Comments on: June 2010 Plastic Waste Tally

By: dinesh

dinesh — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 01:52:27 +0000

Very cool that you’re switching over to all refillable cartridges from here forward. I’ve been going to the SOMA based Cartridge World for a while and Rex there is awesome.

(ps – so are the Green Tea waffles next door :-) at Little Saigon Deli)

By: Piper

Piper — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:41:14 +0000

I’m only at the beginning stages of this. I appreciate that you talk about “hair shirt” environmentalism. I want to make reduced plastic a permanent thing. I also have to accept that I live with someone who will never do this and that preaching to him will fail. So I do my best all by myself. I make the best choices I can, but when I have to take a plastic strip off a glass jar, I try not to scream. And when I stand in my bathroom and kitchen full of plastic items, I try to recognize that they are in use and that throwing them away would be just as wasteful.

By the way, what I did for produce bags was I recently had a sewing project and used the leftover netting and organza to make reusable produce bags. I realize that organza and netting are also plastic (polyester or something), but I can wash them and use them over and over.

By: Sakeenah

Sakeenah — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 00:42:24 +0000

I’m sorry for your sleep troubles, I know sleep phobia all too well. Congrats on such a small amount of plastic waste, looking forward to seeing how next month works out for you.

By: Stacy

Stacy — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:24:34 +0000

Today when I went grocery shopping, I chose not to use the plastic bags for produce, except for the cherries. If only we could buy those in bulk. I never want too much of it. I also chose a pizza sauce in a jar as I’d like to reuse the jar for other things.

By: Beth Terry

Beth Terry — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 17:59:31 +0000

Hey Chris, what model is your laptop? Just wondering because mine is on its last legs (I’ve had it repaired a billion times, but I don’t think it’s going to continue to hold up.) But on second thought, I’m going to be looking for a secondhand one. Still, it might help others to know. I’m wondering if all of their laptops are packaged the same way.

By: Maddie

Maddie — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:40:55 +0000

Plastic I am unwilling to give up for now:
My CSA packs veggies/fruits in plastic produce bags ie cherries, leafy greens, etc. I’m eating healthier and the food is good. I save and reuse the bags.
Certain supplements. Can one buy supplements in bulk? I haven’t seen them.

I use plastic pens that others have left behind. I haven’t bought a pen or picked up a company-logoed freebie in years. Should I donate the plastic pens and purchase a refillable metal one? I have a tendency to lose writing tools (hopefully other will pick them up and use them) and I’m feeling okay about using the found ones as i don’t feel like I am creating a demand for plastic pens.
I look around my house and wonder how did I collect so much plastic! It will take me forever to use the plastic I already have and I just need to be really really concientious about new purchases. I admire you Beth for being such a public example of what can be done and I admire all those who have reduced their plastic usage who may not be so much in the public eye.

By: Carla

Carla — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:49:53 +0000

The uncheese cookbook is great. I borrowed from the library and love the Parmesan recipe, it is a permanent in a mason jar in our fridge. It is full of umami-ness that I can’t describe, so good. Another good cheezy-type dressing is the Duma Dressing in the book Get it Ripe by Jae Steele – yumsters. But there are some duds in the Uncheese cookbook, I made a recipe that called for red lentils in it and yuck had to chuck it all in the greenbin which made me sad.

On sleeping, I had the same sleep control thing when I was traversing the dark depths of post-partum depression and my naturopath gave me a tincture of Valerian-Skullcap-Passionflower. I would take a teaspoon, then slowly feel my body and mind start to shut down and within 20 minutes I was ready for bed. But, I did find that as my mind got back into wanting to sleep, I found the tincture stopped working so that was my sign to stop the tincture. Maybe worth trying for you?

By: Chris Kelly

Chris Kelly — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:49:15 +0000

LOVE your site, its really making me think. On the laptop front, I just received a new Dell netbook and it too came in totally PAPER packaging, the same type of packaging used for dozen eggs, I guess its called “eggcrate” and a paper box, no plastic EXCEPT the little plastic bag that the instruction book was in….why couldnt they just put that in the box with NO BAG?

Anyhow, I am definately thinking ALOT more about my purchasing and am going to start my one pile of monthly plastic.

Thanks again for opening my eyes

By: Andrea

Andrea — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:45:48 +0000

For insomnia, I started using this silk eyemask (yeah like the ladies in old sitcoms) and it has been amazing…I’ve only had a hard time falling asleep about twice since I started using it several months ago (the extra darkness and gentle pressure on the eyelids works wonders)…you could probably make your own (I already had one I bought when I was pregnant and staying in a hotel) out of an old silk scarf from Goodwill and some elastic swiped from something else…and a little padding in between. Cheap, easy, drug-free and worth a try.

Have seen these Thinksound headphones? http://www.thinksound.com/index.php They’re ridiculously expensive, but maybe they would send you a pair to review on your blog.

I still can’t seem to get away from plastic food packaging, though have cut back a lot. And this weekend, at a 4th of July party, they had plastic plates, plastic cups, etc. I usually try to bring my water bottle and my own dishes, but everyone in the family ended up using a plastic plate and I had wine in a plastic cup (made the kids drink water out of their bottles instead of soda).

By: N

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 12:56:30 +0000

Speaking of cardboard packaging and earphones…

My last two pairs of earphones are Sennheiser ones from Amazon, I got ones which were labelled as eco packaging and it’s pretty much entirely cardboard.
You can see pictures and a video of a couple of them at http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B001EZYMTK/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_all and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR5j9VFiMgE or just by googling for Sennheiser and eco packaging.

I did notice one of the Amazon pictures has plastic around the outside of the cardboard, but the ones I bought didn’t have that, so I’m not sure what happened there…