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.