Reduce plastic waste :: PlasticLess.com

I recently received two beautiful cotton batik reusable shopping bags from Wrapsacks.com. These bags fold and zip into a compact size. I like the way that the outside of the storage pouch doubles as a reinforced bottom for the bag. I am happy to finally have a grocery bag with shoulder length straps. Upon closer examination, I noticed that the strap material goes all the way down the sides of the bag and into the reinforced bottom. This should make them a lot more durable than the cheap bags that I bought on the street in Bizerte. The cheap bags have mostly held up for more than a year, but there have been two handle failures. One failure was the result of very heavy groceries and the other bag got caught in a bus door with me still standing on the sidewalk.

Catherine loves the ‘Marrakesh’ design (shown above). When I added this brand of bags to my reusable bag roundup earlier this month, I mentioned the wide variety of designs. Most of the designs are what I would describe as pretty. They were smart to include a design that’s not pretty and, strangely enough, it’s my favorite. The ‘Pedal Power’ pattern has black block printed bicycles and bicycle chains over a background of earthy oranges and browns. It would be perfect for anybody who drives their bike to the farmer’s market.

Michael Miner, the co-creator of Wrapsacks, regularly visits the production facility in Indonesia where the bags are ethically produced. While he was there recently, he took some stunning photographs of the batik dyeing process. I love the fact that they are still using the power of the sun as a dye fixative.

It’s a nice coincidence that I received these free review samples right before leaving for Gozo, where the plastic shopping bag has just recently become the target of some regulation. They had tried a small bag tax years ago, but retailers were willing to absorb the cost rather than inconvenience customers who were set in their ways. Now they charge 0.18 Euros.

 Retweet This Post

Despite my good intentions and my preaching to the children about the evils of plastic, we have accumulated a handful of DVD cases over the past couple of years. I am dwelling on them now because I am busy packing and I need to jettison anything we can do without. I struck upon the idea of giving our empty cases to a local rental place with the idea that he can use them rather than buying new ones. This strategy wouldn’t work in the Blockbuster part of the world. Here on the frontier, it’s more of a DVD-R rental business model…

The DVD-R store was closed when I walked down the street. The weather’s nice so I just put my little stack of empty cases plus 4 DVDs that had no English audio on the doorstep with a little note that said ‘Gratuit’ The cases are the exact type that he uses for his display , so I think they will get used rather than thrown in the garbage.

Reuse is always better than recycling. Reducing is even better. I don’t watch very many movies and I hardly ever buy them in the form of DVDs. Renting movies should be an action that uses less plastic than buying. Unfortunately, many people have helped make places like Blockbuster spread because we all want to be able to watch a movie the moment that it is released. You do the math. Big video rental stores buy huge quantities of plastic DVDs and packaging so they can guarantee that it is available whenever you want it. The aftermath of this is that those physical products are greatly devalued after a few weeks. How many people are going to get duplicate DVDs from cheap friends for Christmas this year?

Wouldn’t it make more sense for the providers of entertainment media to have a master copy and reproduction rights in each location? What about switching to some kind of digital file that cannot be copied? Every loyal customer could have a purpose specific flash drive that they bring to the rental store. When you pay to rent a new movie, they remove the ones that you have rented previously. I would love to get some feedback about this idea. Maybe it’s already happening. Maybe there is some fatal flaw in my logic. Let me know.

 Retweet This Post

I am growing a moustache all this month as part of the Movember campaign to raise money to fight prostate cancer. Please consider making a donation on my behalf

 Retweet This Post

It doesn’t slice. It doesn’t dice. I use a knife for that. It crushes stuff and it will do so for the rest of my life without using one watt of electricity. Hey, I already wrote a post about my mortar and pestle. It still makes me happy.

Two other tools that I use to process food are my bare hands. I have recently been on a biscuit making jag and I used them for the whole process. I recently learned to fill a bowl with hot soapy water beforehand so I don’t get the taps all gunky.

 Retweet This Post

I found myself buying a lot of plastic today in the form of two cat carriers. The pragmatic alternative would have been to find the best home possible for our rescued cats in this country. The strong emotions of children sometimes trump pragmatism. We are taking our African cats to Europe.

Alternatives to plastic cat carriers are few and far between. Airlines aren’t in the business of flying pets around. The process and the restrictions are quite a hurdle and there are stories of airlines refusing to take a pet on board because the carrier isn’t on the list of approved ones. I had to go to the biggest department store in the capital city of Tunis to find approved carriers. They were quite expensive

If you never plan on flying with your pet, there are a host of plastic free options for carrying it. You can get a Cardboard Pet Carrier. These are inexpensive and are adequate for trips to the vet, etc.. I have fashioned free cardboard boxes into cat carriers on several occasions with zero injuries. There was an unfortunate escape while I was driving. With a particularly bad cat this could have turned ugly. The real cardboard pet carriers have superior gluing and, importantly, no staples.

A wicker pet carrier has the advantage of doubling as a bed when you are not traveling with your cat.

I honestly think anyone who is concerned with sustainability should think long and hard before getting pets. Our cats were rescued from the street. One of ours was tiny and sick and starving and approached Catherine and me when we were sitting outside at the local cafe. He is now the head of our household.

 Retweet This Post

As frugal as I am I have to admit that I have been using a new razor blade every time I shave up until recently. I don’t shave that frequently, so each blade did quite a lot of work. Now that I am trying to shave every second day to look respectable, I thought I’d try reusing a blade. It went well and I am debating going for a third try. I would like to hear from you guys about how many times you use a razor.

SIDE NOTE: A recent ad campaign from a big disposable razor company offered tips on shaving ‘down there‘ and the part of the ad copy that caught my attention was the insistence that you should use a new multi-blade cartridge every time.

 Retweet This Post

When I lived in Canada, I had the basic power tools required by the unwritten laws that men live by. There were already big box stores in my neck of the woods when I moved out on my own, so I was able to pick up some pretty affordable tools. They had plastic bodies and plastic handles. Some of them came with plastic carrying cases.

The affordability of the power tools marketed to the average homeowner is reflected in their quality. I can remember having my Makita drill break when I was foolishly trying to put screws through a piece of Larch without drilling any pilot holes. I kept the non-functioning drill for a few years because the company provides free labor on repairs once a year at its factory outlet. I never got around to taking it. I don’t know if I would have been able to find Makita in the giant industrial park anyway.

I love the idea of tool libraries for a number of reasons. I like anything that reduces the consumption of cheap consumer items that will not last and that will head to a landfill. I like the idea of homeowners having access to good tools.

If you have a handyman on your Christmas shopping list, think twice before you buy them a tool that is not built to last a lifetime. Also, check to see if there is a tool library or even a tool rental shop in your area. I just realized that gift certificates from an equipment rental business would make a great gift for DIY people.

 Retweet This Post

I am reusing a statement made by Jason Sweeney as my title for this post. Those three words have sent my mind in a hundred different directions thinking about what impact the human pursuit of perfection has on this planet. Most of it isn’t good, some of it is involves plastic.

The concept was still rattling around in my head when I went to the kitchen this morning to make the kids some French toast with cooked fruit topping. The apples that I bought on Friday are not perfect. They look like the apples that I used to scrounge from abandoned homesteads in Canada. They taste delicious.

Consumers in the developed world supposedly want perfect apples. The customer is always right, and those customers get pesticides, genetic engineering and lots of protective packaging.

Photo credit: Brett L

 Retweet This Post