Toothpaste, Dental Floss and Shampoo

Even though I've been "anti-garbage" for most of my life, there were certain things that I didn't really give a second thought to, i.e., I actually didn't realize that there were any options other than the mainstream, grocery-store options. That's commercial brainwashing for you I guess. I'd always just buy the cheapest version of whatever I needed $.99-cent toothpaste and $2 shampoo. Well I was poor then too. 

Eventually, I got concerned with the chemical content of said products and started buying "natural" toothpaste, such as Tom's, etc. I felt a bit better about what was going in my body, but still didn't think much about the garbage it produced. These "natural" and "better-for-then-environment" products tended to be more expensive, but still came in generally non-recyclable containers.I learned how to cut open the ends of toothpaste tubes to get every last iota out, and gave dental floss a lot of thought.

Anyway, it turns out that while there are inexpensive, alternative methods, using simple, pretty easy-to-acquire ingredients. As soon as I use up all the commercial toothpaste (which could take years...), I am going to explore baking soda with stevia tooth powder. (I checked with my dentist and he says it's not too harsh for my teeth), and soap berry shampoo (and laundry soap), which has been used in India for millennia, it seems (will do some research on that). Simple, easy ingredients. I like that, and easy to store in a recycled glass jar, cutting down on plastic waste. While shampoo bottles are arguably "recyclable," empty toothpaste tube will never be anything other than garbage.

I saw something flash by the other day about bio-degradable dental floss. That one has always flummoxed me, so I may just have to pay out a little bit more. I talk the talk, but I don't always walk the walk -- I'm not always willing to shell out more money just because an item is good for the environment. Call me hypocritical, but expense is also a concern, for a lot of us!

Crown of Thorns, or creating from found metal.

From a CBC's Outfront. (Still trying to figure out how to upload a link to the audio.) In a nutshell, the images below are what evolved out of a visit to landfill site to scavenge for dumped metal and how my neglected creative process allowed the object to emerge.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UNSQ1TejUtF8U4w4WRdh12pJf344sESB/view?usp=drivesdk

The Joys of Mending

I have recently found myself with a bit more time on my hands, which is allowing me to finally get to the rather large pile of mending that has accumulated, embarrassingly, over the years.

What I have discovered in the process is rather quite pleasant:

The pile of clothes that was temporarily out of commission, is now back in commission, adding a fresh supply of clothes to my wardrobe. It's like having a whole bunch of new things! Tops that had had holes under the arms are back in rotation, socks darned and coats and other garments mended. I really have no need to buy more.

But two further things have been pleasant surprises -- the meditative effect of pinning ripped seams and then stitching it on the sewing machine is a lovely distraction.

What I'm even more excited about is exploring alternative mending practices, such as sashiko out of Japan. It is a decorative method of applying patching requiring a some patience and concentration, but it is fun to learn something new and I am liking the results. I will post a pic soon.

Rant: Keurigs and Swiffers and Wet Wipes

In an earlier post, I railed against peoples' overuse of paper products (and provided examples of alternatives) and our ingrained proclivity to mindlessly obey marketers' wishes. Okay maybe I wasn't quite that harsh, but I have some new targets that I think even more insidious, particularly because at least paper products can decompose (especially when put in a green bin and not the garbage). THESE items are created to throw away and will NOT decompose.

We now have Keurig machines, Swiffers and a wide variety of wipes. Probably there are other products (I'm sure I'll get to those), but these three items are terrible!

Not only are Keurig machines shoddy pieces of machinery that tend to break down within a year, but they are not easily repaired, so on top of the Keurig cups and their knock-offs (which are not recyclable) going directly to landfill, so are the machines! Here is a picture from a recent Facebook post of a small appliance repair person, who is taking Keurig machines to the dump because they are not worth repairing:

A quote from Joe Young, who took this picture: 

All of the machines in that picture I took are the Commercial Grade machines. Commercial Grade usually means they are manufactured to a higher standard and are built with repair in mind.There are no internal replacement parts available from the manufacturer. Sure one can go on eBay and buy cannibalize parts from other broken down machines. That's fine for the individual who likes to tinker at home, but not for a business application where we have many brewers placed at clients in a 150 mile radius of our base. When I fix a piece of equipment it needs to stay fixed, at least for a good long while.
Also that van full of brewers in the photo were purchased by my employer and if they could be fixed they would certainly insist that be the case. I don't think I would still be employed as service manager if the boss thought I was just throwing away his money away.

Even the inventor of the machine is appalled at what he has unleashed. Some statistics contend that the number of K-cups, as they are called, discarded in a year could encircle the globe 10;5 times (2014).

Here is an excellent article : http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/03/the-abominable-k-cup-coffee-pod-environment-problem/386501/

Swiffers and wet wipes -- yes it is easy to pull out a non-decomposable something or other (who knows what it's made out of and what chemicals lurk within...) and attach it to a little plastic object (also non-recyclable because it's made out of plastic) and go and dust and wipe stuff. But what's wrong with rags and mops? Is this all that much easier? If you have already purchased a swiffer handle, there are hundreds of places online that demonstrate methods of making replacement covers from old towels and such; some with no sewing required! Just pop in washer and re-use. Think of all the money you'll save and all the fumes you won't inhale. Pinterest is a good place to start.

And now there's wipes for everything! Wipe your backside (and hopefully not flushing it down the toilet!), wipe your counter, etc. etc. Washcloth anyone? Dishrag? There is a cautionary tale out of England resulting from flushing wet wipes down the toilet -- congealed fat put down drains had attached itself to wetwipes also in the sewers that had become lodged there. A 10-ton lump evolved and basically broke the system leading to costly infrastructure repairs! Whole story here: fatberg

All sorts of alternative wipes solutions can be found on the internet. I have just made up a batch of home-made kitchen wipes with rags and normal household products and so far am quite pleased.

Rhymes with Orange. My favourite comic strip.

Traditional Crafts that Recycle

This has an honorable history. Repurpose household items when they can no longer be used for their original purpose.

Quilting
Rag rugging
Mosaic

More to come on this.

Salvation

I guess you can call me obsessive or maybe even obsessive-compulsive, but as a landlady, whenever there is a turnover of tenants, there is also the accompanying discard of stuff, particularly if the departure is hasty ( though this doesn't happen very often). In any case, people are always offloading things when they move.

One particular tenant, unlike me, had no concern for what ended up in the landfill. To this day I regret not salvaging the bags at the curb from her penultimate trip, because apparently the two or three bags were stuffed with teenage girls' clothing, including prom attire, in perfectly good condition. What a waste!

The last trip to the curb for the above-mentioned tenant consisted of seven full bags. This time I could not resist. So with the help of a good friend, we discreetly spirited the seven bags into the backyard and took a peek.

My suspicions were confirmed: Inside was a massive horde of items that could be diverted from landfill. We disposed of:

• Food -- fresh or canned, boxed and jarred into the green bin; the containers went into recycling;
• Clothing, some with price stickers still attached -- second hand store;
• Stuffed animals -- second hand store;
• Miscellaneous papers and magazines -- recycling;
• And so on.

Believe it or not nothing was really disgusting (like the toys and clothes) and we reduced the seven bags to a measly quarter bag of actual garbage! And believe me, I do know what actual garbage is. Boy did it feel good. A banner day!! (And I got to keep the six remaining bags for my own use. Yah, I'm obsessed.)

I now make it habit to do this with each tenant departure, as well as offer to take stuff off their hands when they leave -- they can give me things directly or leave behind and I will deal with accordingly.