OMG! Did NPR really report on that?

Re: your report on phosphates being removed from dishwasher soap today.

I am wondering where NPR integrity has gone and am going to be forced to listen to independent internet radio, CBC and BBC news if this style continues.  I don’t listen to Fox or and Fox style reporting or any news that makes my heart beat faster and adds stress to my day.  This report makes me suspicious that NPR did not report on this but simply gave voice to a press release by a company that recently was forced to remove phosphates from their list.

Your report left no question that phosphate detergents are the only way to have clean dishes when using the dishwasher and it mocked policy setters and environmentalists for their concern for the environment and not the gray dishes with black spots that is perturbing these woman on the report. When a new report mocks I question the information presented.  The report even questioned or gave voice to whether phosphates are an environmental concern without any reference to the decades of scientific research.  It left a feeling of helplessness for those who only buy standard commercial soaps instead of an informed audience. It left me with a feeling of frustration at the lack of understanding of the non-phosphate alternatives other than big brand names given to the listeners.

I have been using phosphate free dishwasher and laundry soap since the seventies. My dishes are not gray with black spots, they shine, squeak and sparkle and are clean. The detergents I use contain vegetable based detergents with enzymes. Zero chlorine, zero bleach and absolutely no harsh chemicals. I can get them in powder, liquid and capsule form just like everyone else. Some of these detergents I can buy in conventional stores but the wide variety are found in places that sell organics as a norm instead of a special section.   

A few years ago my mother asked why our dishes looked so new. Her dishwasher detergent (she uses common grocery store products) leaves her dishes scratched, scuffed and silverware pock marked over time. The only difference I could see was the detergents we used.

So wake up NPR. There are two sides to every story, if not more. The hopelessness you spread is unfounded and smacks of spectacularism and just plain lazy journalism.  Everyone can have clean dishes, save water by using the economy cycle, instead of hand washing, and use phosphate free detergents and help our overtaxed water systems, all at the same time.

Links to phosphate free detergents that work:

http://www.seventhgeneration.com

http://bio-pac.com/

http://www.ecover.com/us/en/Products/Dishes/

http://www.mrsmeyers.com/

There are many more, I just put in a few to get started.

Val

Find out what pesticides are on your dinner plate

Video - The Secret Life of Standard Home Products After Use

The Secret Life of Paper - Video
Vote with your money - Use less first, buy tree free paper second, thirdly buy only 100% recycled  tree paper and all products made out of high post consumer recycled content first. If it's not post consumer it is still virgin materials. Germany has always had the right idea, instead of making packaging an end consumer and local government issue manufacturers and producers are responsible for the waste they create.

The Secret Life of Cell Phones - Video  
Hold on to your cell phone longer, recycle the old cell phones. Find out where your recycled phone is being sent - avoid sending to countries overseas for dumping.

Recycling hazards overseas- Article  China, Indonesia and India are now refusing old and second hand electronics from Western Countries due to the toxic metal contamination that improper recycling efforts and metal extraction can create. There are recycling companies right here at home, they don't need to  be exported.

e-recycling in Ghana - slideshow this is how it looked in many countries until they said no.

Old electronics are the new gold.
Not a new video (2008) shows how electronics are recycled here at home.


Take back policies  Implementing through government policies manufacturer and producer responsibility for their own product design and waste they create in that design. A "Manufacturer Take Back" program encourages smart waste free (hopefully) cradle to cradle design, relieving the burden from the end user and the demands of municipalities waste management programs.

We need to take care of our own trash and insist that manufacturers design products to be environmentally benign. The are no toxic heavy metals in European electronics due to government policy - it can be done.

Back to School - Green

It's back to school time for the kids and the average family is expected to spend approximately $606 in back to school supplies this year. Additionally, the Oregon Resource Efficiency Program estimates that each of the 75.5 million students who attend school will produce up to 240 pounds of waste – or a total of 18.1 billion pounds of waste!

Parents and teachers can pick up those supplies, save money and be green through eco-friendly school supplies by saying yes to plant-based and recycled supplies and avoiding the cute, colorful, unrecyclable single use items. Watch the packaging purchases come in and have fun planning the new school year ahead. Yay, hemp backpacks! Compostable at end of live and a renewable material.

A brief guideline for purchasing school supplies:

Yeah!

Recycled paper, refillable pens, tree-free pencils, and scissors made from recycled steel

Cardboard covered notebooks

Water-based paints

White glue or paste

Vegetable or plant-based dyes

Nay!

Glossy paper, disposable pens, magic markers, and artists’ pastel crayons

Plastic folders and notebooks

Acrylic paints and scented art products

Epoxy or instant bonding glues

Fiber reactive or commercial dyes

Other helpful impacts you can make:

Reuse last year’s backpack and pencil cases if they are still good. No need for a brand new everything. For what you do need to purchase, check to see if your state has a sales-tax holiday and do your back-to-school shopping then. 20 states have a sales-tax holiday. For example, Illinois’ sales-tax holiday this week cuts sales tax from 9.75% to 4.5%.

Check out the new green lunch containers that eliminate sandwich wrap and throw away utensils. Return to refillable thermoses and lunch boxes.

Walk the talk, bike, take the local bus or share car when shopping You can not only reduce your carbon footprint but you can also potentially reduce the amount of tax you pay.

Ask teachers for non-paper assignments. This can save about 38 tons of paper waste each year, which translates to roughly 644 trees. If paperless is not an option recycling those assignments is the next best option. For every ton of paper recycled, 17 trees are saved.

Alright, let’s get to school.

A tour of local dairy - getting to know our food sources

I am a firm believer in trying to buy almost all of my groceries from local sources and so far I'm probably at around 80%, which is pretty good. I decided to up it a notch by not only buying local but also touring my local suppliers. This week I visited Calder Dairy.

First let me say this is a rare privilege. I can't think of any other dairy sources I can just drive up and walk around in. I have to admit I was expecting something a little more Disney like and sterile, what I found was an actual working dairy with a few amenities for the visiting families but over all a honest to goodness practical working dairy farm. After looking at this farm and seeing their operations, I appreciate their openness and hard work. They have a few areas they can improve on but their transparency is honorable, and anything mention here can be improved or changed. The dairies not open to the public, or too far for me to access, are not transparent for me so I will stick to what I know over what I don't in this case.

My preference would be to buy organic raw milk, but the organic milk I have access to comes in plastic bottles and is trucked too far for this locavore. Raw milk is available but I have to drive out to get it, I try to be as carless as possible. I pick Calder's milk up at the local co-op which is only a 10 minute walk from my home. Calders' still has home delivery and glass bottles that are returned to the dairy and reused so I choose to buy their milk. I buy their minimally processed "nonhomogenized" milk to avoid further processing, which means there are cream blobs floating in my coffee. I'm ok with that.

Calder Dairy is located on a small paved road surrounded by a very impressive community. The neat houses with big gardens and spotless properties were a huge change from the large landfill, many trailer parks and used car dealerships I passed on my way there. This little community gave the feeling of generations of hard working and conscientious people with a long sense of tradition and history.

My first impression of the farm was a surprise to me. I expected something bigger, more commercial and slick. I've been on many farms over my life and here felt like I was thrown back into the fifties in someways. Very cool folk art wooden statues on the road in welcome you and immediately let you know this farm has been around for awhile. A pond loaded with geese and ducks has a covered picnic table area where families can sit out of the sun, enjoy their ice cream, made on the premises and feed the geese. The property is littered with carved wooden animals kids can play on and a grassy area shaded by trees. Goats, ducks, chickens and geese freely roam the property.

My first stop was the general store that sells all of their products. They have much more available than I knew. Cottage cheese, salted and unsalted butter, half and half in cool bottles to name a small selection. I had not seen their ice cream before and decided to try it. A dedicated label reader I was disappointed that much of their ice cream was not for my consumption. First impulse was to order the caramel cappuccino but the caramel had HFCS as did a few of their other flavors and there was no coffee listed in the ingredients. The blue ice cream I realized was exactly that, blue, due to their coloring ingredient added, I was hoping for blueberries. So I settled for chocolate which had few ingredients and I could identify all of them. I enjoyed this ice cream until I got towards the bottom where another ice cream flavor appeared. My guess is the girl that served me didn't rinse between scoops. Coming from the food industry I took issues with that.

There are a few other areas I was uncomfortable with. The animal pens where the horses, goats and some nondairy cattle were looked as though they were never rotated. All they had was dirt to live in and I saw no additional pens they could be rotated to. The calf pens and the immature dairy cattle barn seemed to me to need a more regular mucking then I saw.

Watching the milking, while again a rare privilege, also made me a tad squeamish. The cows certainly knew the routine and went into the first open milking corral available to them like pros. The cattle when I got there were all pressed into a holding pen that led to the milking room. Here they had zero space to move. I know they were only there for a short time and seemed perfectly happy upon being milked and released to patiently wait in line for an automated brush that they knew how to manipulate and clean them off. My issue is that while in this pen when they defficated or urinated often on the cows around them. Wait for it, I'm not done.

The three men milking the cows wore gloves. One let in the alloted number of cows and the other two positioned them and prepared them for milking. In this process they touched the dirty cows to help them enter the stall or to get thier attention. One of these men was constantly stroking/touching the cows and then looking at the goop on his gloves from the cow, wiping his hands on his pants then reaching for the antibacterial cleaning swab to clean the teats, disposing of the disposable tissue then using his dirty gloved hand to hand milk the teat, which is necessary to check for mastitis. He then put the milking machine on the teat. This touching of the teat and machinery with the dirty glove is to me the reason for pasteurization. Nothing a little more attention from the management can't clean-up but once again the use of the gloves is not fully understood or effective in preventing cross contamination.

Calders states that they do not use Bovine Growth Hormones and feed the cattle what they grow on the farm. I am not sure this is exclusive all year or the only fed they get and the little area I saw growing was corn. I am unsure what their diet is and would prefer pasture, grass fed over grain fed. I'm surprised that these few cows can produce all the Calder Dairy products and think there may be more cows else where but I did not talk to anyone while at the farm and these are my own thoughts. Each cow produces quite a lot of milk and are milked twice a day so I could be overestimating Calders production needs.

Having the farm open to the public is important. There were many families who brought their children and from the conversations in the milking observatory their intent was to teach their kids where their food came from. You could see the children having a hard time relating the milk they knew at home and in the stores as being produced by these cows. I used to visit a farm a lot as a child and they also had dairy cattle among many other animals and it smelt a little sweeter than Calders.

My trip to Calders was eye-opening and a surprise to me, and we should all start to find out about our food sources and hope that all of them are as transparent as Calders. I value that they provide services like home delivery, glass refillable bottles, and a farm I can walk around on and ask questions. They are truly community based and involved company and I will keep buying their dairy products and try to take a few children out with me next time.

CPSC Releases Names of Toxic Chinese Drywall Manufacturers

Published: May 26th, 2010 •  

Federal investigators say they have identified the specific companies that imported the Chinese drywall products that are emitting high levels of sulfur, damaging electrical equipments and releasing foul odors in thousands of homes across the U.S. 
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) released drywall testing results on Tuesday, which identify a number of companies as manufacturers of the toxic drywall. All of the drywall found to be releasing high amounts of sulfur were made in China.
According to the CPSC, federal investigators have received more than 3,300 complaints from across the United States from homeowners who say that toxic Chinese wallboard imported between 2004 and 2007 releases sulfuric odors, causes health problems, and corrodes wiring and appliances. Many of the problems with the Chinese drywall have been confirmed by laboratory testing.
Millions of sheets of the toxic drywall were imported from China into the United States due to a domestic shortage caused by a housing boom and construction following a serious of hurricanes that struck the southeastern United States. The CPSC has confirmed more than 6 million sheets were imported into the country in 2006 alone.
Testing performed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) was used to detect emissions of hydrogen sulfide from a large number of domestic and imported drywall. The CPSC says there is a “strong association” between hydrogen sulfide and metal corrosion. Some of the worst Chinese drywall was found to emit 100 times as much hydrogen sulfide as wallboard made in the U.S.
The companies with the most sulfuric drywall included:

• Knauf Plasterboard (Tianjin) Co. Ltd.
• Taian Taishan Plasterboard Co. Ltd.
• Shandong Taihe Dongxin Co.
• Shandong Chenxiang GBM Co. Ltd. (C&K Gypsum Board)
• Beijing New Building Materials (BNBM)

Knauf Plasterboard, Taian Taishan and Shandong Taihe had multiple products which the CPSC considered to be among the worst of the worst.
more here 

To date, Knauf is the only drywall manufacturer who has responded to the lawsuits. Last month, Judge Fallon awarded $2.6 million to seven Virginia families who filed a lawsuit against Taishan Gypsum Co. over imported drywall problems. However, it is unclear how the families will collect, since China does not acknowledge civil lawsuit judgments in the U.S., and the company did not send a representative to court to answer the charges.

Wallboard: No Longer a Dry Subject

By Jim Vallette, Senior Researcher

Healthy Building Network
April 28, 2010

Some building materials are so bland that they draw little notice. Until recently, about the only people who cared about drywall were those who handled it. Beneath paint and other finishes, the boards lay unseen and unconsidered by those living and working in its gypsum cocoon.

Then thousands of complaints erupted, mainly in the Gulf Coast region devastated by the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005. From Florida to Louisiana, people have moved out of their homes. They say that newly installed wallboard is corroding their air conditioning coils, metal pipes and fixtures, and wiring. They blame an egg-like sulfurous odor emanating from the boards for an array of health symptoms, from respiratory distress to heart disease.

Most of the complaints came from homes in which builders installed drywall made in China. These wallboards flooded into the U.S. after the hurricanes and during the housing boom, when demand outstripped domestic production. Most of these boards - over 78 percent in 2006 - were imported from three factories in China run by the German building material giant, Knauf.

Investigations have focused mainly on the symptoms, rather than the causes, of problematic wallboard. Many types of gypsum and additives introduce toxicants into the slurry that becomes wallboard. Understanding and rectifying these root causes is essential for healthy building material evaluation and selection.

Many reports have tied the toxic wallboard in China to natural, mined gypsum that contains higher levels of sulfur than typical of gypsum mined in North America. But other information is pointing toward problems with drywall that implicate far more than a couple of mines in China.

Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell recently filed a federal suit against Knauf. He noted the use of coal-fired power plant waste - fly ash and flue gas desulfurization (FGD) waste - by Knauf and other manufacturers in China. These manufacturing processes resulted in "defective, noxious, and toxic drywall which emits a variety of dangerous chemicals," including formaldehyde, hydrogen sulfide and carbonyl sulfide. The AG's complaint also notes the presence of additives that may contribute to the problem. The use of these additives, and FGD waste, is a common denominator between some of the drywall from China and a lot of the drywall now produced in North America.

Ten of the 44 complaints detailed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission last fall involved drywall made in the United States. CBS News compared U.S.- and Chinese-made drywall by sending samples to University of Florida professor, Tim Townsend. The professor concluded, "The results tell me that we shouldn't just be focused solely on defective Chinese drywall. We need to be backing up and looking at the product of drywall itself."

Federal courts are considering two cases filed by homeowners against National Gypsum and one against Georgia Pacific. In Swidler v. Georgia Pacific, homeowners in Florida say that GP manufactured problematic wallboard in North America using FGD waste. The plaintiffs claim, "[I]t is the synthetic gypsum which is at the heart of the present drywall crisis... Georgia-Pacific used waste material from coal burning power plants to create drywall used in American homes. The use of such waste materials causes the emission of one of several sulfur-based gasses including sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide."

Pollution control equipment, by its nature, captures pollutants like sulfur and heavy metals. These devices have reduced atmospheric releases. But the incorporation of these wastes into products can transfer pollutants into wallboard factories, peoples' homes, and ultimately the wider environment upon disposal.

The use of synthetic gypsum, and the reuse of heavy industrial wastes in building materials, has surged over the past decade. FGD material sales rose from 4.95 million tons in 2000 to 9.3 million in 2006. Wallboard manufacturers set up factories from Florida to Alberta adjacent to coal-fired power plants. This is a symbiotic relationship: power producers are selling waste that would otherwise pile up on-site, and manufacturers are buying the waste at a price far cheaper than they pay to mine and haul natural gypsum.

Agencies from the EPA to DOE have advocated the reuse of coal combustion residues. Government procurement programs, and USGBC LEED ratings, reward builders who incorporate whatever waste the EPA defines as post-industrial waste, suitable for reuse. Most advocates cite the energy savings, and the reduced need to landfill these wastes.
This preferred status is at risk. The EPA is now considering listing fly ash as a hazardous waste.

"We respect EPA's ability and role as a regulator... and are quite sure there is alignment around the beneficial use of fly ash," Scot Horst said this month. However, "if EPA designates fly ash as a hazardous waste, LEED committees will take a look at the rating system."
Due diligence should account for the potential environmental and human health dangers of dispersing industrial waste into commerce.

A December 2009 US EPA study notes, "both fly ash and FGD residues have been identified as coal combustion residues with the potential to have increased mercury and/or other pollutant concentrations from the implementation of new air pollution technology." Gypsum wallboard plants reported a total of 472.8 pounds of mercury releases to the environment in 2008. The top five mercury releases reported in the Toxics Release Inventory all came from wallboard plants that use FGD-derived synthetic gypsum.

As the drywall scandal spreads, we can only hope that civil action and government investigations will determine the manufacturing practices that are to blame, and soon.
"We need to be proactive in looking at all drywall," said Inez Tennenbaum, head of the CPSC. "We are not going to ignore a problem if it is made in America."
Drywall is no longer a dry subject.

Ditch the Chemicals: Make Your Own Perfume from Flowers in Your Garden

It's easy, more affordable, and because you make it yourself, guaranteed to be organic and all-natural.

By Rachel Cernansky | Thu Jun 10, 2010 14:38    In case you didn't know already about the toxic chemicals in many perfumes or missed the recent EWG report, many of the chemicals used in popular fragrances are linked to sperm damage, hormone disruption, and allergic reactions among other issues, or are not even approved for safe use in personal care products.  Really want to spray that all over your body? Especially as we approach summer, when your sweat glands are probably open and ready to invite foreign substances in?    The New York Times has a story about the increasing popularity of DIYers making perfume from homegrown (or wild-picked) flowers. It's interesting to read why and how some people got started, and the settings in which they operate: one Brooklyn woman makes scents at home from herbs she grows at a Bed-Stuy community garden and then sells them at the neighborhood farmer's market. 

Read More

Car sharing - A great way to get around town.

I've been a zip car user for two years now and it is a great way to get a car in a convenient location for a flat fee. If I just need a car for a few hours I walk book online to reserve the car, walk 10 minutes downtown or take the bus, pick up the car, drive and drop the car off when my time is up. Gas, insurance, it's all covered and my time driving the zip car also counts as a driver for insurance if I should ever decide to own my own.

I was also able to add visitors to town on my account so they could drive if they needed to. Visitor from Switzerland in town need to drive for only a few days, no problem with zip.

Looks like I can drive a zip car where-ever they are located so that next trip to Chicago or Toronto, no problem, they have even added London, England to the list. I recommend this company to anyone as a zero waste alternative to car ownership that has zipcar in their area.

The Commercial Realities of Sustainable Business

The Commercial Realities of Sustainable Business

Despite today’s uncertainty, pushing sustainability to the bottom of the pile is a mistake CEOs cannot afford to make. In a global economy bouncing back from recession, sustainability is a mega-trend offering businesses multiple benefits and tangible growth at a time when merely breaking even is viewed in positive eyes. Sustainability plans are not a response to climate change. They deliver short-term operating efficiencies such as energy cost reductions and brand benefits are quickly achieved with small investments in renewable energy or reduced packaging. While double digit growth is a luxury few firms can contemplate, sustainability is already courting such figures. Read more.

Simple is often the answer for summer cooling

Last summer we only turned on the air conditioner three times for a couple of hours in total. The reason was to remove humidity in the house. Otherwise keeping our house cool was pretty simple. The reason is the large oak trees we have on the east side of home shading the early morning sun from heating the house at the start of a hot summer day. 

Our house us a 1100 sq.ft. ranch with a full southern exposure at the back of the house. To prevent heating in the afternoon I keep the shades down, windows closed and block the sun on the south side and open the northern windows for a cooling breeze. By the time the sun hits the west side we are shaded by the garage. 

Trees are amazing at keeping the home cool. I first noticed this in a poorly insulated rented apartment we had years ago. There was a large apple tree that shaded the western side, and because the apartment didn't heat-up early in the day the apartment was comfortable and cozy. We didn't have air conditioning and didn't notice until the landlady cut down the aging tree. The next summer we sweltered. 

Plant a tree.
Don't believe me... read on

This is time to plant trees for aesthetics and energy savings

... Shade trees that are planted on the south and west sides of homes can reduce the summer energy costs by 10 to 30 percent. A large-growing tree, such as an oak, can save more than $3,000 in energy costs over the course of 40 years. Because deciduous trees drop their leaves in fall, they also allow homeowners to take advantage of passive solar heat in the winter.

New buzz word in trends - Unconsumer

Statistically consumer purchases are down, I'm sure it is directly related to the economy, but sales, swaps on Craig’s list are up 100%, and recycled items are up 7% at Goodwill’s. Consumer watchdogs have credited this to increased awareness and practical applications of reusing, recycling, and reducing by us all. The price is right, quality good and business is local.

I am an unconsumer. The first action is to not buy or own whatever it is. Can we do without it? The second act is to precycle before buying. What is it made of and can it be truly reused or recycled? Thirdly, I ask myself the reason for buying anything. Do I really need it?

When we do decide we need (or want) something in our home the first place we look are antique shops, reuse centers and Kiwanis.

We have not bought furniture in a long time between the merging of two households, inheritances and reupholstering there has been no need, if anything we need to cull.
Almost all our "newer" kitchenware has been used. We needed two waffle makers for a large brunch we held (I really like fresh waffles) and got them for $5 each at Recycle Ann Arbor. Our strainers, implements, cutlery, grinders, whatever have come from Kiwanis or garage sales. My bread maker (when I got lazy) came from Treasure Mart for $10, and it makes great Cuban bread. When I made a bay window pillow, the perfect covering was a corduroy curtain from the Salvation Army, filled with wool from a local sheep farmer. One of my composters is from the recycling center as are our metal patio chairs and table.

Items bought new include: our rain barrel that looks like a large urn, rotating composter (a luxury and probably unnecessary) and I am considering a worm tower for the worm composter. I believe this will be much easier for the red worms and me to work with than my homemade system.

Purchasing rules are to buy items new with as much "clean" recycled content as possible, buy made in USA or Canada first, fair trade, sweatshop free, from local non-franchised stores. This is not an easy thing to do but we try our best and will look for a long time until alternatives are reduced to nil.

Dilemmas. We cannot find a new toaster, cutlery or a food processor made in the USA or Canada, so these we keep replacing with used and recycle them (if possible) when we they stop working.

Everything we discard gets returned and sent somewhere they are reused, woman’s' centers, safe house, reuse center, Treasure Mart or Kiwanis when we don't need them anymore.

Aren't we still consuming even if it is used? According to the experts, consumption is the acquisition of something in the exchange for money. Unconsumption is noncorporate, local, community related and embody actions that are not reflected in the GDP after the initial acquisition.

I feel good when I extend the life of a viable and useful item instead of trashing it. I have a large choice of styles, makes, and models when I go shopping. Many people have great taste in consumables that I get to share in by reusing their items that they loved enough to keep around. I like that my home is unique and individual and does not look like a corporate magazine image of living. I feel I am sharing with my community when I return a useful item back into the reuse stream. I am a proud unconsumer.

Reusable, washable tissues and cotton balls ... why not!

There is this great moment in the movie "All of Me" with Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin when the sick and fragile millionaires, Edwina Cutwater, plucks one or two lacy handkerchiefs from a gilded tissue box to wipe her face. I'm pretty sure they were not rewashed and reused but it was a novel concept at the time and I have always remembered it.

Things are looking up in the reusable arena. Surfing the web I just found reusable tissues and cotton balls made of organic, fair trade cotton. These can be washed, reboxed (for guests?) and reused like standard tissues available today. I have tried carrying around a hanky and most of them are too big so I moved to a more feminine hanky/doilies but they were just too beautiful to mess up. Most cloth is too thick or just nose unfriendly. I don't wear make-up but for those that do I'm sure a reusable cotton pad would be helpful. After they are no good they fall into the rag cloth and compost categories for me. The adventurous company starting this movement can be found at: www.betterforgrownups.com

Plastic, plastic, everywhere

I have reduced my trash down to two items - kitty litter and plastic.

I think I can solve the kitty litter problem this summer. We have switched the cats to compostable litter along time ago. We were using wheat for awhile but didn’t find it as odor absorbing as the claims, so we are trying pine but the cats don't seem to like it as much.

This summer I'll try to set-up a worm composter specific to the litter only or try the green composter recommended for this purpose, along with meat, cheese and other non-vegetable compostable. So I believe kitty litter will not be a problem long term. If these don't work maybe I'll install an electric composter for it but I'm looking for a low cost, low energy, low impact local solution first.

The problem is plastic, not bottles but packaging.
It sneaks up on me when I'm not looking and that is all too often.

Bagels bought in bulk were frozen in plastic bags, the local chicken and duck we bought was wrapped in plastic. I caught myself covering the leftover canned cat food in a reusable plastic "hat" - will replace this with waxed paper, waxed with honey bee wax instead.

Even though we are steady users of cloth shopping bags we always have a plastic grocery bag to line the bin. I need to be more diligent on this with everyone coming in and out of here.

Lately I have started to use a lot of the vegetables we bought from the farmers market and grew in our garden last summer. We froze them, meats (wrapped in plastic from the farmer that grew and sold it at the market) leftover soups, crepes, and waffles in vacuum packed plastic bags. Many of these can be reused until they are too small to reseal in but they are still plastic and eventually end up in the landfill. I have frozen some in canning jars but there is always the risk of breaking in the freezer when being sorted and moved around and they take up much more space - the vacuum sealer works on them, so that's nice. The vacuum sealer can be used on special plastic resealable containers but ... they are still plastic.

I'm working on it. The goal is to be plastic free in the winter of this year.

Reduce, Precycle, Refuse, Reuse, Compost and Recycle

What does that mean?

Reduce your purchasing and consumption overall. Ask yourself, Do I really need it? Will I be happier having it? Why am I buying or using this? How many hours do I need to work to pay for this?

Precycle. Consider the packaging, life-cycle and end of life use before purchasing. Is it a cradle-to-cradle (resourse to resource) item or a cradle-to-grave (resource to landfill)? Is this product local, if not can I get it or something similar locally?

Refuse any and all items and their packaging that will end up in the landfill after a single use, or without the ability to be composted, upcycled, reused or recycled or in any form toxic in their production or use or disposal. Fair-trade, farming practices and sweatshop free are also important considerations. Ask yourself, Do I cause harm by buying this?

Reuse any and all items you bring into your day. If you can't reuse it there are many people that will find value in your discards. Consider Craigs List, EBay, student newsletters, free swap, barter, donate to local charities or groups locally, leave for "Free" out on your roadside but bring in if not removed.

Compost all compostable goods, food, newspapers, dryer lint, floor sweepings... among a few items, deposited in outdoor composting bins, or red worms bins (vermiculture), and compact electric apartment composters are a few of the simple easy ways to compost at home. Put this compost on your houseplants, in your garden or rake into your lawn.

Recycle when all other options are exhausted with a responsible recycler who is not shipping your trash overseas. Find out where it is going and for what. Upcycling is repurposing materials without changing the material into something different. For example: Boat canvas sails are resewn into bike carrier and computer bags instead of being sent to the landfill.

All households can immediately reduce their trash percentages by 75-80% if they started to look at what they are throwing it out and asking if there is a better way. 

Sounds like a lot for someone new to Zero Waste but it gets easier with practice, and you are not alone.

Birthdays

Ok, we just finished celebrating an adult birthday.

Unwanted unrecyclable trash was:

• Foil style wrapping on cream cheese used for carrot cake frosting,
• Plastic packing for bobblehead gift,
• Gift wrapping,
• Shrink wrap plastic on local cheese we brought back from up north,
• Cracker/biscuit plastic wrap.
• CD plastic cover and plastic shrink wrapping and all those sticky labels they put around them.
  

Plastic wrap is the biggest problem

Attempts to reduce:

• I tried to limit the cream cheese foil by purchasing at the local creamery but they packaged theirs in plastic resealable containers, so that was no good. Need to bring my own glass container next time.
• Gift wrapping will be reused and we need to look at it to see if we can add it to the compost.
  
• Can't do much about the bobblehead gift - will adorn office computer for many years.
  
• Plastic wrap from cheese - short of leaving it at the factory we would need to order it especially for pick-up. Cheese house was closed just outlet was open. - not buy it I guess.
• Plastic wrap around crackers - only way around it is to serve baguette or make our own.
• CD plastic waste - will contact companies to reduce crap around CD but short of downloading the music from the web, which is not very glamorous as a gift but ok for just myself, CD waste is a problem.
  

This was a small celebration with a handful of friends over for cake and the waste was kept to a minimum. Can't seem to get around the plastic shrink wrap on everything.

Only answer I can see for all the plastic is lobby lobby and then make more noise.

Zero Waste at Home

There are so many challenges concerned and active homeowners face when trying to reduce and eliminate their contributions to the landfills and incinerators. We know we all face them and try as hard as we might garbage just keeps on coming in the form of unwanted packaging, through gifts of well meaning friends and family and well sometimes from behind when we just aren't watching. This blog will attempt to identify problems and find solutions. Any and all feedback is welcome. The hope is to live a zero waste relatively normal and free life, for all our sakes.