Comments on: Year 3, Month 4 Results: 4.7 oz of Plastic Waste

By: Office Paper

Office Paper — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:25:21 +0000

Kevin,

You can find recycle paper tape, recycled office paper and other recycled office products from here:

http://www.shoplet.com/shop-green.html

I work at this company called shoplet.com and they encourage their customers to buy recycle items. During check out, if the items you are buying is not a recycled item, you’ll have the option to swap it out for a green alternative.

By: Megan

Megan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:08:02 +0000

Through a long chain of events, I stumbled across your blog today. First thing I gotta say is YOU’RE AWESOME! Cutting down plastics to ZERO consumption is essential and you’re well on your way and encouraging/teaching others. That’s great! What I came to say though was to recommend “Cradle-to-Cradle” by William McDonough and.. I forget the chemist’s name. It’s a book all about changing global design to incorporate biodegradability and recyclability to ALL products in order to achieve complete sustainability – and end the cycle of throwing trash “away” since there really is no “away,” it all stays in our ecosystems and bodies. It’s full of great ideas I think you’d agree with and find fascinating.
Have a great day!!
~ Megan

By: Nick Palmer

Nick Palmer — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:12:22 +0000

Hi Beth,
We did have a general “bulk buy” shop here (Jersey, Channel Islands , U.K.) in the 90’s but it failed. You have got me thinking though. We do have a speciality tea/coffee shop and I already have the tea balls/infusers for my mint and herb teas so I just might make the journey in town to get some loose leaf tea.

It used to be said that loose leaf tea brewed in a tea pot was regarded as far superior to tea bag tea but they then made tea bags better so just about everyone gave up loose tea for convenience’s sake.

I’ll “go back” to trying loose tea and will report back here if we’ve been cheating ourselves of quality all these years – plus I won’t be generating polyester waste either!
Nick Palmer´s last blog ..Halloween vs the Ugly bug ball

By: Beth Terry

Beth Terry — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:27:33 +0000

Hi Nick. Thanks for making that point. Do you have access to buying tea in bulk? I buy all my tea from the Whole Foods bulk teas section in my own container. Then, I use a metal tea ball to steep it. The tea goes in the compost with no packaging waste. Is that a possibility for you.

It’s good to let everyone know about the tea bags in case they are thinking it all breaks down. Thanks.
Beth Terry´s last blog ..Jackson Browne: Defiant About Bottled Water

By: Nick Palmer

Nick Palmer — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:54:59 +0000

Hi Beth,

I have mentioned the following on quite a few green blogs and, so far, I have found out that what I mention below is virtually unknown.

It’s tea bags. As far as I know, all tea bags contain a percentage of polyester fibres in amongst the paper (so the manufacturers can heat seal them). I found out because I compost my bags in a wormery and after a year or so I found a mysterious impenetrable (to the worms) “net” like layer had built up.

Research showed what the problem was. If you compost them in a standard way the plastic “ghosts” of the tea bags are fairly un-noticeable (because all the turning compacts them) but I would know they were there. I don’t want plastic in my compost!

Nowadays, I let them cool then rip them open and pour the tea leaves into my compost caddy – sadly, I have to dump the bag. I am considering using “proper” tea leaves and a re-useable infuser to avoid this

Here’s a link to a blog post I did about this
http://nickpalmer.blogspot.com/2009/05/worms-tea-bags-and-tissues.html
Nick Palmer´s last blog ..Halloween vs the Ugly bug ball

By: Clif

Clif — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:08:54 +0000

Take a look at what my lady love is crazy about these days. These low-calorie meals come loaded with plastic and are cooked in that plastic. Not only do I wonder about the health aspects of eating food after it has been in contact with scalding hot plastic, but I wonder if ConAgra, who produces it, makes the plastic (#5) from recycled plastic stock. I am going to write them asking these questions.

By: Beth Terry

Beth Terry — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:48:15 +0000

Hi Kevin. Where are you located? I have found recycled paper tape in Canada (which is where noplastic.ca is located):

http://www.provincialpaper.com/wateractivatedtape.asp

In England:

http://www.greenstat.co.uk/storefront/Eco-Paper-Packing-Tape-P-122684

Here is an article about paper tape with some links at the bottom about where to find it:

http://blog.salazarpackaging.com/sustainable-products/sustainable-reasons-to-use-paper-box-sealing-tape/

There is plenty of paper tape in the U.S. I bought mine at a local office supply store. But whether it’s recycled is another question. I will research more when I have time. If you find it, please let me know.
Beth Terry´s last blog ..Jackson Browne: Defiant About Bottled Water

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:17:13 +0000

What is your source of recycled paper tape? Plastic tape has been something I’ve spent some time trying to find alternatives to but was unsuccessful. I’d love to replace my use of it with something paper-based.

PS: great blog, I’m a new readerand love that others share my passion for avoiding plastic

By: Condo Blues

Condo Blues — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:45:09 +0000

Do you have an Aveda nearby? If you’re looking for a place to downcycle the hard plastic milk cap and medicine cap, I’ve dropped both types of caps off for their cap recycling program. They even gave a free hand massage as a thank you. Now if only my city recycling program would hand out free massages when I drop off my paper at the city recycling dumpster..
Condo Blues´s last blog ..Blitzkrieg’s Balloon Boy Costume!

By: Barb

Barb — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:29:00 +0000

My vet is willing to take our prescription bottles; she re-uses them for scripts and whatnot. I gather animal rx isn’t as tightly regulated as human rx.

We had two very sick dogs and ran up quite a stash.

My pharmacy will also re-fill MY scripts into MY bottles if I ask.