The Sweet Smell of Burning Plastic: Mindfulness Fail

I thought the smell was coming from my computer. I even turned the machine off and opened it up to make sure the fans were working properly. Then I remembered... Oh crap! I'd put water for pasta on the stove probably an hour before! Here's what happened when I attempted to remove the lid:


The whole house smells toxic. My poor kitties. This is why I shouldn't multi-task when one of the tasks involves fire. It's not like this was the first time I'd ever put something on the stove and forgotten about it.

Sad. The melted knob will go into this week's plastic collection... once it cools down and solidifies again. The metal lid? I'll have to find a metal recycler to take it to. Either that, or maybe handy RobJ can figure out how to make a new knob for it. Preferably out of wood this time.

It's a small amount of waste, certainly, but nevertheless avoidable if I had paid attention to what I was doing. Which is what this plastic-reduction project has been about, really. Paying attention to the materials that pass through my hands. Taking care of them, and thereby taking care of the planet.

And my inattention is perhaps symbolic of what goes on every day on a much larger scale. This week a plastics recycling plant in Northhampton County, PA caught on fire. Wonder what that smell was like.
 

To CD or not to CD? How even a singing lesson can be an opportunity for less plastic.

I've had two singing lessons so far and have been spending my free time doing funny exercises with my lips and various other parts of my personal sound system. Good thing I never get embarrassed anymore.

You might not think a singing lesson would involve much plastic, and if so, you would be living in the last decade. My teacher records each lesson onto a CD for her students to take home and use for practice. The recording is a great help. The disposable CD, not so much. So I asked if there were some other way to save the lesson... on a Flash Drive perhaps? Turns out, she has another machine that records onto SD cards. I have an SD card in my camera. Perfect! Each week, I can download the recording from the card into my computer and reuse the same card each time. This method could potentially save many, many CDs, depending on how long I keep up the lessons.

So, this little incident got me thinking about all the other useless discs I have in my house. Like, why did I feel the need to burn the entire 2007 season of American Idol onto DVDs? DVDs that I will never, ever watch again. This morning, I posted an ad on Freecycle for them. I'm not holding my breath for takers. Any of you interested?

Unless someone picks up these DVDs from me, they're going in my plastic tally. Yes, they are recyclable through various disk recycling programs, which I'll list below. But all of the programs shred the disks and ship them to China to be downcycled into car parts, which is better than the landfill certainly, but does nothing to curb the need for virgin plastic to make new discs.

Here are a few of the disk recycling programs I've found:

1) GreenDisk charges $6.95 to process up to 20 lbs of "TechnoTrash" if you use your own box and pay for your own shipping. They also provide collection boxes for larger amounts of techno waste and charge more for these services, which include shipping.

2) CD Recycling Center of America provides a free service (You provide box and pay for shipping). This organization was founded by the owner of Superdups, a disc duplicating service, that is now encouraging all members of the CD/DVD industry to take responsibility for the waste they create.

3) Back Thru the Future also offers free CD/DVD recycling. (You pay shipping and provide box.)

And of course, many DIYers have come up with alternative uses for unwanted discs. Green Living Tips offers one such list, as well as places to recycle discs outside the U.S. But once again, none of these solutions does anything to stem the flood of new discs each year, discs which are made from polycarbonate plastic.

So, before you burn that new disc, ask yourself if there is another option. Is what you're burning now going to be useful to anyone next year or even in a few months? Is there some other way to share the information without getting a new disc involved?
 

Plastic into Oil? What do you think?

This just in: Oregon plastics recycler, Agri-Plas, has begun converting plastic waste back into crude oil. According to Businesswire, "the company recently delivered its first full tanker (8,200 gallons) of oil to a refinery in Tacoma, Wash., which translates to a final delivery of 196 barrels of oil."

The method was developed by Plas2Fuel, a Kelso, Washington alternative energy company.

Until now, Agri-Plas has been a conventional plastics recycler, focusing on agricultural waste such as greenhouse film, nursery pots and plastic binder twine, as well as limited amounts of household plastic waste, which it recycles into other plastic products.

Now, the company is collecting dirty plastic materials which are unsuitable for traditional recycling for the plastic to oil process. And the state of Oregon has been a major supporter of the project, giving financial assistance through the Oregon Business Energy Tax Credit.

Right now, my head is swimming with all kinds of pros and cons. Here are the ramifications that occur to me. Maybe you guys can think of more.

First, the pros:

1) Whether we like it or not, our landfills are already chock full of dirty plastic, possibly leaching chemicals. Perhaps this material doesn't have to go to waste.

2) It does seem preferable to use our own domestic waste to create petroleum rather than importing it from the Middle East or extracting it through offshore drilling.

Next, the cons:

1) Burning petroleum for fuel produces the greenhouse gases related to global climate change. (I know at least one FPF reader will disagree with that statement.)

2) Finding uses for our plastic waste could support the creation of more plastic waste. Will consumers feel relieved of their burden of responsibility? Will they continue to support the manufacture of new plastic products?

As I've pointed out before, plastic is fraught with many other environmental problems besides the waste issue. From manufacture to transit to end use, plastic wreaks havoc in our oceans (as pre-production "nurdles") and in our bodies, leaching toxic chemicals. Will the idea that plastic can be converted to energy cause people to forget these other issues?

One paragraph in the article caused me to gasp:

The synthetic crude oil that Agri-Plas is reclaiming from unwanted plastic can be refined for a variety of uses. The oil can be refined and used in literally thousands of high-end products ranging from makeup to food items, as well as gasoline, diesel, lubricants and other petroleum-based products.

I'm sorry? Synthetic petroleum in my makeup? Synthetic petroleum in my food? WTF people? How are these uses environmentally sustainable?

Okay, just because it can be used in those ways doesn't mean it will be. And extracted petroleum is already being used to create food and cosmetic additives. Still, do we want the environmental community getting behind this dirty business?

Please let me know what you think. Do the benefits of converting plastic to oil outweigh possible concerns?
 

Plastic Gift Cards: Re-use, Recycle, Speak Out!

I've been carrying around two plastic movie theater gift cards for over a year. Gifts from co-workers, they are much-appreciated because they represent gifts of experiences (movies) rather than more stuff. The fact that I still have them simply means I need to get out more. But the cards themselves, of course, are made from plastic. And what happens to that plastic at the end of its life? Unlike credit cards which must be destroyed for security reasons, some gift cards can keep on giving.

The Problem

Gift cards are made from PVC, one of the most toxic plastics from cradle to grave. Each year, according to Plenty Magazine, "a whopping 75 million pounds of polyvinyl chloride material from plastic cards enters America’s waste stream."

Reduce, Re-use

Several companies (Target, Borders, REI, Wal-Mart) offer biodegradable gift cards made from corn, while others provide reloadable cards, also decreasing the need for new plastic if consumers will take the time to save and reload them. Turns out that my two movie cards -- AMC Theatres and Cinemark -- are both reloadable. This is a relief because once they are used up, I'll keep them and add funds when I need a gift to give someone else.

Why buy a new card when these can spread joy and cinema magic indefinitely?

But I also have a third card, one which actually ended up in my possession just yesteraday. Hanging out in a cafe between work and an evening event, I decided to check my email. After pre-paying for time on the computer, I was handed a plastic Internet access card with unique login and password codes. This card, unfortunately, is not reloadable, I discovered today after calling the company. Not sure what material it's made from, I sent an email to the owner to ask about recycling and whether sustainability crossed their minds when developing this method of Internet payment.

Speak up

Honestly, I probably would not have thought much about this small plasticky card if it were not for the dedication of one Fake Plastic Fish reader, Sari, who emailed me several weeks ago with a dilemma which became an amazing inspirational story!

The Save-On Pharmacy where she lives had a nifty promotion. They'd give a $10 reward each time customers spent a certain amount in the store. The $10 was added to a reloadable gift card that each customer kept and used continually. But recently, the company switched to disposable gift cards. Now customers are rewarded with a brand new $10 gift card each time they spend the required amount. The old gift cards are tossed out after they are used up instead of reloaded.

Sari was incensed at this blatant waste and contacted the store manager, who told her that the company had crunched the numbers and determined that disposable gift cards were less expensive. It seems counterintuitive, but that is what she was told. So Sari emailed the store's headquarters and received similarly discouraging response. At that point, she emailed me. A quick Google Search turned up the aforementioned Plenty article, which also describes a way to recycle used gift cards.

Recycle

Earthworks System collects and recycles used disposable PVC gift cards. What's more, they recycle the cards into sheets which can be used to manufacture new gift cards. It's true recycling, rather than downcycling. While I'm not a fan of PVC, I do appreciate that Earthworks System is helping to curb the need for new PVC to be produced.

Both individuals and businesses can send in used gift cards for recycling. While the company would prefer to receive the cards in large batches (why not set up a collection at your office or school?) they will also accept cards from individuals. Mail them to:

Earthworks c/o Halprin Ind.
25840 Miles Rd.
Bedford, Oh 44146

(Note: this updated address is different from that in the Plenty article, and is based on information provided to Sari last month.)

Sari was excited about the recycling information and presented her findings to Save-On. Within a week, she emailed me again with exciting news: the store manager had contacted her back. Headquarters had decided to conduct a pilot program in her local store. The store manager wanted to meet with her to discuss the details. Since the meeting, he has offered to put a box out in the lobby area of the store as a way for local consumers to drop of any type of gift card for recycling.

This all happened within a couple of weeks because one concerned customer spoke up! Could you be the next one to inspire change?

Sari is now working on getting Starbucks and Barnes & Noble involved in the program, and she has set up a campaign on The Point to encourage others to join. Click the badge to show your support. Or simply speak up like she has. The program is already in place. All stores have to do is set up a collection bin and mail in the used cards.

To continue following Sari's efforts to get businesses to recycle gift cards, check out her blog, theviewfromsarisworld.blogspot.com.

But remember, no plastic is better than plastic recycling. Think before you purchase that plastic gift card. Save the old ones you have and reload them if possible. Look for gift cards made from biodegradable or recycled materials. Speak out against disposable gift cards. And finally, ask businesses to collect and recycle those that unfortunately are no longer usable.

What have we got to lose?
 

Gimme5, Brita, Preserve, and You!

Can you believe that the day this photo was taken I was so sick I could barely stand up?

I wrote all about the culmination of the Take Back The Filter campaign in a post on the Take Back The Filter web site, but I forgot to write about it here... until today. Michael woke me up from a sound sleep this morning with the news that I and the campaign had made the front page of a very important newspaper. Better than the NY Times, I made our local East Bay Express.

Seriously, the article "The Blogger and the Bleach Company" is very well-written and balanced, describing the reasons behind the campaign as well as its results. And reading it, I realize how important it is now that the recycling program has been created that we support it and make sure Brita users know it exists. If no one actually returns their filters for recycling, the program could fail and be discontinued.

Here's the deal: Preserve has created a recycling program called Gimme5, collecting not only Brita pitcher filters but all #5 plastic containers (like yogurt containers and prescription bottles) as well as all Preserve products. Preserve is a U.S. company that manufactures toothbrushes, razors, and housewares from #5 (polypropylene) recycled plastic. The recycling happens here in the U.S., creating much-needed jobs domestically rather than exporting the plastic overseas, as is the case with most of our plastic recycling.

There are two ways to return #5 plastics to Preserve. Drop items into Gimme5 bins at select Whole Foods Markets or ship them back via U.S. mail to:

Preserve Gimme 5
823 NYS Rte 13
Cortland, NY 13045

The Gimme5 web site has complete instructions for how items should be packaged. And here is the official Brita recycling web page.

I've been collecting my used Preserve toothbrushes to mail back en masse, saving postage and fuel. I'm happy that I can instead drop them off in the Gimme5 bin at Whole Foods (using my feet or bike pedals for transit.)

So what about recycling #5 plastic? Haven't I been arguing that we should find alternatives to plastic rather than relying on recycling as the answer? I sure have. And I still feel that way. But I also feel that this program provides a way to deal responsibly with certain plastics that might be unavoidable for many people.

I personally don't use any water filter these days. We had our water tested and found it to be perfectly fine as is. But unfortunately there are people whose tap water is not great or who have lead pipes or who just don't like the taste and would otherwise purchase bottled water. For these people, filters like Brita are a fact of life, and having a way to recycle them is important.

While I may not use Brita filters anymore, I do end up with the ocassional prescription bottle. In California, they cannot be refilled by the pharmacy. Knowing that they will be recycled responsibly by Preserve, a company that happens to be a member of Co-op America's Green Business Network, rather than shipped to China is reassuring.

The Gimme5 program is not a free pass to go crazy buying disposable #5 plastics. But it is an important player in the field of Extended Producer Responsibility, the philosophy that companies that release their products into the world should provide for the full life-cycle of those products, providing cradle to cradle systems for extending the useful life of the materials, reducing waste, and conserving energy and resources.

Here in Oakland, we've just been informed that we can now drop wide-mouthed containers into our curbside recycling bins. Previously, we could only recycle narrow-necked bottles. So we have a choice. We can recycle #5 containers at the curb or take them to Whole Foods. Which method is better?

Right now, I'm thinking Gimme5 beats the curb because we know where the materials are going and who is responsible for them. The plastic left in our curbside bins will most likely be shipped to various companies in Asia. We don't know what products will be created from the materials, what safeguards will be used in the process, what toxins will be released, or even if the plastic will be recycled at all.

Finally, AND MOST IMPORTANT, if we want the Gimme5 program to succeed, it's up to us to promote it. Let your friends and family know. If you have a blog, let your readers know. And the idea that came to me this morning as I read about the campaign in my local paper: write a letter to the editor!

How about this for a sample?

Editor:

Plastic waste is a serious environmental problem. It is made from fossil fuels and does not biodegrade, lasting virtually forever and wreaking havoc in the natural world.

Fortunately, a new program called Gimme5 is attempting to deal responsibly with some of our plastic waste. Customers can return used #5 (polypropylene) plastic containers as well as Brita pitcher water filters and used Preserve products to select Whole Foods markets or mail them back to Preserve for recycling. Full details of the program are at http://www.preserveproducts.com/gimme5/.

I am not personally associated with Preserve, Whole Foods, or Brita, but as an individual attempting to live responsibly on the planet, I highly recommend this program.

Sincerely,

YOU!

I came up with that letter off the top of my head. I'm sure you could do even better. Or just copy mine. Most newspapers these days have ways to send letters to the editor through their web site. You don't even need a stamp! Whatever you do, please come back here and leave a comment. Let us know what paper(s) you contacted and what you wrote.

Yes, I know Preserve is a for-profit company, and this is like free advertising for them. So?
 

Dec 18: Day Without A (Disposable) Bag

Have you all seen the recent article in the NY Times about the decreased market for recycled materials? Apparently, much of the cardboard, newspaper, metals, and plastic that we toss in our recycling bins is piling up and making its way to landfills, as recycling contractors are unable to find buyers for the stuff.

I've said it before. Recycling is important, but it's not the final answer. Decreasing our dependence on disposables in the first place is more important now than ever. And one of our first steps can be giving up, and encouraging others to give up, disposable bags.

Heal The Bay in Los Angeles County has declared December 18 a Day Without A Bag. Read what they have to say about it, and then continue reading to find out how you can stage your own "Day Without A Bag."

Day Without A Bag, held annually in the month of December, is a public awareness campaign to urge shoppers to give a present to the environment, in the spirit of the holiday season, by foregoing disposable plastic and paper bags in favor of reusable totes.

Single-use plastic bags were first introduced in 1977 and now account for four out of every five grocery bags handed out at grocery stores. Public agencies in California spend more than $300 million annually in litter cleanup. Fewer than 5% of plastic grocery bags are recycled each year, so the remainder clogs precious landfill, litters public spaces and harms animal life when the bags blow into waterways. Paper bags, while biodegradable, contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation and water pollutants during the production process.

Last year’s Day Without A Bag was successfully launched by a coalition of community groups, environmental organizations and local governments in Los Angeles County. Tens of thousands of reusable bags were handed out at more than a dozen high-profile shopping centers throughout the region and included a diverse mix of retailers including Ralphs, Whole Foods, 99 Cents Only and Bed Bath & Beyond chains.

This inaugural event laid a strong foundation for subsequent campaigns against the proliferation of single-use shopping bags and created momentum at the local and state level for advancing legislation.

In addition to participating in this year's Day Without A Bag in Southern California, why not plan and hold your own? Get your community to participate. Or your school. Hold it whenever it is convenient for you. Why wait until next December?

I met Heal The Bay's Sonia Diaz at the CAPP (Campaign Against the Plastic Plague) Conference in October. During her presentation, she explained the steps for creating a Day Without A Bag, and she was kind enough to forward me materials as well as her contact info for anyone who is interested in making Day Without A Bag happen where you live:

• Day Without A Bag info & materials on Heal The Bay web site


• Steps For Day Without A Bag (PDF file)


• Letter to City Seeking Resolution (editable Word doc)


• Day Without a Bag sample resolution (editable Word doc)

Sonia Diaz
Legislative Associate
Heal the Bay
Ph: (310) 451-1500 x 165
Fax: (310) 496-1902
E-mail: sdiaz[at]healthebay[dot]org

So, if you live in Southern California, please spread the word about December 18. And if you don't, consider creating your own Day Without A Bag wherever you live. And then let us know about it!
 

Brita® and Preserve® Announce Filter Recycling Program

After months of campaigning to urge Brita to take back and recycle used Brita filters, we (the Take Back The Filter group) are thrilled to announce the details of the take-back recycling program that Brita has developed. Read their full press release here.

1) Collection: Beginning in early January, Brita users will be able to drop off used filters at Whole Foods Markets or mail them to an address which will be provided closer to the start date. [From personal experience, I would recommend NOT sealing them up in ZipLoc bags. This just ends up creating a lot of soggy, wet, not-so-nice smelling filters.]

2) Recycline, dba Preserve, the company that makes recycled toothbrushes, razors, and other household products, will recycle 100% of each plastic filter casing collected into other household products.

3) The filter ingredients, activated carbon and ion-exchange resin will be regenerated for alternative use or converted into energy.

The Take Back The Filter campaign is very pleased with this solution. Of course, we would always prefer to to see the filters redesigned to be reused/refilled. But we understand that that might not be practical. And partnering with Preserve is a great alternative.

When Brita first contacted us back in April, they told us they were leaning on Waste Management to figure out how to recycle the filters. Waste Management is in the collection business. They collect plastic for recycling and sell it off, normally shipping it away to cities in Asia. We wanted the Brita filters to stay here at home where we need green jobs to bolster our economy.

According to Preserve's Earth Efforts page:

Recycline makes nearly all of our products in the United States, working with U.S. manufacturers. This practice benefits our local economy and also reduces the CO2 emissions that would be generated by transportation of products to the United States from other countries. Sometimes we need to extend just beyond the border to guarantee quality and environmentally responsible manufacturing, so the blades for our Preserve razors are produced in Mexico.

Thank you to everyone who got involved in this campaign, sent us your used filters, signed the petition, sent letters to Clorox, forwarded emails, wrote blog posts, and helped in ways we may never know. Brita might have started recycling their filters eventually without our help, but letting them know how important this issue was to so many people certainly ensured that it remained on their radar and that they sought the most responsible method possible.

A huge thanks also to the Sierra Club! Sierra Club, as you may or may not know, already had a relationship with Clorox in helping them to develop their Green Works line of natural cleaning products. So it was natural for our campaign to partner with them to help Brita find the best way to recycle the filters.

What's next?

The Take Back The Filter web site will remain up. If you haven't signed up for updates, please do so. We will let you know further details about Brita recycling. And in the coming days, we will add info on how we can encourage other water filter companies (like Pur) to follow suit.

In January, we will deliver our over 500 collected filters to Brita publicly so that all of you who sent them in can see your filters handled responsibly! And for those who still have filters to send, please hold onto them until January. We will be shutting down our mailbox in a few days.

In the mean time, please send a thank you letter to Brita for the hard work they have done putting this program in place. Clorox is showing itself to be an environmental leader, which might seem unusual for such a large corporation. We'd like them to feel that going green is truly worth it, and to perhaps look at their other product lines and figure out ways to make them more sustainable as well. (I have a few ideas!)

Here's the info for writing to Clorox:

Mailing Addresses:

Mr. Don Knauss, Chairman & CEO
Mr. Drew McGowan

The Clorox Company
1221 Broadway
Oakland, CA 94612

Web Form: http://www.brita.com/contact_form_us.php
 

More sad plastic news. Plus Year 2, Week 21 Results: .05 oz of plastic waste.

The format of this post will be a little different from most of my weekly tallies because I want to emphasize three stories in the news this week which illustrate more of the problems with plastic and plastic recycling.

First: I learned from JessTrev of The Green Phone Booth (via Twitter) that one of the few plastics we had thought was fairly safe might not be so. According to Toronto's Globe and Mail on Friday, medical researchers at the University of Alberta have found chemicals leaching from polypropylene (#5 plastic), the type of plastic used for many, many food uses, including yogurt tubs and laptop lunch containers, which parents purchase as an alternative to disposable food containers for children. Preserve toothbrushes (the kind I use) are also made from recycled polypropylene.

Not enough is know at this time about the two chemicals found to leach from the plastic, quaternary ammonium biocides and oleamide, to determine whether or not the leaching poses health risks, but Rebecca Sutton, senior scientist with Environmental Working Group, says, "We simply don't want these chemicals getting into our bodies."

When asked which plastics are safe for food, I've always replied that #2, #4, and #5 are the safest as far as we know, but the fact that they haven't really been studied as thoroughly as other plastics means that we don't know for sure if they are actually safe. As it turns out, we're now even less sure. My opinion? Why store food in plastic when we can use glass and other safer alternatives?

Second: Saturday afternoon, a massive fire broke out at a plastics manufacturing plant in Channelview, Texas. View video and news coverage of the fire here. According to an article on Click2Houston.com, the plant manufactured polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products. Ironically, according to the news story, city officials claim the smoke was non-toxic.

Really? Non-toxic PVC smoke? According to Greenpeace, smoldering PVC gives off hydrogen chloride, "a corrosive, highly toxic gas that can cause skin burns and severe long-term respiratory damage," as well as dioxin, which has been found to cause cancer and reproductive disorders. How is it possible that the smoke from a burning PVC plant can be considered safe for any town?

Third: Tonight, FPF reader Christy B alerted me to a 60 Minutes story that aired today revealing a terrible reality of electronics and plastic "recycling" that will turn your stomach. You already saw the Sky News story about plastic recycling in China. This one is even worse. Watch it below or view it on the 60 Minutes site. This story illustrates why cutting our consumption and requiring manufacturers to produce less toxic, longer-lasting products is essential.


Watch CBS Videos Online

And now that you've had your fill of reasons to cut out plastic, here's my tally for the week.



All new plastic waste:

• 1 plastic envelope window. From Financial West Group, which does not yet offer electronic statements.


• 1 plastic seal from a carton of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey. This happened Tuesday night. I blame election anxiety. What a rush!

And that's it. I actually did also receive a free T-shirt in a bubble mailer with plastic tape, but I returned it to the sender after sending an email explaining why. I also received one of those plastic pizza inserts, but I'm planning to take it back to the pizzeria and ask them to reuse it. It's actually unnecessary. I usually remember to request no plastic thingie, and the pizza arrives just fine.
 

Carnival of Trash #3

Hello my trash-talkin' friends. As promised, here is the the third monthly Carnival of Trash, which was hosted last month at Mrs. Green's My Zero Waste blog and will be hosted next month at Wiggly Wigglers The Rubbish Diet on Monday, October 13. If you'd like to contribute, please get your submissions in by the 6th.

I haven't written a post specifically for this carnival because I figure this whole blog is about trash, but I will share one thought. As I read through these many posts dealing with the physical waste that we generate and solutions for reducing it, I am reminded of my meditation teacher a year ago who pointed at his head and said, "Remember. The real trash is in here."

Let's take care of our messes -- both inner and outer. And so, with that thought, I'd like to share not a post of my own, but an article that was read aloud in my monthly Green Sangha group yesterday. It's a very short, beautiful piece by Pico Iyer which appears in the September/October issue of Orion Magazine and is entitled "The Inner Climate."

And now, bring on the Carnival!

Reflecting

Marguerite Manteau Rao presents Garbage Society on La Marguerite, in which she compares the throw-away culture she lives in now with the simpler, nearly waste-free days on her grandparents' farm in France.

Rejin presents Here Today, Garbage Tomorrow posted at Urban Botany in which she argues that our efficient garbage removal system actually helps produce more waste. In her words, "...the mass production system, as it is designed, relies on the regular removal of stuff that never should have been made in the first place. For the inane reason of making space for yet more stuff."

Composting

Jenn presents Four Ways To Compost Indoors at Tiny Choices and then follows up with NatureMill Indoor Composter: All That? analyzing the pluses and minuses of this particular method.

Deanna Caswell presents Little House in the Suburbs: Free Super Fertile Flower Beds posted at Little House in the Suburbs This post is not just about composting, but about the creative ways she goes about getting the material that goes into making her beds so rich.

Sustainable Dave presents Worm Composting - The Video posted at 365 Days of Trash, which is exactly what it sounds like!

It seems Carolyn from Juggling Frogs also has worms, and tells all about it in the very detailed and cute post, I've got worms!

Recycling

Burbanmom presents Drawing Conclusions at Going Green about how to recycle old crayons.

Village Green presents Polyflow to keep plastics out of landfills posted at Long Live the Village Green, about a new method for recycling all plastics. This is definitely something I am going to have to look into. (Adding to the Fake Plastic Fish "to do" list.)

Reducing Waste

Green Bean presents Trimming My Waste Line at Green Bean Dreams, listing all the ways she's found to reduce waste in her home in the last twelve months.

Kristen presents A Napkin Alternative posted at The Frugal Girl about using cloths instead of paper napkins. I love what she says about hanging cloths to dry each night so they don't get gross. (Hint to a certain DH.) Not so sure about needing to wash them every day though. Read her post and see what you think.

Katy Wolk-Stanley presents Waste -- Is It Inevitable? posted at The Non-Consumer Advocate, listing ways to reduce the amount of food waste we generate.

Reusing

Wenchypoo presents Cheap Diesel From Trash posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket about a company that has begun generating fuel from trash.

Myscha Theriault presents Garbage Into Gold: Great Ways to Recycle Old Containers | Wise Bread posted at Wise Bread. Myscha is one of my favorite Wise Bread writers because her articles often combine the thrifty and the green.

Condo Blues presents 12 Ways to Reuse Plastic Bottles posted at Condo Blues.

Katie presents Plastic Bags, Endless Uses posted at A Green Fire, saying, "26 ways to reuse plastic shopping bags." My favorite is #26, reusing them as shopping bags!

Zero Waste

Mrs Green presents Can a zero waste lifestyle save you money? posted at MY ZERO WASTE, saying, "Frugal and eco friendly can go hand in hand, as we've discovered on our own journey of reducing our waste."

Condo Blues presents Zero Waste Road Trip - Can It Be Done? posted at Condo Blues, saying, "I wanted to make an upcoming road trip Zero Waste but first I had to ask myself, what the heck do they mean by Zero Waste anyway?"

Almost Mrs Average (the founder of this blog carnival) presents Life after Zero Waste Week: 6 months on posted at The Rubbish Diet, saying, "Just shows how life can change"

That concludes this edition of the Carnival of Trash. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Carnival of Trash using the carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page.
 

CRRA: They know how to do a conference!

As I mentioned, I had the privilege of presenting the Take Back The Filter campaign as part of a panel on zero waste grassroots activism at the conference of the California Resource Recovery Association this past Wednesday. I'll tell you more about the presentation itself in a second. But first, I need to gush a bit about how the waste was handled at this conference, vs. the Blogher conference I attended a few weeks ago, and how easily other organizations could adopt this model for their gatherings.

Granted, CRRA is all about zero waste. It's the whole point of the organization, after all. But so what? Just because other organizations might not cite waste reduction as their purpose for being in existence doesn't mean they can't make it one of their values and strive for zero waste at their gatherings. So, that said, here are a few things I saw that made me smile:

The requisite recycle/compost/trash stations throughout the hotel:



Water stations in every meeting room with actual glasses and no bottled water in sight. There were (unfortunately) bowls of plastic-wrapped hard candies. I wonder how many people actually took them.



Amazingly, there were even compost bins in the bathrooms for paper towels!



At the front registration desk was a box for returning the plastic nametag holders to be reused, as well as a white board tallying how much recycling, composting, or trash the conference has generated over it's 4 days and the total diversion rate, which by Wednesday was an impressive 94.9%.



And by the way, the lunch was served on durable tableware with cloth napkins. There was not a disposable anything in sight. I was told there were 800 registrants at this conference. (Blogher had 1,000.) So, it is possible to feed a large number of people sustainably without resorting to disposable boxes, whether those boxes are compostable or not.

Our presentation itself went really well! Here's the description from the conference brochure:

Working Together Toward Zero -- Grassroot Outreach Efforts/Coalitions With National Impact

In Carbonopoly, whatever card you select, collaboration is the key. To pass Go and to collect a functional future, coalitions, grassroots efforts and the new media — social networking websites like YouTube, Myspace, Facebook, as well as email and even cell phones — are some of the best ways to implement change in your community.

* Sierra Club National Zero Waste Committee, Ann Schneider,
* Clorox/Brita - Take Back The Filter, Beth Terry
* Zero Waste, the "New Media" and The Success Of The Story Of Stuff, Portia Sinnott, LITE Initiatives/Waste Reduction Project
* Zero Waste Los Angeles, Reina Pereira, City of Los Angeles
* Moderator: Stephanie Barger, Earth Resource Foundation

Each of us had about 15 minutes to present the work that we have been doing with a question/answer period at the end. I wish I could tell you more about it, but I was so nervous -- about presenting and also about my kitty -- that once it was over I promptly forgot the whole thing. Kinda like my wedding day. Fun and exciting and I wanted to throw up. Can't wait to do it again! (Present the campaign, that is, not get married.)

Plastic tallies for last week and this week coming up Sunday night, barring anymore unforeseen disasters. My sister and her husband are coming from Maryland to visit, so I may not post a lot next week either. But I do have at least one guest poster coming up, so stay tuned. And if anyone else wants to fill in with a guest post, let me know. I'd be happy to take a little break.

Clif? Are you listening?
 

Take Back The Climate

I've been asked to present the Take Back The Filter campaign (urging Clorox to take back and reuse/recycle used Brita water filter cartridges) as part of a panel at the California Resource Recovery Association's (CRRA) annual conference next week. I am excited to have the opportunity to share the campaign with this audience, and when initially asked, wasn't at all nervous about speaking: I've been talking about not much else for the past 3 months!

Not nervous, that is, until I found out that the theme of the conference is CARBONOPOLY: Climate Change Is Not A Game We Can Lose.

Oh dear. I know about zero waste. I know about the problems of plastic. I know why I don't want Brita filter cartridges to continue to be landfilled or incinerated. But I hadn't related the issue to climate change. In fact, I actually knew very little about global warming except that we're all supposed to use less energy, buy fewer things that need to be shipped, and purchase locally to avoid fuel costs. I've been on the Low Carbon Diet with some friends for several weeks now. But still, I hadn't ever thought about the connection between recycling and global warming. What the heck was I going to say to this group of industry professional?

Thanks to Ann Schneider of Sierra Club's Zero Waste Group for referring me to a fantastic report called, "Stop Trashing The Climate," a joint effort among the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Eco-Cycle, and Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance, which was published in June of this year. This report describes the multiple ways that waste affects our climate, some obvious, and some that may not immediately come to mind.

First, of course, there are the gases produced by landfills and incinerators. These gases are the direct effect of dumping or burning our waste. According to the report, "Landfills are the largest source of anthropogenic methane emissions in the U.S., and the impact of landfill emissions in the short term is grossly underestimated -- methane is 72 times more potent than CO2 over a 20-year time frame." But what about methane captured for energy? At the Hay Road landfill that I visited with Janice Sitton last January, we were told that the methane from the landfill is captured. But according to the findings of the Stop Trashing The Climate report, "The portion of methane captured over a landfill's lifetime may be as low as 20% of total methane emitted."

And incinerators emit not only CO2 but also nitrous oxide (N2O), a greenhouse gas that is 300 times more potent than CO2 at trapping heat in the atmosphere. In fact, the authors of the report recommend that "Existing incinerators should be retired, and no new incinerators or landfills should be constructed." But what about filters on incinerators that trap the gases and other pollutants?

Here's where we come to the main point of the report, the indirect results of landfilling and incineration that trapping the gases and other discharges from landfills and incinerators doesn't address: "Wasting directly impacts climate change because it is directly linked to resource extraction, transportation, processing, and manufacturing."

The more materials we send to the landfill or incinerator, the more materials must be extracted in order to replace them. And transported. And processed. And every step along the way uses more energy and produces more greenhouse gases than reusing or recycling the materials we already have.

In the case of Brita filters, that means more drilling for oil to make plastic and all the problems associated with that process. It also means transporting the oil, usually from places that are very far from where the oil will be used. And then processing the oil into new plastic pellets. And then shipping the new plastic. Then creating the new plastic filters. And then shipping the filters.

If Brita filters were designed to be reused instead of trashed, many, many greenhouse gas-generating steps in the process could be avoided. And even if, due to regulatory impediments related to the purity of plastic that comes into contact with drinking water, the filters themselves can't be reused, Clorox's development of a way to recycle the materials would still slow the need for more oil and creation of new plastics for other products.

It becomes clear to me that folks who criticize this campaign, or any other extended producer responsibility campaign, on the grounds that it takes energy to ship the used products back the manufacturer are not taking into consideration the environmental costs of creating brand new products to replace those that are trashed.

Of course, there are other major environmental costs to creating new plastic which I haven't addressed in this post, since the focus here is on global warming. I discussed some of them (including harm to the marine environment) in my post, "Plastic is made from oil." But the new (to me) information from the Stop Trashing The Climate report both heartens and saddens me. The link between waste and global warming re-energizes my commitment to source reduction and recycling and gives me an additional argument in support of the Take Back The Filter campaign. But the information also grieves me to think of one more way that we are trashing our world.

This post was included in the first Green Moms Blog Carnival at Organic Mania on August 4, 2008.
 

Berkeley's Green 4th of July

I love living in the Bay Area. Especially after reading Life Less Plastic's post about all the plastic and Styrofoam at her city's Taste of Chicago festival.

Here are some images from Berkeley's Independence Day celebration at the Marina:








I especially love that the garbage containers are labeled "Landfill" and explain what goes to the landfill and why it's important to choose recyclable or compostable alternatives. All the disposable dishware at the event were compostable. And there were water stations for filling up reusable bottles.

The "greening" of this event was the doing of my friend Mary Munat, aka Green Mary. In February, I wrote about Janice Sitton, my event greener friend in San Francisco. Mary is my other event greening friend, and she's been doing it since 2000. Here's how she got inspired to do this work, excerpted from her web site:

Mary's epiphany came in 2000, while listening to Julia Butterfly-Hill at the annual Health and Harmony Festival, in Santa Rosa, California.

As Butterfly-Hill recounted the tale of her attempt to save her beloved Luna, a heroic mission during which she lived hundreds of feet off the ground for nearly two years--all to save a tree, the audience wiped their tears with virgin paper napkins and relieved their thirst from single-use plastic water bottles. They quieted their hunger with non-organic foods, enjoyed while served ironically on the tree-destroying paper plates which may have killed Luna, and walked away from her talk, perhaps talking her talk, likely not walking it.

This was Mary's opening, a green rebirth.

Deeply affected, Mary entered the zero-waste arena on that moment. She has walked her talk through festivals around the state ever since.

By 2005 her experience included several years of festival volunteer coordination. She has since focused on people and resource management, with a keen eye for waste reduction at San Francisco Bay Area events, coordinated with local municipalities, attended meetings and affected gatherings large and small.

2005's Harmony Festival also succeeded in diverting approximately 85% of the "trash" from the landfill. Five tons of compost was separated from the waste stream.

Additionally, free water refill stations placed throughout the festival grounds helped to divert upwards of 30,000 single-use water bottles from the "recycling" stream. Even the sale of single-use water bottles was banned. "They ask at the table, 'Do you have a glass?' In the new ethic of re-usability, they must bring their own--then also carry it home. Or we provide biodegradable cups."

Mary wrote to me:

My primary filter through which I view the world is trashy. I see plastic bags blowing where others see the wildflowers beyond the barbed wire fence; I think of the Himalayas and the oxygen tanks littering the majestic mountains; I see the ocean and think of floating pellets; I go grocery shopping and try to get local cheese in a dairy state and cry over the selections from New Zealand, the Midwest and Ireland. I teared up when a woman in front of me in line said she didn't care whether her groceries were bagged in paper or plastic and cried when I left the store.

Mary's an energetic inspiration for me, and I was thrilled to run into her at the Berkeley festival on Friday and to realize that she was responsible for making the event as trash-free as possible. While the food may not have been as great as Chicago's Taste (my grilled chicken kebab was so smoky, I felt like I'd just had a cigarette) at least there was less trash left behind.

Once darkness started to descend, Michael and I left the festival grounds and headed towards the Bay to stake out our spot for watching the fireworks. Our friends joined us on the cold, hard rocks to wait.








While we were waiting, I entertained myself taking artsy fartsy pictures of the moon,


and once they finally started, artsy fartsy pictures of the fireworks








until the fog rolled in...


and we couldn't see anything but foggy light in the sky. At the very end, I figured out how to keep my camera shutter open longer.


Kinda cool but also kinda scary, huh? How's that for your rockets' red glare? A sobering thought at the end of a pretty fun day.
 

Announcement: Phone meeting with Clorox tomorrow!

I haven't posted in a few days. Have been feeling under the weather (as opposed to over the weather? Over the rainbow?) and in between coughs, sending emails to folks to sign the Take Back The Filter campaign petition.

Good news: Just got an email from a representative from Clorox and scheduled a phone meeting for tomorrow at 8:30 Pacific Time. As I write this, we've collected 184 signatures on our petition. It's a great start, but I just know we can do better. If you haven't signed yet, now's the time. Can we get 500 by tomorrow morning???

I don't care if you are not a current Brita customer. You could be in the future if they would take care of their waste, right? And I'm not requiring your email address or even home address (although those are helpful to us to have.) Just name, city, state, zip code.

Sorry to hound you. By next week, I'll be back to my regular plastic-blogging self. And tomorrow I plan to announce the winners of the two children's books. But for now, please help by signing the petition and forwarding it to everyone you know!

Thanks. You guys rock. Now stop rocking for a second and go sign!
 

Brita: Take Back The Filter campaign has begun!

Okay, remember all my posts about how frustrating it was that Brita filter cartridges can be recycled in Europe but not in the U.S.? And how we had our water tested and found it perfectly fine without plastic water filter cartridges? Well, giving up water filters was a fine decision for us here in the SF Bay Area where we have some of the best water in the nation. But it's not a great solution for folks in other areas of North America that may not.

If you'll recall, I set up a recycle_brita Yahoo! group to plan strategy for a campaign to urge Clorox, the company that owns Brita in North America, to develop a similar Take Back Recycling Program for Brita cartridges here. Now, after several months of writing to Clorox and planning our strategy, I'm happy to announce that the Take Back The Filter campaign has officially begun. Join us in asking Clorox to:

1) Redesign its Brita filter cartridges so that the plastic housing can be refilled rather than discarded each time the filter is changed.

2) Provide a take-back program, such as the one that exists in Europe, so that used cartridges can be returned to the company for recycling.

3) Create a system for the cartridges to be dismantled and the components recycled/reused domestically rather than landfilled, incinerated, or shipped overseas.

Please visit the new web site: http://www.takebackthefilter.org for complete background information and to take action.

What are we asking you to do?

1) Sign the petition at www.takebackthefilter.org.

2) Send me your used Brita filter cartridges. I have set up a mailbox specifically for this purpose. Or, if you live in the Bay Area, you can email me to arrange pickup. Instructions are at www.takebackthefilter.org. At some point, we'll deliver them all to Clorox (whose corporate office is just down the street from me in Oakland) to make a strong, visual statement.

3) If you're feeling really motivated, please write a letter to Clorox. A sample letter is also included at www.takebackthefilter.org, of course.

4) And finally, spread the word. Tell everyone you know. Collect their used cartridges and ask them to sign the petition. We even have a sample e-mail at at www.takebackthefilter.org for you to cut and paste.

If you have a blog, please use the following code to paste this badge onto your site:

<a href="http://www.takebackthefilter.org"><img src="http://www.fakeplasticfish.com/takebackthefilter/images/take_back_the_filter_badge2.gif"  width="160"></a>

Even better, write a blog post and encourage your readers to sign the petition and send us their filters. Wouldn't it be amazing if a truly grassroots campaign like ours could help create change in a major corporation like Clorox?

So who is this "we" I keep referring to? We are Beth, Seth, Juli, Becky, Tom, Nicole, Barb, Margaret, Susan, Cat, and others who joined the recycle_brita Yahoo! group, wrote letters to Clorox and, when Clorox's responses were less than encouraging, created this campaign. You can also read Clorox's form letters to us at www.takebackthefilter.org.

Why am I not giving you more info in this post and why am I not linking to specific pages on the site? Because I really, really, really, really hope you will go to the site and browse around and check it out. It's taken many sleepless nights, but I'm hoping it will be worth it.

Do I believe that getting a company to recycle a few (actually millions, but still) water filter cartridges is the biggest environmental challenge we face? Heck no. But I believe in the principle of Extended Producer Responsibility (which Seth brought to my attention), and this is my contribution towards creating a world in which companies consider the entire life cycle of the products they create, rather than simply pumping out more and more stuff and allowing it to pollute the planet at the end of its useful life.

I wish you could see me bouncing in my chair. I'm so excited to have this campaign finally sprung on the world. Can't wait to find out what happens!
 

Environmental Children's Books, Part 2: Teach Them To Recycle and Bring Their Own Bag

Here are the next two environmental kids' books, as promised.

Michael Recycle, by Ellie Bethel, illustrated by Alexandra Colombo. Green Bean may think that my Michael is a super hero for encouraging his firm to stop buying bottled water. But this big picture book is about a new super hero, Michael Recycle, who flies into trashy towns in his green cape and colander hat and, in Suess-like rhyme, teaches everyone to recycle and garden and collect rainwater. Then, when the town is sparkling again, they throw a big old party to celebrate. In fact, instead of buying streamers,

They covered the town
In green toilet paper
Then rolled it back up
To use again later.

You may think that's yucky
But these folks don't agree
In Abberdoo-Rimey
Recycling is key!

While the pictures in this book are fantastic fun and the Go Green Tips at the end are useful, I would have liked to have seen more emphasis on waste reduction and reuse before recycling.

They recycled their paper,
Their plastic and cans,
And even old junk
Like used pots and pans!

I'm not crazy about the word "junk" used to describe stuff that we may not need to keep for ourselves anymore. And recycling pots and pans? Doesn't Michael know about Freecycle? He is, after all, a super hero. But maybe I've become more hardcore than the average bear. And from what I see on the streets of Oakland, it's challenging enough to get kids to put their trash in a garbage can, much less recycle it. This book is a good start for getting the environmental message across.

I'll be donating it to the Oakland library this weekend, per Burbanmom's Giving Challenge.

Oh, and yesterday, when reviewing the two animal books, I forgot to talk about the production of the books themselves. One was printed in Mexico and the other in Singapore. Michael Recycle was printed in Korea. And, for a book about recycling, I was surprised that it's not itself printed on recycled paper. Or if it is, that fact was not mentioned anywhere in the book or press materials I received. Hmm... sort of like the seminar on "greening your law firm" that Michael and I attended where bottled water and plastic-wrapped sandwiches were served while the panelists talked about eliminating plastic bottles from the workplace. There are the ideals that we espouse, but if they don't translate into concrete changes, what good are they?

Okay, enough soap box. Michael Recycle is a really cute book and I think it would be a good addition to any school library.

The next book, which coincidentally organicneedle mentioned in a comment on my post yesterday, is My Bag and Me!, by Karen Farmer, illustrated by Gary Grant. It doesn't say what ages it's geared toward, but the heavy cardboard pages and pictures of the little boy suggest to me (a non-parent) that it's for small children. This book encourages kids not only to recycle, but to refuse disposable bags in the first place:

Let's take a trip
to our favorite store,
where My Bag and Me say,
"Paper and plastic no more!"

The secret to My Bag And Me is the hidden pull-out tray in the back that contains a child-sized resuable bag they can take to the store with them. I love the idea of this, not to mention the cuteness. But I'm less enthusiastic about the materials.

The reusable bag is made of Dupont Tyvek, the type of plastic that many large postal envelopes are made from. The cover of the book states, "This book and the reusable Tyvek bag are 100% recyclable!" What you don't realize until you read the fine print (if you read the fine print) is that Tyvek is only recyclable by mailing it back to Dupont. I devoted a whole post to Tyvek in October of last. It's worthwhile to read if you haven't already.

And notice that the book is advertised as "recyclable" rather than being made from recycled materials. So I contacted the PR rep who sent it to me and asked about the materials used as well as the decision to have it printed in China. These were her responses:

1) On using Tyvek to make the bag: Natural fibers, like cotton or hemp, were too bulky. The book would have been enormous and very heavy, not to mention the extra amount of paper needed to create the tray cavity. There is a marking on the bottom of the bag with an 800 number for recycling Tyvek information. Our hope, however, is that these bags will have a very long life as a shopping bag.

2) On the shiny coating on the cardboard pages: The coating is a plastic film, otherwise known as PP lamination. PP, or Polypropylene lamination is non-toxic and the same goes for the glue, ink and paper used in these books. The paper is made of C1S ( coated paper, one side), and Natura board.

3) On having the book manufactured in China: Cost was the deciding factor for printing in China. We would never have been able to produce this book here, and sell it at the cover price of $10.95. The manufacturer is ICTI audited which gives credibility and they can issue a letter guaranteeing that the materials used are non-toxic and certificates for the materials themselves.

Organicneedle wrote a bit about this book back in March, and then she came up with a list of ways to make your own reusable bags for kids out of reused materials or natural fabrics. Anyway, it's a cute idea, perhaps not executed in the manner hardcore environuts like me would prefer, but useful nonetheless for getting kids accustomed to bringing their own bags.

I offer this book as another freebie to a Fake Plastic Fish reader. It's not really appropriate for donating to the library because of the bag that needs to be removed and used. So please leave a comment and let me know if you'd like it. Or email me directly at beth[at]fakeplasticfish[dot]com and let me know.

And finally, here's an ACTION ALERT for anyone concerned about keeping commercial advertising/product placements out of kids' books. Harper Collins has announced its plans to publish a series of books for young girls called MacKenzie Blue, in which, according to this New York Times article, "...product placement is very much a part of the plan. Tina Wells, chief executive of Buzz Marketing Group, which advises consumer product companies on how to sell to teenagers and preteenagers, will herself be the author of titles in the series filled with references to brands. She plans to offer the companies that make them the chance to sponsor the books."

To read about the campaign and to protest the publication of these books, please visit Commercial Alert and take action.
 

Terracycle & Clif Bar: Shades of Green

Michael called me at work tonight to say he'd just heard that Clif Bar has a new program to take back its plastic energy bar wrappers and "upcycle" them in a partnership with Terracycle, the good folks who got sued by Scotts Miracle Grow for selling worm poop compost in recycled soda bottles and claiming it was better. (I'm sure it is better. Sue me.) In a joint effort, which I would have known about last week if monitor problems hadn't kept me from reading all my email, Terracycle will send free prepaid energy bar wrapper collection envelopes to anyone who signs up for the Wrapper Brigade Program and will then manufacture them into "unique accessories and other upcycled products." And Clif Bar will donate .02 per wrapper to the charity of your choice.

Sounds good right? Well, it didn't sound good to me. In fact, I got all huffy about it. "Oh great!" I ranted. "Like anyone needs a tote bag made out of Clif Bar wrappers. This is just a way to allow companies to keep creating disposable plastic wrappers from virgin plastic and let consumers feel morally superior for keeping them out of the landfill a little longer. They're still made out of petroleum. They're still made from nurdles, the plastic pellets that are polluting our oceans, harming wildlife, and concentrating toxins in the food chain. This isn't 'upcycling.' It's the same old 'downcycling' we're always bemoaning because the loop never gets closed when you're talking about plastic!"

And then Michael said, "But what about people like me who aren't ready to give up Clif Bars? Isn't this better than throwing the wrappers away?" And I thought, the man has a point.

I get so worked up about finding the absolute best solution to problems that I forget there are also good solutions that aren't necessarily the best but might head us in the right direction. Various shades of green. Terracycle is definitely doing a service by keeping plastic bottles, juice boxes, yogurt containers, and now wrappers here at home where we can take some responsibility for our own waste instead of shipping it to Asia. And yet even Clif Bar admits that the Wrapper Brigade is not the best solution. In their e-mail newsletter, they write:

We're not psyched about the fact that our wrappers end up in the garbage. We've been working hard to come up with a more sustainable solution; since we haven't found the answer just yet, we've partnered with TerraCycle to launch the Energy Bar Wrapper Brigade. Get this: TerraCycle will convert all of the energy bar wrappers they receive into handy accessories and will donate two cents for every wrapper to the charity of your choice. Sign up for free and become a shepherd for the program.

So what do we do? Nothing, if we're trying to live plastic-free. I've switched from energy bars to granola and other cereal that I buy from bulk bins and store in my own containers, leaving no packaging waste behind. But if we're not quite there yet, we can at least divert a little waste from some landfills by using this program. And let others know about it too.

I'm hoping that Clif Bar means what it says about coming up with a more sustainable solution. I'm glad they speak that language. It's my hope that companies are moving towards waste reduction as preferable to recycling. In the mean time, we have what we have. What do you think?

(BTW, I know I said I'd post a recipe today. But Beth Terry is nothing if not opinionated, and when the opportunity and mood strikes, she'll usually go with some kind of rant and save the nice stuff for another day.)
 

Week 29 Results: 2.6 oz. of plastic. Making a change.

This past Friday, I attended a planning meeting for Green Sangha's 2008 Rethinking Plastics campaign. At that meeting, one of the members showed us some video footage of what happens to the plastic recycling that we put into our curbside bins. I knew that most of our plastic was shipped to China, but until seeing this heartbreaking video, I didn't think much more about it. Please watch this short clip from Britain's Sky News and then see how you feel about recycling plastic:



(If the embedded video doesn't play in this window, or all you get is a commercial, try this link instead.)

Yes, this story focuses on Britain's plastic waste. But in the U.S., we also ship most of our plastic to China, causing health problems and pollution in our attempts to be "green."

Since I started this project, I have tallied all of my plastic waste, recycling those items that are accepted in Oakland, SF, or Daly City, and holding onto the rest. From now on, I'm going to hold onto ALL of it, recyclable or not. If plastic recycling is such a dirty business, we ought to be taking care of it here at home instead of shipping it off to poorer countries with lower environmental standards.

My new commitment to hold onto all my plastic is similar to that of a new blogger who is collecting and tallying his waste, Dave Chameides at 365daysoftrash.com. He has vowed not to throw ANYTHING away for a year but to tally it all and figure out what it is and what can be done with it. He says, "Any waste that I generate that can be recycled, will also be saved. Recycling is better than 'throwing away' but it still takes energy and creates waste so I think accounting for recycling will be an important factor." Perhaps the video above is another reason to hold onto all of it.

So, that said, here is the tally for this week, the first of 2008:



Non-recyclable items used this week but purchased before the plastic project began:

• 1 Safeway ice bag. This ice was sitting in our freezer for months and months, and we finally used it up chilling a bottle of New Year's Eve champagne.


• 1 cap from a bottle of Safeway rubbing alcohol. See below.

Recyclable plastic bought before the plastic project began (although as mentioned above, they will not be recycled):

• 1 bottle of Safeway rubbing alcohol (#2 plastic). Is it possible to find rubbing alcohol in glass or is it only available in plastic these days? And do we need it? The only thing I was using it for lately was in a homemade ant spray recipe. I could probably substitute vodka or grain alcohol. I can sterilize a needle for removing splinters with a match. My mom used to clean oral thermometers with alcohol, but I just use soap. Cuts and bruises can be cleaned with soap and water. Alcohol seems like a staple of home medicine cabinets, but do we actually need it?

New plastic waste.

• 2 Refresh Endura single-use eye drop containers (#4 plastic). Are my eyes getting better? I haven't been using as many containers of drops because I've just been lazy about putting them in at night. And so far, no traumatic cornea mornings. I'm just seeing how far I can press my luck, I think.


• 2 plastic ties and 1 plastic tag from a bamboo scratching post purchased for the kitties. More on this item in a post later this week.


• 1 plastic bag from inside a box of crackers. These were brought to our New Year's Eve party by a friend, and I ate some.


• 1 Wallace & Gromit cheese wrapper. Very cute. Also brought to the party by a friend. Of course I had some.


• 1 plastic cork from a bottle of Boissonneau Chateau Moulin de Ferrand Bordeaux Blanc. This was the last bottle!


• 1 cap from a glass bottle of Straus organic nonfat milk.

I want to welcome the new readers who have found their way over to Fake Plastic Fish from the 365 Days of Trash blog. I have a lot of exciting things to write about this week, including a trip to a landfill on Wednesday.
 

Recycling part 5: Only in San Francisco

Continuing my visits to SF bay area waste facilities, I took a tour yesterday of the San Francisco MRF (material recovery facility, aka recycling center) and San Francisco "dump." What I saw looked pretty much the same as at Davis Street and CWS, so I won't bore you with more photos of sorting machines and baled materials. Instead, I'll sum up the experience with this little video I put together showing both operations, the clean and the stinky. This video is more detailed than the one I made of the CWS operation:


What you don't see in this video, what San Francisco has that other recycling and garbage facilities lack (besides being a whole lot bigger) is an artist in residence! Yep, you heard me. San Francisco Dump has an Artist in Residence program. Artists get space at the dump and access to whatever materials they want to use for three-month periods.

Friday night, Michael and I attended a presentation of the SF Dump artists at the Herbst Theatre. The first half of the show included videos created by the garbage artists. And the second half was an amazing performance of the Junkestra Symphony, a musical piece composed and played on pieces of junk, unaltered. None of the "instruments" were cut or changed in any way from how they'd been found at the dump. It sounded great!

Here are photos from Friday night's performance as well as art displayed in the theater lobby and at the San Francisco dump yesterday. First, photos of the Junkestra after the show. Click on any image to see larger.








These plastic bag dresses were displayed in the lobby during intermission, when wine was served which had come from vineyards using compost from SF's commercial compost facility.



Yes, this dress is made from woven plastic bags!



Here is the artist in residence, Philip Bonner, at home in the studio yesterday, as well as artwork displayed in the lobby of the SF Dump Education Center:






For more information about the SF Dump Artist in Residence Program and to find out about visiting, go to: http://www.sunsetscavenger.com/AIR/index.htm.
 

Recycling Part 4: a visit to California Waste Solutions

Friday morning, I took another field trip, this time to California Waste Solutions, the company that picks up the recycling in my section of Oakland. Justin Johnson, CWS Commercial Accounts Manager, was my tour guide.

If you'll recall, during my trip to the Davis Street Transfer Station, the Waste Management sorting machines were inoperable as a result of being jammed up by plastic sheeting and hoses. The CWS machines, on the other hand, were moving along just fine. Here's a little video of one of the machines in operation:


Unlike Waste Management, which makes money not only from its recycling operation but also from its huge landfill, CWS's business is 100% recycling. Therefore, it has more of a stake in recovering as much material from the waste stream as possible. Materials are sorted multiple times, taking them from this:



through the sorting process:








to the final baled materials ready for shipment:








Justin Johnson is proud of the recycling program that he runs for Wal-Mart stores. Wal-Mart bales its cardboard, plastic sheeting, and plastic hangers all together to deliver to CWS, where they are opened and sorted and rebaled for sale:




I don't know if Wal-Mart reuses its plastic hangers before sending them to the recycling center. I certainly hope they do.

Most of the materials that come through CWS get shipped off to Asia. Very little of it is actually recycled in the United States. And, as I've reported before, the plastic that is recycled is not converted back into bottles or food containers but into other kinds of products... lawn furniture, for instance. So in order to have new containers for our food, manufacturers must continue to use virgin plastic.

Recycling is necessary. But it's not the ultimate goal. Reducing our plastic consumption is the only real solution to this mess. Recycling is what we do with the plastic we end up with after we've reduced as much as we can. And what happens to it in Asia is the subject of another post for another day.

But continuing with Friday's field trip, after touring the recycling center, I paid my very first visit to the Alameda County Household Hazardous Waste Facility. I brought a bag full of toxic cleaning products that I'll no longer be using (opting instead for plain soap, vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice as my cleaners of choice), the broken CFL, some expired prescription drugs, and some containers of antibacterial hand soap. There are warnings out about antibacterial soaps causing harm to the bay. I don't know what the Haz Waste guys will do with it, but it's got to be better than flushing it down the sink.

And I returned the rest of those crazy plastic-encased CFLs to Costco for a full refund, even though I bought them a year ago! I did finally find a 5-pack of GE Energy Smart CFLs packaged in plastic-free cardboard at Ace Hardware. (I tried Whole Foods, by the way, per the suggestion of a commenter, but found only very expensive single-bulb packages containing a plastic window.)

It was a very productive day and use of a Flexcar. Afterwards, I attended my Rethinking Plastics class and learned more facts about plastic that I'll share later this week.
 

Recycling Tyvek: Another small way to deal with plastic at work (and home)

Disclaimer: This post is NOT an endorsement of DuPont Tyvek. DuPont Tyvek is plastic. According to DuPont, it is "very fine fibers of 100 percent high-density polyethylene that are randomly distributed and nondirectional. These fibers are first flash spun, then laid as a web on a moving bed before being bonded together by heat and pressure - without the use of binders, sizers or fillers."

All the items down the left side of the page are products in my house made from DuPont Tyvek. I mention Tyvek because many people don't realize it's actually plastic and may try and recycle it with their paper. And for those of us trying to reduce our plastic use, it's important to be aware of anything that is made from plastic.

But what makes Tyvek difficult to avoid is that many Tyvek products come to us unsolicited, especially at work. We might receive Priority Mail and Federal Express deliveries in Tyvek envelopes. CDs might come in Tyvek sleeves. At home, tags and labels are often made of Tyvek. One tag in the photos is attached to a futon. The other was one I removed from a throw rug. And as I've mentioned before, runners' race numbers are nearly always made from Tyvek.

More items to watch out for, according to DuPont's web site: banners and signs, weather-resistant maps and guides, wrist bands, kites, games, children's moisture and rip-resistant books, furniture and automotive protective covers, and home weatherization materials. These can all be made from Tyvek plastic.

So what can you do if you happen to acquire items made from DuPont Tyvek? Well, of course the first thing to do is reuse or Freecycle anything that can be reused. Part of Tyvek's appeal is that it is so durable, making envelopes and sleeves reusable many times. But what if you have too many and for some reason can't give them away? Or you have printed items like labels and tags that can't be reused?

Since they are made from #2 plastic, they can be recycled. However, not in your curbside bin and not in any regular plastic bag recycling program. Instead, DuPont has created a Tyvek take back program.

For small quantities (less than 25), stuff them in an inside-out Tyvek envelope and mail them to:

Tyvek® Recycle
Attn. Shirley B. Wright
2400 Elliham Avenue #A
Richmond, VA 23237

The web page only mentions recycling Tyvek envelopes, as opposed to any other products made from Tyvek. So I called DuPont and was told that we can in fact send other items made from Tyvek, as long as they are free of pins, paperclips, staples, or other contaminants. I would assume that means removing the plastic window from a Tyvek CD sleeve. But why would you need to recycle a CD sleeve when you can just reuse it?

For larger quantities, such as you might collect at work, you can call 1-866-33-Tyvek and ask for a Tyvek recycling pouch:

DuPont does not cover the cost of sending them back, so you do have to pay for postage. I think that if DuPont really cared about recycling, they'd pick up the tab like HP does for returning its printer cartridges. But then, in a perfect world, we wouldn't be worrying about what to do with all this plastic in the first place.

Once again, I'm not endorsing DuPont Tyvek. It's plastic made from petroleum like any other. But it's good to recognize which items are made from it and to be able to reuse and recycle those that come our way.
 

Recycling Part 3: Further Lessons from Davis Street Transfer Center

My tour of Davis Street Transfer Center continued with a trip to the garbage transfer pit. This is where all of Oakland's non-recycled garbage is dumped before being transferred in huge trucks to the Altamont Landfill. Just look at it all. You may not be able to tell from the photo how much recyclable material is mixed in with the garbage, but I can assure you that it's a lot.


LESSON 9: Your hands are the very last human hands that will touch these items before anthropologists dig the stuff up in hundreds of years. That's pretty much a direct quote from Rebecca Jewell. Contrary to what some people believe, items placed in Oakland garbage bins are never sorted. They are never even touched by human hands once they leave your curb.

Our residential bins are lifted and dumped mechanically into the garbage truck; the truck dumps its load at the transfer station; bulldozers ride over the garbage, compressing it to allow as little air into the mix as possible and pushing it forward towards an opening in the floor, under which a huge truck waits to be filled from above; another heavy machine adjusts the materials in the truck to balance the load; and finally, this larger truck carries the garbage to the Altamont Landfill, where the goal is not biodegradation but "mummification." Imagine what future generations will think of us when they dig up these "mummies."

Anyway, the point is that if you put a recyclable item in the garbage, no one is going to rescue it for you. So while it's very important to keep the wrong things out of the recycle bin, it's just as important to put the right things in.




Opposite the platform where Rebecca and I were standing was a huge pile of restaurant waste: mounds of food in plastic bags and a lot of valuable cardboard. This is where the scavenging birds were hanging out.


LESSON 10: As careful as you are with your waste at home, by dining out you could be contributing to a lot more waste than you know. Seeing this pile of mostly compostable and recyclable garbage makes me really consider which restaurants I want to patronize and also what questions I can ask beforehand.

In fact, that same afternoon after the tour, I had lunch at Oliveto, a local Oakland restaurant, and made a point of asking about its recycling and composting practices. My server assured me that the restaurant does both. Afterwards, I went next door to Peaberry's Coffee & Tea and asked what they do with their used coffee grounds. "We just dump them," was the response. I ended up carrying home a warm bag of coffee grounds for my compost bin as well as the plastic bag they'd been "dumped" in to reuse.

It's not easy asking these questions. You never know when people will look at you like you're from outer space. But looks are just looks. And the more you get in the habit of asking questions about the products you buy, the easier it becomes to speak up. And you become a more savvy consumer.

But I've leapt ahead, and it's time to get back to Davis Street, where the tour continued. On our way out of the transfer pit, we spied a few of the other workers at the facility.



A mama cat and three little kittens eyed us warily as we attempted to interview them about their jobs. No luck. They scurried through a hole in the wall. I asked Rebecca why kitties would want to live in such a loud, scary place with big trucks constantly thundering through. Of course, it's because there are so many rodents for them to eat. The cats do more than look cute for visitors. They help with essential pest control.

I didn't have time to view the other areas of the transfer center, but Davis Street collects a lot more than residential garbage and recycling. For example, they accept the food and yard waste from our green bins that are then shipped to Grover Landscaping in Modesto to be composted.


I asked Rebecca about composting the new biodegradable plastics that are made from corn, sugar, and potato starch. Her answer was not the most encouraging.

LESSON 11: Compostable plastic you put into your city's compost bin (as opposed to your own backyard composter) may not actually be composted. Currently, compostable plastics are being developed before infrastructures exist to deal with them. According to Rebecca Jewell, compostable plastics take much longer to break down (27-32 weeks) than other organic matter. Therefore, a compost facility like Grover Landscape Services, which typically "cooks" its compost for a much shorter time, cannot process bio-plastics completely, and any such plastics they receive may end up being filtered out at the end of the compost process and discarded if they have not fully broken down.

I plan to do a whole lot more research on the subject of the different types of bio-plastics and issues surrounding them. And I hope to take more tours, of other recycling facilities, our landfill, and especially compost operations if I'm allowed.

Other services that Davis Street offers include: Construction debris processing, motor oil recycling, large appliance recycling, wood waste processing, latex paint recycling, old tire recycling, mattress recycling, and e-waste processing. Of course, none of these items are recycled through the curb-side recycling program and shouldn't be put in the bin. They have to be brought to the facility separately.

And finally,

LESSON 12: The more you learn about recycling and waste disposal, the more you realize that the issues are complex, the system isn't perfect, and there's always a lot more to learn. Dealing with waste is a lot more than a set of simple rules that everyone can follow about which items go in which bin. And the complexity of the issue can lead us to question the concept of waste itself.

Why do we have so much waste to deal with in the first place? And what can we do to reduce it? While it's been very instructive for me to learn all about recycling and garbage disposal, I remain convinced that those should be our very last options for living in an ecologically responsible manner. And I'll continue to focus first and foremost on reducing the amount of "stuff" that I acquire and finding alternatives to the most problematic material: plastic.
 

Recycling Part 2: Lessons from the Davis Street Transfer Center

As I mentioned in my first post on the subject of recycling, "Wait! Are you sure that's recyclable?" I'd scheduled a trip to the Davis Street Transfer Center today, the place where all of Oakland's garbage and compost and much of its recycling is taken before moving on to its next use or final resting place. My tour guide today was Rebecca Jewell, Davis Street's recycling program manager. And our first stop was the brand new $9 million MRF (Materials Recovery Facility) which processes up to 400 tons of recyclables per day for 12 difference Bay Area jurisdictions.

Unfortunately, I was not aware before I came that while Davis Street accepts my household garbage and compost, a different recycling company, California Waste Solutions, picks up and processes the recycling for my area of Oakland. According to Rebecca, it's a smaller facility and may not be able to handle as many different materials as the Davis Street MRF can. So I'll try to schedule a tour of that one so I can compare. Nevertheless, touring the Davis Street facility was extremely educational. As you'll see, I took a lot of photos. You can click on any image to see a larger version.


First, all the single-stream recycling is dumped in the entry of the MRF, where it's then moved onto the sorting machine. Unfortunately, the sorting machine was completely stopped when I entered the MRF and had been for about a half an hour. Why? Plastic bags and other unrecyclable materials jamming the machine!

LESSON 1: Do not put loose plastic bags or any other kind of plastic sheeting in your recycling bin! I said it in my previous post, and it's worth repeating here. Likewise, no blankets, hoses, ropes or other strapping materials. Think of your vacuum cleaner. You know how it jams up if you suck up a piece of string or cord and then you have to spend a while unwinding it? A sorting machine gets jammed in the same way, only on a much bigger scale. See for yourself:





Here is a list of other materials that can wrap around the machine and cause it to jam: chains, Christmas lights, clothing, copper tubing, cords from electronic devices, extension cords, tarps and other plastic film, metal hangers, sheets, string, wading pools (yep, it's on the list!), wires. Do not put these items in your recycling bin.

LESSON 2: Certain heavy items will damage the equipment and should not be placed in the recycle bin. A lot of these will be obvious, but I'm pulling them from a list that Rebecca Jewell created based on actual items that people have placed in the bin. They include: bowling balls, bricks, concrete, engine parts, rock, tires, toilet seats, and other building materials.

In addition to heavy items, one of the biggest hazards in the recycling stream, believe it or not, are mini propane tanks. Yes, people try to recycle them. And yes, they explode in the machine and are a hazard for workers. Just inside the entrance to the facility was a whole bin full of tanks that had been pulled from the stream:


Normally, the belt is moving and a team of pre-sorters grabs out anything that might jam the machine before it's too late. But sometimes there is just too much material and they can't remove it in time. When that happens, everyone else has to wait while a few people unjam the machine.


Besides items which might clog the machine, the pre-sorters are looking for other non-recyclable items. Anything tied up in a plastic bag will be removed.

LESSON 3: Never put your recyclable items in a plastic bag. Especially if it's tied shut, that entire bag and it's contents will be removed and discarded with the garbage. The workers don't have time to open up the bag and see what's in it. And they wouldn't want to anyway. There could be nice cans and bottles inside, but there could just as easily be dog or cat waste.

Even with the machine stopped, I was able to get a good idea of the process. As the materials go over the sorter, blown by large fans, the lighter material, like paper (or fiber, as it's referred to) is lifted up and goes one way while heavier materials like containers fall down and go another.


As you can imagine, with those fans blowing, shredded paper is a nightmare.

LESSON 4: Unless your recycling company instructs otherwise, do not put shredded paper in your recycling bin. First of all, according to Rebecca Jewell, the fibers of shredded paper are too short to recycle in the first place. So it just ends up blowing around and getting mixed in with the glass. Her feeling is that shredding is over-rated; the workers are way too busy to read any of the masses of paper that come through.

Nevertheless, I did see an unshredded personal check lying on the floor. In fact, I stepped on it. Maybe the workers are too busy, but what about other tourists like me? Well, the good news is that shredded paper can be composted. Here in Oakland, we can put it in our green compost bin. You could also put it in a home bin. And perhaps knowing that shredded paper isn't recycled will make us more selective of the items we do choose to shred.


Once the materials are initially sorted, a belt passes the cans, bottles, and containers under a huge magnet which pulls out tin and steel cans. The rest of the materials travel along an assembly line of workers who are assigned to select certain types of items and toss them into separate huge bins. On the other side of the MRF, workers separate the paper into bins of newspaper, cardboard, and mixed papers.



LESSON 5: NEVER put needles in your recycling bin. This should be obvious, but apparently, it's not. The workers wear protective clothing and gloves. Nevertheless, every few months, someone gets stuck.

Once a bin is full, the door opens and all of that one type of material falls onto the belt below, which carries it through another machine where it is compacted and extruded into large square bales. There are bales of newspaper, mixed paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, cans, and other types of plastics. I didn't actually see what happens to the glass, but I read in my materials afterwards that it's broken and shipped to Davis Street's glass-processing partner.





LESSON 6: Bottle caps should be removed or at least loosened. Even with the caps on, the bottles will still be recycled. But a tight cap traps air in the bottle, which makes it harder to compress. It may also trap liquid.


While a maximum 10% contamination rate is allowed, it's very important for the recycling facility to keep contamination at a minimum in order to receive top dollar for the materials. Here is a list of items that contaminate the waste stream at Davis Street. It's possible that the rules where you live might be different:

GLASS: Only bottles and jars are recyclable. Other materials such as ceramic, china plates or cups, dishes, mirrors, laboratory glassware, light bulbs, pyrex, porcelain, and window glass have a different melting point and chemical composition and will create weak points in new glass containers.

PAPER: These types of paper should not be included: candy wrappers, carbon paper, charcoal bags (because the dust makes the air unhealthy for workers), food-contaminated paper, hardcover books, napkins, paper plates & cups, paper towels, pizza boxes, shredded paper, tissues, waxed cardboard.

PLASTIC: These types of plastic should not be included: disposable diapers, foam peanuts, unrinsed food-contaminated containers, grocery bags (unless your recycler specifically accepts bags within bags), plastic cups, Styrofoam.

OTHER: Here are more items which cannot be placed into the single-stream recycling bin: Animal waste, batteries of any kind, footwear of any kind, electronic appliances, electronic toys, engine oils, fluorescent tubes and bulbs (they contain mercury), golf balls, green waste, household hazardous waste, liquids, soccer balls, stuffed animals, tennis balls, & wigs. Additionally, even though the city might accept them, Davis Street is not able to recycle Tetra Paks.

Once the materials are baled, they are ready to be sold to recyclers locally and abroad. A lot of metal is sold locally. In fact, on the way in to the facility, I saw quite a few metal recycling companies right on Davis Street. Paper may be sold domestically or abroad. According to Rebecca, the market for recycled paper in this country has been shrinking. #1 and #2 plastics can often be sold domestically, but other types of plastics are generally shipped to China. Here's a row of containers outside the MRF waiting to be loaded with materials to be sent to China:


LESSON 7: If we want to keep our materials here at home rather than shipping them overseas, we've got to support our markets for recycled goods. If we want recycled paper to be made in the U.S., we've got to buy it! If we want U.S. companies to make goods from recycled plastics rather than new, we've got to purchase those items. A one-way recycling system doesn't work. If there is no market for the recycled items, no one will produce them.

Rebecca told me another interesting thing about the Chinese market. Unlike other countries, China pays top dollar for recyclable materials and also has very strict standards for what it will accept. If a bale is more than 10% contaminated, China will send the entire container back and bar that company from shipping materials to them again for 90 days. That's a huge amount of time for a plant like Davis Street that is processing up to 400 tons of materials per day. So this is another reason it's very, very important for us to make sure we're recycling the correct materials and that they are clean.

And finally,

LESSON 8: It's better to recycle grocery bags at the store where you purchased them, if possible, than in your bin even if your city accepts bundled grocery bags in the bin. Different grocery bags are made using different "recipes." Just because they all have a #2 or #4 on them doesn't mean they are exactly alike. The plastics will have different melting points. Mixing them together can create a mess, like this block of mixed plastic that Rebecca keeps on display in her office:

Mixed bags are not worth very much. But the bags from a grocery store like Safeway or Albertson's, for example, are more valuable to recyclers because they tend to be nearly all the same type of bag. Yes, people do bring bags from other stores to the Safeway bin, but for the most part, the Safeway bin contains Safeway bags. And since Safeway knows the "recipe" for those bags, it can let recyclers know exactly what they are getting. If we want our bags, at the end of their useful lives, to actually be recycled, it's best to return them to the place from which they came.

So, those are some of the things I learned at the Davis Street MRF today. But that wasn't the end of my tour! I also got to see the garbage dump (aka transfer pit) and I learned about other services that Davis Street offers. I'll tell you about these things tomorrow.
 

Weekend radio: Trash Challenge Interview

Wednesday, I had a phone interview with Tess Vigeland of NPR's Marketplace. You know, Tess from the Trash Challenge. Today, her radio segment on the Trash Challenge included pieces from our interview. You can listen to it or read the transcript here:

Lessons from the trash challenge

The interview was quite a bit longer and included stuff about composting and why I decided to participate in the Trash Challenge to begin with. You can listen to (almost) the full interview here:

Trash Challenge: Into the Dustbin of History

Also, from the Marketplace web site:

"Be sure to tune into all the programs of American Public Media in November for a special project called "Consumed." We'll be airing an entire week's worth of stories and interviews about America's consumer culture and whether it's sustainable.

"On Marketplace Money we'll be devoting our entire show the weekend of November 17th to the question "What's wrong with trash?" We'll have stories about our throwaway habits, how tough it is to "unplug" from the marketing machine, and I'll profile a group of folks in New York City who forage Prospect Park for plants and go dumpster-diving for perfectly-edible food along 3rd Avenue. We'll also talk about the decline of the fix-it-don't-buy-it culture, and we'll visit a plant in China that imports recyclable material from the U.S. and sends it back as packaging for our consumer goods. Tune in!"

I'll certainly be interested to hear what they have to say about these issues.
 

Wait! Are you sure that's recyclable?

Since I started this project, I've run across many misconceptions (including my own) about what is and isn't recyclable. What makes the issue so confusing is that every city has its own rules about what can and can't be placed in curbside bins. Some areas require more separation of recyclables than others. Even among a few environmental activists I've met, there is confusion about recycling. If they can't figure it out, how is the average person supposed to? So, here are a few clarifications about recycling that might help:

1. A triangular "chasing arrows" recycling symbol on an item, especially a plastic one, does not mean that it can be recycled! Many, many people make this mistake. The number inside the triangle simply indicates what type of plastic the item is made from and may sometimes be helpful in determining which plastics are and are not recyclable. BUT NOT ALWAYS! For example, my city of Oakland accepts plastic narrow-necked bottles, regardless of the number inside the triangle. And that is the ONLY type of plastic that they accept.
   
   FPF reader Radical Garbageman says, "I've seen people who have completely deconstructed their old electronics and meticulously placed all of the non-recyclable hard plastic in the bin. 'A' for effort, but putting non-recyclables in the bin is just a REALLY expensive way of putting them in the landfill."



2. The fact that the word "Recyclable" is printed on an item does not mean that it can actually be recycled where you live. Manufacturers love to make their products look green by advertising them as recyclable. But if there is no recycling market for the item, and if your city will not take it, then it's not really recyclable, is it? For example, few places will accept those black plastic #1 food trays that frozen meals come in. Yet they are advertised as recyclable because theoretically, they could be.



3. Be sure you know not only what plastic numbers are accepted by your city, but also what shapes of items. The fact that your city accepts number 5 plastic does not necessarily mean it will accept anything with a number 5. For example, San Francisco accepts #2, #4, and #5 tubs and lids. Those are the types of containers that hold yogurt or cottage cheese or various spreads. But the city would not accept, for example, my little eye drops containers just because they have a #4 on them.



4. Generally, plastic bottle caps should be removed. I've heard that some facilities will not recycle the bottle with the cap left on. In Oakland, they prefer the cap to be removed, but leaving it on will not stop the bottle from being recycled. So what do you do with those caps? That's a good question. We don't want them ending up in our waterways and inside the bellies of marine animals, so we should be careful when disposing of them. Make sure they are secured in a bag so as not to fly into the street when the garbage bin is dumped. I'm trying to avoid them altogether and collecting the ones I can't for later use in a possible art project. But I realize most people aren't as extreme as I am.



5. Food containers should be rinsed out. You don't have to scrub with soap. But especially in single-stream systems, food left in containers can contaminate paper and render theoretically recyclable materials useless. To quote the May 2007 issue of the Marin Sanitary Newsletter, "Simple mistakes like letting pickle jar juice drip on your newspapers makes recycling nearly impossible."



6. Not every type of paper can be recycled. Generally, paper towels, tissues, toilet paper, and napkins cannot be recycled, whether they are clean or dirty. Michelle at Conserve Plastic Bags informed me (and Will Crowder at Oakland Recycling confirmed) that the reason has to do with the low quality of these types of papers. The fibers are too thin and short to withstand the recycling process. But these types of papers can often be composted.



7. Cardboard milk cartons may or may not be accepted for recycling. Some cities accept them, rinsed out, with the paper recycling. Other cities may accept them in a compost bin. Oakland accepts them in either bin, and according to the representative I spoke to today, they don't have a preference of which bin to put them in.



8. Other types of food-soiled cardboard or paper cannot be recycled with the regular paper, but they might be composted in areas that will accept them. Oakland allows its residents to put ice cream cartons, milk cartons, paper plates and cups, pizza boxes, and any other type of paper that has been food-soiled into the green compost bin. At the end of the composting process, the material is put through a very fine screen which filters out any plastic coatings or other contaminants from these items.
   
   Other cities don't have the facilities to allow paper in the compost bin, preferring only yard waste or possibly food scraps. Radical Garbageman suggests that when disposing of a pizza box, check and see if the top has food on it. If not, take it off and put it in the paper recycling. "Voila! Your non-recyclable solid waste instantly reduced by half!"



9. Be careful recycling plastic bags! Most cities do not accept plastic bags for curbside pickup. But in those that do, it's important to follow the procedures for proper disposal. DO NOT use them to hold your other recycling and don't put them into the bin individually. Plastic bags cause all kinds of problems for the sorting machines, jamming them up and causing delays. Scott from Least Footprint sent me this enlightening article about the trouble plastic bags can cause in the recycling stream.
   
   So what should you do instead? If your city really does accept plastic bags in the bin, they will probably have a rule that you must stuff many bags inside one bag and knot it closed so that they cannot escape. That's the way it's done in Daly City, where my office is located. That way, the people sorting the materials can easily grab out the plastic bags before they go through the machine.



10. Despite Tetra Pak's propaganda, aseptic packages are very difficult to recycle. Some cities accept them. Others do not. Examples of aseptic packages are juice boxes, wine boxes, some soy and rice milk containers, some soup containers, etc. They are containers that allow normally perishable products to be stored unrefrigerated on grocery store shelves. Tetra Pak promotes them as being better for the environment because they are much lighter than glass and therefore require less fuel to ship. They also may save the energy of refrigeration. While these things might be true, this post is about recycling, and easily recyclable they are not.
    
    Policy associate, Bryan Early, from Californians Against Waste wrote me in an e-mail, "the truth is that Tetra Pak containers contain aluminum and other materials that contaminate the paper recycling stream. Tetra Pak has a lot of literature on their method of extracting the various metals and plastics from their aseptic containers, however as far as I know there is only one place in the country that actually does that, in Florida. Therefore, if you toss an aseptic Tetra Pak container into the recycling it will probably either get picked out of the recycling stream and landfilled or will spoil the batch of paper it is recycled with."
    
    Another waste management insider told me that it's very important that cities sell the collected aseptic packaging "to the right mills -- ones whose processes are relatively insensitive to contamination." So his facility includes Tetra-Paks with their low-grade bulk papers rather than with higher grade materials and the boxes get processed. But if these containers are sold to the wrong kinds of mills, they can indeed contaminate the waste stream and end up in the landfill.
    
    As for Oakland, I got differing stories from the two representatives I spoke with. One indicated that yes, Oakland accepts them, but they are a problem in the waste stream. The other told me that Oakland doesn't accept them at all.
    
    My gut feeling is that we should avoid them as much as possible. They are, after all, made up of layers of paper, aluminum, and plastic, the last component being a non-renewable resource. And they just seem to me like more trouble than they are worth.



11. Just because a new bio-plastic is touted as compostable doesn't mean your city will accept it in the compost bin (if you have one) or that it will break down sufficiently in your small, backyard compost. Ask your facility if they will accept bio-plastics made from corn, sugar, or potato starch. These products are new and may not show up yet in the recycling guides provided by your city. Oakland's guide does not list compostable bio-plastic as accepted in our green bins. Yet when I called the city, I was told that we can in fact put the new compostable plastic food containers in there.



12. Just because your city accepts certain items for recycling does not necessarily mean that they are actually recycled. My insider also told me that single stream recyclers (those that pick up all recycling in the same bin) sometimes claim to accept more things than are actually recycled because doing that can increase the recovery rate. They figure that if folks don't have to figure out which plastics, for example, to put in the bin, they will put everything in and the recyclers will remove everything that they can use. What they can't use gets landfilled.
    
    I understand the reason for doing this. They'd rather get too much than too little. But my feeling is that understanding which items are actually recyclable might have an affect on people's purchasing decisions. If we know that a particular type of packaging is not recyclable, we might be less likely to buy it. On the other hand, if our recycling facility leads us to believe that everything is recyclable, we may end up creating more landfill waste through our purchasing decisions than we otherwise would have.

The bottom line is that we all need to be educated as to what items each of our cities and towns actually accepts for recycling and composting. This information is readily available online, usually through your city's web site. Just a few weeks ago, I helped my sister figure out what gets recycled in her town in Maryland and how she could go about getting herself a bin. If you would like help figuring out what your city will and will not accept, e-mail me or leave a comment. I am very happy to assist!

If you have time, find out if your recycling center gives tours of the facility so that you can see first-hand how your recycling is handled. This morning, I made an appointment to tour our Davis Street Transfer Station. I'll be going there on October 8, and I hope to take pictures and gain an even better understanding of what happens to the items we toss in Oakland's gray bin.

And thanks to my readers whose e-mails and comments help my own understanding of these issues. Keep them coming!

And now, for todays update on Tess's Trash Challenge.
 

Going to bed now...

I know I promised stories of fun and adventure in Disneyland. But I had to work late tonight, and I have to go in early tomorrow. So the fun will have to wait a day. Until then, ponder page 43 from the August 2007 issue of the Southwest Airlines in-flight magazine, "Spirit":


Click the image to see it larger and read the text. I'm not sure what to make of this. As I said, I saw a lot of plastic on my Southwest flight, and I saw it being collected in plastic bags. I've sent a letter to the company via snail mail inquiring into their environmental practices. Does this one page in their magazine reflect the company's thinking on environmental issues or simply those of one magazine contributor? We'll find out...
 

Reducing Plastic Waste In The Workplace

In addition to blogging about plastic, knitting animals from grocery bags, and training for a half marathon (okay, that one is kind of a fib), I have an actual job in an office. I run the accounting department of a small home care agency in the Bay Area. (What, you couldn't guess I'm an accountant from the graphs and itemized lists?) And one of the things that I noticed when I returned to the office after starting this project is that we had been tossing out an awful lot of plastic.

We have a little kitchen and make our own lunches. But the "tableware" we use is mainly paper or plastic. Numerous plastic knives, forks, spoons, and cups are thrown away every weekday, so I decided to provide an alternative. First, I went to a thrift store and purchased a bunch of cheap, stainless steel cutlery. I also bought a (plastic) basket to hold it. Since the basket came from Goodwill, I felt fine about reusing it for this purpose.

My main concern was how to present the new silverware to the group in a way that would not seem preachy and that would encourage them to use it. I decided on a low-key approach. I simply let them know it was there for anyone who wanted to save plastic and set it on the table without any fuss. The first question I got was, "Who's going to wash it?" and my response was, "If you use it, you wash it. It's up to you." Several days later, I was gratified to see a few pieces in the dish drainer, evidence that someone besides me had decided to use them.

My next step was to bring my own plate, bowl, and glass to work so I wouldn't have to use paper plates or plastic cups. I didn't provide these things for the rest of the group. It would have been personally expensive, and I figure that they could each bring their own if they wanted to, and I'd serve as an example. We do already have quite a few mugs in the cupboard, so anyone who wants to switch from plastic cups can do it at any time.

I have to say that I get a bit of ribbing for using my own tableware at lunch. I'm not sure what that's about. Perhaps some folks feel defensive or think that I'm judging them. I try not to comment about what they choose to use, but if someone asks me to get them a cup or spoon, I don't bring them the expected plastic. And sometimes that can cause a bit of eye-rolling. So I'm trying to figure out how to navigate these interpersonal waters, being diplomatic while at the same time letting my co-workers know there are options besides plastic.

After attempting to reduce our waste by replacing plastic kitchenware, I thought about ways to at least recycle some of the things that do get tossed in the garbage. I looked up the Daly City recycling department online and found out that they have a program specifically for businesses. So I made an appointment for a representative to come to our office, do an evaluation, and set us up with the appropriate boxes and bins. Now, in addition to a large box in the kitchen, each of us has our own small box under our desks.

I have to say that monitoring the office recycling program has been kind of a headache for me. I have been met with resistance. "It's too hard." I've tried bribery: If you guys can go for six weeks putting your waste in the correct containers, I'll buy lunch for the entire office, whatever you want." Still, I continue to find wadded up kleenex and paper towels in the recycling box and bottles and plastic containers in the garbage. At this rate, we'll never succeed for one week, let alone six.

Any suggestions for how I can encourage my co-workers to use the correct receptacles without pissing them all off? I need help on this one!

Once I'd made some changes in the kitchen, I took a look at my desk. Specifically my desk drawer. Recently, I read an article on Greenlivingtips.com about how much metal could be saved if people stopped hoarding coins. Well, I don't save coins. But I did realize that I am a big fat pen hoarder! I must steal them secretly in my sleep because I don't remember taking all of these pens. So how did I end up with a mountain of them in my drawer?

The photo is actually just a small sample of all the pens I had in my drawer. These are the ones no one wanted after I brought the stash upstairs to the lunch room to spread the wealth. I wonder how much plastic could be saved if people stopped unconsciously walking off with pens wherever they go. Our receptionist was thrilled that she wouldn't have to order more for a while.

And then I went a step further. In addition to releasing the stash of plastic pens in my drawer, I purchased an old-fashioned refillable fountain pen so that I never have to throw away another plastic pen again. At least, not at the office.

Fountain pens are expensive, and this one is new, so I only purchased one. The next time I have a chance to go antique shopping, I'll see if I can find a used one to keep at home and maybe one to keep in my backpack.

This particular pen is a Lamy AL-star graphit. It has an aluminum body. There is some plastic inside: the refillable converter. But it's a one-time purchase. Instead of buying disposable cartridges, which is what most people use with fountain pens nowadays, I am able to refill the converter from an ink bottle and reuse it many times.

This pen feels really good in my hand and writes well. Fountain pen ink flows smoother than ballpoint ink. It does take a little getting used to. But I'm enjoying it. And to prevent other hoarders from walking off with my expensive pen, I'm keeping it in its cardboard box when not in use, and I stuck my name on it for good measure.

So, these are the measures I've taken in my office so far. Next up on the agenda: having the company purchase a water filter for the kitchen sink so we can cancel our Arrowhead water delivered in #7 plastic containers, checking to see whether we buy recycled toner cartridges, researching the best ways to recycle e-waste, and looking for any other plastic alternatives I can find.

Here is an article that was sent to me: 50 Ways To Reduce Office Waste. It has a few more ideas. Please leave a comment about any ways you have found to reduce plastic in your workplace, get along with your co-workers, or simply enjoy your job. I want to hear your ideas.
 

BioBags vs. Plastic Bags: A Continuing Debate

In response to yesterday's post on Eco-runners collecting litter in BioBags, an anonymous commenter had this to say:

If you're planning on landfilling non-reusable, non-recyclable materials, there really isn't any point in using compostable bags to do it in. Organic material doesn't compost or properly biodegrade in landfills. It breaks down anaerobically, producing methane.

It would probably better to reuse one of those pernicious plastic shopping bags, which would ensure that its marine-life killing career would be diverted to a landfill and save the biodegradable, compostable bags for an application that will actually result in their decomposition (like collecting compostable waste) instead of just making us feel better.

I responded with a comment of my own, but I'd like to expand on the issue with a few more thoughts on why using biodegradable bags for garbage is preferable to using plastic grocery bags.

Plastic grocery bags are made from polyethylene. As far as I can tell, polyethylene has not been shown to leach toxins like other plastics, but that fact alone does not make it a good candidate for the landfill. Polyethylene is made from ethylene gas derived from nonrenewable natural gas or crude oil. And once made, it doesn't go away. Like all petroleum-based plastics, polyethylene will last many human lifetimes without biodegrading, whether we put it in a landfill or leave it out in the rain.

What is the point of extracting a non-renewable, super long-lasting resource only to use it once and throw it away? Disposable products are a ridulous waste of such a potentially useful material. The commenter suggests that we can divert plastic bags from our waterways by burying them in landfills. I have a better idea.

We should be reusing and recycling the plastic bags that currently exist. And by recycling, I don't mean creating new disposable plastic bags from old ones. While doing so might prolong their life a little bit, it's a short-sighted solution at best. There are currently markets for creating lumber out of the resin derived from plastic bags. Let's take that increasingly scarce material and build things that are meant to last. That's the best way to keep them out of the mouths of sea turtles.

And as for biodegradable bags not composting in a landfill, that may be true. But plastic bags certainly will not. And whereas petroleum-based plastic is a non-renewable resource, organic materials such as corn and sugar are grown and harvested in a season.

Now, I am not suggesting that because we can create bags and other disposables from organic materials, we should continue our mass consumption of disposable products. Growing field crops takes its own toll on the earth. I believe that we still need to reduce our waste as much as possible.

But in terms of eco-running, which is the context in which this discussion began, picking up litter on the street requires some kind of container. And if the street sweeper is not doing it, and if the only people who care about collecting the plastic waste before it enters storm drains and does its damage are a few idealistic runners with bags, then let those bags be made from renewable, biodegradable materials and save the petroleum for the long haul.
 

Point of Return: Where our recycling actually goes

I discovered this video made a year ago via the BYO blog. What really does happen to our recycling after it's picked up from the curb? Much of it is shipped overseas, when it could be better used to provide jobs and source materials here at home. Using Oakland, Northern California, and the Pacific Rim as a case study, this short film is worth the eye-opening 17 minutes!

Watch the video: http://www.ncrarecycles.org/video/video.html

Then, come back here and tell us what you think.

Also, if you get the chance, see Manufactured Landscapes, a film screening in theaters right now, which shows, among other things, what actually happens to the recycling (much of it hazardous e-waste) after we ship it to China. Michael and I saw it with some friends last weekend and were blown away by both the beauty and horror of the images.
 

A Quiz

True or False:

1) Plastics that go into a curbside recycling bin always get recycled.

2) Curbside collection will reduce the amount of plastic landfilled.

3) A chasing arrows symbol means a plastic container is recyclable.

4) Packaging resins are made from petroleum refineries’ waste.

5) Plastics recyclers pay to promote plastics’ recyclability.

6) Using plastic containers conserves energy.

7) Our choice is limited to recycling or wasting.

According to the article, "7 Misconceptions about Plastic and Plastic Recycling" on Berkeley's Ecology Center web site, the answer to all 7 questions is FALSE.

How did you do? If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions, please read the full article to understand the difficult problems that plastics create. Solving them is more complicated than you might think.
 

Eye Drops

Every night I use one or two of these tiny single-use plastic vials of Refresh Endura eye drops and then throw them away (now, in my plastic purgatory, of course.) And each night I hope as I close my eyes that the drops will work and I'll be able to open my eyes pain-free the next morning. I have a chronic condition called recurrent corneal erosion, and Refresh Endura drops are the only thing I've found, amid all the different drops and ointments and treatments that will work to keep it at bay.

Those who don't use eye drops might be wondering why they don't come in a bigger multi-use bottle that would use less plastic. The answer is that then the drops would have to contain preservatives to keep organisms from growing in them. Organisms that could cause blindness from an eye infection. Preservatives that can be very irritating and to which many people are sensitive or allergic.

So, here's a case where I think the use of plastic is completely useful and appropriate. And I think there've probably been many medical advances thanks to plastics of all kinds. Nevertheless, we should find a way to dispose of this plastic properly. Since these eye drops vials don't contain any number for recycling, I wrote to Allergan, the company that makes them, to find out. Here is their reply:

Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2007 09:54:02 -0700 (PDT)
From: corpinfo@allergan.com
To: beth@fakeplasticfish.com
Subject: Re: Message from Ms. Beth Terry (KMM600590I11L0KM)

Dear Ms.. Terry:

Thank you for your interest in ALLERGAN and Refresh Endura® (Glycerin
1%/ Polysorbate 80 1%) Lubricant Eye Drops, preservative free.

The vials are recyclable; they are # 4. Thank you for being
environmentally responsible!

Sincerely,

Medical Information Services
Medical Affairs
Allergan, Inc.
Irvine, CA
---------------------------------------

So I'll give them to Michael to put in the recyling bin at work, since they accept #4 plastic. However, I do wonder where the plastic actually ends up that goes into that bin. This is a topic I'm currently researching.

07/16/07 Update: It doesn't matter that these are #4 plastic. San Francisco only accepts narrow-necked bottles and #2, #4, & #5 wide-mouthed containers. Any other type of plastic item, regardless of the type of plastic, is not accepted for recycling in San Francisco. So these are basically landfill food.
 

Plastic Bag Ban in Oakland? Letter to Jane Brunner

From the San Francisco Chronicle, June 27, 2007:

A measure to ban plastic bags from grocery stores and other large retailers in Oakland was unanimously passed by a key City Council committee Tuesday.

The measure, which is very similar to a ban adopted in San Francisco, will be sent on to the full council next week and if approved will take effect in August.

I'm not just keeping my fingers crossed. Here's my letter to my city councilmember, Jane Brunner today:

Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2007 14:46:11 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Beth Terry"
Subject: plastic recycling in Oakland
To: "Jane Brunner"

Dear Councilmember Brunner,

I have 2 reasons for writing:

1) I read in the San Francisco Chronicle that on Tuesday an Oakland City Council committee unanimously passed a measure to ban plastic bags from grocery stores and other large retailers. The article says that the measure will be sent on to the full council next week and if approved will take effect in August.

Please VOTE FOR this measure. I am doing everything I personally can to reduce the amount of plastic waste I generate, but we need more than a few individuals like me bringing their canvas bags to the grocery store. It breaks my heart when I read about the damage that plastic bags are doing to our environment, in the oceans but even here at home in Lake Merritt.

2) I would like to know what Oakland is doing about curbside recycling of plastics other than bottles. Right now, San Francisco has curbside pickup of Plastic tubs and lids - (#2, #4 & #5). When will Oakland residents be able to put these items in our recycling bins?

Thanks in advance for your response. I look forward to hearing from you on these issues. And I look forward to meeting you at your annual Temescal picnic.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth G. Terry
[street address removed]