30 Day No Trash Challenge

Been away for awhile.....

2009-01-09T12:22:00.003-05:00

I really stepped away for awhile with this whole blog thing. I admit I got a little caught up with life and really didn't have anything "Trash Free" to post.
It is more important now to live simply then just seven months ago when I started this blog. With the uncertainty of the economy everyone seems to be looking for ways to be more frugal. Or as I like to put it "being more mindful of what we consume".
This has inspired me to start blogging again. I am going to take a different approach this time around. Instead of my entries being about me and what I am doing, I am going to search the web for cool links to other people who are doing things more sustainably and creatively. Of course along the way if I find myself doing some particularly cool I will share it with all of you.
Here is my first link to two videos. The first one is about a man who makes tiny houses. Very cool! The second video is about a great little local shop in Burlington VT (where I am from). Both videos are from the vlog "Stuck in Vermont" by Eva Sollberger. Check out her other videos too, she has some very interesting stuff.
xoxo

One-Week Challenge

2008-12-30T21:39:00.003-05:00

Sustainable Dave is finishing up his 365 Days of Trash. To mark the occasion he is proposing the challenge of not throwing anything away for one week (a week from Jan 1-Jan 15). I thought some of the readers/bloggers would be interested.

Click here to read about the One-Week Challenge.

Also he just posted a video talking about his Challenge as well.

View the Video here.

I am going to take part in the challenge since the 30 Day challenge proved to be a little too much for me. :) j

xmas non-shopping

2008-12-13T02:24:00.003-05:00

It's been a little quiet over here on No Trash and has been awhile since I stopped back in to say "hi". I'm sure December would be a hard time for anyone to do the no trash challenge, with all of the holiday hoopla that goes on ... so I just wanted to remind everyone to buy handmade!!

While yes, you can try to validate your spending at Macy's or Old Navy by saying "I'm stimulating the economy" ... it's the little people who need you more right now!!

Etsy.com is one of my favorite sites where you can find gorgeous, beautifully crafted items while having the luxury of knowing where they came from. And some of the artists really do a lovely job of packaging things. It can take awhile to find that perfect item, but is the mall really any better? Who wouldn't prefer a gorgeous hand made scarf to the same one everyone else has from the Gap? A good place to start is by looking at the "Featured Sellers". The Etsy editors also put together some great themed articles that feature pieces from various sellers, so that can be helpful too. And if all else fails, there are some fool proof gift guides.

And as for cards, why not consider a simple video this year? Save on paper, mailing, transportation costs and impress your friends at the same time. For instance, check out this video I did for my company this year.

Want vs. Need

2008-11-28T21:05:00.003-05:00

I find most of my trash comes from consuming. Whether it be the packaging on a new purchase or containers from take out.

Today was the 17th Annual Buy Nothing Day which is an international protest against consumerism.

Earlier this month I tried to buy as little as possible for a whole week. It really makes you think about using items you already have, as well as borrowing or just plain doing without. Well that whole experiment lasted one week. Then I went on a spending frenzy, buying anything and everything I was thinking about while I was on my "diet". So while Buy Nothing Day is not as extreme as what I was trying to do, it still makes a lot of sense just to take a day to reflect on really what we need rather than what we want. And really I am pretty lucky, and do not need as much as the general public would want me to believe.

For the Guys

2008-11-24T07:25:00.002-05:00

Men: Do not look at previous post if you do not want to read about periods.

Here is a post for you! (Women welcome)

CONDOMS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

I compiled some articles from around the internet (feel free to do your own search)
And these are what I found the most interesting.

1. Condom Sense: First Article that comes up on Google. Worth a read, was written in 2006.

2. Gorgeously Green's take on Red Wine & Condoms:
It’s hard to recommend an organic wine, as everyone’s tastes are so different. Best to go to a good wine seller, who buys from organic wineries, and get their advice.
Onto condoms! There aren’t really any eco-friendly condoms per se. Condoms are either made from latex, which is biodegradable, lambskin – also biodegradable or polyurethane, which is not biodegradable. Most condoms you buy are made out of latex, however, it won’t biodegrade in water – so never flush a condom down the toilet (can easily block pipes or end up in rivers and streams). The best thing to do is to wrap it up in a piece of toilet roll and put in your regular trash – its best gravesite is a landfill! Lambskin can be a viable choice, however, it doesn’t protect against any diseases- so only recommended for seriously monogamous relationships! Female condoms are made of polyurethane. So there’s the skinny on condoms.

3. Tree Hugger on Brazilian Amazon Condoms: Natex condoms are 10% more cost-effective to produce and that native latex is also more resistant for having 50% less minerals than cultivation latex.

Please post your own ideas or links to articles about Environmental Condoms. But please do not reuse!

Back On Track

2008-11-24T07:00:00.003-05:00

I have to admit, I haven't been the best blogger this site has seen. But I'm going to try my best to be more on top of it the rest of the month!

I know TrashedOut has mentioned this before, but because it is something us girls need every month, I figured it was worth to talk about again. Its a change that's as simple as changing to reusable bags from plastic and makes a big impact. *Saves money too!

Diva Cups myths dispelled.
1. They are difficult to use: Yes at the beginning it was a bit hard, but once you get used to it, you'll be thinking why haven't I done this before?

2. It is messy: "Almost every woman's initial reaction to The DivaCup is, "Ewww! That's gross!” When tampons were first introduced it took quite a while before the concept caught on. Once you take the time to learn about The DivaCup, and actually try it for yourself, you will be pleasantly surprised about how clean and NOT messy it really is. " ~ DivaCup.com

3. They are uncomfortable: You do not feel it, just like a tampon.

4. They are not sanitary: They are very easy to clean. Boiling it in water every so often. I find they are more sanitary than tampons since they don't disrupt the natural flow, and don't contain any irritants. " The DivaCup is made from top quality, healthcare grade silicone, which is 100% hypoallergenic, latex-free and odorless." ~DivaCup.com

I got mine just about a year ago. And it took a while to use it regularly. I still have tampons and pads, and usually alternate between all 3. Not this month!

Please go to http://www.divacup.com/en/home/faqs/ to have all your questioned answered. You won't regret it!

New Things

2008-11-16T22:00:00.003-05:00

So I have some new things in my life.

My first is a couple of rescue kittens. They are 5 months and 6 months old. So not tiny kittens, but they are still super cute and playful. Leo and Sabrina. I purchased flushable kitty litter, but have high hopes of training them to use the toilet (ala "meet the parents") so to not make trash at all! I gone a little nuts buying kitten toys for them but it's all good.

My second new thing is a bag. Yes a bag. Now I'm not the type who loves shopping and lives for the next biggest trend or has a closet full of shoes. But I did splurge and got this really cool bag made from old ad banners. And the straps are seat belts. I absolutely love it! I'm trying not to product place too much. The company is called Alchemy Goods "Turning Useless into Useful" is their slogan.

Easier Said Then Done!

2008-11-12T22:27:00.002-05:00

Okay, I have to admit, I haven't been doing the best job in the 30 day no trash challenge. After re-reading some posts from previous bloggers, I am ready to start anew.

One thing I'm going to do to help reduce my trash is carry around a cloth with me. My mom just gave me this great cloth that is highly durable, and easy to rinse and dries quickly. I forget the name right now, but I'll post it later when I ask her. It's the sheet of cloth, that can be cut down to different sizes and used many ways.

Lunch Time!

2008-11-07T07:07:00.004-05:00

Since using sanitary items at work (tissues, etc) are unavoidable, there are other things during the work day I do to limit my trash.

One major thing is Lunch! I use a reusable lunch bag as well as reusable containers.

I got this great sandwich case from tupperware. No more plastic baggies or tin foil!

I don't go anywhere without my reusable bottle as well. People at work call me "tree hugger" because I try to get them not to use Styrofoam by bringing in mugs. This only works when I hand them the mug. And 4 of the mugs I brought in have already gone missing. Any other ideas to encourage co-workers not to be wasteful?

Here We Go!

2008-11-03T21:59:00.006-05:00

Thank you Dayva! And thank you all the bloggers from the challenge that came before me. I really enjoyed reading your stories. I'd like to start with my inspiration that made me want to take part in helping promote sustainability.

The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard is an excellent look on how we as Americans over consume, and where our stuff comes from and where it goes when we're done with it.

A little about me: I am 25 years old, and live in Philadelphia. I work as a technician in a Doctor's office.

Challenge number 1: Work. Working in a Doctor's office, I use a lot of tissues for cleaning equipment. This is their policy, so there is little I can do except try to conserve as much as I can.

Challenge number 2: Here in the great state of Pennsylvania they only recycle Number 1 & 2 plastics, I save all of my 3-7 plastics to later take to a recycling plant.

Okay, I have to run off to work now, but please check out The Story of Stuff and pass it on to people you know. I will be back soon with another post, promise!

-Jess

P.S.

2008-11-03T10:00:00.000-05:00

Don't forget to get out and vote for President Obama tomorrow!!!!!!!

November Challenger!!

2008-11-03T09:58:00.003-05:00

Unfortunately we were dark all of October, however out of the dark comes the light!
I would like to introduce you to Jessica Sitkoff. I actually don't know that much about her (yet!) but she has been reading the blog and is up for the challenge. I don't know about you, but I can't wait to read how Jessica's month goes.
Good luck Jessica and thanks for joining the challenge!
xoxo

Are you up for the challenge?

2008-10-01T09:47:00.003-04:00

If you are interested in doing the challenge you can email me at dsavio@arn.com
If you are interested in helping to make this blog cooler and more user friendly you can email me too!
xoxo

WE BURNED THAT TRASH MOTHER OUT

2008-09-30T21:21:00.006-04:00

It's been 30 days and we don't mess around with trash. We kicked it's A**. I can't wait for my t-shirt that says so!

A few interesting tid-bits to recap the adventure...

30 Days Ago:

We made 1-2 large bags of trash per week at our house.
We made LOTS of trash during the day at work. Bad trash too. Plastic silverware, Styrofoam trays, paper towels, and many more trash evils.
We drank from straws, used paper napkins, and took plastic bags when shopping...the sin of all trash sins.

During the 30 Days:

We recycled EVERYTHING possible.
We only trashed the dog poo and a few other small items intentionally (See trash confessional post).
We gave up things we loved: tissues, gum, napkins, paper towels, q-tips, cotton balls, and more.

What we wont miss:

Composting. It is nasty, and it's totally a pain to bring to the dump. Also it gets rotten and stinky. We love you Earth, but we love the garbage disposal too.

The BEST OF The Trash Challenge

The best thing about the trash challenge is that EVERYONE around you notices how much trash they are throwing away. When you tell people you are doing this, they all of sudden realize they should not be such trash sluts.

A few shout outs:

Jamie, Tommy, and JK for not using styrofoam trays anymore at lunch and recycling their plastic pudding cups. Nigel, you only get a half a** shout out because one day you were bitchy and threw your recyclables in the trash.

Becky, because you got reusable containers and cloth napkins for lunch.

Tina, because you started recycling everything, making a difference, and spreading the word.

Linda, for getting your kids to do the trash challenge for two days!

BB, for only sending me a small amount of bubble wrap and great comment.

Kate, for the great recycle everything Real Simple list.

What next?

We plan to keep on recycling and making as little trash as possible. The tip that we can recycle chip bags was excellent.
We probably will not continue the food compost. We do have compost bins in the yard for yard waste and plan to use these.
I'll still keep taking home recyclables from my work. Each week during the challenge I had 2 HUGE IKEA bags filled. One night the cleaning people had the trash from one day in the hall. It was 7 huge garbage bags. We only have 30 people in our office. That is 7 bags a day for 30 people.

Simple things you can do:

Recycle. It's easy.
Do NOT take plastic bags at stores. Buying new shoes at the mall? Do you really need a plastic bag?
Do NOT use plastic bags when getting produce. Just stick it in the cart.
Recycle paper and cardboard. Toilet paper rolls, receipts, clothing tags, junk mail. Just throw it in a bin and take it to a recycling center.
STOP using paper towels. Seriously, it is totally do-able. Buy numerous washable cloths for the kitchen, use old t-shirts and towels that you can wash for cleaning and spills, use a cloth to dry your hands. Eating out and thinking about using a paper towel to dry your hands? Why? Just shake them dry.

And the part you have all been anxiously waiting for the Q&A Trash Session!

Q. What do you do about toilet paper?
A. We use it. Let's get real people. We don't even want to go there even for mother earth.

Q. What do you do about tampax?
A. See above.

Q. What do you do about KLEENEX?
A. I have been using handkerchiefs. Actually as gross as it sounds it's MUCH better than tissues. You no longer have to have those eye sore tissue boxes around the house. And no more throwing away all those tissues.

Q. How do I know if I can recycle ------ ?
A. http://notrashchallenge.blogspot.com/2008/09/how-to-recycle-anything.html

Q. Why aren't you chewing gum?
A. It is not biodegradable. Why don't you swallow it? Because. That's why.

Q. How can I sign up for the 30 Day No Trash Challenge?
A. It's simple, just email Trashed out at ??? Trashed Out, what is your email??? We need some usability on this blog. A big SIGN UP for the challenge button. :)

Thanks Everyone that tuned in this month.
Goodbye. Adieu. Auf Wiedersehen. Gesundheit. Farewell.
(5 trash points if you know what movie that is from)

xoxoxo Shannon & Erik

P.S. Reuben and Lucy say thanks too. See them in picture 3 above. They figured they should get some blog play since they had so much poo trash.

And in another side note ...

2008-09-27T02:47:00.008-04:00

I am moving across the country! And in the spirit of not-trashing I hope any of you who are in the Boston area will take a look at my Flickr album and see if there is anything you'd like to purchase. I will be having an "official" yard sale on the 11th-12th but this is a "preview" sale.

And yes, nice job Eric & Shannon!

Do I hear October calling?

2008-09-25T12:21:00.002-04:00

It's almost October! It is hard for me to believe how fast this month has gone by. Erik and Shannon have done such a great job posting all through September. Thanks guys!
Now who will be our challenger for October? We need someone who is committed to not only not making trash but who will also be devoted to looking for alternatives to places in their lives where they do make trash and then telling us al about it it in daily posts. Well ok maybe not daily but as often and you can. And with lots of pictures. we love pictures!
So who's it going to be?
And on a side note...
Great job Shannon and Erik you are an inspiration to us all!
xoxo

The Trash Confessional

2008-09-24T22:08:00.004-04:00

So we have been doing pretty good on the trash. A typical day we make the following trash:

two small plastic containers that our allergy pills come in
plastic wine cork or bottle caps
dog poo

So really we have narrowed our trash down to nothing. A few things that I will confess that I have done and not reported on AKA The Trash Confessional.

I trashed away a coffee filter with coffee in the office. I didn't have a container to take it home in for the compost.
I have MULTIPLE times trashed my leftover food.
I trashed a whole meal full of food and containers at Finagle A Bagel (I feel super guilty about this one).
I replaced all my tires on my car and I am hoping they old were recycled but can't say for sure.
Finally Pictured above. We are getting our floors sanded and we literally taped the whole house up in PLASTIC and TAPE. Kitchen cabinets, doors, windows, and more. To top it off the Floor men left these 3 HUGE trash bags. I will note that we will only trash the tape. The plastic we will save and reuse for painting or other house projects as they come up. It might possibly be recyclable...but that's not too likely.

Now I'll be saying my Trash Mary's.

What does your recycling say about you?

2008-09-19T12:50:00.002-04:00

Today there's a post on apartmenttherapy.com that asks what your recycling says about you.

Mine says that I get endless junk mail and catalogs, and only drink bottled beer.

How to Recycle ANYTHING

2008-09-18T11:17:00.002-04:00

I must give a shout out to my sister Kate for bringing this to my attention. This month in Real Simple magazine they have an article about how to recycle anything. Check it out http://www.realsimple.com/realsimple/content/0,21770,1835098,00.html

A few of my favorite things...

2008-09-18T09:41:00.002-04:00

The things I am missing most during the no trash challenge:

Q-Tips - I like to use these to get the mascara off from under my eyes. And clean my ears. It's hard using a cloth for this.
Cotton balls to take my makeup off.
GUM - I haven't been chewing it because it is not biodegradable.

Oh and I did have to get new tires :( I hope they recycled my old ones or else I think I broke the record for the most trash during the challenge.

Next week is going to be sooooo hard. We are getting our floors redone. We have to hang PLASTIC throughout the entire house. Sheets might be a possible solution.

Recycle those soft plastics!

2008-09-16T14:49:00.004-04:00

As promised here is a few samples of all the soft plastics you can recycle. Any plastic packaging really. Plastic that cheese comes wrapped in, plastic that the frozen pizza is wrapped in after you open the box, any and all plastic wrap, sandwich baggies... You get the idea.

You can't put them in the blue bin but most recycling centers will take them and so will many Whole Food stores.
You will see it cuts down your trash by a lot!

The Recycle Bank will reward you for recycling

2008-09-15T13:17:00.002-04:00

A friend of mine who lives north of Boston told me about the Recycle Bank, a curbside pickup service offered by his town. They give you a big brown bin, and you fill it with ALL of your recyclables, and they pick it up, sort it, recycle it, track your recycling online, and send you rewards.

Our town does not offer curbside trash pickup, so we can't enroll, but this is a great option for those towns that do.

Day 15, and more TRASH...

2008-09-15T13:14:00.001-04:00

Forgot to bring my plate & silverware to the lunchroom again.

I'll bring my napkin & plate home to compost/recycle, and put my fork in the trash shoebox.

It's Dump Day folks. Come rally round for some story time...

2008-09-14T09:20:00.009-04:00

Saturday is dump day. I figured I would walk you through what doing to the dump is all about. Enjoy!
Here is our trash from the 13 days so far. I am waiting for trashed out to give me some ideas of how I can recycle all this plastic. Most everything in here are plastic bags of sorts.

You can see the plastic bags better once I open the box. Plastic is so evil.

Here is the trash that we made this week that we cannot save until the end of the challenge. 2 dog poop bags and small paintrollers we used and the bag they came in. Yes, we could wash out the rollers etc. but it takes sooooooo much water to wash them. So we are going out on a limb here and throwing them out. But considering we just primed and painted two rooms and that is all our trash. That's not too bad.

Erik with the trash.

This is the recyclable pile. Everything we used that we will recycle. Pretty good compared to the trash pile.

Thought you might like a close up of the compost. YUM YUM.

We enter the dump. As you can see in the way left hand side of the windshield there is a sticker. You must have this special sticker to enter the dump.

Erik first heads over with some beer bottles to the section where you recycle beer bottles or anything that you can get redeemed for. Usually there are kids working here collecting the cans for some fund raiser.

We played the wii last night and my remote needed new batteries. Here are the old ones.

I'll put them in the Lead Acid Battery section.

Not for the trash. Here are the two poopy bags and brush rollers. Where will I throw them?

Here is the bin for trash . Needham residents are required to buy special yellow bags to put our garbage in. If you do not use a yellow bag then you have to pay $5 per bag you throw away. Yellow bags are not cheap though . They are about $1.50 each. You can buy like 10 glad bags for that price.

I take the risk and throw my poop and paint rollers in the pile. I really don't think I should use a whole big yellow bad just to throw those away.

The co-mingle pile. This is where almost everything else goes. Bottled water, milk jugs, plastic containers, cans, and much more. They all live here and co-mingle together.

Next I am on to heavy cardboard. Your cardboard has to fit between the slots in this bin. So for example, if it were a box you would have to break it down and lay it flat to fit.

I am recycling 2 pizza boxes from lunch the other day. My friend I ate with said in his town you can't recycle pizza boxes because they have had food in them. Is this true? Has anyone ever heard of this?

This is the paper and light cardboard bin. It's getting full.

Here are our recyclables that I will put in the bin.

You can see that bin in the back ground now. It's being lifted up by a truck to go empty it. Then they bring back a new one.

Here is the truck driving away with all the recyclables light card board and paper on it.

There is even a whole place just for good will items.

A place to donate books.

A place for metal only. Here you see random stuff. Like old bed frames and other strange things.

Sadly this area was empty today. It's one of the most itneresting to see. It's for TV's, computers, glass, gas containers , and other odd stuff. I'll see if we can't get a better pict next weekend.

Here is where garbage only goes. So when they take the yellow bags they bring it here to this building. And dump it inside. Then once they do that a machine comes and mushes it all around sort of compacting it. I am not sure after that what happens. I might try to dig into that for a future post.

If you have logs you need to get rid of.

Here is the yard waste pile. So here you can dump grass, leaves, dirt, christmas trees, and compost.

I will now dump our two containers of compost.

Done.

Nice pile of compost. And behind that is the gras that is growing over one big pile of trash.

As we leave the dump there are always people collecting money.

Signs when you leave the dump. I always like to see how many tons Needham recycled each month. Like last month they recycled 404 TONS. This month and it is only the 14th they have recycled 445 tons already (that is just because everyone is back from the Cape).

Well we hope you enjoyed the dump pictures. There is also a yard sale section, wood pile and much more. I'll try to get some more picts of interest over the next few weeks.

Cardinal Sin

2008-09-12T23:01:00.003-04:00

I won't name names but somebody brought home a plastic bag from homedepot. And it wasn't me. Shame shame.

Busy busy busy little recycling bees

2008-09-11T22:47:00.005-04:00

Well you haven't heard from us for a day because we are mastering the trash challenge. We have been busy busy busy little recycling bees and producing no trash.

Some major trash items we avoided were selling our furniture on craigslist. We sold the following: couch, chair, ottoman, coffee table, and sofa table.

Why did we sell it? We just need to revamp with new and smaller stuff that fits in the petite palace.

With an empty house we decided to eat out at the Dunn and Gaherin's Restaurant. LOVE this place and they love the paper products. We got paper napkins and place mats. Don't worry though we took them home for the recycling.

Oh and Erik did have a complete lunch fail with trash today. He mentioned something about plastic silverware and a disaster. I think he will be reporting on this soon.

Today on the menu: Breakfast Trash and for Lunch no Trash

2008-09-10T13:55:00.006-04:00

We are getting new furniture. And in the theme of recycling we are selling our old stuff on craigslist. This morning I met the guy coming over to get the furniture. In an effort to keep our dogs off of him I held the dogs. Worked great for keeping the dogs away but not so great for my outfit. Got dog hairs all over me. And this meant trash. I had to quick use a tape roller to get it off. On the brighter side there was no trash at lunch today.

Day Nine's Trash FAIL

2008-09-09T20:52:00.003-04:00

Today I ate lunch at work. I used my plate, bowl, utensils and dishcloth from home. Things were lookin' good.

Unfortunately, I had too many onions in my salad, and I didn't want to stink out my neighbors at work, so I threw them in the trash.

I've also been collecting my paper towels as I use them. Paper towels are nearly impossible to avoid at work. I keep catching myself hesitating as I reach for them to dry my hands, bowl, plate, mug, etc.

For the rest of the week, I'm going to bring my dishtowel in my pocket around the office. This will certainly cut down on my consumption, and is a likely candidate for permanent trash change.

Day 9 trash total

2008-09-09T20:37:00.002-04:00

Picture 1
All the trash so far except 2 lost champagne glasses and dog poop. I still think we can recycle some of this stuff. I need some help. Where do I find out what plastic bags are recyclable? I have LOTS of plastic in here.

Also can't I recycle the cheap-o Parmesan cheese cans? Seems like such a drag to have to throw those out.

Picture 2
I stuffed as much as I could of the trash into the shoe box. For now it still fits except the parm containers and bubble wrap.

Maybe I should compile a list this weekend of what is in here and see if you all can help me figure out how to recycle it. Like wine corks? bottle caps? plastic bags? dryer sheets?

Compost ='s PU

2008-09-09T20:30:00.002-04:00

Thought you might like an update on our composting status.

We are doing it.
I dropped one batch off at the dump last Friday and will do the same this week.
It stinks. PU.

Plastic, Plastic, and MORE Plastic

2008-09-09T20:27:00.002-04:00

Seems like the only trash I make is plastic. It's the devil. Tonights trash includes plastic that our fish was wrapped in and plastic that LUCKY magazine came in. Why in gods name they must wrap a magazine in plastic to mail to me is beyond me.

So tonights trash total: 3

Lesson Learned: Don't forget to order lunch sans silverware

2008-09-09T14:35:00.005-04:00

We switched up lunch today and hit up Finagle A Bagle. I brought my own silverware and napkins yay! I forgot to tell the lady not to give me plastic silverware, and she did, boo! Thankfully my friend needed some so it got used.

We recycled everything but the wax paper and plastic silverware. Why on earth is plastic silverware non-recyclable? For the love of god why?

MAC and TRASH

2008-09-08T21:45:00.004-04:00

The 30DNTC is hard. Don't let anyone fool you. Here is a summary of the events today:

9:00 AM
Get to work and MUST have a bagel. This was not an option. So I made a small cream cheese package trash (silver thingey in picture 2).

12:00 PM
Lunch. I made no trash! I now have the entire lunch crew on the no trash challenge. No stryrofoam trays, and recycle everything they use. The exceptions were Tommy who gets hot lunch with a styrofoam plate and plastic silverware and captain fantastic who complained about recycling . Shame Shame!

7:00 PM
Every month at work we have a team breakfast. I am making Mac and Cheese. Only now it is MAC and TRASH. First, I forgot my canvas bag so I had to carry the contents of Pict 1 to my car in my arms and pockets.

My mac and cheese recipe I have to give some respect to Jedd and his Mom's recipe that I got via Mon Mon the wife. It's blazin. However, it makes LOTS of trash.

It was a total MAC and TRASH as you can see in Pict 2. I had shredded cheese plastic, waxed paper from butter, ritz crackers wrapping, a Parmesan container and milk jug plastic. Shame shame on me!

What's cheating?

2008-09-08T13:38:00.002-04:00

Today I ate lunch out at a Korean restaurant. I left the restaurant with the bamboo chopsticks, paper wrapper, and 2 paper napkins. All of which will be composted.

Now, does that mean that my lunch was trash-free? I'm sure there was trash at the restaurant as a result of my lunch - at minimum, packaging for the produce, rice, beef, etc. that they may not recycle or compost.

For me, the 30DNTC is about me being more aware of the trash that I'm responsible for, and try to make a few changes that I'll stick with after this month.

Dia ocho de no basura

2008-09-08T09:40:00.002-04:00

Like shannon said, aside from a few non-recyclable plastic champagne and punch glasses, even a party-heavy wedding weekend can be trash-free.

That said, this weekend continues to make it clear that there are somethings that are really tricky to avoid...

Here's my top-five-trickiest-trash to avoid list:

Paper towels/tissues
Plastic bags/wrap
Straws
Bottle caps
Wine corks/caps

Clearly, I'm no scientist, but is it unreasonable to offer some soy-based alternative to some of these things?

Note: The Spanish title to this post inspired by Chad "Ocho Cinco".

Day 8 and we are kicking TRASH A**

2008-09-07T18:39:00.009-04:00

We had a great trash weekend. We brought a huge IKEA blue bag and we saved almost everything we used to be recycled and produced very little trash (sorry we forgot to take a pict before shoving it all into our recycling bins...lesson learned). The trash list includes:

Red straw
2 plastic champagne glasses
LOTS. Too many to count bottle caps (I can't imagine though these are not recyclable. Does anyone know?)
2 bags from ice. Emily, darn you and your ice ;)
Plastic bag from sunflower seeds that Erik and Nate ate during the ride (I think you can recycle this though. I need to do more investigation about plastic bag recycling)
1 plastic bag from pretzels. I HAD to eat these to soak up the wine after the wedding
1 plastic lid on a serving size portion of Cheerios

Considering the opportunity for trashing on a wedding weekend away. We seriously kicked some trash a**.

We finished up the weekend by getting all local vegetables for the week. Here is the low down on the picts.

Picture 1: Canvas bag used to get veggies.

Picture 2: All the veggies I got. If I had not used that canvas bag I could have potentially used up to 10 small clear plastic bags (onions, corn, 2 types of lettuce, apples, you get the idea) to put veggies in. Plus the plastic bags to take the food home in. My guess is at least 4.

By using my canvas bag I guess I saved a minimum of 14 plastic bags from this trip.

Picture 3: As usual you kick trash a** and then you make trash. We make lentils for dinner about 100 times a year. I guess that means we throw about about 100 of these lentil bags a year. I guess we will have to look into getting lentils sans plastic bags.

All good things must come to an end...

2008-09-07T18:36:00.002-04:00

Erik was so happy and having a blast. He even ate all his food so no food to compost. Considering we were at a wedding with a million opportunities to produce trash this weekend we had been doing amazing.

Then it happened. He got a drink and forgot to say "no straw."

All good things must come to an end and he made a little trash.

Motto to avoid compost: "EAT ALL YOUR FOOD"

2008-09-07T18:24:00.007-04:00

It's hard to bring a container to put compost in while you are at a wedding. Erik's motto is "EAT ALL YOUR FOOD." That way you have nothing for the compost.

Picture 1: My food which I was too full to finish. It was yummy, but I needed to save room for a cupcake. Umm or two.

Picture 2: Sad face with my leftovers that would not get composted.

Picture 3: Erik and his empty plate. Once again he is the 30DNTC KING.

DRINKING ='S TRASHING

2008-09-07T18:20:00.004-04:00

A toast to the bride and groom is always fun. However, we forgot as we were toasting OMG these are non-recyclable plastic glasses. UGH. That being said, we managed after a night of drinking to lose the glasses (which we did try to save to bring home for our trash pile).

At least we have a photo to remind us DON'T DRINK AND TRASH.

1 hour lunch

2008-09-07T18:14:00.004-04:00

After the farmer's market we ate lunch at this totally yummy looking restaurant called SLOW DOWN. I guess they literally meant it. They took one hour to make us the following: 2 soups, 2 lamb burgers, 1 salad, veggie chili, and a turkey sandwich. ONE HOUR!!!

Anyways, I brought home our place mats and napkins to recycle. We brought our own cloth napkins for the trip. Also pictured above.

Erik eats apple seeds. Will he grow an apple tree in his stomach?

2008-09-07T18:06:00.007-04:00

To keep ourselves busy before the wedding we head to the farmers market. Obviously you have to buy some fruit, cheese, or wine. So Erik got an apple. As he is finishing here is how it went down:

Shannon: "Hun, what do you plan on doing with that core? You can't throw it away."
Erik: "Dude, I'll just eat it."

So he did. Enjoy the picts.

Oh, and P.S. After he ate this we reminisced some childhood memories. Did anyone ever tell you when you were a kid, that if you eat seeds, a plant will grow in you? I never like that story.

Heel up, Reel up, Bring it Back Come Rewind!

2008-09-07T17:54:00.007-04:00

We have not posted for a few days because we were at a Wedding in upstate NY with no internet or cell phone connection. So I am going Heel up, Reel up, Bring it back come rewind the weekend for you. Starting with Friday. I am going to do it in a few posts so none are too lengthy. Ready...

So normally Saturday is dump day. Since we were heading off to a wedding in NY I went Friday.

Picture 1: These are the 3 bags of recyclables that Erik and I produced.

Picture 2: These are HUGE IKEA bags that I have been using in the office to collect other peoples and my own recyclables. Like 3 times the amount of what Erik and I had to bring to the dump.

Picture 3: The trash pile. This is the trash that I am going to try to save until the end for us to see how much we have made. We are keeping it in this plastic shoe bin to give you some perspective. *NOTE: this is sans the dog poop. Picture 4 which we are throwing in the trash weekly. We cannot compost the poo but at least the bag is biodegradable.

Ok off to the wedding...

Bubble Wrap???

2008-09-04T22:04:00.003-04:00

So last weekend we were at my parents house for the holiday. They loved the no trash challenge idea. They teased they would send me a package every day filled with styrofoam, plastics, and all sorts of other evil.

Well turns out I forgot my toothbrush there. Obviously I could just get a new one. But it was electric fancy pants one so I was like just ship it. We all agreed just wrap it in paper so there would be no recycling. The toothbrush arrived today and they shipped it in bubble wrap (Dad and Beth I do love you) but that was evil evil evil.

So to summarize the trash from today:

Big ass mother bubble wrap package
Had to open toilet paper so there is plastic wrap from that (and yes I know you all want to know about TP and it will be discussed in the Q&A session coming up)
Edamame plastic bag - possibly recyclable
We cleaned out our beach bag from the summer and there was a plastic handle from a little beach table we have that broke off and a plastic coffee stirrer

Shannon's total of the day = the above
Erik's = two beer caps

p.s. I just want to note that I went to the mall and bought 2 sweaters, t-shirt, jeans, and 2 suits for Erik and I am sure the only trash I will have is those little plastic things they attach the tags with. No plastic bags!

Lunch Mashup

2008-09-04T13:02:00.002-04:00

I am proud to say I made ZERO trash at lunch today. Woot! Above is a mashup of all the stuff we recycled yesterday and today. Except the styrofoam trays. Those we are reusing from yesterday. Looking forward to seeing how this mashup pile grows over the next 30 days.

Packaging - the biggest trash offender

2008-09-04T09:39:00.003-04:00

Previous posts have included discussion about the packaging that comes with consumer products. Things like boxes and styrofoam that computers, tvs, cameras, etc. are packaged in to ensure safe arrival after a long journey over land, air and sea.

Today on gizmodo, there was a post about a new HP laptop that is packaged in a cardboard box (recyclable) and a messenger bag. What's that mean? No trash.

See the post here.

Wake and Trash

2008-09-04T07:44:00.002-04:00

Wake up. Shower. Get dressed. Make trash from sticker and tag on new shirt.

Let's see if we can do better the rest of the day.

Day 3 comes to a close

2008-09-03T23:27:00.003-04:00

We have completed 3 days of the 30DNTC. Do you wonder how we do it?

Thankfully we have a recycling system already set up. In Needham we have no garbage pick up, so yes, we must bring everything to the dump once a week. FUN!

I'll keep you wondering about why and how the dump could be such chaos and fun. And believe me it is worth the pictures and wait. But for now I'll show you where it all begins. Pictured above our IKEA recycling bins. One for co-mingle (for you newbies that is plastics, cans, milk jugs, and various other plastics they co-mingle), the other is for light cardboard and paper.

I know you are all wondering:

When we remodeled the bathroom what did we do with the plaster, tile, and toilet?
What do we do with yard waste?
What about our good pal styrofoam?

Stay tuned for the next 27 days and our story will be told.

p.s. I would like to give a shout out to my friend Tom G. He asked the question: What do I use to blow my nose? Q & A session coming soon ... Do you have a question you would like to ask?

Afternoon Trash Doldrums

2008-09-03T15:17:00.006-04:00

Today was going so well. At lunch I took all the recyclables from the team and brought them back to the office to be recycled. There were milk cartons, sandwich cartons, and more. There were two Styrofoam trays which I brought back to the office for them to reuse tomorrow and forever. So I was thinking hurray I went through all morning and lunch and NO TRASH.

Then as usual I wanted to chew gum. But I am switching to mints. I go get a mint (thinking I will avoid the hot ball FAIL from yesterday). I pop the mint in my mouth without hesitating. UGH plastic wrap. TRASHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

My Perspective - A Daily Trash Savings Tally

2008-09-03T12:31:00.003-04:00

The idea of this blog has been to get to a really small number of trash - zero. That's a lofty goal. My perspective is to spin it in the other direction. I'd like to get to a really big number of savings. I'm going to keep a tally of the number of items that I have reduced in trash production.

Here at work we are spoiled with catered lunches of varying degrees of gourmet. At the beginning of the buffet line you are handed a paper napkin (fancy style) and paper plate (top-of-the-paperplate-foodchain chinet brand). At the end of the buffet line you'll find plastic utensils - spoons, forks, knives (sadly, no sporks).

My first order of business in my 30DNTC was to bring my own silverware and washable plates. I brought in a salad plate and small bowl, fork, knife, spoon, and washable towel for napkin.

Doing this alone, I figure to save the following:

5 per week
20 per month
1040 per year

EACH of plastic forks, paper napkins and paper plates by one person. Now, the numbers compound for each other person at my office that does the same...

Today's trash savings tally:

2 paper napkins

2 paper coffee cups

1 plastic fork

1 plastic spoon

1 paper plate

----

7 total

This is really the 30-day paper towel challenge...

2008-09-03T10:44:00.003-04:00

OK, 3 days in and the only official trash that I've had is a sticker from my new jeans, a handful of bottle caps, a quaker instant oatmeal packet, a plastic knife, and a STACK of paper towels.

At work, the only hand-drying (or dish-drying) option is paper towels. As it turns out, the paper towels in the bathroom are pretty budget, so I typically take 3 (single-ply tri-fold) towels to dry my hands. So I figure, I probably wash my hands more than 5 times during the day. That's at least 15 paper towels a day. That's 75 towels per week.

I brought to washable hand-towels to work today. I'll do my best to use them instead.

Day 2 comes to a close

2008-09-02T21:03:00.006-04:00

Picture 1 The trash I produced today:

Styrofoam bowl from lunch
Hotball plastic wrapper
Allergy pill wrappings
That big plastic thing. That is the packaging my new shoes came in.

Picture 2 The new hot shoes I got today:

Sorry folks but these shoes are worth a little plastic.
Special shout out to Becky F. for finding this discontinued style. She might do the no trash challenge soon. If she does she will be putting a fashion spin on it.

Picture 3 All the trash from Day 1 and 2. Some of the trash includes (but I am still hoping to find ways to recycle it):

Lint from the dryer (someone suggested giving this to birds for a nest)
A zip-loc bag which I would not have thrown away but it has a hole in it.
Wine cork
Various other plastic wrap that food came in. Most of which was organic from Trader Joe's. So I think we are going to have to start to get produce somewhere else.

Picture 4 is all the trash that Erik made today:

You can't see picture 4?
That is because he had no trash! He is the 3dntc man.

Day 1

2008-09-02T13:37:00.001-04:00

Coffee is part of most people's morning routine. The Keurig single serving machine is a convenient way for many to make only the amount of coffee they need. Unfortunately for me, this trash generator stands tall between me and the 30DNTC.

I will go without coffee on this day.

Lesson Learned: Don't forget your lunch!

2008-09-02T12:57:00.004-04:00

I forgot my lunch today. I was thinking no problem I'll get a salad at the cafeteria which I can recycle or reuse the salad container. I also brought silverware from the office to avoid plastic silverware.

I got my salad and then decided I should get some peas. So I get a side order of peas and wouldn't you know they came in a Styrofoam container. I could have died.

Anyways I took as much as I could from everyone else to recycle to make up for it. Which was two milk cartons, a paper sandwich container, and napkins.

Then I always chew gum at work. Well I have given it up for the month because it is not biodegradable. And no I am not going to swallow it. So after lunch I go to get a mint from friends in the office to have in place of the gum. No mints. So I accepted a hot ball. UGH it has plastic wrap!

This challenge is WAY harder than it seems. Thinking ahead is critical. Lesson learned for tomorrow. I won't be forgetting my lunch.

Composting? To do or not to do?

2008-09-01T20:25:00.003-04:00

We are trying to figure out. Should we compost or not? Add your comments please with your vote.

Here are some facts to help you make your decision:

We have a garbage disposal. So we could just put food down this.
The dump will only take fruits/veggies no meat or fish.
So if we do compost we can only compost SOME of our food.

Also F.Y.I. picture above is my hand which I sliced while trying to get the pit out of an avocado into the compost (that I started for the challenge). Only I never take the pit out. Our disposal chops even pits. It's bad ASS. Well I was using a wussy knife and cut my hand while removing the pit. Only during the no trash challenge...so I had to use a band aid. Stay tuned for how I figure out to throw it away!

Before and After - ways to stop trash

2008-09-01T20:11:00.003-04:00

One of the main things we use are paper products including paper towels, napkins, and kleenex. Above is the before after for one solution we are using. Before: PAPER towels (and I did love this paper towel holder. LOVE!) After: We are using dish clothes and bar mops. We already owned them but now will only use these.

Oh and for the kleenex? I am using handkerchiefs Beth gave me. Erik? What will you be doing?

It's only 11 and already trash

2008-09-01T11:13:00.004-04:00

Lucy, our puppy, had some diarreah. And it was so bad that I even gagged. There was no option but to use paper towels to clean up this gooey mess. At least the bag, poop, and towels are all biodegradeable.

Day 1 - We are ready!

2008-09-01T09:54:00.008-04:00

We are so looking forward to our first blog and as we are writing this Erik already said, "I just used a paper towel!" Other than that we are off to a great start and looking forward to a really challenging but fun month.

A few picts to show you what trash we threw out last week. We had a truck load of stuff to bring to the dump. We recycle most of it. The bags highlighted were the ones with trash.

While we were there we also grabbed a list of what we can recycle. We are pretty diligent about recycling but we want to get those 2-3 bags down to zero next week.

Oh, and that paper towel Erik just used. We will be putting in the recycling bin!

and in the dream

2008-08-31T23:45:00.002-04:00

and in the dream, i got the bouquet i ordered at the farmer's market, but it wasn't worth it. something about it just seemed subpar. i woke up mouthing words, saying to myself that it wasn't going to unfold to my expectation. a custom work that crosses the line and makes me turn money away on it's heel, a place that isn't exactly the one i wanted. details unattended to. mistexts. needing help from everyone but can't ask.
yes it may sound like trash, this life. but the flower arrangement is perfecto.

you have to order them a week in advance, but it's totally worth it. available from george at the country market at sunset beach elementary every saturday. he's the one with the hat and galoshes. grows every morsel himself. $7. bring back the container for a refill, get $2 off. it's only the best farmer's market ever! the vendors are limited in that all items must be made in hawaii. with tons of talented artists to boot...

i have made two exciting sales in the past week or so...to wonderful people on the mainland through my website.

^^^detail from Pine Boxes and Pillows

^^^But None to Drink

But None to Drink is a prediction about the lack of sustainability in this complex world, referencing the widespread water shortages and inspired specifically by the drought in the southeast last fall. the one that finally killed the well on my family's land. a memory from childhood, the crackled surface of dried up mud in the driveway, rust.

Pine Boxes and Pillows goes in a different direction. more layering and patterning, more personal. a postmodern assessment of the traditional concepts of gender being abandoned, yet all we are left with is a power struggle. and we all lose. but we do not move, don't even budge. and then we're found inside a window, inside a box. but not in the ground, the way it would have been had we followed you.

i am drawing a line here, connecting some dots. i am forging a connection here, the connection of understanding our roles and responsibilities of showing appreciation and respect: as human beings to one another, and to our environment. 'the personal is political' see. (c. hanisch, 1969)

ok so here's the bottom line...
i got some trash here, right here.
a month's worth. this is it.

gonna try to do something with these items...i must admit, i'm astounded. there's not even enough stuff here to fill one grocery bag! and hey maybe these things are recyclable in your neighborhood. a lot of these items were marked with that possibility, but as i probably mentioned 82 times, the islands are limited. so this is what i might throw out tomorrow, or the next day in case anyone has any ideas of how to reuse. and some of it i will rip or cut into tiny pieces and add to the pulp on my next papermaking day.

the rest of my 'leftovers' are a bit more inspiring though...

a bag of lids,

and some other dope raw materials...

i can't wait to see what's next...

THANK GOD SEPTEMBER IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!

2008-08-29T02:20:00.002-04:00

just kidding, it's not that bad. hi it's me jess again and good lord i am TIRED. commuting, using up all that petrol, working workin workin! i've been bad, it's true. the other night i got home after some 12 hour day PLUS drive time and i totally threw out the *horrors and shivers* styrofoam coffee cup from zippies that my well-meaning and wonderful customer bought me that morning. AND this afternoon i bought steak plate from malama which totally comes in a stryofoam standard container. what is going through my head??? why did i not have my coffee cup with me that morning? why did i not bring a container with me to malama? well, all i can do is try to do better. and i keep laughing at myself for these little breakdowns. i mean, before this challenge, making trash was just a part of life. now it's something i'm overly concious of and conscientious about, which is a huge improvement, and not likely to change just because the end of the month is looming.
so.
i totally found a place to live. and it's close enough to my new workplace that i can easily walk. i timed it today, it's between 1o and 20 minutes. signed a lease and everything! so that's good news. i'm trying to start packing, but again, have i mentioned i'm a wee bit tired?
an extra special thanks to dayva and ashley for helping me pick up the slack! i am excited about the breaths of fresh air they are infusing into this blog, new challengers and good information!
will anyone mind if i continue to post the artwork i'm making from recyclables? i have a feeling this is a theme that will be hard to escape, and i would love to share the progress i hope to make once i have a more dedicated studio space (in town!) woohoo!
oh! and i heard they completely banned plastic bags on maui. we're making progress out here slowly but surely it seems...

SEPTEMBER IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!!

2008-08-27T12:23:00.003-04:00

The only good thing I can see about summer coming to an end is the start of a new monthly challenger!!
Jessica has been amazing all through July. So many interesting and crafty ideas to help reduce and re-use.
With only a few days left in August I wanted to introduce our September "No Trash Challengers".
Erik and Shannon Bator from Needham MA. These two have been reading the blog since day one and are ready to join in on the fun.
I can't wait to read their posts!
Thanks to everyone who is helping make less trash in the world, keep reading!

Dummies Guide to reusing bags

2008-08-27T00:09:00.004-04:00

Ashley here (July "challenger"). I don't at all mean to intrude / interrupt Jessica's posting (which has been fabulous!), but I just came across this video on Dave's blog over at 365 Days of Trash about reusing bags and it is really helpful and down to earth and I wanted to share it. Plus, he has driven a good amount of traffic over here so this is our way of saying thank you!

Please enjoy. He gets to the good part—how to tackle dog poop bags, coffee bags and other things— toward the end so hang in there!

And if you enjoy this, be sure to check out his website where he has posted another video, "How to Cut Out Single Use Disposable Items". Essentially, this is a starter kit for people looking to go trash-free. Really helpful. He even throws in some interesting facts (which I always love), such as the fact that last year, Starbucks gave out approx 52 billion disposable cups! That's insane.

the first day of the last week...rubbish reused!

2008-08-24T20:09:00.005-04:00

aww look at this little coziness at faith's house...this town thing might not be so bad. especially since it seems like i have already found the perfect new place! hold your breath for me that everything goes through! although i will miss this...

but the trade off is grand; a world of possibility, and so many new exciting creative minds...

what a great idea right! one of my new friends / co-workers makes these books, and they are perfect! seamless craftsmanship, and mine is already filling right up with notes and graphs and sketches and appointments and directions and such...the things you can do with trash and a long armed stapler...

...

^^^

so even with the new job that started right away, the apartment hunt, and my business being really really busy, i as well managed to make some new art out of trash! from this piece, i already got quite a spendy commission! pretty exciting. i love what one gentleman said about this piece when i displayed it with some other artwork on saturday, "now that's intelligent." and a little girl asked me if it was a map. my heart might burst from all of this great feedback. i have a lot of raw materials still to work with, tons of little scraps are piling up in my studio to be reoriented into artwork. but this week is gonna be rough on me. probably moving, first day of school is thursday, and i need to work every single day through the end of the month! still, i will find the time to rinse all of that would-be-trash; even if i don't make all of the trashy art this month, hopefully i can find a way to share it! and even with the move, i think i can pull off some sort of sustainable something to be proud of. junkraft comes in this week! how exciting!! don't forget to check their progress, http://junkraft.blogspot.com/

warning

2008-08-20T20:15:00.004-04:00

i am about to fail miserably on this challenge! i tried desperately not to get this new dream job, even putting the wilted lettuce from the starbucks sandwich in my pocket (oh horror as if i didn't smell bad enough after bike riding town and blowing glass all day.)

but alas now i am gainfully employed as a teacher's assistant by an amazing glassblowing program at a very prestigious school in downtown honolulu. good lord! my life is really changing! it's been the same for SO long! so i need a new place to live, pronto. preferably in makiki, and preferably a place to myself. come on world, cough it up! cause literally i am about to have to financially. dayva, i so wish i could just move into yours and faith's old place!

anyways, but i...how in the EFFF am i gonna move and not make trash??? any tips kids?
and whoa my time just got so limited. now i have to operate my business, start a new job, and make no trash. wish me luck!

rough week

2008-08-19T04:50:00.003-04:00

ok i'm past halfway. i think i can do this.

crazy Crazy week. my life is up and down, highest highs lowest lows. the low is bad. my car!! you don't even want to know. but something amazing is happening too...

so i'm quick to admit that this completely trash free thing is totally impossible. it's not normal. i'm already weird enough k! going anywhere where they have anything is completely productive in the trash department. so anyways, in a place where not much is recyclable and most of that recycling occurs elsewhere, i am truly trying to find some sort of "trash self-sufficiency." perhaps trash truly can be a part of my repertoire as an artist! this idea about the art i want to make is huge and all consuming...people are digging the wallets i'm starting to make, and are wanting to see bags. i need to go get a respirator, even though i kinda like the smell of warm plastic. but i have a whole other idea...wanta see where i'm at now? getting closer...it's just a rough sketch...but just wait.

stitching this recycled paper (next batch i'm gonna add some blue felt and see what happens) to fused plastic to create contours of silhouetted landscapes and cityscapes with lampworked flowers stitched on, stretched on canvas. oh my lord where did this idea come from???
from this blog. i'm so excited.
even though this

looks rather daunting.
it's not. it's not even that much! just the 2 bags in the middle. and most of it i can turn into recycled paper or plastic fabric.

but. there is one serving of mac and cheese i couldn't finish in the back of the fridge, along with a half thing of kidney beans, and half of some costco size thing of ham in the lunch meat drawer. should i let them sit in there till the end of the month, or make some trash? and speaking of costco and trash, today i was so starving there was nothing else i could do but shove a slice of costco 1.99 pizza into my system. my friend was like arent you going to blot the grease off that and i looked horrified, 'but i don't want to have to carry around that napkin.' so i ended up with some spurt of grease at the end that fell onto my face. sick!!!!! but i just went to the bathroom there and washed my hands and face and used no paper towel and instead used the extra water on my hands to style my hair. and i rolled up the paper plate and foil and carried them home for some washing and reusing. (don't tell, but i am so very tired of washing and reusing).

now i know this sounds crazy, but i still have a job! so forgive me for spending some time with this...

saving my glass scraps for some future meltdown fusing extravaganza...

and wondering if my days on the north shore are suddenly numbered...

paper or plastic

2008-08-13T00:39:00.002-04:00

is this what armageddon looks like?

"and i'm knocking on the doors of your hummer, humma..."
i must admit my vision of the future is bleak, at best.

but what if this garbage is just a blossom, and from it comes some wild fruit...

fusing plastic is totally addictive. for a tutorial, check http://etsylabs.blogspot.com/2007/05/long-overdue-fusing-plastic-bag.html
or check with me for availability, because i have, oh, a million and one ideas about this. it's like layering paint, only it's plastic! it's like a collage only it lasts. and i have always made wallets, it's just that before i used scraps of tyvek. this is waaaay better. $20 who's got $20 right!

yeah i know, i'm all blingin with my love's bakery supercuts granola wrapper wallet. don't hate!

>paper or plastic<

^^^^^^tell me what to do about this...is this awesome like this? should i stitch it up and hang it like a quilt? should i paint or draw on it? add tiny glass trees to it? sandwich it between sheets of glass and build a frame? i've been staring at it all day. this is the majority of the trash i made during the first week and a half of this month, mostly single ply boxes into handmade paper and plastic bags into fused plastic composites. i love it. if you would like to learn how to make handmade paper, check
http://www.pioneerthinking.com/makingpaper.html

hot dogs, chicken tenders, pepperoni, sausage, yeah basically i'm just eating processed meats so i don't have to throw out no bones. this meal was great. i saved the single ply pizza box for the next papermaking, put the corrugated underthingy in with recycling, reused the plastic as fused 'fabric,' and all of the veggies came from the farmers market so there was no packaging there...

the only thing i've thrown away at all recently is the disgustingness of the dish drain after doing dishes. that's it. i'm saving everything else, and either gonna find a use for things, or figure out some way to send things to be recycled. it just seems like the carbon footprint to send things to the mainland for recycling would be too huge. but i really don't know how i could reuse these stupid things, like what maybe i could use this empty shaving cream can as a pretend microphone in the shower? i don't think so...and the lids and bottlecaps are adding up too...

something stinks and it's this

2008-08-08T09:37:00.000-04:00

woke up this morning to the sound of a garbage truck, checked on paper pulp peeyew that stinks. now i'm about to evacuate my house because that rumbling truck noise i've been hearing outside is producing some toxic smells, in the form of an apparent cesspool pumping. it's all about the glamour baby.
i will be driving to wal-mart to make some very important, allbeit trash producing items. the list includes an iron, an ironing board, some parchment paper, and a blender. then a little stop at ace hardware for some window screen. hopefully by the time i come home, it will be time to convert some of this stink into beauty (and that noxious beast of a truck will be gone).
an extra special thanks to ashley and dayva for not only the props but also for the ideas! priceless...

cement and plastic sittin in a tree

2008-08-07T12:30:00.001-04:00

in the beginning there was a new beginning...more than just some empty nest. more than just walking on eggshells. we saw so many eggshells along that path...

how can people not appreciate this planet, in all of it's fragility...

too bad my dad and brother didn't get to share in the family fun this past week. i wish my brother didn't have school and work, and that my father didn't hate plane rides and / or hawaii. see hawaii really does suck as far as hiking along trails and seeing trash. dad, i don't think i can do much about getting rid of the sand that you hate. sorry. i understand cause i inherited a little bit of your irritation with grit on the floor. but now i'm hooked on picking up litter, at least. a tiny little impact one person can have, but i can see it, and that matters! maybe one day people here will take the trash out of the woods, and off of the beach instead of vice versa.

now this is weird.

i'm gonna put the trash out tonight. there's still a lot in the thingie but i do have a roommate and i did have houseguests, and it smelled like a lot of it was from before. yum! later today, i plan to ride my bike up the way with the recycling because this...

...is useless. more of a yard decoration than anything actually getting used. why did they even bother to put these at people's houses if they don't actually pick up?? do they?
anyways, it's no problem. i need to take a bike ride, i have orders to drop off at the post office, and i should give my little economical car a break for a second.

^^^
glamour shot!

sorry world but i do love having a car! i just only like to use it for adventures and work. that's it. errands, little visits to friends can easily be done by bike. i love being utilitarian about the bike riding, combining responsibilities with exercise just makes good sense.

kerplunk is the sound of the lilikoi hitting the ground, i have a second ear for it like i do for the postal truck.

here is the neighborhood compost pile! i took all of the compostables out of the freezer and walked with my neighbor, emily, for the first dumping. yup you just throw it right here. smells pretty rich!
composting is easy, just don't put any meat products out there. eggshells are good though.
you can bring a shovel and bury things, or you can come back later and watch the birds have a feeding frenzy. i would recommend the latter.

composting was immediately rewarding. not only did i discover a breadfruit tree on the property, i also found a small broken purple plastic star with a smiling face. awww. i LOVE trashed toys, and have quite a collection of funny things from my walks into haleiwa. near the school i always find the best stuff, like calculators that have been run over. this was one of the best parts of being carless for 8 months last year. my collection just grew and grew.

ah yes i found a use for that brown cow container already!

i'm gonna make paper. now all of the paper or cardboard i can't recycle will find a new home. not really sure exactly how to do this, although i've made beautiful paper before...for now i'm just soaking some would be trash in water, and thinking. something about creating the packaging for the artwork i make. anything. some way to use this crap.

rinsing bags, and thinking.

this is all going to add up soon. all of these things i cannot throw away. i don't want to make junk art! it always looks, well, junky. plastic bag wallets with bottlecap details? i don't know what to do. weave plastic bags? how come i can't recycle these things?? this is gonna make me crazy.

^^^
pop quiz:
which one of these bottles can you recycle?

soft sucks!! soft squishable containers do not have a recyclable emblem on them, and the symbol on the hard plastic one was almost undetectable. i had to fully take off the lid. just so you don't have to, it's the one on the left.

air dry.

dern. why'd i have to notice a plastic bag floating way far out. made for some good exercise, specially since that was all it was. once i got out there i realized it was a plastic milk jug and it was attached to ropes and nets. *sigh* at least other people are reusing too!

shake it baby show me what you workin with

2008-08-05T15:30:00.007-04:00

i did this just as much for you as for me! i can never remember what they accept here as far as recyclables. it's limited, it is. once my family leaves, i plan on doing some research about recycling within this state. i've always heard rumor that it's pointless out here, that there is no facility that actually recycles so all this sorting is in vain and everything ends up in a landfill. i have a hard time believing this, especially with foundations like kokua and the schools being involved. i feel like i'm about to be an artist moonlighting as an investigative reporter.

speaking of being an artist, i also have another project lined up for myself for this month. i sell my glass artwork through two sites, etsy.com and ebay.com. i have usually favored etsy, but i recently learned that ebay will donate percentages of profit to the foundation of your choosing. there are a few designs that scream for this: the bonsai tree designs i make need to benefit the environment and the heart designs need to benefit victims of domestic violence.
i already feel quite fulfilled by my career on so many levels, but adding this donation option will help me feel like these little glass things are serving some greater good.

here's something delicious i whipped up for my mom, sister, and roommate the other day...starfruit, apple banana, mango, pineapple, and banana lilikoi...all from local farmers, and from our own harvest (my raw foodie friends should be very very proud). the optional drizzle of yogurt did come from the grocery store but at least it was brown cow cream top and i always reuse the containers for paint when i do murals.

by the way, i'm pretty proud about the lack of trash from the past few days. sunday the waiter at cholos was too efficient and whisked away my plate before i could hide the paper napkin and tiny plastic container from guacamole in my purse...something great i've been noticing is that i keep on joining the clean plate club! especially when we have gone out to eat, i'm ordering with more conciousness about what is the right amount of food. it would be okay to have leftovers, because one of the best changes that has occurred in haleiwa town since i moved here over 5 years ago is this: styrophobia. to go containers are no longer epidemic! check www.styrophobia.com for more information.

another cool blog i came across: lifeonplasticearth.blogspot.com
katie is making me consider things i never paid much attention to. packaging and plastic are everywhere! and, she may be interested in trying out this challenge as well. exciting!
a cool site that she turned me on to: www.cosmeticsdatabase.com

guilty admission: i ate something off a paper plate yesterday before i thought about it. and i went to the movies and had quite a bit of the popcorn and soda my mom bought for us all. enough to feel like 1/3rd of the waste was mine:(

next up, composting! i'm learning so much during this crash course...

10 steps forward, 30 steps back!

2008-08-03T15:10:00.006-04:00

sooo...here goes...hi i'm jessica landau and yes, living 30 days without making trash is gonna be hard. crazy. next to impossible.

Day 1:
just like any other, except for in the morning when i wake up to my hair falling out (don't panic i have a lot of hair and it always does this), i did not use a scrap of toilet paper to remove it from the sink and throw it in the trash. instead i scooped it with my hand and threw it out into my front yard for the birdies to make a nest with...
and speaking of TP, well, here goes:
my mom and sister are visiting me in hawaii right now. less than ideal time for me to take the challenge in some ways. but the bottom line is, if i waited around for the right time to go trash-free, it might never happen! mostly i worry about us eating out which is something i don't usually do much of. so on august 1st, when we decided to take a hike up the hauula loop trail (aka day 1), i decided to pick up all of the trash i saw along the trail to make up for any i might make along the way during this challenging month. i found interesting bits of plastic and just a whole bunch of cigarette rubbish, remnants of contraband, bottles, cans, the usual. feeling so green and proud right! until, Until...we were taking a break in a windy spot with drop-offs on either side and sitting down, i was rifling through my backpack for the sandwiches someone wanted when the entire brand new still in the plastic roll of kirkland toilet paper rolled out and tumbled straight down the cliff!!! dern.
well, at least the rest of the day was completely trash free. oh yeah, except for that lambchop bone from my dinner *sigh* i know i know what is a non-vegetarian doing even acting green. plus i don't know any dogs that might want such things. can't compost that! but at least we ate at home and composted everything else...

Day 2:
quite the grumpy day with an early morning and a tiny bit of trash collected during the assembly and sale of several pieces of art. i won't get into it, but i did save these little odds and ends for future photographs (unlike that lambchop bone, and / or that dirty der mess of trash from the hike which got recycled and / or thrown away)...my mom went out for the evening to a religious meeting with her friends here, and my sister and i enjoyed our only evening of "just us" for probably the entire year. merrh. she wanted to eat an avocado burger at kua aina in haleiwa, the town in which i live...so we made a deal to split the burger, fries, and drink with me paying for the half that was food and her paying for the half that was trash. yes, i know this is cheating. i am reminded of something from an earlier post in this blog, perhaps in the dayva days, something about you pay for it now or you pay for it later. or who are you cheating when you cheat on this challenge...the earth.
well i guess i'll make up for this one later. perhaps since this is a 30 day challenge, and since august has 31 days, i'll not kill myself over the slip up!

sky, land, and sea.
oh man i gotta do better today!
oh AND
check these guys out...
www.junkraft.blogspot.com
coincidence that they are aiming for hawaii?

We have an August Challenger!

2008-08-02T10:08:00.004-04:00

I know that Dayva was ready to take the blog on again for the next month, and I hope she still shares the "starter kit" with us, but I'm excited to welcome Jessica to the Challenge! Jessica is an artist located in Honolulu, Hawaii, and will be our August 30-day No Trash Challenge participant! You can check out some of her glass work for sale here on Etsy.

Good luck Jessica!

August 1st

2008-08-01T10:34:00.002-04:00

Howdy No Trash Challenge readers! I am back and in full effect... That is until some one new decides the are up for the challenge. Big thanks goes out to Ashley for stepping up last month and doing a most fabulous job! She made this blog look better than i ever could.
Sadly no one has come forward for August yet (no worries we have someone for September)so I have decided to keep posting for all of our loyal readers.
This week I will be posting a No Trash Challenge starter kit. I will post the items and you go out and find them,buy them,borrow them, whatever. This will help you get started with a bang and maybe encourage more people to join the challenge. Also to sweeten the pot I am working on some special limited addition t-shirts that will be yours free but only if you complete the 30 challenge. Exciting right?!
So keep reading and stay tuned.
xoxo

Last day ~ Coffee Filters

2008-07-31T13:05:00.000-04:00

My Mother, who has so diligently followed along with my blogging over the past month, has changed some of her habits! So I feel like my 30 days has been successful—even though I didn't do the best job with the challenge—because I know this has had a positive influence somehow. She is now recycling, composting food scraps and saving dryer lint in paper towel tubes for kindling! (but WHY she's still using paper towels after this post confounds me! That's one of the easiest switches to make, Mom!)

Anyway, she asked me the other night about whether or not you can compost coffee filters.
The answer is YES, you can compost the filters right along with your grounds—which compost piles LOVE. Some people out there have mentioned that the filter paper is bleached—but if you're already drinking coffee that has filtered through this paper, I don't think that's something you need to concern yourself with.

But I would suggest looking into bleach-free filters since I am SURE that the processes by which the bleached filters are made do absolutely nothing good for the environment.

Even better, get yourself a RE-USABLE coffee filter. Aside from the obvious benefits of saving money and creating less trash—you'll never wake up to make your coveted cup of coffee just to find that you've run out of filters!
There are many options out there and they'll run you around $10, give or take. They include filters made from hemp, cotton and metal mesh. From what I've read, they're all easy to use. Just rinse between uses. And you're probably not going to notice a difference between these choices unless you are a coffee connoisseur.

3 days left to accept the challenge

2008-07-28T21:28:00.002-04:00

It's time for me to pass the blog! Who's going to step up? It's actually a lot of fun~I swear. I'm going to miss the blogging part the most. I had a really great first week but after that, it was all downhill. I wish that when I accepted, I had known about the huge photoshoot obstacle. I'm disappointed that I didn't find a better way of handling that. Live and learn. On my next shoot, I'll be on the Big Island of Hawaii and hopefully able to take advantage of the great farmer's markets they have all over the place there. Also, I plan to stay a bit longer and camp on my own, so I hope to be much more low-impact than that last trip. But coming back from eating poorly, fueling up on iced coffees and being surrounded by strip malls and take out (at least in La Quinta, CA), also made it hard to get back on track when I returned. It's so hard to go from eating badly every day to eating fruit and salads. Detox!

Weekend trash report & the MBTA

2008-07-28T20:25:00.003-04:00

I'm happy to report that I had a fairly trash-free weekend.

On Saturday, I had a lazy morning, then took the commuter rail from Boston to Manchester-by-the-Sea on the North Shore. It's a charming little beach town with an equally charming beach called Singing Beach. Ahhhh. It is named for its unusual sand, which squeaks or "sings" beneath your feet.

I took my bike with me on the train, knowing that the walk from the train stop to the beach can be a bit of a schlep. It's not far, but on a hot day, with your beach tote in tow, it can be a drag. Plus it was just a faster way for me to get to the train station in the first place. However, upon boarding, I found that the train was not equipped with bike racks. So myself and the other 10 biker owners had to awkwardly maneuver our bikes to "sit" on the seats. The train attendant explained that the "bike train", which has one car lined in bike racks, departs at 10:15 (I was on the 12:15). Oooh I'm sorry. So I'm trying to save money and gas and the environment by riding my bike and taking public transportation but you can't accommodate that? I love it. The MBTA encourages you to use public transportation but then asks "why don't you just bike the whole way?" Meanwhile, the car was empty aside from the people with bikes. So why is it that they can't convert more trains to be bike-friendly? Typical MBTA. I'm sure they'd be really pleased to have their seats all torn up from our gears and pedals. And they're losing money this way—I got a free ride—I think the attendant felt bad because he knew it was so inconvenient and frustrating. I'm sure the MBTA will hear about this one way or another. There were some pretty pissed-off people. Don't mess with bikers!

Old Clothing

2008-07-24T19:10:00.005-04:00

Tonight I might start cleaning out some old things. I think I am missing a purse - I seem to think that I had a silvery-gray purse ... but now I'm not sure if it was just one that I almost purchased! Either way, that's a sign that I need to clean out my closet!! (or that I'm losing it, but I'd prefer to go with the former).

So what should I do with all of the unworn things I am sure to dig up? Trash 'em? No way! Here are just a few ways in which you can recycle your used clothing.

1. Consign items with a Consignment Shop
For the items that are still in really nice condition—i.e. no stains or rips—bring them into a consignment (second-hand) shop! Consignment shops are a great way to earn money back on your old pieces and to give someone else—perhaps someone less fortunate or just plain stylish and resourceful—a chance to snatch them up. Usually the final selling price is split between the store and the consignee. It's usually a 50/50 split but find a shop near you and check out their details. And of course call ahead to see if you need an appointment.

2. Hold a Clothing Swap party!
Have you ever heard of this? A couple of years ago I hosted one at my house. It was a lot of fun, a great way to get the girls together, and to get some things cleaned out of our closets! I invited 10-15 girls, asked them each to bring approx 2-10 items to swap and I provided some drinks and appetizers. It was great fun and everyone went home with something. Anything that was left was donated to charity. I sent invites via email—I used a sweatshirt to compose the letters S-W-A-P on a concrete floor, took photos and then collaged them in Photoshop. Actually, writing this has inspired me to try to host one again!

If you aren't into hosting your own, it has become a bit of a "movement" and people are hosting larger swaps all over the place. Just do some surfing on the interweb to find one near you. I attended one in Cambridge a couple of years ago where there were piles and piles of donated clothing and some re-making going on as well. I found some great stuff!

Punky Style is actually hosting a swap August 5th in Worcester, MA. I'd be down to go except that I'll be getting ready to go to Hawaii then!

PunkyStyle.com’s First Annual Clothing Swap
Lucky Dog Music Hall, 89 Green Street. Worcester, MA
August 5th, 2008 7:00 PM

3. Tear 'em up for rags
Rather than using paper towels or purchased cleaning rags to clean up dirty messes, wash the windows, dust, etc.—rip up some old clothes. Old t-shirts are great but really anything cotton works well.

WHO'S UP NEXT?

2008-07-24T17:45:00.002-04:00

CALL TO ALL READERS ... who wants to take on the challenge? You have a week to step up! I have a hard time believing that there's no one out there who wants to challenge themselves to be more environmentally friendly :)

Trash to Treasure III

2008-07-24T17:32:00.001-04:00

Ever wondered what to do with all of your used post it notes? Living in a rented space and unable to paint? Perhaps this "Wall of Notes" can provide some inspiration for a new home design project!

Next up are these fabulously remade vintage chairs by Annie Coggan. As she notes on her blog, each chair was "rescued from a yard sale or an antique shop where it sat by itself" and then reworked into the amazing pieces you see here. Beautiful. Genius.

And lastly, I wanted to share another piece of brilliance, this one by Jeremiah Pasternak of Pasternak Antiques in Rockland, ME. He took a vintage Bertoia chair and reworked it by adding approx 1500 hand-cut strips of scrap craft foam. Makes for a very Dr. Suess-esque piece!

So where can you get something to work with?
How about heading out to the Grafton Flea Market this weekend (if you're in the Boston area)?

OUCH.

2008-07-24T16:42:00.002-04:00

My feet hurt! Darn shoes! And the pair yesterday and the day before aren't even new! But they still tore up my feet. Today I'm wearing sneakers but because they still hit at the same place as one of the other pairs, I needed more bandaids. Lots of garbage. :(

my garden : mi jardín

2008-07-21T01:15:00.005-04:00

Lots of green!
When I began this challenge, I believe I told you about my garden. Well I have an update! Nothing is ready for harvest yet (aside from the herbs), but soon I will have an abundance of organically grown tomatoes (3 kinds), peppers (red, orange and yellow), cucumber and lettuce.
I'm not sure why the lettuce is taking so long ... I thought it would mature in 2 weeks. Maybe I planted too many seeds in each hole. They are sprouting but I thought they would be in my tummy by now!

The reason why most of my things are planted in pots is because of the suspected lead in the dirt in this area. Next year, hopefully most of my dirt can be supplied by my compost!

I'm lucky to have this space to garden in an urban area ... but even if you aren't afforded this luxury, you can still grow some of these things indoors in pots by windows. Or if you're really ambitious, look into building your own indoor greenhouse!

Recycled glass 2

2008-07-21T00:11:00.004-04:00

Speaking of recycled glass, my friend L who just bought a house with J, introduced me to Ice Stone, a sustainable surface material made from recycled glass and concrete. Not only is it gorgeous, but it's the first and only durable surface in the WORLD to receive McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC)’s coveted Cradle to Cradle™ certification.

{picked up from the Ice Stone website} Cradle to Cradle™ assesses products on a number of criteria, such as the use of safe and healthy materials, design for material reuse and recycling, efficient use of energy and water throughout production, and instituting strategies for social responsibility. At IceStone we manufacture our products with 100% recycled glass in a cement matrix, diverting hundreds of tons of glass from landfills each year. We operate out of a renovated, day-lit factory in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, creating U.S. jobs for workers in an eco-friendly, safe and respectful environment.

So if you're looking to renovate your kitchen or bathroom anytime soon, check out this product! It could also make a great surface for a coffee table ... take a found object as a base, throw a slab of this on top and wha-laa! Hello conversation piece.

Recycled glass

2008-07-20T19:59:00.004-04:00

Although I've gone a little off-track with my no-trash month, I still want to keep up the blogging and share a few things with you from my trip. But starting tomorrow I'm going to try to get back on track. I still haven't heard from anyone as to who's going to step up to the challenge for August!! Who's it going to be?!

While in Mexico, we had the opportunity to visit the glass factory in Cabo San Lucas. I've seen glass blowing before so that was no big deal, but it's still always nice to visit a local shop where you can see the artists at work and purchase their goods in support. You know the items are made right there on location, unlike a lot of the tourist shops where you might question the "authenticity".

What's also nice is that they use recycled, lead-free glass. I failed to get a snap shot, but out back they had piles and piles of broken glass collected from various sources. That's cool and another reason why I have no problem buying a few things. I'd rather get some nice Christmas presents for people from places like this than go out a week before Christmas and just CONSUME trying to find stuff at the mall. It's a lot more fun and thoughtful to collect things throughout the year as you come across them.

The facade of the building also showed a few nice examples of ways in which glass can be recycled without melting it down and blowing a beautiful vase. I loved how they embedded vases in the brick walls—some randomly placed and some more thoughtfully arranged—and used broken pieces in a mosaic floor. I really like the combination of the green glass with the terracotta grout.

greetings from Mexico

2008-07-15T02:54:00.003-04:00

Apologies. I've been pretty absent. I've been on the road and it's just been hard to find time to sit down and post. Writing anything takes a bit of time and to say anything meaningful (I try not to bore you with my blab too much!), is even harder.

I have been taking note of things along the way, but I don't have much positive news to share with you. Yesterday, for instance, when lunch break came, we ordered food from the resort we were in, and it all came delivered in plastic containers. Bummer. I was hoping maybe they'd come with a silver buffet spread for us. :)

I did put all of the containers in a paper bag in the hopes that they have recycling there ...

Wow I'm exhausted. I am falling asleep. Will write more when possible. Swear I have a few things that just aren't down on paper yet!

Bad trip, bad.

2008-07-09T21:48:00.008-04:00

Here I am in La Quinta, California. It's GORGEOUS! The mountains. The palms. THE HEAT. Wow, it's hot. 108 today. And I'm feeling awful. I have a pounding headache, I'm weak, tired and just plain DONE. I have been sleeping poorly and feeling out of it all week and last night didn't help. I didn't sleep at all. My landlords (who live upstairs) were out of town but left their teenage daughter home. So of course, ppppaaaarty time! Unfortunately it was just a bad coincidence that I needed to be up at 3:30AM for a 6AM flight. Needless to say, I really didn't sleep. And I'm not one to be able to sleep on planes. Especially planes with lots of crying babies. Which brings me to ask, WHY HASN'T ANYONE LAUNCHED A CHILD-FREE AIRLINE?!! I'm not a kid-hater, really, but there are child-free resorts, why not a child-free airline to get you there? I bet it would do really well. That's my million dollar idea of the day. Run with it.

The more I fly, the more snobby I get about it, I think. (Hey, I'm just being honest). You have to deal with so many people in such a tight space, delays, sitting time on planes, etc.. You really start to develop some strong preferences especially when it comes to where you prefer to sit and where you never want to sit again. On the second leg of my flight today, I sat in the back of the plane. Right next to where the attendants get all of the food/drink from and where the bathroom is. Good if you are demanding and want their attention, bad if you don't like people standing over you as they wait in line for the bathroom. Also, it's loud and apparently that's where they pack all of the crying babies. On top of that, you are supposed to board first, which means sitting on the plane while the rest of the plane boards, and you get off last. No matter where I'm sitting or what boarding "group" I'm in, I always wait until the very end to board. The less time in that small space with a couple hundred other people and their germs, the better.

So, let's do some trash talk. I have to say that this trip is pretty much in the landfill in terms of being trash-free. Between the tight scheduling, long days of photo shoots and limited number of people (means no one to cook "real" food for us), it's going to be a lot of ordering-in, take out, etc. On top of that, we have to shop for "props" such as flowers, fruit, veggies, wine, etc. But there's just no time for hunting down the local flower hut on the side of the road. If it comes up, great, but otherwise, it's Trader Joe's where things are wrapped in plastic. Even this evening we went to a grocery store and when it came time to bag things up, they used a million plastic bags. I cringed, but I'm not in charge and I at least asked if they had paper, but no one else seemed bothered by it. It's a real bummer but honestly, I'm not sure what else to do. Just in terms of being professional, I can't really throw my hands up and make a stink. It is what it is and I'll do what I can.

Anyway, when I left the house this morning (or whenever that was...), I brought fruit with me for the plane rides. That was great, but my 2nd flight was delayed and I ended up getting really hungry on the ride. I ordered the cheese & crackers & nuts snack for (gasp!) $4. I didn't save all of my trash from today, but I did decide to save the trash from this snack pack. The amount of packaging used for this little snack was just astounding. 1 paper package of raisins, 1 plastic package of nuts (waaaay oversalted), 1 plastic package of cheese, 2 separate plastic packages of crackers and then all of that was set in a plastic tray and enclosed in a plastic bag!

That's just a little much. This goes to show you how much the seemingly little things in life contribute to the trash scene in a big way.

And I love the irony of the trash on the perfectly manicured, green lawn in the middle of the desert.

I'm so sick of bean salad

2008-07-09T13:22:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to share that. That's the problem with cooking for one. You end up having to eat the same thing for a week. I don't like beans that much.

Food for week 2

2008-07-08T23:40:00.005-04:00

As previously mentioned, in preparation for this (and out of general curiosity/interest), I had signed up for Boston Organics and today I was to expect my first delivery. So when I left the house this morning, I put an empty cooler out on the porch and look what it was filled with by the time I got home! It's like Christmas ... in a very healthy and trash-free house (and with a very ugly kitchen floor).

I was sorta bummed that almost every thing had a sticker on it. I had thought that maybe they would be sticker-free since I think a lot of the stuff is (at least it's supposed to be) local.

And unfortunately, I just found out that I'll be going away for 9 days (unfortunate for the food, lucky for me) ... so most of this will probably be donated to the other two mouths in the house (not counting fruit flies).

Yeah so let me just panic for a quick sec about how those 9 days on the road—Boston to CA to AZ to Mexico to Boston—are gonna take a toll on my challenge. I'm anticipating some tough times. I have no idea where/how we will be eating, I'll be on planes half of the time and in residence homes (basically time shares - but empty right now) the other half of the time. And I'm not sure I feel like explaining to the kind gentlemen at the border of Mexico why I'm carrying a bag full of compost.

Any ideas?

Week 1 Trash

2008-07-08T11:59:00.007-04:00

Wow I feel like I've been so absent! I've just had 2 really busy days.

Anyway, week 1 is officially over and I'm ready to present my trash to you. Unfortunately, yesterday was a really crazy day at work and I had a lot of stuff to present—which means generating trash. For those of you who don't know, I work in advertising as a designer. What that means, is that while I'm here blogging about ways to save the world by not using paper towels, I'm printing out pages and pages of brochures and other work. I'm the biggest tree killer ever! :(
It's hard to avoid, but I have been trying to be more conscious of how often I print and waiting until I absolutely have to see something on paper. The problem is that with type setting and colors and all of that—they look completely different on paper than they do on screen, so it really is necessary to check those things as you go along.

Well I'm sure what you're all waiting to see is my trash. So here it is: WEEK 1 — July 1-8.

So what's there? In a somewhat clockwise manner...
2 dryer sheets
1 paper wrapper from butter
2 clumps of plastic wrap (1 from watermelon, 1 from fruit fly trap attempt)
1 bag from Smoked Salmon - purchased prior to challenge
1 container with hair and polyester fuzz from the carpet in my room (the thing sheds worse than a cat) ... the hair is compostable but because it takes years and years to degrade, I chose not to add it to my compost because we might harvest the compost sometime before then and I'd prefer not to have clumps of hair throughout my dirt!
1 container from the coffee maker at work - coffee grounds are compostable and plastic container is recyclable, I just haven't pulled it apart yet
paper from back of stamp
5 bottlecaps
little yellow sticker - not sure from where
thing from bottom of raspberry container
bits of tape from failed fruit fly trap
1 cotton round
2 plastic straws
1 sticker wrapper from green onions
plastic closure from bag of sugar
bit of green stuff from sponge
plastic closure from heavy cream
1 q-tip
fruit stickers (i think i lost some)

And the garbage from making "comps" of my work:

we have a machine that puts sticky stuff on paper so that you can bind things together ...
and this is what's left after you take the paper off - waxy backing that I don't think is recyclable and plastic top sheet.

And 3 chicken drumsticks wrapped in foil (they had been in my fridge since before the challenge ... and were not good to keep or eat. These were put in the outside trash immediately)

Whatcha think?

End of day 5 & 6

2008-07-06T23:53:00.007-04:00

{food images courtesy of kr}

I have some bad news to report. I was not good last night. I went out to Toro (much cuter than the ugly website would suggest) with my friend K and I forgot to bring a container with me to bring home food scraps. It's a Spanish tapas restaurant so we really didn't have that much food but I tried to keep a tally of what I had that was being tossed.
1 ear of corn (actually, 2 halves)
1 drumstick bone (which I can't compost anyway)
1 slice of lime
1 slice of lemon
1 clover (I know, random ... they put them in the sardine containers in which they put the mussels)

Not too bad, right? There were also a couple of straws that were put in my drinks and a napkin coaster laid out before I was able to say anything. It was really busy and I'm not sure the bartender would have been very amused. I did bring those home.

So what else have I been eating? The other day I made a three bean salad. I know this photo doesn't make it look very appetizing, but until I get a better camera, my phone will have to do. I promise it tastes better than it looks. Anyway, I had a can of garbanzo beans sitting in the pantry and figured I should use them. My friend L is always making bean salads so that was the first thing that came to mind. I knew it wouldn't make a lot of trash. And I was craving something with curry, so I Googled "Curry Bean Salad". The resulting find sounded decent, so I headed to the store. Thankfully, Harvest Coop allows you to buy individual pieces of celery. How cool is that?! I can never finish a whole bunch before it goes bad. I brought my own produce bags that I had saved from before the challenge began, as well as my own containers in case I bought anything from the bulk section.

This evening I made a cake and whipped cream—from scratch! I know it's not that big a deal, but I don't think I've done that since I lived at home and helped my mom make one. So probably 10 or more years ago. When I realized the recipe said to use parchment paper and I didn't have any and couldn't find any at the CVS or 711 down the street, I almost gave up. But I just kept thinking, if I don't make this, the strawberries are going to go bad again and I'm going to have to toss an entire carton of heavy cream (ok, so another exception to the no dairy thing ... maybe I should just call it lo-dairy). So I just buttered and floured the pan and it was fine. Trash from cake: paper wrapper from the butter & plastic thingy from opening the heavy cream (can you recycle that?)

And so the cake finally got made ... in the midst of battling an infestation of fruit flies. Yeap. Gross is right. I walked into the kitchen yesterday to a rotten smell emanating from the garbage can and fruit flies EVERYWHERE. I can tolerate a lot, but fruit flies, I cannot. They make me feel all creepie crawly. I really would have liked to have avoided it or had some help from a roommate, but no one was around and I couldn't let it get worse. So I had to take it upon myself to deal. First off, get the garbage can & bag OUT (none of which was my garbage!). Then I mopped the floor, cleaned the counters, the few dishes in the sink, etc. My friend K said to put out dishes of apple cider vinegar. So I tried that but the flies were just sitting around the dish as if it was a lazy afternoon at the local pool. So I Googled "get rid of fruit flies" (what would I ever do without Google?), and found some helpful hints. I now have three traps set in the kitchen and am hoping they work by morning.

The point in sharing that fabulous adventure was that I did make some trash in the process of trying to get rid of these things. I'm sorry, but that was #1 priority. I have some pieces of tape from the first trap I made that didn't work out so well. And after these traps have done their job, I'll have some plastic wrap to add to my week 1 box.

I don't think this challenge is about beating yourself up over every little thing. I think it's mostly about being mindful/paying greater attention to some areas of your trash-making life that you might be able to be more in control over. It's about not accepting that you have to buy things packaged in loads of plastic and styrofoam and paper because that's what's most convenient and conventional, but finding alternatives that can fit into your lifestyle.

Disposable Razors

2008-07-06T10:32:00.008-04:00

I have a ton of work I have to catch up on today because it's all due tomorrow ~ eek! But I had an email from my Uncle this morning and in it, he mentioned the trouble with disposable razors. The EPA estimates that over 2 billion disposable razors end up in landfills every year in the US. So before I go, I wanted to leave you with a solution. If you don't already, at least get a razor with a reusable handle (so all you have to buy is the blades)—a much better option than purchasing those plastic bags of 10 disposables. Plus, the quality is usually much better.

For men, you could go old-school and use one of those "Straight" razors that they use in real barbershops with the double edge blades and use natural soaps and creams. And I'm guessing you just resharpen the blade? Sounds like a cool way to go. Revive a lost art. Maybe a little dangerous? Here's an article on shaving with a Straight razor from Mother Earth News. And if you need a "how to" video, check out YouTube, there are plenty.

So I'll leave you with this product that I found when I was searching for biodegradable cutlery. It's made by Preserve and the handle is made from 100% recycled plastic and you can return them for recycling using their postage-paid label. They use them to make plastic lumber for park benches, decks and more.

I was surprised to find that these razors are available all over the place. In the Boston area, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Crate & Barrel, Shaw's, Stop & Shop, Roche Brothers and Harvest Co-op are all distributors.

I guess you still have the issue of throw-away blades with that option.

Oh and I haven't mentioned electric razors ... that's because they suck up electricity. Most stay plugged in 24/7. Consider giving up on that fix :)

Laundry day

2008-07-06T00:22:00.009-04:00

I did some laundry today and ran into a couple things I wasn't sure what to do with. First, the dryer lint. Is it compostable? Most places say it is. If you use fabric softeners, you should try to use environmentally friendly ones so that you aren't contaminating your fabric with all sorts of chemicals. Of course this goes for your laundry detergent as well. That way your lint will be chemical-free and OK for the compost. If you'd rather get creative with it, start saving it up to be re-used in one of these ways:

1. Dryer Lint Clay (adapted from PlanetPals, where you can also get recipes for dryer lint papier mache and paper)
Ingredients:
2 cups firmly packed dryer lint
1/3 cup warm water
6 tablespoons white glue
1 tablespoon clear dishwashing liquid
food coloring

Directions:
Put lint into a mixing bowl
Add other ingredients and mix thoroughly.
When you can no longer mix, knead with hands until you get uniform texture.
Have fun!

2. Fire starter
Going camping this summer? Anticipating a long, cold winter? Lint is a great fire starter. Stuff it into empty toilet paper tubes and use them to get your next fire going strong. Or, even better, stuff an empty egg carton (the paper kind, not plastic ...) with lint and pour in candle wax. You can then break off sections as you need them. Sure beats hunting for enough kindling to get your fire roaring.

3. Support nest building
This tip, from the "official dryer lint page" is my favorite. They suggest hanging pieces of dryer lint in trees in the springtime for birds to use in building nests! I can only imagine my neighbors watching me climb a ladder to hang lint in a tree.

4. Donate your lint to The National Lint Project
And you'll get it returned to you sculpted into some sort of creature. Yeah ... you should just check it out for yourself.

The other thing I didn't know what to do with was my dryer sheets. The typical sheets are not compostable. They are actually filled with tons of toxic chemicals. Little did you know. Not good for you or for the environment. BUT there are some on the market that are. Look into Sun & Earth and Mrs. Meyer's.

If you want something really posh, check out The Laundress. At $16.00 for a box of 40, they must be pretty amazing.

Or you could just hang dry everything. For some of us, this isn't very feasible. I live with 2 other people and I'm guessing they wouldn't be thrilled to have me airing my laundry (dirty or not) all over the house.

In terms of laundry detergent, there are tons of environmentally-friendly options out there now. Walk into any generic grocery store and you should be able to find at least a few to choose from. But this is one cool idea I'm betting most people haven't heard of yet. It will be neat to see if the idea gets picked up anywhere around here. Does anyone have one in a store near them? Apparently there are a lot of places in Minnesota where you can find them. Anyway, what I'm blabbing about is this company ReStore that has designed a "Refill Station" for their products. Not only are their products environmentally-friendly, but you can bring the container back to the store and refill it at the station and receive a discount.

Day 4, 5

2008-07-05T00:53:00.009-04:00

Hope everyone had a great 4th! I had a really nice evening viewing the spectacular fireworks display from an apartment overlooking the Boston Esplanade. It was the perfect perch, away from all of the crowds and with a front & center view { thanks to C for the invite }. Photo is actually from a couple years ago, viewing from the back deck at work. This time we were much closer. Ok, I'll stop bragging :)

But it was a challenge for me in terms of creating no trash. It's definitely hard when you're surrounded by plastic cups and paper plates and napkins and people who don't necessarily know what you're up to. Where if you misplace your cup, you just grab a new one. Where the host doesn't know you and you're not familiar with the place and don't want to make a spectacle of yourself. I actually brought a paper bag (reused from before the challenge began) with ingredients for mojitos ... which I was craving. Fresh mint from my garden in a tupperware container, organic cane sugar in a tupperware container, limes in a recycled produce bag, light rum and club soda. I also brought a cloth napkin, just in case.

The drinks I made were great but I had to make them in plastic Solo cups. Bummer. I would have brought cups with me but all we have are glass. But I brought all of the limes and mint home that were leftover in my cup in order to compost them (can you compost rum-soaked limes??). I also brought the recyclable cup home. But to be honest, I ended up with an extra plastic bag because my friend J packed the supplies up to bring home - the paper bag had ripped - and he didn't fully appreciate my mission at that moment :) But at the same time, the plastic bag was one that had been saved to be reused and will be reused again ... so at least it will see an extended life beyond just one use.

Earlier yesterday:
I went to make a strawberries and cream cake that I had wanted to make for a get-together last weekend but never had time ... but the strawberries were moldy. I know, I feel guilty because I bought two pints at Harvest Coop last Sunday and they both went bad and all of them have ended up in the compost. I don't think Harvest is the place to buy berries. I think that when I purchased them, they were already getting soft.

Anyway, I can't believe I haven't even been doing this for a week yet. It feels longer! On Tuesday, I'll give an overview of the trash I've been accumulating. I'm happy to report that there isn't much so far. BUT I know I need to buy a new camera—just a little point and shoot—and that will have packaging. I don't know how you can avoid that one. The risk involved with purchasing a used one is just too great. Plus if you order it from someone on Ebay, there's still packaging. Sometimes it's even much worse than if you just bought it locally because they overcompensate to be sure nothing gets damaged.
Speaking of Ebay, I won this tray last week. So I'm anticipating it will arrive early next week, probably packed in box full of styrofoam peanuts. I ordered it because we have this giant dish drainer from IKEA that I thought was going to be fabulous, but it didn't come with two important dish drainer elements: a utensil holder and a tray to catch the water. It's a little awkward but I'm determined to make it work! I don't want to spend another $20 on a new one.

How to have a green, trash-free party PART 1

2008-07-03T22:03:00.017-04:00

This topic has been on my mind for a bit. How does one invite people over for a casual get-together while still being conscious of what you are consuming/wasting, etc.? You don't want to be the Big Green Monster in the room, and scare off all of your friends with images of sharing a veggie BBQ, on the ground, eating with your hands.

That doesn't have to be the case.
So let's start with the PLASTICWARE { Each year, 40 billion polystyrene utensils are thrown into landfills } The plasticware is a tough one. If you're planning on having a large amount of guests, chances are, you don't have that much silverware. So I have a few solutions you could try in order to avoid purchasing a giant box of plastic pieces that will just be trashed at the end of the celebration.

1. Go to your local thrift store and buy up the random pieces of flatware. You're already out grocery shopping, just add one more stop onto your list of things to do! You can hold on to these for years to come and dig them out whenever you have another party—or re-donate! Yeah, sure you have to wash them at the end of the day, but most of you are probably using dishwashers anyway, right? I don't have one, but a few minutes soaking in the sink is worth it. AND, you can use the eclectic look of mixed silverware to your advantage in decorating. Or, if you want a more cohesive look, maybe think about tying small ribbons around each piece!

2. Ask a few friends if you can borrow their flatware. I guess it depends on how fancy their stuff is and how friendly you really are ;) but if you borrow just a few different sets from different people, you'll know whose is whose at the end of the day.

3. If you ever order food delivery, you might also get packaged sets of plasticware (often with napkins). Start saving them! Then you can use them for times like this.

4. If you're not feeling those options, another choice would be to purchase new, more durable ware that can be reused time and time again. While this might cost more up-front, you'll save in the long run because you won't have to buy for the next party. The image shown here features cutlery, plates & cups by the company Preserve and they are reusable (dishwasher safe) and recyclable. I think I favor this option over #5 because while #5 is biodegradable, it's a given that you'll be tossing it after 1 use and the energy it takes to create so much new product might outweigh the biodegradable factor. But any of these are favorable to using throw-away plastic.

5. Look into biodegradable/compostable cutlery. There are many options in this category and they are all very sturdy. Some are made from potato starch and vegetable oil, others from Bamboo and I think some are even made from sugar cane! Pretty cool stuff. You might have to buy bulk, but just hold on to the excess for next time, or give to a friend.

Day 3 and bottle caps

2008-07-03T14:43:00.005-04:00

Today has been an uneventful day in my world of trying not to make trash (but that's a good thing, right?). I have been living off of what I've had in the fridge so I really haven't even had to buy much. I did finish off a container of blueberries this morning, but that is recyclable. I haven't had lunch yet and I didn't make any trash last night either. Oh actually, I had a beer. Are beer caps recyclable? Does anyone know? I don't think they are, but here are a few (albeit perhaps bizarre) ways in which you can reuse them (courtesy of an article on eHow).

1. Make a homemade mud scraper. Cut out a piece of plywood (or use a left over piece from another project) in whatever size you desire. Nail bottle caps side by side with the flat, smooth side down. Cover the board. Now you have a great mud scraper to clean your boots and shoes off on. Just hose it down to clean. Nail bottle caps to a hand sized block of wood, fluted side up. Hold it in the palm of your hand to scale fish.

2. (I actually like this idea!) Get 16 each of two different kinds of bottle caps and use them as checkers. You can paint them red and black or whatever colors you like but they look really neat left alone, too.

3. Cut tiny pictures to glue inside the caps. Then cover them well with glue and let them dry. Glue a small magnet to the flat side and use them as refrigerator magnets. Put holiday pictures in them and drill a tiny hold at the top and hang them as mini Christmas ornaments.

Or maybe you can donate them to this company that uses them to make fishing lures ...

Though I find the large amount of plastic packaging a bit ironic ... Why even go through all the trouble to use recycled beer caps and then put the product in a mess of plastic? This often seems to be the case with recycled product. Seems to be more about being able to say on the package that your product is recycled than it is thinking about the thing as a whole—cradle to grave.

Trash to Treasure II

2008-07-02T23:32:00.003-04:00

I wanted to build upon one of Dayva's previous posts about found apartment furnishings, because I too, have furnished pretty much my entire apartment with stuff from Craigslist, other thrift/vintage stores, estate sales or found for free.

My Mom owns a consignment shop in Connecticut and I spent a lot of time there when I was growing up—from the days I spent in a crib by my Mom's side as she worked, to my days as a teenager earning some money working for her. So I guess the whole thrifting thing is in my blood! But really, there is something so rewarding about finding those treasures. It just doesn't feel the same when you go into IKEA. Even the IKEA table I have, I purchased from someone on Craigslist! And not to mention that it gives you a good story. But the dig definitely takes some dedication, an eye for the diamond in the midst of a lot of cubic zirconia or at least a willingness to take a risk on something, patience in putting it all together and maybe even doing some refinishing touches of your own. And if you're like me and you don't have a car, a Zipcar membership can be your best friend.

Shown here is a photo of my living room ... the only things bought new in this room were the curtains, the rug, the 6 black frames on the wall and a couple other small accessories. The couch was a street find—as in FREE—because the neighbors threw it to the curb when they were moving out. The turquoise coffee table and orange chair were Craigslist finds. The small table by the window and the vintage credenza were both my grandmother's. And the art in the center of the wall above the couch was also free from a different neighbor!

This is another favorite Craigslist find and a great conversation piece. Everyone who comes into our house comments on this lamp. Unfortunately this isn't the best photo of it (in an old apartment), but it's a vintage arc lamp. Part teak with a marble base.

Lastly, for now, a set of mid-century chairs that were my grandmother's and which I gave new life with a very simple re-upholstery job. While I really lucked out in getting these free, you can find stuff like this any day on Craigslist or in a variety of other places. Page down for some more resources. To the right, a lamp found at Boomerang's, a Jamaica Plain thrift shop. I've since changed out the shade for a more simple, modern one (without pleats). Small changes like that cost very little and can make a big difference.

Resources (I'll add more later - all my bookmarks are on a different computer):
Machine Age
Cambridge Antique Market
Ebay
Artifaktori
Salvation Army

The Evil Paper Towel Dispenser

2008-07-02T15:06:00.001-04:00

This is a tough one. I keep coming really close to reaching for that paper towel after washing my hands. Perfect example of one of those hidden habits I need to break during this challenge. So from now on I'm going to picture this:

And imagine slapping one of these These Come From Trees guerrilla public service announcement stickers right on there:

And think of this cool ambient public service message done by Saatchi & Saatchi for the WWF:

"To make people realize that saving the planet starts with them saving paper, we took a standard paper dispenser and made a simple modification with green foil and the silhouette of South America. This allowed us to prove that the survival of the forest is directly connected to what people consume."

Equally bad is that roll of paper towels you have in the kitchen. We had stopped using them around here until recently when I accidentally bought a package thinking it was toilet paper. But if they're not there, you can't use them! So replace them with reusable towels. We have about 6 that we keep hanging out in the kitchen. Once one seems dirty, it gets thrown into a pile by the washing machine for the next load. In terms of cleanliness, there is no indication that using individual paper towels is cleaner than reusing cloth. Just try to be somewhat hygienic in the ways you use them!

Day 1 tally

2008-07-02T10:17:00.000-04:00

My garbage can here at work at the end of Day 1. Empty. Yay! Thankfully I didn't have to print much. SUPPOSEDLY, they recycle here. The building management says that even though they put everything into one can when collecting at the end of the day, they actually separate it down in the basement ... UH HUH, right. Not sure I believe that, so I'm going to have to take my printouts home with me to recycle.

I did make a little trash last night. I had purchased half of a watermelon this past weekend for a BBQ, but it didn't get eaten. I cut it up last night but it was wrapped in plastic wrap that really wasn't reusable. So that and the cotton pad are the first things to go in my Week 1 garbage box.

Day 2: I arrived to work this morning to find that the strawberries I bought this weekend have already gone moldy. So now I have to hold on to them & bring them home to throw in the compost. Sad. So I made a trip to Shaw's (I KNOW, I should have bought at the Farmer's Market, but I didn't know until today that my fruit was bad), paper bag in hand (I have a bag of old paper and plastic bags at my desk that I reuse - in case I don't have a tote) to pick up some new fruit, almond milk and some chocolate (70% or more cocoa content, organic dark—surprise! it's good for you—a great antioxidant as well as many other health benefits).

This morning I also remembered to bring some cloth napkins and a set of silverware with me to work to keep at my desk. I also brought a spare bread knife because I have a loaf of Iggy's bread here that I've been having a difficult time slicing!

So this is the breakfast scene at my desk pretty much every day (I'm NOT a morning person so I usually have breakfast when I get to work). Everyone is always commenting on how fancy my meals look. I think it just looks colorful because I like a variety of fruit - peaches, strawberries, raspberries & blueberries. I always hear people complaining about the price of fruit, which yeah, it's not cheap - but neither is buying a breakfast sandwich at Dunkin every morning. I think I just spent less than $8 on all of it and it should last the rest of the week. The granola is from the Harvest Coop. I purchased it from the bulk section, using a plastic container which I will reuse—either to purchase more, or as tupperware. I also don't really drink dairy anymore (though I haven't been able to completely give up on cheese), so I use almond milk which comes in recyclable cartons. It's really good for you, contains more calcium than milk and tastes great! Check out Michelle's post over at Does A Body Good for more info on that sort of stuff, because I'm not an expert.

365 Days of No Trash?

2008-07-01T21:25:00.001-04:00

I know, I need to save something to blog about for the rest of the month, but I don't want to forget these things! And I have to keep myself busy not creating trash.

Anyway, some of you may think we're crazy for trying this no trash thing even for 30 days, but check out this blog of Dave who is attempting an entire year! Clearly he's making some trash and a lot of recycling and he's collecting it all to see just how much he makes in one year. So far, he's 6 months through the challenge and has collected about 29lbs of landfill-bound trash. He just posted a cool video giving a tour of his basement where he's storing it all. 29lbs might sound like a lot but that's a significant difference compared to the estimated 840lbs the average American creates in the same amount of time. Check out the gray line on this graph (source: EPA) which shows the trends in MSW (Municipal Solid Waste - or "garbage") generation per person/per day over the past 46 years. In 2006, the average American created approx 4.6lbs of trash per day. That's hideous and I'm going to take a wild guess that that amount isn't getting smaller.

Anyway, the numbers are really disturbing (such as the estimate that each adult will leave a legacy of 90,000 lbs. of trash for his or her children - source EPA - sorry can't help myself!), and I'm not sure I want to go too far into that.

But if Dave's 365-day no trash quest sounds bizarre/interesting, here are a couple other links relative to our experiments:
Save Your Trash
Say No To Trash
My Zero Waste

Composting

2008-07-01T14:42:00.000-04:00

I have to give Dayva mad props for bringing her compost to a composting center. That shows incredible dedication (are you keeping that up?). Luckily, I do have a bit of headway on this topic because at the beginning of the summer, I bought a composting bin through the program that the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection runs every year. They offer residents of various cities and towns composting bins at a significantly reduced rate. Ours was $35.

The type of compost bin we received, The New Age Composter (I think just a newer generation of The Brave New Composter pictured above), is made in Massachusetts of 100% recycled plastic collected from MA recycling programs. I had to assemble it (very easy) and now it's all set up in our backyard and working beautifully. I think we can already start harvesting the compost for use in the garden.

The amount of trash my roommates and I now create is significantly less. I think we had almost 2 bags a week before we got the bin and now it's down to less than 1. Pretty cool.

But ok, let's face it, we live in a city and not everyone has backyard space for a big composter. So why not try indoor composting? I know, I had the same thoughts—smelly & bugs everywhere. But apparently, if you keep up with maintaining it properly, that isn't the case. Check out this blog entry over at One Change. It details how to build your own indoor compost.

But if you aren't up for that, you can buy an automatic one (no maintenance needed) from NatureMill.

Farmer's Markets, Boston Organics and gardening

2008-07-01T12:37:00.000-04:00

I've had a month to think about things I want to blog about, so I am a little eager to get some of these things down on ... screen.

I know that Dayva already blogged about Boston Farmer's Markets but I wanted to supply a list. You have to page down to Suffolk County for Boston. They just offer such a great way to get locally grown, organic produce at a fair price. Why not?

The other thing I wanted to mention is Boston Organics. Sign up for this service and they will deliver a box of organic produce to your door once a week (or every other week depending on what you sign up for). I just signed up for the $27/week 1/2 fruit and 1/2 veggie box. The produce varies week-to-week depending on what the farmers have available. For instance, this week's box looks something like this:

1.5 lbs Bananas
2 Fuji Apples
2 Nectarines
2 Packham Pears
3 Valencia Oranges
2 Yellow Peaches
1 head Celery
1 bunch Chard
1 pint Cherry Tomatoes
1 head Romaine/Leaf Lettuce
1 lbs Summer Squash(Green/Yellow)

At this time you can't customize what you get, but you can say "no cantaloupe" if that's something you never want to get in your delivery (like me!).

Lastly, the best bet is to just grow your own. It's convenient, it really doesn't take that much work and it's really rewarding. I'm currently growing three different varieties of tomatoes, three varieties of peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, basil, rosemary & mint. It's fun and every year I try something new. I hope to get some photos up here soon ... right now my camera is in the shop.

GRA Certified Green Dining Guide

2008-07-01T12:04:00.000-04:00

One of my biggest challenges is going to be planning ahead. Making sure I have food at work or bringing my lunch so that I don't go out to eat - which I typically do a lot. Luckily, there is a grocery store near by - as well as a Trader Joe's. And Whole Foods isn't too far away either (if I have my bike).

But if I am craving something different, I can consult this list of Certified Green Dining restaurants published by the Green Restaurant Association. Now, you'll see there aren't very many in Boston, but as this "trend" catches on, I'm sure the list will continue to grow. The list details how many steps each place has completed and what those steps are. There are also good resources for anyone who might be starting up a restaurant or wants to convert an existing place to be "Green".

Hello No Trash Challenge Readers!

2008-07-01T11:47:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone ... Ashley here. I will be taking over the blog and the challenge for the month of July. Dayva, please still feel welcome to post on your continuing quest to be an environmentally responsible citizen of the world! I've been thinking about this for the past couple of weeks. Dayva has done such a good job and now the pressure is ON! I'm slightly intimidated, I must admit. This is going to take a lot of work and mostly, self control! I'm already craving something sweet and we have a whole closet of granola bars and other treats here at work so I have to hold back. I'm going to have to figure out a way to get my chocolate fix though.

The morning did not start off very well. I woke up really early for an appointment. I was half asleep trying to get ready when I caught myself using a cotton pad to clean a bit of eye makeup residue off. Crap! I should be using a washcloth. So I really got off on the wrong foot.

So far the afternoon is going well though. I have some food here that I brought in last week. I just had a smoked salmon, cucumber and garlic cream cheese sandwich. Yum. I did forget to bring in a set of reusable silverware and a cloth napkin but we have some real (as opposed to plastic) knives here so I was OK.