As if I needed any more reason to love Etsy: check out this Etsy Labs video on how to make a sweet little box out of a piece of paper. The only tools you need are a pair of scissors and some folding ability. The video uses scrap construction paper, but I used magazine pages for mine, pictured here (non-glossy pages worked best). Since I am more than a little spatially challenged, this took me more than one try. But I’m pretty happy with the results, which would be good for a little upcycled gift box or for holding paperclips and small things on a desk. The video also demonstrates how to make a second box for a lid, but I haven’t advanced to the intermediate stage yet.
Now that I’ve decorated your desk for you — back to work!
In this week’s Ecobunga! newsletter, I stumbled across a whole world of “tree-free” paper. Made from what I gather are the bi-products from fruit and coffee processing, combined with some post-consumer content recycled paper, Ecopaper.com has a very pretty array made from your choice of mangoes, lemons, bananas, or even coffee. The site says all the paper is laser printer compatible, and the Banana Paper looks like it might be white. The venture started as a way to make use of the waste products from Costa Rican banana and coffee production. It’s an intriguing concept (and summery), so I thought I’d share. And now I want a mango and some coffee . . . who knew paper could make me hungry?
I blogged a few months ago about Cargo Cosmetics Plant Love Lipstick line, which comes in a package imbued with wildflower seeds, so it can be planted instead of thrown away. Plantable paper has intrigued me ever since. Since I’m also currently on an Etsy kick, I thought I would share this neat find, from the Etsy shop Claudia’s Creations, which is a lovely handmade recycled paper shop. These papers also form the base for a very nice selection of “plantable” note cards like the one pictured here.
Lots of recycled and upcycled goodies on Etsy. Check it out!
Our favorite person in North Carolina turned me on to Etsy, the handmade site, where she finds beautiful cards. I’ve also discovered it's a cool source for affordable eco-friendly items. Here’s one I especially liked: Etsy member RunOnTheSun has neat gift tags, made entirely from upcycled cereal boxes, toothpaste cartons, soda boxes, and, in her words, “basically anything that would otherwise be tossed in the trash!” She sells these cute tags in sets of 100 for just $3.50, with either white or light brown backs (e.g., toothpaste cartons would have white backs, cereal boxes would have light brown).
These are a nice way to focus on the “re-use” part of Reduce, Re-Use, Recycle — and support an independent craftsperson in the process. Today’s mitzvah: Consider buying handmade the next time you need something for your home. Etsy has all sorts of neat finds, many using recycled or upcycled material.
A month ago I might have thought this was nutty. But after a week-long event where 2,000+ of us were fed three meals a day with disposable plastic plates and cutlery — and where I was wiping off my plastic fork and spoon and carrying them around in my bag all week because all the trash was really getting to me — heck, I carry a water bottle and I use a travel coffee mug, so “travel cutlery“ seems like the natural next step. If I end up spending a week grading AP exams at this event again next year, I’m putting this cool To-Go Ware CONSERVE Utensil Set in my survival kit.
Here’s a reason to go to the mall today. On the always informative Budget Ecoist I read about a cool company called TerraCycle whose raison d’être is to produce eco-products that are made of trash and packaged in trash. They go out of their way to collect items that aren’t typically recycled, and then “upcycle” them into useful products: pencil cases and little totes made from used juice packs; a Plastic Bag Bag (made from plastic grocery bags); trashcans made of crushed, discarded computers and fax machines; and a line of plant food (their original product) and natural cleaning products packaged in upcycled one-liter soda bottles.
TerraCycle gets most of their material from elementary school drives (and pays the school per item). The spray tops are leftovers from other businesses; even their shipping boxes are misprints from other companies. They sell their goods in chain and “big box” stores where, realistically, most of America shops. While I have a one-woman Wal-Mart boycott that no amount of ecologically friendly products can change, I was pleased to see that TerraCycle is also in places like Home Depot, Office Max, and Target where I do sometimes shop.
Here’s a peppy little video highlighting their work.
To find out where to donate your wine corks, juice packs, and Nabisco cookie package wrappers; to start your own drive which will also earn some money for your school or charity; or to check out TerraCycle’s products, click here.
It's good to be home, even arriving back to tornado warnings, torrential downpours, and much of my state under water. After an extreme winter and now an extreme spring, it's hard not to assume this is a result of climate change.
If the weather didn't turn me greener, the past week at a surprisingly environmentally unfriendly event would have radicalized me by itself. I consider myself “light green” at best at home. But I was saddened to be in a group of 2500 people who were fed three meals and two snacks each day for a week, all with plastic plates, plastic cups, and plastic cutlery. Our teachers’ group really earned an F on environmental awareness. Here’s the bad, the ugly, and some rays of hope in the good.
The bad and ugly: about 7500 thick black plastic plates thrown away each day, or more than 52,000 plates for the week, just for the meals. Add to that the smaller plastic plates and bowls at meals and snacks, the plastic cups at each meal and snack, and the plastic utensils — I think we were over 100,000 for plastic dishes and utensils, and roughly 25,000 for plastic drinks cups and bottles of water. It’s beyond depressing. I hate committees but I’m going to have to volunteer for one to ensure this doesn't happen next year.
Any bright spots? I brought my empty water bottle through security and used it all week, and also brought a Baggu for my local shopping (thanks, EnviroMom for both tips!). I also remembered to throw a travel coffee mug in my bag at the last minute and I saw a lot of others who also brought their own mugs. Some people also brought their own plastic containers to make their meals to-go — which made me realize I could have brought camping stuff (or just my own reusable containers) to reduce my personal plastic consumption. I don’t think this would fly at a fancy conference but we were a bunch of teachers in shorts, t-shirts, and baseball caps scoring exams in a giant hall; eccentricity wasn’t really a problem. My own small solution was to re-use my fork, knife, and spoon all week. I just wiped them off and put them in a bag pocket and then washed them at the end of the day at the hotel. Weird, I know, but at least it kept 6o pieces of plastic cutlery out of the trash.
A few areas reminded me more of home. The convention center where we worked and ate had recycling bins for cans and plastic bottles. I stayed at a Hyatt that has instituted its own green plan, which was a relief. All the light fixtures in the room and even the bathroom had CFLs. They also place a card in the room noting that bed linens and towels will be changed “as needed” but not every day unless requested. It looked like my sheets were changed once during the week (which was just right); the used towels were changed a couple times. And I curbed my enthusiasm for all things tiny and didn’t use or purloin the little shampoo and lotion bottles (I just brought my own from home in small reusable travel containers).
Overall the week was a rough awakening. I get spoiled in my community where green thinking and actions are easy and abundant. I also realized the importance of stepping up. All week at our event people were aghast at how much plastic we were throwing out, and talked about it a lot, but no one was really proposing any solutions.
Success! In November I posted about Burger King’s refusal to increase its tomato pickers’ pay by a measly 1¢/bucket (Is Burger King Penny Foolish?). After months of activism, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers finally won a 1.5¢/bucket increase. (Can you believe that amounts to a 71% increase in their pay?) Thank you to everyone who sent a letter! The wage agreement was signed at the U.S. Capitol, with pictures here. Random update #2: At the risk of sounding Twittery: I bought a new backpack! And it's almost 100% recycled — which I didn’t even realize at first. My old backpack (which I love) is disintegrating to the point where I’m nervous about carrying the laptop in it. I went to REI (I ♥ REI) and narrowed the choices down to two: one by North Face and an intriguing blue pack by Osprey, a company I’d never heard of. As I was trying to make up my mind and reading the little card, I saw that the Osprey React is made mostly of recycled PET — essentially plastic water/ soda bottles. I was impressed because the recycled bottle-made stuff I’ve seen in the past had a yicky feel. This might be just a tad shinier than other packs, but mostly it just looks like the usual waterproof fabric. I wouldn’t have guessed this was recycled if the card attached to he pack hadn’t mentioned it. The ReSource recycled series has several daypacks and courier bags here.
Were do all those recycled newspapers go? How about cool rainbow- and jungle-themed school supplied for kids (and adults, too!). Eco-Space has a neat post about the O’BON company, which recently expanded from its base in Malaysia and Australia into North America. Their signature product is a pencil made not from wood but from recycled newspaper. Wrapped 36 times and attached to the graphite with nontoxic glue, it’s stronger and more environmentally friendly than traditionally wood pencils. O’BON also has green pens and folders. You can check them out at www.stationery-obon.com.
I thought of titling the post “Green Those Pearly Whites,” but even I have my limits! I was GoodSearching for toothbrushes with replaceable heads (re-use the handle, so only the head gets thrown away) when I stumbled upon an About.com post that opened up a whole new world of eco-friendly toothbrushes. (I’m a geek — I love this stuff.) Did you know you can buy a toothbrush made from recycled Stonyfield yogurt cups? Who knew? (I don’t typically like to plug specific brands, but this was too neat to keep to myself.)
I’m still looking for one with replacement heads, but this is pretty cool too. The company, Recycline, also offers replaceable razors with recycled handles. Thank goodness someone is making good use of all my yogurt containers!
Today’s mitzvah: Thousands of lbs. of toothbrushes wind up in landfills each year. Consider a recycled or recyclable toothbrush (check out Larry West’s About.com post for several options).
If you live in the Midwest and have old TVs, cell phones, broken VCRs (my contribution this year, since mine just bit the dust) — or expired medications — check this out. It’s a good alternative to flushing medications and messing up the water supply, or trashing old electronics and gadgets, which fill up landfills and often have toxic components.
The Great Lakes link includes a list of collection areas. If you live elsewhere in the U.S., check here for your region.
I’ve faced the fact that I will never be No Impact Man (or even Low Impact Woman). I like to shop. But if one must buy things, I’ve been collecting links about consumer items that are not just recyclable but can literally be given back to the earth.
Cargo Cosmetic’s Plant Love lipstick line, which I haven’t tried, is either a great gimmick or an example of unusually responsible consuming. The lipstick comes in special cardboard packaging imbued with wildflower seeds. Instead of just throwing away the package, it can be moistened and planted, with wldflowers to follow. The lipstick tubes are also unusual: made with corn-based plastic they’re supposed to biodegrade completely within 80 days when exposed to sufficient heat and sun. (FYI, this won’t happen in a landfill — a reality check for all the biodegradable products, since landfills are airtight and stuff hangs around forever.) To complete the trifecta, Cargo donates $2 from every PlantLove lipstick purchase to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. The lipstick is available at several Nonprofit Shopping Mall vendors, including Amazon and Sephora, both of which will donate approx. 2% of your purchase price to a nonprofit of your choice when you use this link.
On a recent trip to the co-op I stumbled upon a resuable personal water bottle that also uses this corn-based technology. EnviroProduct’s Corn Resin Bottle is a resuable water bottle with a small screw-in carbon filter, so one can use regular tap water for DIY bottled water. The bottle is recomended for up to 90 uses, after which it is also guaranteed to decompose in 80 days in “commercial compost,” which would mean not in the regular landfill-bound trash.
Since any reason to plug The Lost Albatross is a good thing, blogger Emily posted a comment during the Carbon Fast for Lent mentioning BioBags, which are cool corn-based trashbags, as an alternative to the usual plastic trashcan liners. (BioBag also offers corn-based bags for cat litter liners and for cleaning up doggie waste.)
Today’s mitzvah: If you’re going to buy something anyway, why not make it plantable or disappear-able?
Wednesday in Holy Week “Re-use an item you would have thrown away — whether that’s jam jars, envelopes or ice-cream containers.”
Hello from Gotham! And what a good idea from our friends at the Carbon Fast. To learn how to make the pretty glass jar lanterns at right, check out this post on Gardeners’ World (and thanks to them for the photo). I also found a neat blog post featuring refrigerator magnets made from various food containers. I couldn’t reach that blogger in time to get photo permission, but you really should check out Making Crafty Fridge Magnets at the “Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories” blog to experience the plethora of possibilities (Good-n-Plenty boxes, Laughing Cow Cheese containers, Altoids tins, raisin boxes, Yoo-Hoo milk pouches — the options amaze).
Today’s mitzvah: Get in touch with your Inner Arts & Crafts Self. What can you re-use in a cool way today?
Although I like my new Baggus (not pictured) because they’re small enough to keep in my bag and use for shopping trips on the way home from school on the bus — for car trips I’m kinda crazy about the reusable stand-up bags I bought from our local discount grocery (pictured above; click for larger image). They’re too bulky to carry around in a backpack or purse, but for planned trips they work great — square and flat-bottomed, they stand-up perfectly in the back of the Community Car and nothing rolls out. They’re made from recycled 2-liter soda bottles, so that’s cool. And I noticed at least 10 other people using them at the store this afternoon, so they’re definitely catching on. If I were an actual car owner I think I would use these for all the grocery trips.
The Third Saturday in Lent “Counsel your local council. Thank them for their recycling facilities but ask them if they could provide any more.”
Since the Carbon Fast for Lent originates in the UK, I’m having lots of fun navigating trolleys, rucksacks, and local councils! The American equivalent seems pretty straightforward: can one’s town or city do more toward recycling? I’m in an anomalous position since my building uses a commercial service to pick up the recycling, and they accept just about everything, including plastics numbered 1–7. Our city’s curbside recycling accepts a more limited array of items, noting they don’t have a buyer for some plastics. I’m going to do some research on other cities and see what I can find, and then send a nice letter to my alderperson. Today’s mitvzah: What does your city do for recycling? Might they do more?
The Second Friday in Lent “Unplug your mobile phone charger: it uses electricity even when it's not charging.”
Whoops, I jumped the gun and included this in yesterday’s post. How’s that for short and sweet?
Today’s mitzvah: Already unplugged the phone charger? If you have old phones languishing around the house, Recycling for Charities (a 501c3 charity) collects used cell phones, sells them to vendors, and then rebates the proceeds to a charity of your choice.
The First Tuesday in Lent “Are you recycling everything possible? Really — everything? Look into it today.”
When I lived in Brooklyn in the 90s (before curbside recycling), a neighborhood group organized a collection center at a nearby school and accepted recyclables on the 3rd Saturday of each month. Since “Today is the third Saturday” is very easy to forget, our apartment had months’ worth of plastic containers stacked like petrochemical found-art in every corner. When I moved into Manhattan the closest monthly recycling project was in Greenwich Village (60 blocks downtown), which meant a schlep on the subway with bags of rinsed-out plastic containers. By the time NYC finally began curbside recycling, I was already a convert.
My apartment building here in the land of snow contracts with a commercial recycling service that takes everything — glass, metal, all forms of paper, plastics labeled 1 to 7 — and I think actually accepts more types of items than our city’s curbside program. The giant recycling bin is picked up regularly and never runs out of room. It’s pretty painless, and I am a very happy recycler.
I’ve been trying to figure out if there’s anything we’renot recycling. Most of the trash is food scraps and coffee grinds; I need to figure out if the local community garden lets neighbors compost. (Assuming this winter ever, ever ends.) But I also realized we do throw away disposable batteries, which is supposed to be a Very Bad Thing. For today’s Carbon Fast for Lent activity, I’m going to figure out what we’re really supposed to do with the AAs. I’ll let you know!
