One of my 365 things for 2011 was to learn to knit. I went out last week on a mission for the appropriate supplies. Organic cotton yarn and bamboo knitting needles. I was surprised to find that the bamboo knitting needles did not cost me more than the plastic ones would have. Snatching up a set of bamboo needles I turned to examine my yarn options. I wasn't in a craft store and unfortunately there weren't many options. Given that I'm going to be making things for my daughter acrylic was the best option based on it's machine-washable quality. I grabbed up two large balls of acrylic yarn in two different shades of pink and proceeded on my merry way.
Given that I didn't find an eco-friendly yarn I thought of a way I could balance it out in my head. Simple, find a way to knit things out of some not-so eco-friendly material. Therefore expanding the life of the garbage and upcycling. Like using old tattered plastic bags as yarn and making a tote. But first I'd have to learn how to make yarn out of the plastic bags. That was easier than coming up with the idea. A quick search found not one but two sites with lovely ideas detailed for you. I'm sure I could find many more. I did some browsing and found a few more cute ideas. One of which was this portable yarn holder set-up using recycled containers.
So what about the question of eco-friendly yarn for next time? Another search a few days later found a few options.
Repreve - by Unifi was once featured on the discovery channel. It's an innovative 100% recycled polyester yarn made from both post-consumer and post-industrial waste. There is a long list of brands that are already using the like-wool material in their clothing.
Blue Sky Alpaca's - Has a large variety of self-sustainable yarn such as Alpaca-silk as well as reycled and organic materials like organic cotton and recycled silk from saris.
Eco2Cotton - Produce yarn from recycling new, pre-consumer (post-industrial) cotton knit cuttings. These would be discarded during clothing design and are reprocessed and blended into fiber to be re-spun into yarn. According to their statistics a t-shirt only contains 60% of the cotton grown to produce it. The rest is tossed out on the cutting floor.
My name is bwings and my daughter scrubbed the toilet....with my toothbrush!!!
No worries, we caught her in the act, she was only trying to help and the toothbrush was immediately placed in the cleaning supplies container. Of course this little cleaning endeavor on her part resulted in subsequent replacement of said toothbrush. Given my new efforts at greening the house I thought I should make any attempt I could to make this a green purchase.
I figure a toothbrush may be just a small piece of plastic but it's a household staple, one per person to be replaced once every 3-6 months! As I did with my artificial vs. natural christmas tree entry I will do the math, if everybody had a life expectancy of 85 years, 12 months in the year and a potential for a new toothbrush every 3 months (or 6 but we're going with the higher scary number) that means 4 new toothbrushes annually for 85 years. 340 in a lifetime per person and approximately 6,892,048,568 people in the world there is potentially 27568194272 per year and 2343296513120 per lifetime. I of course didn't subtract the 500 or so fuzzy teethed individuals who don't brush.
Some ways I could make my pearly whites a little more green (in a purely figurative manner of course) would be purchasing a(n):
toothbrush made of recycled materials - Everything but the bristles can be made from recycled plastic. In some cases you can find toothbrushes made using recycled wood fiber, yogurt containers, flax and even dollar bills. Using recycled materials saves natural resources and uses less energy during manufacturing. Not to mention it's a clever form of upcycling. If there are no local recycling programs instated for #5 Polypropylene some companies will let you mail back your old toothbrushes to be crushed up for plastic lumber.
toothbrush made of renewable materials - Some companies use cellulose acetate extracted from cotton. This makes their toothbrush more bio-degradable. In fact, they claim it will degrade in the same amount of time it would take an oak leaf, 6 months. As compared to the thousands of years it would take a standard plastic to do the equivalent.
toothbrush with replaceable heads - As much as you'd still be changing the head every 3-6 months it'd be less plastic. It is estimated that you would have to throw away 14 - 42 replacement heads to equal the waste of 1 toothbrush. If you're looking at 340 toothbrushes in a lifetime that translates to a reduction in waste the equivalent of using only 8 - 24 in a lifetime! I actually had to do the math twice on that one as it's such a huge reduction!
electric toothbrush with rechargeable base or batteries - This is the least green of the green alternatives to plastic brushes. But one with rechargeable batteries and replaceable heads isn't too bad.
The more dedicated hippie would rinse with tea tree oil and water and brush instead with the root of the Araak Tree. As silly as that may sound that root is pretty nifty. It contains natural nutrients like fluorine, silicon, vitamin C, sulphur, sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate and calcium oxides. All of these things will whiten and strengthen your tooth enamel.
Unfortunately my local grocer didn't provide any with replaceable heads that weren't electric. I am certainly not in the market for an electric toothbrush at the moment so I settled for a regular toothbrush made of recycled materials for now.
Perhaps next time I will purchase one online. A quick search found these gems:
Acca Kappa Biocete Toothbrush - $6.50 - designed with natural bristles and a handle of biodegradable cellulose acetate. Only takes six months to biodegrade.
Radius Intelligent Toothbrush - $8.99 - An electric toothbrush with replaceable heads. The batteries will last over six heads worth of use (18 months) after which you can return the handle for recycling.
Radius Source Toothbrush - $6.95 - Replaceable head toothbrush with a handle made from 100% recycled material - Half wood, half plastic but both recycled.
Recycline Preserve Toothbrush - $2.99 - Made from 100% recycled plastic. 25-65% of that plastic comes from Stonyfield Farm yogurt cups. You can even send back the toothbrush to be recycled if you don't have a local recycling centre accepting of toothbrushes. They then grind it up to make plastic lumber for picnic tables etc. What I found cool was they have a thing called "Toothbrush subscription" where they will send you a toothbrush every x months (your choosing) to replenish and change your old one. I thought that was great considering how often I've looked at my toothbrush and asked myself, "Did I change that 3 months ago or 4?"
Well, I'm going to go brush my teeth and go on a hunt for some more eco-purchases of the day.
Your friendly neighborhood hippie mom.
So what is the deal with plastic? I know to avoid BPA and PVC but what labels am I looking for. Not everything that is BPA free will say so. Although I'm sure most will seeing as it's considered something to brag about in plastic departments. To remind myself I returned to the charts of recycling codes.
Click on picture to view chart
There is going to be a complaint about all types of plastics with leeching, bio-degrading etc. So for now, for my sanity and my families, I will focus mostly on those concerns that affect my health and the health of my family.
PVC (our lovely rubber ducky's skin) has a massively bad rep. But a little research would find that this is because of the plasticizers (mostly phthalates) added to soften the PVC and make it flexible. These additives can leach out into our food, mouths or ... other body parts, as they are common in shampoo bottles, shower curtains, food containers, children's toys and adult toys ...so to speak. This leaching is concerning as Phthalates have been linked to liver/kidney damage and tumors. They can mimic human hormones and hurt the environment. Studies have shown statistical association between allergies in children and indoor air levels of DEHP. This additive of particular concern, DEHP (Diethylhexyl phthalate) has, among other phthalates, been banned in Europe. In the United States it has not been banned but most companies have voluntarily ceased production of PVC toys using DEHP additives. An alternative to DEHP called diisononyl phthalate (DINP) has been found to have unlikely risks by the European Commission.
What, outside of Europe, has been done to reduce issues with PVC? As far as toys are concerned factories have started using DINP in lieu of DEHP although it is not required and so personal investigation into purchases would be necessary. There is a call for a ban on use of DEHP on shower curtains and a few other household items as the initial outgassing of the additive may cause medical complications. In November '05 Catholic Healthcare West signed a contract for vinyl-free IV bags & tubing. Several corporations including Microsoft, Wal-Mart & Kaiser Permanente have announced efforts in eliminating PVC from products and packaging in that same year. Japanese car companies (Toyota, Nissan & Honda) have eliminated PVC in car interiors in all models 2007 and beyond.
As far as environment is concerned I doubt I need to mention that plastic does not biodegrade in the environment because they are not digestible to microorganisms. If you toss plastic out instead of recycling it will simply be moved about by are or water and accumulate. Animals can become entangled in some plastic litter or eat plastic mistaken for food and die.
So what have I done to reduce plastic in my home?
Grocery bags - I take my stroller with me most times and instead of bagging them I put them in the carriage of the stroller. I am a vegetarian and so meat juices is not an issue here. In addition I have over two dozen cloth bags that I bring with me when I am without a stroller. I do bring home the occassional plastic bag when I'm low at home. I use them for kitty litter sometimes and also as my main form of garbage bag. A resolution in my house is to reduce our waste to one grocery bag a week. This has meant composting for the first time so we're still working on it.
I purchased a soap dispenser and buy my soap in bulk recyclable containers to reduce the amount of plastic containers.
I have been enforcing the bare bum or cloth bum policy when home. I still use disposable when out of the house or when we have a babysitter. But my daughter runs around disposable diaper free as much as I can.
I poked a bunch of holes in some containers and reused them as containers for her bath toys, so they get the proper drip dry anti-mildew action with the holes but I get to put them away and reuse a plastic container.
I bought a wipe container and always bought refills thereafter.
I know I can only get better at this as I look around and see various plastic objects everywhere. But as far as the health of my family is concerned, it is my top priority. I will be even more mindful now of PVC (#3 plastic) and try to find out what ones are made using DEHP. I have stopped microwaving in plastic. I may still occasionally store leftovers in plastic but when they are heated I put them on the plate they will be consumed from. It might make more dishes for me but that is what a mother is for. Right?
My name is bwings and I had a delightfully green Christmas this year.
Some things not shown in the video would be the hot air popcorn popper and a natural loofah as well as a loofah made using recycled plastic. I am not sure if it is common knowledge, but a loofah is in actuality a plant. Just as the marshmallow was originally a plant, a mallow that grew in the marsh. Now it is a sugar creation of pig tendons and flavoring, but it was once a native american favorite sticky delicacy from the marsh.
A loofah, luffa, or lufah is a tropical/subtropical plant of the cucumber family that is harvested before maturity in Asia and Africa and eaten. A loofah that is harvested after it's ripened is dried and used as a plant sponge for bath or kitchen, as a natural remedy for jaundice, or to make the soles of beach sandals.
I am positively in love with my new loofah, ever since moving into this new place I found my feet got cracked and dry quickly. Scratching against my blankets at night and sending shivers down my spine. With the natural loofah it is more coarse and helps scrub off the dead foot skin *yummy*. I can use it and know that it's from a natural self-sustaining source rather than plastic/pvc created with harmful chemicals and sitting in a waste pile for years.
My hot air popper I have used almost everyday since I opened it. Not good for my diet as popcorn might be fat free but calories WOOOO but that's a discussion for my bridal blog. I have childhood memories of standing the correct distance from our popcorn popper and waiting anxiously to watch the popcorn fly out. I would be mesmerized by this and now so is my daughter. It's a delightful way to make popcorn, easy and PFOA free.
Shown in the video was a gift of Natures Gate shampoo & body wash. Their products have:
No Phthalates or Parabens
No Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulfates
No Animal Derived Ingredients
No Animal Testing
No Synthetic Fragrance
No EDTA (at least in the products I received)
and in addition they, as a company, support Water Aid America which helps communities in Asia and Africa gain access to sustainable supplies of safe, clean water.
Lastly but most adorably the video shows how Asmerus, when wrapping my present, tenderly reused wrapping paper as part of his gift to me. Every year I salvage what I can of the paper to be reused the next year. I'm not anal when unwrapping, I don't carefully pull tape away from the paper so as not to make a tear. But after everything is done I will fold up the less tattered paper and put it in a box to use the next year. I save every bag and have reused some bags in this house since 2007. It would date back further but before 2007 I was between houses for 3 years. Having been nomadic for so long I couldn't sacrifice storage space on a moving trip to bags and paper. Selfish yes, but it was just not realistic at the time. Since 2007 we've been in the same basic location and so I have built up quite the collection of bags and tissue paper. I know Asmerus wouldn't likely reuse paper or bags were it not for my organized storage of such things. Alas I love him that much more for having done it just to make me smile.
The end of the video shows the aftermath and what remains. I am proud to say that of all that paper I removed all tape and recycled what I wasn't going to reuse. I was rather amazed with just how much reusable paper I got out of this years paper. I thought that a lot would have to be recycled based on how small our daughter was shredding them. But I ended up with a full box of reusable paper and not even an eighth of a standard recycling bag full of recycling paper. 3 full bags of cardboard though!!!
All-in-all it was a pretty green Christmas (lack of snow and all)
My name is bwings and I roll my toilet paper underhand!
Without getting into the argument of overhand vs. underhand I'll go right into todays entry in my green-living adventure. I through a big shindig here the other day, small apartment, one bathroom, twenty guests. Crazy? Maybe a little! Even more crazy was the realization at the last moment that we only had one roll of toilet paper left! OH NO! That just wasn't going to do at all! Asmerus headed out to pick up some more while my friend and I continued to ready the meal for everyone.
Upon his return and my first visit to the lavatories thereafter I discovered he brought home 1 ply simple and plain paper. Not that we get frilly or puffy spoil your bum paper. Just this was the very basic of the basic. And as I sat there on the throne I asked myself, "Which is more eco-friendly? One Ply or Two?" I don't imagine there is one answer to this as without an extreme controlled study there would be no determined answer. Even then the answer would be completely unscientific which just wouldn't do at all. Whether a person uses more or less toilet paper when using 1 or 2 ply depends purely on the person and the purity of their erm.. dumps. But it did make me question the toilet paper as a whole. What, if anything, should someone be watching for when shopping for their toilet paper.
I had heard one thing which, sorry earth, I won't be doing, this is family cloth. I don't think I need to go into too much detail but essentially it's the replacement of conventional toilet paper with individual fabric cloths to be washed (I'd assume daily) and reused repeatedly. In some cases families would keep toilet paper options for twosies and guests. But like their are intense activists I'm sure there are those who say, "If you use my john you use my johnny cloth!"
There are other things to keep in mind when shopping for butt wipes, things I'm much more willing to do. Such as buying toilet paper free of bleach and chlorine and if in conjunction with being made from recycled material all the better. The problem with recycled toilet paper is that it is normallly bleached to remove prior ink. When the chlorine combines with the paper fibers it creates toxins such as dioxin. Dioxins cause cancer, learning disorders, impaired immune system, impared developing nervous system, impared endocrine system, fertility issues, diabetes and more. Therefore my top priority is in purchasing chlorine/bleach free toilet paper. Second to that would be to ensure it is recycled.
I will likely continue to purchase 1 ply paper. My family doesn't increase usage with ply reduction and 1 ply will break down easier and quicker. In case you were worried about Dioxins it might pleasure you to know that toilet paper is the least of your worries. I imagine you'll be less than thrilled to discover that more than 90% of exposure is through meat (yes fish included) and dairy. The higher up on the foodchain you go the higher the concentration of dioxins. (that puts vegetarian/vegan down at the bottom of the cart with cows) ;) Yes...I just compared myself to a cow mooooooo. Dioxins thrive in your body because of their endurance and ability to be absorbed by fat tissue. Their half-life in a body is estimated to be seven to eleven years.
While doing my research into toilet paper I discovered two things I thought to be really amazing! First is a nifty video showing an invention called the white goat. It is intended for companies that go through a lot of paper through the day. Taking their shredded paper and making toilet paper rolls for the company use. I assume the paper is bleached inside the machine but it's still a pretty nifty idea.
Second is the new tube free toilet paper from Kimberly Clark. It is said that the simple cardboard tube in our toilet paper roll is to blame for 160 million pounds of waste annually, in the United States alone. If you were to put the rolls end to end you could go to the moon and back....TWICE! Of course people are only going to continue to toss the toilet paper roll in their bathroom waste bin rather than walk it out to the recycling bin. I think this is quite innovative! I read that it was released November 1st and promptly got on the phone with my local grocery department. When reaching customer service I said, "I have an interesting question for you. I just learned about this new tube free toilet paper roll introduced by Kimberly Clark. It would've been released to public the first of November and I was wondering if your stole carried it." Well Customer Service promptly transferred me to Grocery who stuttered and transfered me to the assistant manager. It is their belief they do not carry this product.
Next step is to call Kimberly Clark themselves and see where one could purchase this product. It is my understanding that it is to be released in the United States at first and then later spread if it is popular. In my household our rolls are recycled and so it won't change the environment any if I purchase these rolls. However, I am ever so curious as to how these rolls hold their shape, so foolishly curious! If I find anything more about them during business hours I will surely update you.
For now I've looked into a clever eco-friendly bathroom trash can and seeing as it's the 11th day of Christmas *clears throat* on the 11th day of Christmas a hippie brought to me a recycled cotton wastebasket. But don't let that hippie catch you tossing toilet paper rolls in it! Or she'll open a BPA free can of whoop a$$ on you ;)
That's all for now, your friendly neighborhood hippie mom!
My name is bwings and I never have just one computer running at a time!
What happens when two nerds come together and make a love nest? They don't use feathers to line it, instead they have laptops, computers and multiple electronic accessories. This is not a joke, it's a very serious fact!! If there was a theme song for our house and it's relationship with electronics and technology it would very seriously be Technologic.
But with all these computers there often lies the need to replace or recycle a computer. How does one dispose of an aged computer nicely? This all depends on what the exact issue is.
Issue 1:
Your computer isn't working anymore and it's driving you crazy! You want to throw it out the window. Solution:
Almost everyone knows one tech loving friend who will give a good crack at that aggravating data muncher for you. Talk to your friend, see if they will look into it for you. Most will do it for a pizza or some other favor. It will save you on having to send it back to the retailer and hope they can do something....in a few weeks. This solution is NOT always an option if your computer is under warranty. I can't stress that enough! If your computer is under warranty and the problem proves to be a hardware issue and not a software then your tech loving friend will not be able to open your computer. For there are stickers intended to show if a computer has been tampered with. Breaking these seals will void your warranty and that's a lot of pressure for your friend. Know your warranty going in.
Issue 2: Your computer is getting old and you want to upgrade.
Solution:
This one leans back on those tech loving friends. You can either donate your worthwhile parts to these friends or ask if they wouldn't mind stripping your old computer for it's newer parts. In some cases they might be able to simply replace old parts of your computer for newer ones and save you money on the packaging of a whole new computer. In my house we have a computer that has been around for 12 years now. It's up to date as of 2009 but the computer has never been replaced. Simply parts and pieces removed and exchanged for others. Old parts sit in another tower casing to be sold at later available times or used to make new computers. It's completely possible to rebuild a computer without forking out the money for a new container. Unless you're into that sort of thing.
Issue 3: Replacing the trivial things, monitor, keyboard, mouse etc.
Solution: If these parts still work and you just want a sleeker design you can donate it to another who might not be able to afford the sleeker designs. Monitors will sell on kijiji or craigs list for a couple dollars here or there depending on the age and quality of the monitor. If you are replacing a wired keyboard or mouse for their wireless alternative then you want to store the wired version. If the day comes, and I hope it never does, that you need to enter safe mode or your bios this will be impossible with a wireless equivalent. A wireless will not (at least in my experience) run until your computer is on. To enter bios or safe mode you need keyboard use before computer start up. It's always good to keep one spare wired mouse & keyboard for these situations.
If the keyboard or mouse doesn't work and you know someone with a child ... do I need to spell it out? My daughter loved typing on our keyboard, but for the earlier part of her life she was rather aggressive with those buttons. Watching her mash the keys on a keyboard was cute, but watching her slam the keys on an expensive wireless model made our stomach turn. The solution was to donate an 80's model keyboard to her. She loved it and it is still one of her favorite toys.
Issue 4: You have exhausted your upcycling and reusing options with your friends or simply have no tech loving friends. Solution: Find a computer refurbisher in your area. If your computer is less than 5 years old they will recycle it's parts into newer systems. They use the parts to replace broken parts in a newer system to save the owner some money.
Issue 5: Your computer is older than 5 years old/has no useable parts/has terrible hardware problems! Solotuion: Computer Recyclers in your area will do basically the same thing as a refurbisher. They will take the salvageable parts (if any) and recycle unusable parts.
In some cases recycling your computer can result in a tax deduction. Either it's market value or it's un-depreciated value. This may be only $10 if your computer is ancient, but if you go through computers quickly and treat them well you might be looking at a bit more. Worth looking into.
When recycling or donating your computer try to have all your documents with it, any discs that came with that computer were useful to you and will be useful to the next owner.
Additional things you might want to know before going ahead with a recycle or refurbish is to ensure all your data is erased before passing it on. To prevent identity theft it is crucial that you format a hard drive to erase all your data. When you format it make sure you are doing it in the traditional way as there are now options to format and save your data. You want this hard drive wiped clean. A study on 129 old hard drives (many formated) found more than 5,000 credit card numbers, medical correspondences, love letters, porn, banking information and other data you wouldn't want in the wrong hands.
Lastly, please don't just toss these things out, there are so many options and what you're throwing out potentially contains lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic and PCBs. Some have found their waste departments to be less than helpful with this and so I hope my suggestions have been helpful. Some find speaking with their local Geek Squad (best buy) has been helpful in locating a recycling program for their computers and laptops. In fact in some cases Best Buy will recycle most of your electronics, although TVs, CRTs, Monitors, Desktop Towers, & Laptops will cost you $10 to recycle through them. KEEP READING they will in exchange give you a $10 gift card. So really you're just promising to spend at least $10 in their store in exchange for their recycling. See? not so bad! If you're already a tech user you can likely find something to spend $10 there. A new mouse maybe?
You will have to take your harddrive out before giving it to best buy though or they will charge you a removal fee. But that's not such a bad thing, call up your tech friend, they might even be able to turn your harddrive into an external for you, thus making music storage practical.
Your options are endless really so there is no reason why you can't find something to do with that old computer. If you ever need any help from us you can feel free to e-mail your friendly neighborhood hippie mom.
In the meantime I believe we're on the 10th day of Christmas a hippie brought to me a set of Circuit Board Cufflinks. Oh you know I had to go there, but honestly they are sort of nifty looking.
