Reduce plastic waste :: PlasticLess.com

More people should be carrying water from their house to their place of work. I read recently that most people don’t drink as much water as they should. A stainless steel water container in your bag or briefcase would be a tactile reminder that you need to hydrate your body throughout the day. A pocketful of quarters could buy an overpriced plastic bottle of water from a cafeteria or vending machine, but many of us would be swayed by the sugary drinks and snacks that are often in the same vicinity.

I do not own a stainless steel water bottle. They are highly recommended by Beth Terry of Fake Plastic Fish fame. Back when I was working on my Dad’s farm in the summer, we always drank water from a reused plastic 2 liter soda bottle.

I carried on with that practice during most of my years at the sawmill. As luck would have it, some 21st century technology required the input of purified water, so the company installed a filtration system in one building. We were blessed with some water coolers and a hose from which to refill them.

When I managed to land my awesome job roasting coffee, it was for a company that had a cafe attached to the plant so of course they had to have a system for dispensing good water. I drank from a glass.

If I were commuting to a job every day now, I would most probably invest in a stainless steel water bottle and fill it from my Brita pitcher at home.

 Retweet This Post

Your makeup case is probably not a place where you can make a big reduction in plastic waste. If you were to make a pile with all the plastic cosmetic containers that Tammy Fae Baker emptied during her life, it might be smaller than some of the piles of weekly plastic waste featured on the FakePlasticFish Show Us Your Plastic Trash challenge. I do think it is important to be mindful with all consumption, small changes can add up. Packaging isn’t the only environmental issue, the substances that we put on our faces are washed down the drain and/or tossed in the trash at the end of the day.

I am going to feel hypocritical as I write this post. I am raising two teenage daughters and the only advice that I ever give them is “You’re not going anywhere until you take some of that makeup off!”

Ok, I also advise them against using really cheap makeup that is likely to contain bad chemicals. I also make the suggestion that they go without makeup more often.

Since I can’t claim to ‘walk the walk’ with regard to environmentally conscious cosmetics and I am not that qualified to ‘talk the talk’, I will simply summarize the Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle options.

Reduce is EASY. Don’t wear makeup. If that’s too much to ask, just try to wear it less. If you already have a big pair of sunglasses, wear them instead of makeup for your weekend coffee run or for those mornings when you are just going to chauffeur your kids and the head home. One very extreme option is to get the tattoos that are commonly referred to as permanent makeup . I do not recommend it. I have heard a rumor that Sarah Palin has permanent makeup. If that was true, I would have to admit that it is possible to have it done convincingly and with some degree of class. Even so, the pigments might not look right when you have aged and they might look dated even sooner.

Reuse doesn’t really apply to makeup. If you think of a way that it does, please comment. You can potentially reuse the cosmetic containers for various odd crafty projects. I guess that’s better for the environment than throwing them in the garbage. If you think you might want to make your own cosmetics, you can save old containers to refill. You can make green choices for ingredients when you make your own makeup.

Recycling plastic and glass cosmetics containers was a problem, and a few businesses have offered a solution. Origins is one such company. They accept bottles, jars and tubes from all cosmetic brands as long as they are empty. Polypropylene (#5) plastics are common in cosmetic packaging and many municipal recycling programs don’t accept them. If you don’t live near an Origins shop, check with other chain stores about recycling programs.

Photo Credit: QueerCatKitten

 Retweet This Post

I said that I would do this if anybody double dog dared me. That was meant to be a lighthearted movie allusion to add some color to this otherwise quite boring green blog. Somebody dared me, in the comments, about ten minutes after I published.

I like the fact that the Overfly Brand Safety Razor comes in a cardboard box. I also like the fact that it is displayed by the dozen in a larger cardboard box. I don’t like the plastic on the handle. I considered reneging and using the plastic handle as an excuse. Then I remembered that the razor that I already own came in a plastic case. Chadd at retrorazor mentioned that his earlier importing efforts included razors in plastic cases. They have them in cloth bags now.

If the cheap Overfly Razor proved to offer an adequate shave, it would actually be a better choice than my original razor.

Here are links to photos of my test shave…

Sorry for going all old media on you with all the multiple page views. I figure I deserve some extra traffic since, as you see in the last photo, I bled quite a bit. It may have been the worst shave I have ever had. If you are tougher and/or more skillful than me it might be adequate. I have carefully dried this razor off and put it away. If I ever lose my good razor it can bridge the gap while I look for another good razor.

Update: Apparently the way I built the links late last night you could only see the pictures if you were logged in to the Plasticless admin, oops. It’s fixed now.

 Retweet This Post

I bought this toothbrush today. It is a Trisa brand toothbrush with that comes with two sets of bristles. The bristle heads snap on securely. I had to apply quite a bit of force to remove the head from the handle. I have twin daughters that are 15 years old. They could not get the head off the toothbrush. Asking someone stronger than you to change the head on your toothbrush after you have been using it for three months sounds kind of intimate.

The intended end user of the toothbrush gave it a thumbs up.

From a plastic reduction standpoint, the Trisa my Planet is okay. There is a precise comparison on the back panel of the package. Compared to buying two toothbrushes, the my Planet amounts to an 81% reduction in packaging and a 70% reduction in the materials used for the product. The overall reduction in materials is 72%.

I wish the company had gone the extra mile and used an alternative packaging strategy. I also wish they had included more than two sets of bristles. The store did not have any replacement heads. I do not know if the company even packages them separately. I wrote about other options last year, but I haven’t seen any of them in local stores. If the my Planet and the Preserve were side by side on the supermarket shelf, I would have a hard time deciding.

EDIT: The toothbrush that I bought was for my son. I am seriously considering giving miswak a try when my toothbrush wears out.

 Retweet This Post

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

 Retweet This Post

That’s right, you can get shampoo in aluminum cans. I didn’t have a camera at the little drugstore that had what I believe was a Swiss product. I don’t have hair, so I am not really in the market for shampoo. I don’t know if this is a good alternative to shampoo in a plastic bottle. Hopefully, demand for shampoo in bar form will someday create a decent supply.

Shampoo is one of those products that are the perfect candidate for a local refilling program. The wide variation in formulas is mostly a marketing ploy anyway.

Edit: I went looking and found a site with some interesting bar shampoos. Shampoo in bar form seems to still be very much a specialty product. Happyfootpromotions.net is one place to find the stuff and they also sell metal cans that are designed to contain your shampoo bar.

I once bought a bar of cocoa butter for health and beauty purposes and my dog ate it, foil and all

 Retweet This Post

We went to a Car Boot Sale on Sunday. This was ostensibly only to look for good used books. We have kicked the habit of buying ’stuff’ a long time ago.

I fell off the wagon. I bought a used pair of hand operated hair clippers. The ones pictured on this post are new. I think it might make more sense to buy a product like this new. Mine are seriously dull and I am not sure if anyone local is skilled at sharpening them.

I am balding and I choose to go with the ultra short hair look. I have to wonder how many bottles of shampoo I have saved in the last 7-8 years. If anybody knows a good source for shampoo that is not packaged in plastic, I would like to know for the rest of my family.

 Retweet This Post

Pump dispensers for hand washing liquid are generally plastic. We still have a couple of these dispensers from before we decided to make an effort to reduce our use of plastics.

Buying commercial size refill bags is one way to reduce plastic consumption and still use the convenient dispensers. This week we are trying out an experiment. My wife saves up a few thin soap bars and dissolved them in water to make a liquid for the empty dispenser.

I have been asked about what soap I use for shaving my face. I am still using up a metal can of shaving foam. I think I will try using bar soap when I finish the can.

 Retweet This Post

Recent research indicates that everyone in America has traces of plastics in their body.

Phthalates have been implicated as a causal factor in several health problems. They are added to normally rigid PVC to make soft products such as the plastic bags that store blood, plasma and intravenous fluids; feeding, breathing and dialysis tubes; catheters; respiratory masks; and exam gloves. They are also in children’s toys, vinyl floors, wallpaper, shower curtains, vinyl bibs and cosmetics.

Studies have linked high concentrations of phthalates to obesity. It is unclear how this association works.

 Retweet This Post

One thing that I do regularly is to do a quick Google search for ‘plastic’ news. Today, I inadvertently typed ‘plasticless’ instead. Not surprisingly, this blog tops the list. Number two is Plasticless Lists.

The goal of this page is to make a list of retailers who have products packaged without plastic. At the moment, there are only a handful of entries and they are all for Vancouver. If you have any shops in your city to add to the list they welcome your input.

 Retweet This Post