My two cents today on saving the planet one small step at a time? Recycle.
If you live in Columbus, Ohio, recycling just got a little bit better. Until very recently, the only plastics that were easily recyclable in Columbus were plastics #1 and #2. I have been working in Cleveland, Ohio several days a week, however, and discovered that Cleveland recycles all numbered plastics (#1 – #7), and was actually considering carting my plastics to Cleveland to recycle them. The other week though, I saw a post by a writer for the Alive! publication in Columbus, asking for ideas about an upcoming ‘green’ issue, and decided to e-mail them about this gap in options for recycling in Columbus. Low and behold, when I went to link to the web pages that described what plastics were acceptable for recycling, I discovered that Columbus is now accepting the additional plastics (#3 – #7) as well. Sure enough, the next time I dropped off my recycling at Kroger (the nearest free drop-off point for me), the signs on the recycling bins had been modified with stickers, indicating the new plastic acceptance policy.
The irony is that if you live in Columbus and actually pay $$ to have recycling collected along with your trash, they haven’t caught up with the times yet and still only collect plastics #1 and #2.
Well…actually it is sliced bread!
I just discovered a bakery that I will probably be buying bread from on a weekly basis. I have been trying different breads from the grocery store trying to find a great bread that wasn’t full of artificial sweeteners and preservatives. I’ve been making a weekly trip to the Pearl Alley Farmer’s Market to pick up my produce (from the CSA program we signed up for this year), and Great Harvest Breads of Pickerington, Ohio is always offering free slices of bread as a sample. One slice and I was hooked. Great taste, great texture, and with a simple ingredient list I can get excited about. I can’t wait to try all the different varieties they offer.
Yesterday we broke out the in-line skates for the first time this year. Some local green organizations were having a little Earth Day celebration in Goodale Park and we decided it might be interesting to visit, and it only seemed appropriate to leave our gas-driven transportation at home. The weather was beautiful: 70 degrees, sunny, blue skies, the works.
On the way back home (round trip of about 5 miles), we skated along the Scioto River which flanks downtown Columbus.
Maybe I’m just spoiled, growing up in Washington state, but aren’t rivers supposed to be blue, or clear, or green…not brown?
Recycled paper sources aren’t always the solution (paper fibers lose strength every time they are recycled), but there are a few paper products that have little reason to be manufactured out of virgin wood: facial tissue, toilet paper, and paper towels. Think about it. In each case the paper has a single use, is going to be discarded immediately, and will not end up in a recycle bin.
Based on the fact that Kimberly-Clark, which is the parent company behind Kleenex brand tissues, uses 100% virgin wood for their products, I recently made a conscious switch to more eco-friendly choices.
(see www.Kleercut.net for more information)
I’m still looking for a good replacement for toilet paper made from 100% recycled paper (as the quality and texture have been sub-par in the brands I have sampled so far), but I am very happy about my switch to eco-friendlier tissues and paper towels (Seventh Generation brand, as it happens).
This Fortune Magazine article is particularly interesting, in the ways that companies are doing the ‘green’ thing because it can actually save them some ‘green’.
And I have to hand it to Wal-Mart. They are slowly starting to win me over, with their efforts to promote sustainability, reduce carbon emissions, and even experimenting with solar power. Now Wal-Mart is seeking to reduce packaging in its stores by 5%, a small enough number until you realize the volume of packaging that must be represented by all the products in just one Super Wal-Mart. And the great thing is, Wal-Mart will save money by doing so. Hopefully more businesses will follow suit.
Elections are a funny business. When the voting results mirror your views, you feel great about the voting process. When it goes against you, it’s easy to feel discouraged that your vote really didn’t matter.
The voting results are still being tallied, but I feel great about the voting trends so far. Ohio is always a swing state, but this election seems to have swung more to the democrat side than in the past few elections.
I am most excited/relieved about the results in two state issues regarding smoking in public places. I am relieved because one of the issues (#4) was an amendment to the constitution that would have trumped existing state laws banning smoking in 21 Ohio cities, including the proposed issue #5, and there seemed like there was a real danger that issue #4 might pass through deception tactics.
Issue #5 expands the Columbus-wide smoking ban to all of Ohio (no smoking inside bars, restaurants, or office buildings). Issue #5 is called “Smoke Free Ohio”. Issue #4, tried to disguise itself as a smoking ban, when in reality it would have the opposite effect in many cities, including Columbus. Issue #4 called itself “Smoke Less Ohio” and included phrases such as “would ban smoking”. Ohio voters were not deceived, however, and rejected #4 and passed #5.
I should add that, while I do think people should be free to poison their bodies however they like, I also think they should do so in the privacy of their own homes. I don’t appreciate having to adjust my life to protect my lungs. Last week, while furniture shopping in Pennsylvania, we stopped to eat at a Denny’s. The thick, blue cloud of smoke that greeted us, forced us to look elsewhere for our meal. Fortunately, that is not a scene I will have to repeat here in Ohio. Thank you voters.
While shopping for a new toothbrush today, I discovered a new line of eco-friendly toothbrushes from a company called Recycline. Everything about the toothbrush is ‘green’, from the handle made from 100% recycled plastics, to the packaging which doubles as a travel case for your brush, to the fact that the entire brush and the package it came in can be returned to the company when you’re through for 100% recycling.
Recycline also partners with Stonyfield Farm Yogurt (my preferred organic brand, actually) as a source of the plastic recycled to make the handles. I also just discovered that Stonyfield pledges to recycle any clean Stonyfield yogurt containers that are returned to them (since many places only recycle plastics #1 and #2 and their containers are #5).
