| Search |
|---|
Thursday, 24 July 2008
Archives 2006 Environmentally Yours: Recycling
| Environmentally Yours: Recycling | | Print | |
| Written by by Evi Ecology | |
 It’s the beginning of another New Year and time for resolutions. We’re halfway through this decade and the world seems to be moving ahead quickly, leaving the feeling of more to be done than there is time. To my mind, resolutions that help our outer environment need also be ones that help to simplify our inner life, too. One simple area to consider for resolution is to minimize waste reduction year-round in our lives through considering the packaging that we utilize daily. Back to conundrum of paper vs. plastic at the checkout counter, the current answer seems to be “neither.” To gain a perspective, sixty percent of modern packaging materials are made from wood, sixty percent of all packaging is used for food and beverages, and one-third of drinking water that we consume comes in a plastic bottle. Every day, in the United States, more than 300 million hot and cold take-out beverage containers are used and nearly as many new polyethylene plastic shopping bags are distributed––one for every U.S. resident. Yes, that is every day! Just one percent of those plastic bags are recycled. Some suggestions for making a difference in waste reduction year-round include: 1. Utilize your own bags when you shop. Whole Foods has recently begun selling green cellulose bags that open flat on the bottom for easy loading. They have long handles and are strong enough for all those canned and bottled goods. 2. Reusing existing bags may be the easiest. Cut off the top of a paper bag and slide it into a plastic bag to give a strong, compact container that can be reused endlessly. And, it’s free and available. 3. Take your own mug instead of using disposable take-out cups. 4. Keep a bottle on hand for refilling water from your own filtered water tap. Ninety percent of the forty-five million bottles of water that are purchased daily are not recycled. 5. Buy in bulk. Smaller products tend to require more packaging per unit. For example, Stonyfield yogurt commissioned a study showing a 32-ounce container takes 27% less energy to produce and distribute than an 8-ounce container. 6. When eating out, eat out rather than utilizing take-out, saving all those single serving containers. A couple of enterprising women from Santa Cruz California discovered on average a school-age child using a disposable lunch generated 67 pounds of waste per school year. This led them to create an innovative Laptop Lunch System based on the Japanese ‘bento’ box. The kit comes with utensils, a drink bottle and containers that fit together. Visit their website, www.laptoplunches.com, to see their products and order a kit. Other suggestions for lunch management include: 1. Pack stainless-steel utensils instead of using disposable plastics. 2. Pack a reusable drink container instead of disposable juice boxes, juice pouches, cans, and plastic bottles. 3. Pack lunch items in reusable containers. Laptop Lunches work well because they allow for an appealing horizontal presentation. Avoid using plastic wraps, plastic bags, wax-paper bags, and aluminum foil. 4. Avoid purchasing pre-packaged items. Buy foods in larger containers and leave containers at home for recycling. 5. Pack lunches in a lunch box or backpack instead of relying on paper or plastic bags. Their ingenuity also led to a national movement to create a Waste-Free Lunch Program that includes composting, recycling and other steps toward less-wasteful and more-satisfying lunches. See www.wastefreelunches.org. Their websites also have great suggestions for appealing school lunches and a free newsletter with recipes. Every decision to act, no matter how small, that each of us as individuals make has a positive impact on our environment. So, let us all make a resolution to do our best to stay vigilant in the small things that make our world a healthy, cleaner, less polluted place. I remain Environmentally Yours, Evi Ecology Write me with your questions and comments: |
| Main Menu | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Login Here |
|---|
| Newsletter | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Copyright 2000 - 2005 Miro International Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.
Mambo is Free Software released under the GNU/GPL License.
