San Francisco is at the forefront of zero waste success stories. Their recycling policy is a big reason why.
By Virali Gokaldas and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives East Coast residents have spent the last week surveying storm damage, calculating how long it might take for water-clogged coastal towns to drain, and waiting half-days in gas lines before returning to cold and darkened homes.…
When we talk about reasons to recycle the primary justification is that we can significantly reduce, or eliminate altogether, the waste that we produce. But recycling in and of itself will not allow us to accomplish that goal. Recycling is merely the first step, albeit a very important one, on the path to zero waste.
Editor’s note: As regular readers may have guessed, this isn’t the first post in this series – we published the second one on San Francisco’s zero waste goals last week, as we received it first. No problem, though – the information’s excellent regardless of what order you read it in……
Image courtesy of sheknows.com
Buy produce at your local farmer’s market instead of the big grocery chain. Not only will it be fresher than the grocery store alternative, you don’t need to expend alot of fossil fuels to get it to your table because it wasn’t shipped from across the country or from South America. It may even be cheaper.
Check for local options when purchasing your turkey or ham. You may be able to purchase your main dish from a local farmer, maybe even one who offers free-range or vegetarian fed birds.
Buy from a bakery instead of purchasing pre-packaged breads. Your local bakery will have the freshest breads and pies, and many will even do special orders.
Use real dishes and silverware instead of paper and plastic. Give your dishwasher a workout instead, or better yet…let your guests pitch in to clean up after the wonderful meal you served.
Purchase beverages in two liter or gallon containers instead of single-serving cans and bottles.
Use your regular cookware instead of purchasing one-time-use foil or plastic dishes.
Instead of purchasing disposable plastic containers for your guests to pack doggy bags with, consider re-using empty margarine tubs or Cool Whip containers.
If you are going to use disposable items, try to purchase those made from recycled materials.
Try to bake items that require the same temperature at the same time to limit oven use.
Fill the kitchen sink with warm soapy water to wash cooking utensils. You will save water versus running the tap to clean each individual item.
Turn down the thermostat. If your expecting a house full of guests the temperature in your home is likely to increase all on its own. Combined with the heat from the oven, may find yourself overheating and opening doors and windows to let fresh air in. Taking all these extra heat sources you can probably get away with setting your thermostat to 68° or even a little lower.
Use an electric roaster to cook your turkey. They use less energy than your oven, your bird will cook faster and the meat will be moister too.
No one wants to eat turkey sandwiches for a week after Thanksgiving, but there are alot of fresh recipe ideas available on line. Here’s one…. layer your leftovers in a pie shell and make a Thanksgiving Shepherd’s Pie; sweet potatoes, squash, corn, green beans, turkey, gravy and even cranberry sauce all make great ingredients. Top it off with the leftover mashed potatoes. Bake at 350° for about an hour. The mashed potatoes make a crispy top crust.
The turkey carcass is a great soup starter. If you don’t feel like making soup right now, it can be frozen away for later use. It will keep in a deep freezer for up to six months.
If you’re not a fan of leftovers, check with local shelters and church groups to see if they can use any of your food to help the hungry. Depending on local and state regulations they may or may not be able to take the help. If they can, your leftovers are sure to make someone less fortunate very happy.
Some stuff you’ll just have to discard. Instead of dumping vegetables, potatoes, breads, pies and cranberry sauce in the trash, compost them. Alternatively, check for local farmers who may be able to feed the scraps to their livestock.
Feel free to post your comments. We’d love to hear them!
Changing your entire Thanksgiving plan all at once is an overwhelming task. But if you implement even a few of these ideas you’ll be saving the environment while still keeping your holiday traditions.
The Green America blog is at the forefront of organizations talking about fair trade, and they’ve put together a nice resource for helping us all fair trade our Thanksgiving tables.
Originally published November 8, 2012, at http://blog.greenamerica.org/2011/11/08/5-ways-to-go-fair-trade-for-thanksgiving/This Thanksgiving, many of us will take a moment before our meal to consider all the human connections involved in assembling the holiday. Maybe your cranberries, or potatoes, or turkey came from a farmer you know at your local market, or maybe you traveled to a locally owned pumpkin patch to pick the perfect main ingredient for your pie.
For other ingredients that aren’t so easy to find locally, there are often Fair Trade options that you can choose. The Fair Trade premium associated with these products helps producers build a better life for their families and communities.
The first Fair Trade products to be certified in the US — coffee, tea, and chocolate — are getting easier to find, even in conventional grocery stores. If you don’t see them, please ask for them. Below, please find links to companies in our Green Business Network™ who supply some harder-to-find Fair Trade products. Look for additional green and Fair Trade options at our Green Pages online.
1. Spices
This past September, Frontier Natural Products Co-op greatly expanded its offering of Fair Trade spices. In addition to the vanilla (beans and extract) already available, Frontier worked closely with Sri Lankan growers to add whole cloves, ginger root powder, cinnamon sticks and powder, whole black peppercorns, ground white and black pepper, ground nutmeg, and ground turmeric root.
2. Olive oil
Two companies in our business network offer Fair Trade olive oil from the Palestinian territories. Holy Land Olive Oil buys directly from farmer coops, or through partner organizations such as the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee. Canaan Fair Trade works directly with the cooperatives of the Palestine Fair Trade Organization to offer not only olive oil, but also whole olives, tapanade, couscous, and thyme.
3. Rice and quinoa
For your side dishes, consider creations made with Fair Trade rice from the producer cooperatives of rural northeastern Thailand. Alter-Eco offers four kinds of Thai rice, along with four kinds of Fair Trade quinoa from Bolivia. Andean Naturals (a businessfunded by New Resource Bank, another member of our business network) also offers a wide selection of Fair Trade quinoa. (Join our “break up with your mega-bank” campaign to help finance more businesses like Andean Naturals!)
4. Sugar
For your Thanksgiving baking, consider sugar from Fair Trade farmers. Find sugar from Paraguay from Dean’s Beans, and sugar from the Phillipines from Alter-Eco. Simply Organic offers baking mixes — carrot cake, brownie mix, spice cookies — that incorporate Fair Trade sugar or cocoa.
5. Soap
Okay, so this one’s not exactly a Fair Trade item for your dining room table, but you’ll need it for cleaning house before the guests arrive, and after they leave. Dr. Bronner’ssoaps are made with all Fair Trade oils.
Find more fairly traded products in the Fair Trade category at Green Pages online, and have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving.
When it comes to crafts and decorations there are few holidays that are more fun than Halloween. Pumpkins, witches and creepy crawlies are on display in every store, and it’s tempting to buy all of them. But here are some ways to reduce your use and make upcycled decorations from recycled materials you already have around the house! Click on any of the pictures to link to the complete instructions.
Image courtesy of thelongthread.com
Need a dish to hold goodies for those trick-or-treaters? Instead of buying new try making these paper mache candy bowls from recycled paper bags and tissue. You’ll need a mixing bowl for a mold, white glue, paper strips and paint for decorating the finished product. You are only limited by your imagination!
Image courtesy of Crafts By Amanda
These spooky cuties are made from recycled juice boxes, but you could use any recycled cartons. You will need felt, glue, rice or sand (for weight), and any other items you can think of to decorate your monsters. Other items you might have around the house are pipe cleaners, left over yarn or string, buttons or fabric scraps.
Image courtesy of Art Projects for Kids
This pumpkin is adorable, and it’s a great way to reuse your plastic grocery bags. You will need approximately 40 plastic bags, 3 to 4 large rubber bands, saran wrap, newspaper, paper towels, glue and glittery paint. Add some pieces of green yarn or pipe cleaner for stems and leaves, and voila! Your perfect pumpkin!
Image courtesy of Fab Mums
These creepy crawlies are incredibly easy to make from old magazines (or junk mail, catalogs, old notebooks, etc.). Fold paper into the size and shape body you want. Wrap the body in masking tape. Use freezer bag ties or twist ties for the legs. Paint as desired!
Image courtesy of AllFreeCrafts.com
These lanterns are easily made with a hammer, nail and recycled tin cans. Decorate as desired with paint, construction paper or other materials. Use a wire coat hanger to make a handle. Drop in a tea light and you’ve got the perfect Halloween lighting!
Image courtesy of Color Color Color
A lot of recycling programs will take your plastic containers, but not the lids. Here’s a really inventive use for them. Cut off the rims so you have a flat piece of plastic. Cut out your ghosts (or goblins, witches or cats) and decorate with paint, markers or glued-on bits of any other material. Glue or tape a Popsicle stick to the back for a stand. Make a bunch and arrange in a garden spot or a planter to decorate your front step.
There are tons of great ideas out there, and we’d love to hear some of yours. Please feel free to share your favorite upcycled craft idea in our comments section.
Have a happy recycled Halloween!
Recycling is a popular environmental activity, even among people who would not consider themselves environmentally conscious. The increase in recycling across the US and elsewhere globally is a positive step towards a sustainable future. But if people don’t buy products made from the materials that are being recycled, then we aren’t closing the recycling loop. 
To be truly ‘green’ we must promote sustainable purchasing habits as well as promoting recycling of the goods we buy. But a 2007 study[i] found that only 25% of Americans purchase ‘green’ items other than CFL bulbs and organic food. In the US at least, recycling success depends on the markets. If brokers and processors can’t turn a profit on selling the raw recycled materials for use in manufacturing new products, they won’t recycle the material in the first place (See Why Can’t I Recycle My Green Glass Bottles). To make recycling work, we as consumers need to make our dollars count at the cash register. So why aren’t we doing it?
The 2007 study conducted by McKinsey Global and published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review identified 5 main barriers to sustainable consumption:
The first three on the list undoubtedly contribute to the purchase of more mainstream ‘brown’ products. People can’t buy a product if they don’t know it exists, and although the market is flush with ‘green’ cleaners and recycled paper products, there are other products that are not so well promoted, so lack of awareness may be a barrier. Likewise, the socially conscious set is unlikely to buy products that will associate them with an unpopular group. Not everyone wants to be labeled a ‘tree hugger’ or a ‘granola’ and they feel that green purchase would (negatively) affect their personal image. Last, there have been so many stories about products that are falsely marketed as being environmentally friendly that many people distrust the ‘green’ label, or they’ve purchased ‘green’ products that don’t live up to performance expectations so they return to the ‘brown’ product that they know will do the job.
Low availability of green alternatives has been a concern for many consumers. Often the only option for purchasing these products has been a health food store or internet purchase, and it can be too much effort for many people to make. However, the prominence of ‘green’ products has been greatly increased in recent years and most manufacturers of common household goods now have an environmentally friendly line marketed alongside their traditional labels.
While all of these factors play a role in inhibiting sustainable purchasing habits, the most significant factor is cost. The fact is that many ‘green’ products are significantly higher priced than their ‘brown’ counterparts. Look at these common household items sold online by Wal-Mart:
Image courtesy of dreamstime.com
Considering that store brands are cheaper still (but generally no more environmentally friendly and certainly less likely to be made from recycled content) it’s easy to see how families, particularly those on a tight budget, opt for brown items instead of green ones.
In order to make green items more attractive they must be more economical than they are now. In many cases it is more costly to produce eco-friendly goods, and that cost is reflected in retail prices. How, then, can we lower the prices on green goods?
One alternative is to tax ‘brown’ items. If we can’t combat the cost at the manufacturing level, we can still make these products less attractive by applying a consumer tax at the register. Additionally taxes can be applied at the corporate level to put more of the burden on manufacturers that don’t practice sustainable production. These taxes would stimulate a consumer shift to green products, and research has shown that once that trend is established, it will continue even after the taxes are removed.[ii] Therefore, a tax need not be permanent to have a long-term effect on purchasing habits.
The McKinsey Global study is entirely accurate. All five factors identified as significant do have a major impact on sustainable consumption habits. But to broaden the scope and shift the majority of consumers’ habits to sustainable purchasing, not just those who are supremely committed or who have ample monetary resources, we need to focus on the economics of buying green.
What are your thoughts? Please feel free to provide your own insights in the comments area.
When it comes to being environmentally conscious about the products we buy, avoiding unsustainable products is as important as committing to recycling.
Items like paper plates, plastic wrap, individually wrapped snacks, single serving foods and brands that utilize excessive packaging are unsustainable. When making your purchases, stop to think, “how will I dispose of this product after it’s been used?” Most of us are cognizant of recycling plastic or glass bottles, but what about food wraps, candy wrappers, paper towels or ballpoint pens? These items are difficult if not impossible to recycle, and most end up in the landfill (although some options exist through companies like Terracycle).
Even those of us who consider ourselves ‘green’ can probably identify multiple unsustainable products in our households if we really stop to think. We use paper napkins and plates instead of reusable cloth and dishware. We go to the store and have our purchases bagged in plastic instead of bringing a reusable bag. We purchase individually wrapped snacks and single serving yogurts, puddings and drinks for our kids’ lunchboxes instead of buying multiple serving containers. Sometimes the motivation is cost. Sometimes the motivation is convenience. But almost all of us have some of these guilty items in our homes.
So which unsustainable products are the worst offenders? The iamgreen blog identifies ten wasteful products that most of us are probably using, and all of us should avoid. Check this list to see what you might be using in your household.
10 Wasteful Products To Avoid | iamgreen™.
The battle to avoid genetically modified foods may have just gotten a lot harder, as the world’s largest retail operation has recently announced that it plans to sell genetically modified cornwithout any labeling to warn consumers. Walmart will begin selling the genetically modified corn, produced…
Last year at the Slow Money Gathering in San Francisco, I was really impressed with a presentation that I heard from one of the founders of Stockbox Neighborhood Grocery in Washington. Her idea was simple and innovative — retrofit shipping containers to sell healthy food and produce in underserved…
Are Plastic Deodorant Containers Recyclable?
Image courtesy of Unilever.co.nz
Are plastic deodorant containers recyclable? If Unilever has its way the answer may be yes.
Items like deodorant tubes are difficult to recycle because they are made from two plastic resin types. Most recyclable plastics are made from one resin, which can be identified by the plastic recycling number on the bottom of the container (see Plastic Recycling 101 to find out what each of those numbers means). Recycling two resin plastics has simply not been a cost effective process.
As part of their Sustainable Living Plan, Unilever is partnering with Earth911, Nextlife and Funding Factory to test the feasibility of two resin plastic recycling in fifty colleges and high schools. If the experiment is successful, deodorant tube recycling may become available to everyone, and companies like Unilever will significantly decrease the carbon footprint of their products.
Earth911, Unilever in the USA Pioneer Mass Recycling Program for Deodorant Sticks and Two-Resin Packaging (via PR Newswire)
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Nov. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Recycling resource Earth911, an Infinity Resources Holdings company, and Unilever, the maker of Axe, Degree, Suave and Dove deodorants, today announced a project that will test the hypothesis that deodorant sticks can be economically recycled. The…
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