Reduce plastic waste :: PlasticLess.com

A lot of the suggestions that I have made about reducing plastic consumption involve going back to older versions of stuff. I suggested cast iron frying pans instead of Teflon. I suggested a metal safety razor instead of the latest penultimate multi-blade disposable razor. I am not going to suggest that we all go back to this kind of phone…

I remember these from when I was a kid. I’m not an octogenarian, I grew in a very backwoods part of rural Canada. Heck, we still had a party line when I bought my first house in the 90s.

Today there are 1.27 billion fixed line subscribers and 2.68 billion mobile subscribers around the world. My family of five accounts for four of those subscriptions. All of our phones are plastic

There is one thing that I do to minimize the environmental impact of my mobile phone. I keep using the same phone until it doesn’t work anymore. That is not the case with most users. In Europe, people typically upgrade within 25 months. In the US it is even worse. The cycle is said to be 18 months. Many of the cell phones that get replaced end up in the environment and plastic isn’t the only material that we have to worry about.

I am currently on my second cell phone, EVER. Since Catherine’s Nokia outlasted my first phone, I got a cheap Nokia this time around. I made a point of getting the same model for both myself and the kids. This means that our chargers and batteries are interchangeable. We are sharing a charger and we will take the other one out of storage if and when the first one wears out.

The companies that sell phones are very good at appealing to some pretty silly human motivations not the least of which is ego. I guess the fact that I can’t remember what brand of phone I was carrying around for almost 3 years proves that I did not attribute any of my identity to the object. If any manufacturer is interested in making a simple, inexpensive phone that has the least possible impact on the environment, you stand to make at least one sale once my second phone wears out

Oh, and it’d be great if it was built to last for the rest of my life. That’s about 40 years.

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The elimination of trays at a number of university cafeterias was a green initiative, but it wasn’t about plastic. It was a simple idea that has been reducing food waste in several schools in recent months.

Some diners are upset, but most institutions are happy with the result. Students who are on full board at a university tend to experience weight gain. It will be interesting to see if taking the trays away puts a dent in that statistic.

Food waste is a huge environmental and social issue in the USA and elsewhere. There are some great blogs out there that are devoted to this topic.

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We love olive oil and we are lucky enough to live in region where it is made. In fact, much of Tunisia looks like a screen cap of the PC game Ceasar III, or more accurately a screen cap of what the game would look like after you let it run while you went for a sandwich. This part of Africa was actually the site of the first Roman province outside of Italy. Tunisians produce 4 times as much olive oil as they consume. They consume a lot of olive oil at over 11 kg per person per year.

If you live in California, you can enjoy olive oil even if you are a locavore.

The conventional way that locals buy olive oil is in reused 1.5 liter water bottles that are filled from a large steel tank. I did this myself a couple of times. I didn’t think that it counted as plastic consumption since the bottle was being reused. I was recently reminded that these bottles are not recommended for reuse. It was time to figure out an alternative.

I briefly considered using a wine bottle for my olive oil but the taboo on alcohol is taken very seriously by many local Muslims. I got to experience this while getting supplies for our Christmas baking. The cashiers do not touch bottles of alcohol. I had to get the deli person to write down the UPC so I could go to the front to pay and get a receipt and then I went back to the back for the furtive transaction. I don’t want to offend the guy that sells me my olive oil.

My next though was to purchase an empty 1 liter glass bottle. The supermarket had some nice ones for about 1 USD. While I was carrying one of these around in the store, I realized how silly I was being. I put the bottle back on the shelf and walked over to where they sold glass bottles of premium olive oil. Local people don’t buy these very much because they are no better than what can be purchased on any corner. They cost more. Interestingly enough, they cost about 1 USD more per liter.

If I get any brilliant ideas for reusing an olive oil can, I may consider buying one. Until then I will be refilling a glass bottle.

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Lego.

I played with it relentlessly as a child.

I felt its corners with the soles of my feet as a parent of small children.

I have never been to Legoland.

I have heard that there is a lot of plastic there. Today I also heard that a lego Barack Obama is being inaugurated in advance of the real flesh and blood inauguration.

I am not very good at recalling my childhood but I have to wonder whether plastic interlocking blocks were actually fueling my imagination. Is it possible that my imagination and those of millions of other kids have actually fueled the market for this stuff? I have seen simple wooden blocks used with equal enthusiasm. And they make a really satisfying crash when it is time to tear the old down so that you can begin building something better.

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This is my garbage can. The price is marked on the lid (2.5 Tunisian dinar = 1.830295 U.S. dollars). I put a 1/2 meter ruler on the floor as a size reference. I screwed a wine cork into the top as a handle.

If any plastic bags find their way into our home, they are reused in whatever manner makes the most sense. The final use is of course to contain garbage. Lately I have been very good at avoiding plastic bags and as a consequence I haven’t been using a bag inside this garbage can. My community has small communal dumpsters out on the main road. Carrying a can there and back is not much of a hardship. I often see people stopping beside these dumpsters with their nice cars and tossing in the trash on their way to town. I can’t do this for two reasons. First off, I don’t have a car. Secondly, I have to take the can back home. These means that I have to walk an extra 260 steps every 2-3 days. I haven’t checked, but I bet a lot of the people who take their garbage for a car ride double bag.

I recently moved house and I am turning the idea of composting over in my head. My head is not a suitable container for composting. I am open to suggestions from anyone who is composting at home. I have access to a postage stamp garden in a common entrance area and I don’t want to create anything that offends the eyes or noses of my neighbors. I live in a Mediterranean climate, so I am not comfortable jumping into to project with just my Canadian composting experiences.

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Green used to mean money.

More recently, green has come to mean environmentally responsible.

Once enough consumers started shopping with the environment in mind, there is an ever increasing overlap. Companies are falling all over themselves appealing to concerned consumers.

The term Greenwashing is about 20 years old and these days it appears that the majority of marketing is guilty of this practice. Some of it is easy to recognize, like British Petroleum’s transformation to Beyond Petroleum.

Other misleading or irrelevant marketing may fool even the smart people. I am still undecided about the hosting company that professes to use solar and wind power. I am not naming it because of my indecision. I bought their marketing hook line and sinker and I even joined an affiliate program because I planned to talk it up on my blog. When I sat down to do the serious research on the company, I found a lot of negative word of mouth. They are either a very mediocre web hosting company that decided to greenwash as a way to attract a niche market OR a legitimately green web hosting company that is tragically lacking in customer service and reliability. Either way, I am not recommending them.

I think that one of the catch 22s of green marketing is the fact that many environmentally conscious individuals are skeptical of ALL marketing. If you create a product that sells itself by virtue of its greenness, you have it made. Otherwise, you have to market to people very carefully.

The FTC has some pretty clear policies when it comes Environmental Marketing Claims. Other agencies and organizations have some very strict rules and auditing procedures for companies that want to call their products organic.

Organic is practically a brand. It is instantly recognized as a good thing and it has a lot of brand loyalty. This is a good thing for people with something truly organic to sell. Unfortunately, there is a lot of counterfeit Organic on the market. That’s where third party auditing and certifying comes in. It is an added cost and inconvenience for business, but it is necessary.

Scot Case, president of Terra Choice Environmental Marketing Inc., recently told a journalist that buyers need to do their homework and check out a company’s environmental track record when it comes to green products.

Sources for this post:Palm Beach Post, FTC Website

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I don’t need one of these wooden rattles myself. I get most of my amusement via the Internet these days. Americans please take note that you can get this or other well engineered and safe wooden baby toys from manufacturers in your country. With this particular item, the wood is American and it is harvested responsibly.

If you are buying from a local toymaker, remember to cast a critical eye with regard to safety. Don’t take chances with imported, used or vintage toys that may have harmful finishes.

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I've been for a Walk

New lyrical reference…

Hundred billion bottles washed up on the shore

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As far as I know, all bicycle helmets are plastic. Helmets are required by state or municipal laws for many cyclists. The laws vary a great deal from place to place. If you are not required to wear a helmet, you have to make a personal decision. I was surprised to see much of the Wikipedia entry for bicycle helmets devoted to statistical arguments against compulsory use laws.

I think it would be irresponsible of me to suggest that anyone forgo the purchase of a bicycle helmet for the sake of reducing plastic consumption. Tree Hugger has a bunch of pictures of celebrities on bikes and many of them are not wearing helmets. Silly celebrities.

The obvious way to reuse a helmet is to give it to someone who needs a helmet. There are some problems with this. Many people advise against using second hand helmets because the may have been damaged in an accident by a previous owner. One green blog recommended repurposing your used helmet as a hanging planter. The fact that the blogger used a stock image of a new helmet for the post rather than a photograph of one with pansies bursting forth is telling.

The expanded polystyrene that makes up the bulk of most helmets is recyclable.

There is actually a LOT of acrimony on the Internet in relation to bicycle helmets. There must be a fairly big overlap of bikers and outspoken libertarians. When I was living in Canada, the whole family had helmets and we all wore them when cycling. We do not cycle in Tunisia, mostly because the traffic is less safe than in Canada.

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Gandhi said some pretty amazing things during his lifetime. Sadly, it is often the catchiest phrases that are remembered rather than the most profound. Here is one that you may have seen Ron Paul supporters quoting a lot last year…

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

I don’t think the sentiment quite fit Ron Paul’s aspirations and I don’t think it quite fits my effort to reduce plastic waste either. I am hoping that I won’t end up in any actual fights and, unfortunately, I don’t think I will win the fight against plastic. I am, however, getting laughed at.

I don’t have my fancy little egg basket anymore. I left it on Gozo for my old landlord. Now I live next door to a small shop that sells only chicken and eggs. There’s a cool sounding French word for that kind of shop that I can’t spell. When I needed a bunch of eggs yesterday, I decided to just walk over with a bowl. Apparently no one has ever done that before. He jokingly asked me if I wanted him to break the eggs into the bowl. He thought it was very funny. I thought it was kinda funny and I thought that the degree to which he thought it was funny was absolutely hilarious. This may be one of those you had to be there moments. Much of the communication was through gesture and the rest was in what is a second language for both of us.

I suspect that I also elicit the occasional chuckle when one of the baguettes that I regularly carry under my arm breaks in two. One of the bakeries (boulangeries)that I frequent provides customers with oversize plastic bags for the long loaves.

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