Putting our food waste to good use.

With spring in full swing... and summer around the corner-I decided its time to get serious about gardening.  We spent this last weekend designing, planning, and buying materials for two raised beds in the back yard (quite the undertaking).  Now that we are in the habit of separating our food waste for composting-it only makes since that we start an onsite compost that we can use to nurture our garden.  Now that "green" is the new black-there are hundreds of types of residential compost bins to choose from.  So-I will begin my search today-and hope to make a decision by next weekend.  On another note... I'm happy to report that since my last post-I have only donated $2 to Sustainable Ballard.  While there have been times when I've been on my way to the store-only to realize that my cloth bag was still on the counter-I am doing much... much better at remembering.

Good-Bye Glad.... Hello BioBag

When I started this project... I found out that the garbage bags that I use to line the garbage cans in the bathroom aren't recyclable because they are made with polyethylene.  While- I am dedicated to living waste-free... I also like clean garbage cans.  For the last several weeks I've searched high and low for a solution-well I've finally found it.  There is now a company out of Florida that is producing Biodegradable Bags.  They're called BioBags, and they are selling bags made from 100% biodegradable and compostable material (which they call Mater-Bi).The best part is... you can buy them at many local stores, including Whole Foods and PCC Natural Market.  I honestly never imagined I'd be so excited about garbage bags!  Check them out the next time you go shopping-so far they've been great.

    

Memory Assessment

Ok... so during my last post I vowed to bring my cloth bag with me whenever I leave the house.  This would "ideally" dramatically reduce or eliminate the number of times I find myself standing at the check-out counter being asked the "Paper or Plastic" question.  Well... unfortunately over the last few days-I have forgotten not once.... but 4 times!  As a result, I will be donating $4 to Sustainable Ballard.  Hmm... this unfortunate memory lapse... will potentially be quite expensive.   Hopefully I will begin to think of my cloth bag as an extension of myself... and sooner than later. Wish me luck.

The inevitable happened-paper or plastic!

So this week alone... I found myself facing this question-twice!  What is it with me?  Why can't I just remember to bring my own bag?  Here's a product idea... tattoo's that read BYOB.  That could be huge!  

Well... until they start charging for bags (sometimes it takes a disincentive)... I'm going to have to create my own strategy to rid me of this ridiculous habit.  From this day forward I will be measuring the amount of times per week that I forget my bag-and for every plastic bag I collect-I will have to donate $1 to Sustainable Ballard.  Wish me luck! 

What to do with that food covered aluminum foil...

Well... it turns out that aluminum foil can be recycled an infinite amount of times.  The key is to wash the food off of the aluminum foil before putting it in your recycling can.  I also learned that the energy used when recycling aluminum foil is 5 times less energy than used to produce new aluminum.  Thats certainly something to feel good about.

I've decided that in addition to just recycling the foil-I will start buying foil that is 100% recycled.  That way I'm fully supporting the companies that are in line with my behavior change objectives.

Will I ever win "Stump the Recycler"?

So in my quest to find the non-recyclable, I stumbled on the problem of chewing gum.  What can possibly be done to the tasteless piece of chewing gum-once its breath freshening mission has been fulfilled?  Well-here we have it.  Apparently it can be "recycled".

"The world's first process that transforms chewing gum into a plastic that can be used for injection and blow moulding"

Wow.. just wow!

Trash-Can Innovation

I woke up this morning... and decided that our "efficiency system" is lacking in efficiency.  So I started resourcing alternative solutions.  Its pretty incredible to see the latest and greatest in trash-can innovation.  It seems that the "green revolution" has inspired a league of environmental design-that could one day merge fashion and eco-friendly lifestyles.  The days of "granola tree hugging environmentalism" seems to be on its way out.  Generation Y and the newly coined Generation Millenia won't settle for that classic definition.  They demand cool, technology driven, masterfully designed ways of saving the planet.  

I simply can't wait to see where this is going. :)