Comments on: Plastic Challenge: Kristin, Week 22 http://myplasticfreelife.com/showyourplastic/2011/08/plastic-challenge-kristin-week-22/ Take the challenge. Collect your plastic waste (both recyclable and non) for one week or more. Then photograph, tally, and post it here. What can we learn about our habits and lifestyles by examining our waste? And what changes can each of us make to leave the planet a little less trashy? Sun, 12 May 2013 02:50:10 +0000 hourly 1 By: Beth Terry http://myplasticfreelife.com/showyourplastic/2011/08/plastic-challenge-kristin-week-22/comment-page-1/#comment-2481 Beth Terry Fri, 26 Aug 2011 20:41:48 +0000 http://myplasticfreelife.com/showyourplastic/?p=1629#comment-2481 Great suggestion, Margaret. I’m going to try that.

]]> By: Margaret http://myplasticfreelife.com/showyourplastic/2011/08/plastic-challenge-kristin-week-22/comment-page-1/#comment-2480 Margaret Fri, 26 Aug 2011 20:14:05 +0000 http://myplasticfreelife.com/showyourplastic/?p=1629#comment-2480 For dishsoap, I just starting trying soap nuts “soak” – making a liquid by boiling and soaking them overnight to get an infused liquid.

http://www.laundrytree.com/using-soapnuts/soapnut-soak.html

I ordered online from Laundry Tree because Beth had a post about its plastic-free packaging, but I’ve seen it on lots of other websites from other companies as well. I can’t remember if I’ve seen it in an actual store.

I made the liquid to use as laundry detergent*, and it seems to work well for dish soap as well (and cleaning). It gets grease almost as well as Dr. Bronners (and my stove top was disgusting, and it worked very well for cleaning that).

I’m curious if it might work for dishwasher detergent as well.

My only concern is that their website says to put it in the fridge if keeping it around for more than a week or two (which I was doing with the batch I made for laundry and storing in a canning jar), and I think I put more than a week or two’s worth of dish soap in my dispenser. I’d feel weird keeping my soap dispenser in the fridge. So I’ll see if it starts molding or something after a couple weeks.

*I made the liquid for laundry because I wash in cold water, and it needs hot water to get all soapy.

]]> By: Beth Terry http://myplasticfreelife.com/showyourplastic/2011/08/plastic-challenge-kristin-week-22/comment-page-1/#comment-2477 Beth Terry Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:51:22 +0000 http://myplasticfreelife.com/showyourplastic/?p=1629#comment-2477 Hi Kristin. Re: garbage bags… what is actually going in the garbage bags? Dry stuff like plastic wrappers don’t need to go in a bag unless your community absolutely requires it. Then you have left the wet stuff. Ideally you would compost that stuff to keep it out of the landfill. Would you consider a composter or worm bin? If that’s not an option, then how about using the plastic containers or bags that are just getting thrown out anyway. Or ask your friends for their used bags and containers. Or put an ad on Freecycle for used plastic bags. Or collect the ones you see blowing down the street. But you’re right… compostables including compostable bags don’t belong in the landfill.

We hand wash dishes with baking soda. Really. It works well. We also use powdered dish detergent in the dishwasher.

]]>