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Everyone says that China is the big problem. Well it seems like they've trumped us on this one. According to Reuters China has passed a law "banning production of ultra-thin bags and forbidding its supermarkets and shops from handing out free carriers from June 1."
"China uses too many of the bags and fails to dispose of them properly, wasting valuable oil and littering the country, China's cabinet, the State Council, said in a notice posted on the central government Web site (www.gov.cn).
"Our country consumes huge amounts of plastic bags every year. While providing convenience to consumers, they have also caused serious pollution, and waste of energy and resources, because of excessive use and inadequate recycling," it said."
Why can't we follow suit on this? The Chinese people use 3 billion plastic bags a day and the country refines 37 million barrels of crude oil every year for the purpose.
Any of the candidates hearing this? This is the kind of leadership we need. And before anyone starts in on China isn't the greatest government, etc. etc, I'm with ya, but for the seeing the greater good, ya gotta give them credit in this one.
dave
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
China Outlaws Thin Plastic Bags
Monday, January 7, 2008
Day 7 A Few Answers
I have gotten several questions about things that people have emailed me so here are a few things I probably need to expound upon a bit.
I am not insane
I think that one's pretty self explanatory but i thought I'd put it out there. The ironic thing is that now that this is becoming "normal" for me, I'm beginning to realize even more so than before that what I was doing before was insane. By societal standards of what is expected of us all, I am a bit odd, but that said, if you take out the fact that we are used to doing so, the thought of taking your trash, putting it in a bin where some guy you don't know comes and picks it up and takes it to be dumped in some hole in the ground, is pretty insane if you think about it (not to mention that it's a horrid run on sentence).
Why My garbage Totals Don't Seem To Be Evidence of Much Food (yet)
Good one. For starters I eat atrociously and rarely have three meals a day as I forget a lot. That said, I tend to eat stuff that is not pre-made more than often so my guess is over time, we'll see ebbs and flows in this. For instance for dinner tonight the kids and I had bean burritos so at some point when we work our way through them, there will be packaging from the tortillas and cheese (the beans were bulk bought with a bag we re-use) that end up downstairs.
I Don't Have All or even Most of the Answers
My favorite emails that I've received have been from folks who think that I am doing this because I know what i am doing. While I probably spend more time on this than most people do (come on, you all blog about your garbage right?)I'm actually doing this because I don't know a lot about it - or at least as much as I''d like to. So for that reason, I will definitely have moments where I stumble and fall, but hopefully not down the stairs.
On a non-answer note, I had one of those "duh-huh" moments today as I was looking through the fridge trying to figure out what I had used last night for dinner. Now i have a sharpie near the fridge and anytime I take something from ANYTHING my initials go on top so it doesn't get tossed/recycled. I'm sort of shocked I didn't think of this before.
I spent some time in line at the grocery store today and am absolutely shocked at the waste that goes into all the packaging. I know this sounds weird but grab yourself a cup of Joe and head to your local "supermarket" and just spend ten minutes watching what people buy. It's a huge eye opener.
As far as all my mail that I had to recycle, for starters, that's over two weeks worth. Greendimes has severly diminished what I get, and the rest is split between things I need to get (statements etc) and solicitation from charities, which I understand but hate. So what Ive started doing is calling them up and asking for a supervisor. Then I kindly explain that I will no longer accept paper mailing from them and that furthermore, I will not donate to any cause that sens me paper mailing, but will be glad to have them contact me via email, which I give to them. They seem to be responsive so far, but we'll see what becomes of it.
Dave
Day 7 1/7/08
Light day today albeit with one unexpected addition. Also, I got around to opening mail and paying bills so it spiked today on the paper front.
Today's Haul:
5.5 ozs of mailings that are coated in some form or another - garbage pile
14 ozs of recyclable paper from mail - worms
1 small piece of dental floss (ya know for my dentist) - garbage pile
1 paper towel - worms
Approx 2 lbs of plaster covered wallpaper - garbage pile.
This was the unexpected addition. We have some weird plaster issues in a few parts of the house and try as I might I can't find the problem. I've had several experts in and nothing. Anyway, my wife was cleaning out the hall closet and she pointed out a little bubble near the middle. I poked at it expecting it to crack and ended up pulling this huge piece of wallpaper off that was covered in plaster and covering up some damage in the wall. The funny thing is my first thought was "oh &*%&^, I'm going to need to keep that in the basement" and my second thought was the damage I had done. Such is life.
Dave
Have something good that needs a new home? Freecycle it.
It's funny how often there are things we do on a regular basis that we just assume others know about. Well, Freecycle fits that bill quite nicely.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, freecycle is an organization that works via email that you join and then can give or get stuff as you need it. I came across it when we had an older queen size mattress to get rid of that was in good condition. Salvation Army et.al wouldn't take it and I heard about freecycle. I joined (it's free) posted it, and immediately got three emails. It was gone by that evening and what's more, it went to a lovely single mom who had been sharing her bed with her son due to a lack of funds. She was so excited about it and we felt great giving it away. Craigslist also has a free section, but I've had better luck with freecycle, I think it attracts a different crowd for some reason. I get the daily digests and more than once have found something that I want/need and gotten it for free.
Check it out.
Dave
Pictures From Week 1
Here are pictures of what I'm keeping from week 1
Here's the basement in all it's glory. I fear as I move forward my tools and such will have to find new homes in the garage. The clayish red thing at the bottom of the center is the composter. More to come on that.
The recycle bin. This has a plastic cover so it's not going to attract bugs and such. I'll be interested to see how long I can add to this before it's packed.
The trash bin. Not much in here yet as thankfully, much has been recyclable.
This is the "not sure yet" box which has stuff that is dubious as to it's final destination.
And of course, the dreaded dog food bag.
As i move along and check on things if I find something that I believed was recyclable and is not, I will move it to the correct receptacle.
dave
What Happens To All That Recycling Anyway
I'll eventually be checking out first hand what happens to our recycling here locally, but in the meantime, Beth over at Fake Plastic Fish posted the following shocking video made for a British news service.
It's only about 3 minutes long and well worth the watch. I think the guy who has the recycling plant makes a good point. Each nation should be responsible for dealing with their own waste/recycling, just the same as we as individuals should be responsible for our personal output.
It's ironic because Tesco, one of the company's whose bags they found in China, is one of the few, if not the only, superstores in the world to list carbon output on all their products.
Food for thought.
Dave
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Give Your old Cell Phone New Life
Cindy B sent in a link to ReCellular, a company here in the states that takes old cell phones, refurbishes them and gives a great deal of money to charity all at the same time. I can't vouch for these guys but their mission statement is dead on and they have won a heap of environmental awards from places like the EPA and the National Recycling Coalition. E-waste, specifically from cell phones which have a HUGE turnover rate, is a major problem. It looks like these folks are offering at least a partial solution. The real solution is don't get a new cell phone every year, but if you need to, at least this is a better alternative to chucking it. While I think of it, another thing to do if you have an old cell and car charger you don't need is to keep them in the glove box of your car. Even out of service cells are required to work for 911, so it's a good emergency tool to have in there.
Dave
