The “Green Thing”

I got this very interesting e-mail from my mother-in-law of all people. I wonder what the older generation think of it versus what the newer generation thinks.
– GP Dave
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The Green Thing (BAG) – TB

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that she
should bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren’t good for
the environment.
The woman apologized to him and explained, “We didn’t have the green
thing (bag) back in my day.”

The clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. The former generation
did not care enough to save our environment.”

He was right, that generation didn’t have the green thing in its day.

Back then, they returned their milk bottles, soda bottles and beer
bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed
and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and
over. They were recycled.

But they didn’t have the green thing back in that customer’s day.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an escalator
in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and
didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two
blocks.

But she was right. They didn’t have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have the
throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in a 220 volt energy
gobbling machine – wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids
got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always
brand-new clothing.

But that old lady is right; they didn’t have the green thing back in her
day.

Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in every
room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief, not a
screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended
and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do
everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the
mail, they used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam
or plastic bubble wrap. They didn’t have air conditioning or electric
stoves with self cleaning ovens. They didn’t have battery operated
toys,computers,or telephones.

Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut
the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power.They used hand
operated clippers to trim the shrubs. They exercised by working so they
didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on
electricity.

But she’s right; they didn’t have the green thing back then.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup
or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled
their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and they
replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole
razor just because the blade got dull.

But they didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people walked or took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode
their bikes to school or rode the school bus instead of turning their
moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a
room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And
they didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from
satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza
joint.

But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful the old
folks were just because they didn’t have the green thing back then?
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What to do with cat waste?

OK, we adopted two cats from the Peninsula Humane Society, one five months ago, one two weeks ago. Though adopting a cat from a shelter is better than buying a kitten from a kitten mill, I still have a problem with the amount of waste that is produced by having them. The problem is two-fold:

1. We have gone through literally over a hundred pounds of cat litter already. This cat litter is scooped up with the cat waste into airtight plastic bags, then thrown in the garbage. Though we use Feline Pine, which appears to be largely biodegradable, the plastic bags are not, and the kitty waste itself is not compostable anyway. GP Nammie tells me that these bags eventually explode from the trapped waste gases when they are in the landfill. Bacteria would presumably eventually break down this mess, but still– gross!!

2. The amount of recycling and garbage that we produce as a household has just about doubled because of the cats. The cats’ wet food comes in tiny metal cans. Each can feeds both cats in the morning, so we are recycling a lot of extra cans. I believe that they make them this small so that each can is of a portion size; cats can be finicky eaters and may not eat wet food from a can that has been opened for a long time.

Our cats are indoor cats only, so putting them outside is not an option (the average lifespan of an indoor/outdoor cat is something like a year and half, versus fifteen years or more for an indoor cat).

So, I am at a loss, as I do not know of any products or civil services that will allow us to recycle or cut down on our kitty waste. Anyone have any ideas?
-GP Dave

A Place that recycles Packing Peanuts!!!

I finally found a place that recycles packing peanuts!!

Yes, the JDM Packing Supplies location on Bascom Avenue in Campbell takes those pesky packing peanuts!  I don’t know about the other locations, but it does appear from their website that JDM also sells mostly used, overrun, or recycled boxes and packing materials in an effort to be environmentally friendly.

We’ve purchased our boxes and packing materials from them for years.   They are a good business and a pleasure to deal with as well.

– GP Dave

Recycling Isobutane Fuel Canisters

I’ve been using a Primus camp stove that uses isobutane fuel canisters.  It’s been simple to use.  But forgive me for I have committed an eco-sin since these canisters are not refillable.  To atone, I figured I’d bring the empties back to the REI store in San Francisco where I purchased them and surely they’d take them back for recycling, right?  Right???

Well, as it turns out, I was only partially correct.  They did take them back for recycling but were charging $1.50 per canister.  Now, I’m a recycling fanatic, but even I draw the line at paying to recycle.  So, I walked out of the store with my empty canisters in search of a more cost-effective solution.  In comes Sports Basement once again to the rescue.  See previous post on crutch recycling.   Not only do they take the isobutane canisters, but propane ones as well.  And, free of charge!  Thanks again, SB.  You are recycling champs!

recycling CFLs and flourescents

A common waste item containing mercury are flourescent light bulbs.   The CFLs (Compact FLourescents) replacing standard incandescent bulbs are readily accepted for recyling at places like Home Depot, Lowe’s, IKEA, and many others.  But those places and most others will not take the long, tube-shaped flourescent lights found in most office buildings and in many garages.   I found one place in Fremont: Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH).   All OSH locations will accept these bulbs for recycling, so don’t throw them in the garbage.  Kudos to OSH!

As a final note, Norm has indicated that he would like to apply more of an analytical, measurement based system of blogging on our Green Guineapig experiences.   I agree with him, and I plan to do so in future posts.   It is so much easier to find incentive in conserving energy, money, or any other resource if you can put a concrete number on things.  But when it comes to recycling hazardous waste, there is unfortunately no money saving, no energy saving, not even a pat on the back.  And it admittedly takes a bit of extra effort to recycle hazardous waste properly.  But it’s THE RIGHT THING TO DO so that you, your neighbors, and the rest of us can continue to enjoy a healthy environment with clean air and water.  You can’t put a value on these things, because they are priceless.

– GP Dave

proper battery disposal

I’m here today to talk you to about household hazardous waste disposal.   This is an especially important topic due to the extreme impact that toxins and heavy metals (mercury, cadmium, lead, etc., etc. ) can have on our environment and our health.  In my opinion, it is *essential* that waste items containing such substances are recycled or disposed of properly.

So Norm sent me this very informative link on where to responsibly dispose of a wide variety of hazardous waste materials in SF at Recology.

As you can see, a very wide variety of common, everyday household items are considered hazardous waste.   Batteries are particularly ubiquitous.   I use rechargeable AA and AAAs frequently, and rechargeables are DEFINITELY the way to go if you want to run portable devices regularly, but still minimize waste as well as save money over conventional batteries.  But things like remote controls and smoke detectors are usually most practically operated by using  the conventional disposable kind.  This is because rechargeables are an expensive inital outlay and the cost benefit of recharging them many times is not realized in a relatively static, low power application like smoke alarms and IR emitting remote controls.  Rechargeables really show their worth in relatively high duty cycle, high drain applications like very bright, high-drain flashlights that are used often, handheld video games, and guitar signal processors like the Korg Pandora and especially the Tascam GT-CD1 Guitar Trainer.  If you used regular batteries instead of rechargeables in such applications, you would be going through and disposing of A LOT of batteries over time.

I know it’s not practical to run down to the disposal center every time you replace a dead 9V battery.   So what we’ve done in my office is set up a box for which people are free to bring in dead batteries from home.  It’s a good sized box, and it’s filling up.  At some point I will bring it in to properly dispose of all those dead batteries in one trip, and I’ll do it when I’m out running errands anyway.  This box has given our staff an easy, simple way to avoid chucking their batteries in the garbage.   My wife’s work also has a similar battery disposal program run by their maintenance manager, and they have around 50 employees.

Batteries aren’t supposed to go in the garbage.

See all these batteries?  They would’ve gone in the garbage, and eventually possibly in our water supply or in our soil.

– Guinea Dave

The Key to Recycling

I moved into my apartment recently. In fact, I’ve moved quite a few times in my life-each time adding to that pile of old spare keys that I refuse to pitch into the ‘can.  This includes keys for the house, car, bike locks, and even those old-school “Clubs” for your steering wheel (you know you had one back in the day!).

It occurred to me that they deserve a better fate than entombment in the landfill.  After all, they are metal.  Recycling metal, e.g. keys, eases the pressure to mine for metal ore, and reduces the energy needed to refine and process the ore into new metal.

Returning to the place where I’ve had keys made in the past, Ace Hardware in San Francisco’s Laurel Heights District, I discovered that they have a program in place to collect and return them for recycling.  I’m sure any place you get keys made will have similar recycling practices, so check with them too.

With a little further digging I came across an organization called Keys for Kindness, who uses the proceeds from recycling to support the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

So, dig into those drawers and coffee cans and give those old keys a new life.

Happy Recycling!

-Norm

Plastics Recycling…What’s the Confusion???

Wondering how to recycle all that plastic we generate on a daily basis?  Rest assured, you are not alone.  In San Francisco, where I live, the San Francisco Department of the Environment provides information on their website regarding plastics recycling.   It has some helpful examples, but after reading it I still had a lot of questions.   So I called the Front Desk at (415) 355-3700.   I didn’t get her name, but she was tremendously helpful.  I was pleased to hear that ALL RIGID plastics, whether or not they’re labeled with the iconic  symbol, are recyclable via the Blue Bin.  This includes but is not limited to the following:

• CDs, DVDs, and their jewel cases
• Bottle Caps, Jar Lids, Milk Jug Caps, etc.
• Tape Cassette Cases (as long as you pull out the tape itself)
• “Clamshell” type or thermo-formed tray type packaging
• Toys

Just be sure to separate the plastic from any other non-plastic material like wood or paper or metal.

However, those flimsy Plastic Films do NOT qualify as RIGID plastic and should not be put in the blue bin.  The reason is that these flimsy plastics will cause the sorting machines at the recycling facilities to jam.  Here are some examples:

• Shrink wraps/Saran Wrap/Cellophane Gift Wrap
• Plastic bags (grocery store bags can be recycled at most grocery stores)
• Cassette tape (just the tape portion, not the rigid plastic case)

An exception to the RIGID plastic rule is styrofoam, aka.  Expanded PolyStyrene (EPS), whether in peanut form or in block form.  It is not recycleable in San Francisco.  However, FP International, located in Redwood City does it on an industrial scale only , i.e. by the bales.   I’ll go into more detail on what to do with EPS in a subsequent blogpost.

Happy Recycling!

-GP Norm