Comments on: Year 2, Week 42 Results: .05 oz of plastic waste http://myplasticfreelife.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic/ Think we can't live without plastic? Think again. In 2007 I committed to stop buying any new plastic & I've almost succeeded! Won't you join me? Let's see what plastic-free looks like in 2012... for the health of our bodies, our oceans, our planet. ~Beth Terry Thu, 23 May 2013 14:42:50 +0000 hourly 1 By: friday-favourites-15 | blog http://myplasticfreelife.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic/comment-page-1/#comment-18872 friday-favourites-15 | blog Wed, 01 Sep 2010 05:18:40 +0000 http://fakeplasticfish.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic-waste/#comment-18872 [...] Beth from Fake Plastic Fish talks about the windows in windowed envelopes in her Year 2, Week 42 results round up here. [...]

]]> By: Fake Plastic Fish http://myplasticfreelife.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic/comment-page-1/#comment-7275 Fake Plastic Fish Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:22:21 +0000 http://fakeplasticfish.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic-waste/#comment-7275 Hi Bronwyn. As far as I know, bubble wrap envelopes are not recyclable.

]]> By: Bronwyn http://myplasticfreelife.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic/comment-page-1/#comment-7265 Bronwyn Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:48:21 +0000 http://fakeplasticfish.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic-waste/#comment-7265 Thanks so much for this post. A related thing I've always wondered about: bubble-wrap envelopes. You know, those ones that are paper on the outside but bubble wrap on the inside. Anyone know if they are recyclable? I'm guessing that the bubble-wrap part is plastic and that they are not recyclable because of the effort it would take to separate the paper from plastic. But maybe they are, if this pulping process you refer to is really good. Any wisdom?

]]> By: Layla http://myplasticfreelife.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic/comment-page-1/#comment-5690 Layla Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:28:00 +0000 http://fakeplasticfish.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic-waste/#comment-5690 I've been wondering about the envelopes & the windows too…

In the past, we just reused the envelopes for writing notes, & I hate to say they usually ended up in the furnace along with most of the rest of the paper.. (we have a wood furnace, not easy to get the fire started without paper, hmm..)

I wish all envelopes and ALL other paper products were clearly marked with regard to contents & dyes & chlorine or other chemicals used..
Even some 'eco' paper here in Slovenia is made of unidentifiable contents?!!

I re-use the envelopes as 'mini folders' now, they're great for mini 'project management'! (just write the name of the project on the envelope, & put related paper into it)
I've used them for collecting monthly bills too..

not sure what will be done end-of-cycle, at least I can use them this way for quite some time & avoid buying plastic folders or binders!

John, do you just send back the envelope windows in an envelope (or small package) to the bank?! lol!! what a nifty idea!! :)
how many do you send at a time? yearly amount or..?
with a note explaining it, & what you expect from them, I expect?

]]> By: Bridget http://myplasticfreelife.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic/comment-page-1/#comment-5671 Bridget Sun, 12 Apr 2009 21:53:00 +0000 http://fakeplasticfish.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic-waste/#comment-5671 Speaking of taxes, instead of throwing away window envelopes, I use them to store my receipts each month–I just write June 2008 on the front of the envelope and bundle them with a rubber band at the end of the year to put in storage (my dad’s a stickler about keeping such things for seven years…so right now I’m just filing them away.

My school (MIT) uses a single stream recycler, and windowed envelopes are actually okay…there’s some sort of amazing laser system that sorts, and I’m not sure if they just bundle the window envelopes with everything, or if they sort them out.

]]> By: Christy B. http://myplasticfreelife.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic/comment-page-1/#comment-5599 Christy B. Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:38:00 +0000 http://fakeplasticfish.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic-waste/#comment-5599 Susan B,

Not every company uses the plastic/glassine/cello window.

As Beth mentioned, Credo doesn’t. My local gas, water and electric utilities don’t. I’m pretty sure that Co-op America doesn’t. There are others as well, just can’t think of them!

If the envelope that caused the lockdown had had a plastic/glassine/cello window how would that have changed the outcome? Wherever it had picked up the debris, that debris would have just been the the crevices/seams of the plastic/glassine – at least that’s how I see it!

]]> By: Susan B http://myplasticfreelife.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic/comment-page-1/#comment-5598 Susan B Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:32:00 +0000 http://fakeplasticfish.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic-waste/#comment-5598 Re having a plastic/glasscine/whatever window versus an open hole for the address to show through — during the post-9/11 anthrax days, back in the days when some envelopes still just had holes, my office received an envelope which in addition to the letter contained white debris and were put into a 2 hour lockdown by local hazmat. It was just some debris that got in the envelope but the envelope had passed through what was eventually identified as the contaminated post office processing center in NJ. So while this doesn’t answer why not just print on the envelope (cost-savings of course) I think it along with idenity theft concerns explains at least one reason why everything has a window now — prevent tampering of any variety.

]]> By: John Costigane http://myplasticfreelife.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic/comment-page-1/#comment-5597 John Costigane Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:28:00 +0000 http://fakeplasticfish.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic-waste/#comment-5597 Hi Jessica,

Full cycle means no waste, Zero Waste, at any point of a production process. To have this, each stage would have to accept full responsibility for materials used. In the current system the “buck” is passed eventually to the consumer. Some consumer are now saying – no more plastic.

I return this type of plastic waste (window) to source to encourage the sender to change his/her unthinking attitude to the waste issue. If everyone does this the situation will change more quickly.

]]> By: Jessica at Bwlchyrhyd http://myplasticfreelife.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic/comment-page-1/#comment-5596 Jessica at Bwlchyrhyd Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:57:00 +0000 http://fakeplasticfish.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic-waste/#comment-5596 John — can you explain more about what you mean by “full cycle”? Are you implying that you are sending them somewhere to be reused?

]]> By: John Costigane http://myplasticfreelife.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic/comment-page-1/#comment-5594 John Costigane Tue, 07 Apr 2009 07:23:00 +0000 http://fakeplasticfish.com/2009/04/year-2-week-42-results-05-oz-of-plastic-waste/#comment-5594 Hi Beth,

The “window” shows the postal address, saving a second print of the details, and time for reprinting.

Full cycle is worth promoting, so I full cycle the waste windows back to a source, in a return stamped envelope.

You are approaching the end of 3 years in plastic waste collection which is an excellent effort. Having just completed year 1 of a 5 year binbag challenge, I too am just as keen to reduce plastic waste generally.

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