color you may, but it is not required. TheCrayonBin.com will except them in any condition.

So how cool is that, folks? I know, I could search online and melt the crayons in my oven and make my own shapes, but by the time I clean out a crayon box, I'm in no mood to start a craft project. Besides, I'm not sure I want to melt crayons in my awesome new toaster oven, anyhow.

**Special super-duper thanks to my friend, Stephanie, for giving me this tip!**

#155 - Going Paperless

Canceling The Sunday Paper

The Times, they are a-changin. Or a-cancellin', as the case may be. I got our renewal notice from the good folks at the Richmond Times-Dispatch this week. And since I'm trying to reduce the amount of recyclable waste we generate, I've decided not to renew our Sunday subscription.

Those of you who have been with me since the beginning may recall that change #5 was to cancel my Friday and Saturday paper deliveries. And, thanks to the wonders of the inter-webbies, we can go back and review my thoughts on the subject. They were:

I like reading the Sunday paper. I clip my coupons, read the comics to my son (his favorite is Snoopy) check out "Ask Marilyn" in Parade and peruse the real estate section to see how the housing market is doing. I'm also a big fan of "Dear Abby" and "Miss Manners" and the guy that writes local horticulture articles. I've been a Sunday-paper-reader since I was a kid and I don't think that's going to change.

Yeah, apparently I don't know me very well. That, or during the last six months I've unwittingly purchased a one-way ticket on the bi-polar express. At any rate, I feel like a politician flip-flopping on an issue. Fortunately, also like most politicians, I don't care. Because this change will make a significant dent in the amount of recyclable paper waste we generate.


Savings:

Each Sunday paper weighs about five pounds and is ALWAYS enclosed in a non-recyclable bag -- rain or shine. In one year, that adds up to 260 pounds of paper and 52 plastic bags.


Difficulty Level: 1 out of 5

Easy to let a renewal lapse. And now I'll just start checking cnn.com, the T-D website, and my local television for news. As for Dear Abby.... well, you all have been great giving me advice so maybe I'll start a Dear Readers column of my own. And the Miss Manners thing? Yeah, I've got klass just oozing out my butt cheeks, so I don't think I really need her help anyhow.

#154 - Tea for Two

And Two for Tea

You're supposed to sing those two versus up there, in case you didn't realize. If you didn't sing it the first time, please go back and do it again. I'll wait.

Thank you.

Today's change has to do with tea. But I bet you already guessed that. You're smart like that. Anyhow, I've decided to swap my daily dose of IBC Root Beer with iced tea. You may wonder why. Or you may not. I'll tell you anyhow.

As you know, we went on vacation over the holidays. As you don't know, this meant that I missed our bi-weekly recycling pick up and now have an entire month's worth of recyclables sitting in my garage. It is an OBSCENE amount of waste. Recyclable waste, yes. But waste nonetheless.

I spent a good portion of 2007 trying to minimize the amount of non-recyclable trash our household generates. And between the diligent recycling, the shunning of non-recyclable plastics and the composting of foodscraps and tissues, I managed to get us down to one 13-gallon trash bag per week. That's pretty good, especially considering where we started. But now it's time to focus on the recyclables. Because even though these items are (hopefully) given new life as different products, they are using up a lot of fossil fuels to do so. [sidenote: if you want to see where some of our recyclable plastic ends up, check out Beth's recent post about the recycling facilities in China]

And so, this will be the first of many steps I take to reduce the amount of recyclables I put out at the curb. By switching from a bottled soda to home brewed tea, I'll be removing 7 -10 bottles a week from our recycle bin.

Alas, it is with a heavy heart that I say goodbye to my sweet IBC. Farewell fond friend. You shall be missed. But it was either you or the Woodchuck cider and to be honest, I'm pretty sure you'd choose the same.


Savings:

My IBC was sold in glass bottles with non-recyclable metal caps. They were packaged with heavy duty cardboard and sold in packs of six. The total weight of each six pack was approximately 3.5 pounds. My Lipton tea bags are packaged in compostable bags with strings attached by a metal staple. Each is wrapped in a paper bag and 24 are packaged in a lightweight cardboard box. Total weight of each package is approximately 10 ounces. I add my own tap water.

So you can see, I am cutting way down on recyclable bottles. The small staple is about 1/10 the size of a cap. And, for every 24 servings, I'm saving roughly 13 pounds in transportation weight. This doesn't even touch on the fact that I'm eliminating the need for the corn syrup, which is a whole other post about Dow and pesticides and such.

Now just imagine how much greener my next batch will be when I find someplace to buy loose tea and can just reuse a cheesecloth bag or something!


Difficulty Level: 2 out of 5

I will miss my root beer. And, to me at least, iced tea has always been a summer drink so it will just feel weird drinking it in January. But today was warm and sunny here and I made my first batch ever of winter sun tea.

And believe me, it tasted a lot better than it looks. Now if I can just figure out how to make the cider.....

Day 147 - Ty One On

Recycling Tyvek Envelopes

You all know I work from home because I often shamelessly plug my sister's renaissance garb store - The Very Merry Seamstress (thank goodness I didn't do that today, right?). Anyhow, when our lovely customers order a design that requires a brocade, satin or other fancy-shmancy fabric, I generally order just a yard or two online. There are a number of different vendors I use and several of them ship their fabrics in those Tyvek US Post envelopes.

They're one of many free supplies offered at the post office and they are lighter than a box, which reduces the postage requried to ship them. They take up less room to store and can be easily squished to fit in a standard mailbox. This is why so many vendors prefer to use the plastic packages, as opposed to boxes. Personally, I use the boxes because they are much more easily recycled than the Tyvek envelopes. However, I do occasionally recieve materials shipped in them.

These envelopes (and any other Tyvek items) are made of #2 plastic and *may* be accepted in your regular recycling bins. However, check with your local municipal waste management facility before dumping them in there because you never know what their sorting machinery can handle. My county does not accept them in the blue bins, but fortunately for all of us, DuPont has its own Tyvek recycling program. I learned about it from Beth at Fake Plastic Fish, who is a veritable encyclopedia of plastic knowledge!

According to DuPont's website, here's how I can recycle them (in quantities less than 25):

Turn any Tyvek® envelope inside out, so the unprinted white surface shows on the outside. Stuff the inside-out Tyvek® envelope with other used Tyvek® envelopes for recycling.
Address and mail the envelope to:

Tyvek® Recycle

Attn. Shirley Cimburke

2400 Elliham Avenue #A

Richmond, VA 23237

Note the address there. Yeah, I could actually drop these off the next time I'm over on that side of town. How cool is that?

Yes, I know, it would be much cooler if I insisted that all my vendors package their items in recyclable cardboard, rather than down-cyclable plastic, but honestly, I forget to do it most of the time. Senility is setting in fast, my friends.

Savings:

During my busy season (March - October), I recieve approximately one envelope per week. During my off season, I'd say it's one envelope per month. That gives me a total of 38 envelopes per year. Envelopes that previously would have been trash, will now at least become a fleece sweater or fake wood decking or something. Perfection? No. Improvement? Yes.

Difficulty Level: 1 out of 5

Saving the envelopes is no problem. They are small and are easily stored - even in my tiny sewing room. Even sending them back won't be difficult. As I said, I can either drop them off the next time I find myself in the area, or just pop them in the mail. Of course, if DuPont REALLY wanted to be a Good Company, they'd accept them postage due. Hmmmm. Maybe I'll mention that when I drop them off!

Day 141 - The Paper Chase

Buying Recycled Copy Paper

I don't go through a ton of copy paper at home. The only items I print out are shipping labels, VMS orders, mapquest directions and my grocery list form that I made in excel which has rows of categorical headers in the same order as they are found in the aisles at Kroger's. Yeah, that's an actual image of it right there - I like to take my geekness to the next level.

Jealous much?

Anyhow, I may not use a lot of paper, but from now on I'm going to make sure that anything I do print out, is printed on recycled paper. Every office supply store these days carries a wide selection of enviro-friendly paper options. Staples offers three different products including Earth Choice, which is FSC Certified, as well as a generic 30% Recycled Content and a 100% Recycled Content paper. The generic recycled paper also has the advantage of being processed without any chlorine or chlorine compounds. Double Bonus!

So from henceforth, rather than ask hubby to grab a ream of any old paper on his way home, I'll be trundling off to Staples myself to buy 100% Recycled Copy Paper.

Savings:

I'm really raising the bar here, from 0% recycled to 100% recycled. It costs a bit more ($6.49 per ream compared with $4.49 for no recycled content), but it's worth it to me. Now if I could convince hubby to make the switch at his office -- that would really be something!

Difficulty Level: 1 out of 5

Not much extra work, considering I only buy a ream every couple of months. The extra $2.00 hurts, but only because it forces me to listen to hubby's old "going green costs a lot of green" argument.

Day 122 - Letters to the Editor

Calling Bullshit When I See It

Have you noticed how commercial environmentalism has become? Everyone from movie stars to football franchises, governments and even giant BoxMart stores all want to be seen as environmentally friendly. And that's great, as long as they're backing up all the talk with action.

BUT.

Don't try to tell me it's green when it's black -- I'm not color blind. And now, inspired by my daily dose of Blue Girl, Red State, I WILL call you on it.

Example: One week ago, our county decided to ban new residents from participating in the bi-weekly curbside recycling (to save money, of course). The story got a mention on the late night news, but that was about it. The next week, there was a HUGE - I'm talking front page - write up about how the county was on the cutting edge of green-ness and was a leader in the arena of environmental protection and waste management.

Smell bullshit? I did. And so, for the first time ever, I actually sat down and wrote a "Letter to the Editor". I might not be the most eloquent writer, but if I don't call it out, who will? I can't sit back and hope others will put their neck on the line, just because I don't want people to think I'm "one of those" angry, letter-writing people. Here's what I wrote:

There was an interesting article in this week's Richmond Times Dispatch's Sunday Pullout about Chesterfield's waste division being accepted into the EPA's Performance Track program. While I do applaud their efforts to recycle vehicle oil to heat buildings, I really think it would be a stretch to say that Chesterfield County's Waste Program is a "leader in the country".

Just last week, the Water and Resource Recovery Department instituted a ban that would prohibit new residents from participating in the curbside recycling program. If Chesterfield County really wanted to be a leader in environmental protection, they could begin by not only allowing, but REQUIRING all residents and business to recycle their paper, glass and aluminum. And would, of course, follow through by providing the necessary curbside resources to support such a mandate.

I'm pleased to see that Chesterfield County's application to the EPA PT program was accepted (as virtually all applicants are), however, perhaps instead of applying for government funded programs that lower their priority for routine inspections, they could put their resources to better use by maintaining the county's sorely needed curbside recycling program.


Not exactly poetry, but I think I got my point across. Hopefully this will draw some attention to the fact that while being able to slap a cool EPA logo on your letterhead is nice, what is more important is to ensure that all of our residents are able to do one of the most basic of environmental tasks: RECYCLE.

Savings:

None. :-(

Difficulty Level: 4 out of 5

Why so difficult? Well, despite all my tough talk about calling people out, it is something I HATE TO DO. I'm always afraid of offending people (makes you wonder why I don't shut my mouth more often then, doesn't it?). My fear is that this decision was made by someone with great intentions and here I am crapping all over their idea. Part of me secretly hopes the newspaper doesn't publish it!