Sustainable Saturday 8-25-18: Waste Reducing Swaps

Welcome back to Sustainable Saturday! I hope the last installment gave you some more insight on the importance of recycling and how easy it can be.

This week I want to focus on reducing waste. Our society has become a very “disposable” culture: when we’re done with something, it goes in the bin and then it’s out of sight, out of mind. However, when something goes in the bin then hauled away by the garbage truck, it doesn’t disappear. Often, waste is hauled to a landfill, where it will sit for (literally) hundreds of years.

 

Landfills work like huge trash compactors: trash is dumped on top of more trash, and it’s crushed to make space for more. In this environment, nothing breaks down. Not even organic matter like food scraps and yard trimmings. The average American contributes just over 1,600 pounds of waste per year to their local landfill. That’s a lot of trash!

So let’s talk about some easy swaps we can make to reduce our landfill input. The place we trash the most is the kitchen and the bathroom, so let’s focus on what we can do to reduce waste in these areas.

1. Paper towels

How many rolls of paper towels do you use in a week? A month? We buy them just to throw them away with a very short usable life. Additionally, after they’re been used to soak up your juice spill or clean your counter tops, they can no longer be recycled.

The solution: use cloth rags 

I’m sure you have old stained t-shirts or towels lying around; simply cut them into desired sizes. Mine are about the size of a washcloth with a few cut larger for cleaning. I use them just like paper towels: to dry my hands, clean up spills, clean around my home (often with a vinegar + water mix to cut down on buying a bunch of different cleaners). You can even buy “un-paper towels” which are cloths connected by snaps that you roll up, to give you the feeling of using paper towels. It may make the switch easier on change-resistant families. Just wash after each use and they’ll last you for quite some time. You may have to go through periodically and trash a few rags when they’ve become especially worn, but for example I just had to toss a few for the first time, I’ve been using them for about 8 months.
*TIP: I also use my towels and rags on the end of my original Swiffer to clean my floors and use a damp rag for dusting.

2. Product packaging

Product packaging includes boxes, bags, and wrapping that your food comes in. Not only processed foods like cereal and canned food, but bagged fruit and vegetables as well. While this may be convenient, and some of the materials can be recycled, there are many parts that have to go to landfill because they’re mixed materials or food-soiled. It’s also been found that we eat 31% more packaged than fresh food(1) so cutting back on this packaging may help you even eat more healthfully.

The solution: buying loose / bulk

Find a farmers market for the best deals on loose produce. It’s always fresh and you can get just what you need. Farmers market items are often more locally sourced, reducing the carbon emissions of a cross-country transport. Remember to bring your own bag!

Additionally, locate a local bulk-foods store or find a grocery store with bulk bins. when you bring your own canisters or bags, this can reduce packaging on many of the staples in your home. We visit our bulk store for beans, rice, flour, coffee, and a lot of other goodies (we can never get out without a few ounces of bulk candy!).

And ditch meal-delivery services— opt for a cookbook and a trip to the grocery store.

3. Disposable plates and cutlery

These items have to be the bane of my existence. We have evolved from using these items at the occasional large gathering to some of us using them as standard dinnerware– this includes when we order takeout, with “..82 percent doing so at least once every two weeks.”  While I totally understand that not everyone has the energy, patience, or skill to prepare a home-cooked meal every night, there are plenty of alternatives to ordering Styrofoam-packed dumplings every Friday night.

related: study finds schools save money when using reusable over disposable

Solution A: Eat in

Whether you pick up or get it delivered, a car still has to drive from point A to point B, so why not take a little longer and eat-in at the restaurant of your choosing? You can use their re-usable plates and cutlery, and bonus points if you bring your own food storage container for the leftovers. You can even ask for a ceramic mug at Starbucks if you have 20 minutes to sit and drink your coffee.

Solution B: Visit the thrift store

If you entertain a lot, using disposables every time can really fill up your trash can. Your local thrift store has stacks and stacks of plates, bowls, cups, and cutlery for rock bottom prices. We have a whole set of plates and cutlery for 16 people on top of the set of 4 we have for every day use. And I know what you’re thinking: yes, you have to do dishes. But water is continually cleaned and reused, unlike polystyrene plates.

Solution C: Cook large

If you don’t have time to cook often, make large batches of food to last for several days, or freeze it for another time. This way, you prep once then can eat multiple times. Since I usually only cook for my partner and me, I make enough for four or six.

 

These steps may seem quite big to someone just starting out, but may be baby steps for someone else. If you’d like to make a bigger impact in reducing your waste, try these:

 

• Cloth diapers

Babies go through so many diapers, and they take hundreds of years to naturally biodegrade. Cloth diapering isn’t only a great option for the environment, but also for your baby: many mothers I’ve talked to report less diaper rash. I understand though that some daycare facilities refuse to cloth diaper, and it may be difficult to do while out and about. Even if you just use cloth at home, it can still make a big impact in reducing your overall waste.

• Family cloth

There are more and more people reducing waste by opting out of toilet tissue. Instead, they have what’s socially called family cloth to wipe– from what I’ve read, the family doesn’t share the same cloth (each family member may have a different print or color to differentiate). However, this works best if you invest in a bidet for doing the dirty work, so to speak.

 

Even if you try one of these options, every little bit counts in reducing waste and our carbon footprint.

Let me know about your experience or other waste reducing lifestyle changes in the comments!

 

Sustainable Saturday 8-11-18: Recycling

Happy Saturday! Welcome to my inaugural “Sustainable Saturday” post, which I will try to post every other Saturday to help everyone live a little bit more sustainable every day.

I want to focus on what I think is the biggest problem with municipal recycling– that a lot of people have misunderstandings or misinformation when it comes to recycling. I hope by reading on, it will help you gain an understanding of how recycling works, how to recycle properly, and why it’s important to recycle properly.

This guide refers to curbside recycling, and I’m pretty jealous if you have deposit recycling.

What is recycling?

Recycling is the process of converting old or used materials into new materials for other uses. This is extremely beneficial for the environment because it redirects our need for raw materials, reducing our use of them. It also reduces the amount of trash we throw into landfills.

How does recycling work?

There is some labor on the part of the consumer; many locales require us to clean and sort our recyclables in order to speed up the process on their end. Our household bin is then emptied curbside into a larger truck. “After collection, recyclables are sent to a recovery facility to be sorted, cleaned and processed into materials that can be used in manufacturing.”(1) Recycled materials work just like raw materials for companies to manufacture products with.

What can be recycled?

Many items can be recycled including paper, metal, and plastic.

• Paper: Depending on where you live, paper recycling can include: newspapers, mail, food cartons, cardboard boxes, and copy paper. However, some types of paper aren’t usually recyclable like thermal paper (receipts and attraction tickets), and wet or soiled paper (used napkins, pizza boxes).
• Metal: This most often includes food and beverage cans. Be careful of sizing though, because smaller metal pieces often can’t be recycled like bottle caps, nails, etc. However, you can put smaller metal pieces in a soup can and crimp the top shut before tossing it in the recycling bin.
• Plastic: This is the item that really get folks tripped up. So I’ll break this section into several sub sections:
  • What do all the numbers mean? The numbers on the bottom of your plastic item tell you what material it’s made of. Some can be recycled readily, like #1 plastic bottles are often recyclable, but others are almost never recyclable, like #6 polystyrene (take out containers or packing peanuts). Check your local guidelines for which numbers are accepted.
  • What about plastic bags? Plastic bags are different than other recyclables, and may also be called flimsy plastic. It includes not only the bags you get from the grocery store checkout but other soft plastic bags as well. In many places, they are not accepted in the curbside bin. The bags tangle the equipment at many recycling centers. They are, however, accepted at many grocery stores to be sent for recycling at a separate facility.
  • Can I recycle plastic bottle caps? “..the plastic cap can be recycled as long as it’s reattached to the plastic container from which it came. Examples: water bottle, peanut butter jar, Dunkin’ Donuts iced-coffee cup and sour cream container.” (2) Orphaned lids can be recycled, but smaller bottle caps should be thrown in the trash.

DID YOU KNOW? You SHOULD NOT wrap your recyclables in a trash bag. More often than not, the whole bag will be thrown in the trash. Recyclables should be thrown into the bin loose.

Do I have to clean my recyclables?

Yes! Any contaminated recyclables can disrupt the recycling process. Most will do fine with a quick rinse, but be sure peanut butter jars and the like are cleaned well. This also means you have to cut the grease stains off of your pizza boxes or put them in the trash.

Why do I have to sort and clean my recyclables? Can’t the facilities hire someone to do it?

The City of Tampa explains it like this: “Unfortunately, when items like tanglers are thrown in recycling this causes the machines to get stuck and shut down. Not only does this slow the process of recycling but it causes our machines to work harder and consume more energy in order to operate. This also creates dangerous situations for our employees who have to climb on the equipment in order to detangle it.”(3)

They go on to explain that while their program does receive a rebate from items transferred to Waste Management, it’s not enough to cover the cost of operation of the program. Many municipalities charge a small fee along with your solid waste fees to help pay for recycling programs.

How do I know what I can recycle?

As mentioned a few times in this post, it’s important to check your local guidelines on how and what to recycle. Some places do accept plastic bags for recycling in the curbside bins, others don’t accept certain numbers of plastic. It all depends on what your city or county has the infrastructure to do.

So go forth with this information, and be the recycling guru I know you can be! Don’t be afraid to point out (kindly) your family’s bad recycling habits and help teach them proper protocol.

A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: Paper Disposables Are Not The Answer

In today’s world of online activism, heaps of articles have been written about switching from non-recyclable plastics to paper alternatives, especially when talking about straws or food and beverage items. On the surface, this seems like a great switch. However, when you look a little more closely, switching to paper is more of a deflection than a solution.

According to the Idaho Forest Products, there are several steps to making paper for all sorts of paper products.

1. Trees are cut down and cut into lumber.
2. The excess of this process is ground into wood chips.
3. The wood chips are then processed into pulp.
4. The pulp is put through a paper-making machine where it’s thinned, pressed, and dried.
5. The paper can then be cut for various products.

For 1 metric ton of paper, this process requires 17 trees, 6,604 gallons of water (25 cubic meters), 10,061 kWh of energy, and 680 gallons of oil.

For comparison sake, plastic is made of compounds derived from non-renewable resources such as coal and oil, and 22 gallons of water are used to make a pound of plastic (22 gallons x 2204 pounds in a metric ton= 48,488 gallons). Additionally, many of the plastic products we use that can be recycled, usually aren’t. In fact, only about 9% of plastics ever made have been recycled.

But paper can be recycled pretty easily, right? Yes! But only some paper can be recycled.

“Each time paper is recycled, the cellulose fibers get shorter, until eventually the paper won’t hold together. That’s why most “recycled” papers contain some new paper fibers mixed in with the old.” 1

However, paper often can’t be recycled if its been soiled or wet, which includes paper plates, towels, pizza boxes, and straws.

While paper may not use as many resources as plastic, production of those products still require raw materials which can quickly become overwhelming.  If you’re buying paper products for food and beverage, it can’t be recycled at all which defeats the purpose of a switch. After all, waste in a landfill is still waste in a landfill, no matter the material.

This leads to the question: I don’t want to use plastic but paper isn’t a good option either, what do I do?

The most obvious solution is to just use what you already have. Take your own coffee mug to the office, use a real plate and wash it when you’re done, or you can even wrap up your own silverware in a napkin and carry it with you in your bag or purse for when you’re out and about. And if you don’t need a straw, simply don’t use one (or use the one from the reusable cup I know you have sitting in your cabinet). If you do have to buy something, always look for it secondhand first. This eliminates demand for new products using raw materials + shipping and handling.

If you’re reading this article and are saying to yourself, “I have <insert issue here> I need a plastic disposable straw to drink! What do I do?” You do your best. I know many chronically ill people who feel guilty because they require non-recyclable medical supplies, medications with a lot of packaging, or even plastic straws to live their every day life. This is perfectly okay! You have to do what you have to do to survive and thrive. Even if it’s just recycling the junk mail you get, doing something is better than doing nothing.

The solution for many of the waste problems we have are only going to be solved by changing the way we think about waste. Instead of asking what you can buy to replace your current product, ask yourself what you can do without.

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