Earth Day — More Green Efforts
Earth Day is the 22nd of April. Last year for Earth Day, I offered two sets of green and frugal suggestions that might help in greening homes, offices, and schools. Many of the environmentally related posts are indexed in the Green section of this blog, including tips on natural cleaners, water conservation and how to recycle and reuse items. Many thanks to all of the commenters who have made these posts better by adding additional comments and sending questions my way. For this year, I thought I would summarize some of the green things that I will be pursuing and learning more about over the next year:
–Cutting back on canned goods — although I don’t purchase many canned goods (mostly tomatoes, beans, and tuna or salmon), all of the articles on bisphenol A and impacts on the endocrine system have me concerned. I’m trying to find ways to cook dried beans (like this crockpot pinto bean recipe), find items in glass instead of cans, and using fresh or frozen items.
–Buying more recylable cloth bags — I love using my recyclable bags when I shop, so I’m picking up more to stash in various places including in the car, in my backback (which I use as a purse). I’m also looking at the compressable mesh bags that compact very small to stash into jacket pockets for times when I unexpectedly pop into a store.
–Looking for LED lights — with the high energy usage of conventional filament bulbs, and the disposal problems of Cfl light bulbs, LED lights make a lot of sense. Fortunately, manufacturers are beginning to make bulbs that fit into conventional sockets.
–Trying additional natural cleaners, health and beauty aids — I really like using natural cleaners and because of sensitive skin tend to stay away from a lot of cosmetics and complex skin products. I’m enjoying the exploration of natural products and will be testing out a number of these over the next few months.
I’d love to hear the green steps you’re planning for your household.
shared at Works for Me Wednesday
Need to look into LED lights.
We are doing a lot of the same as well. We recycle a lot between what the recyclers pick up and then another place we go that picks up things that the pickup recyclers don’t take. I’m still looking into more natural cleaners. My daughter can’t stand the vinegar smell, so I’ve been using hydrogen peroxide instead.
Thank you for sharing!
Sherry
The bag situation has me puzzled. About two years ago, the husband and I started using cloth bags very diligently. I love them for the grocery store because I can sling them over my arm, and produce seems to come home less jumbled. However, we used paper grocery bags to take out our dirty cat litter, and in our new home, the local recycling HAS to be separated, and it appears that paper grocery bags are the best way to do this. In addition, we shred many documents, and the only way they will take shredded paper is in a paper grocery bag, stapled shut.
So we’re at the point where sometimes we need to use paper bags in order to make our household run efficiently. And as much as we like to avoid taking plastic bags for anything, we still BUY plastic bags to line the inside of garbage cans.
Any ideas on how to get around this conundrum?
I canned tomatoes with my mom last year. For $8 in local tomatoes, I had nearly 30 pints which I used in all sorts of recipes. I’m hoping to double what I do this year (and of course, I reuse the glass jars from year to year). Tomatoes were much of what we purchased in cans, and so this has been a good way for us to cut back.
Sherry, all sounds great. If you don’t like vinegar (although the smell goes away once dry), in addition to hydrogen peroxide, I like to use baking soda, especially when you want something a bit abrasive.
ldh, our garbage collectors provide reusable plastic bins for the paper, glass, and aluminum can recycling. Oddly, they will often leave paper bags full of old newspapers uncollected if they are not in the paper bins [I think they charge per bin emptied]. I agree that it’s hard to shift completely away from paper and plastic. You might look into ways for reducing waste overall, like composting or using bulk reusable containers, to reduce the load on the paper and plastic. Every effort counts. 30 pints of tomatoes! wow.
Have you tried the reusable menstrual cup yet? It is wonderful!!!
ldh, we have the same problem because our city requires recycling to be put in BLUE plastic bags, which are given out by the local supermarkets but are hard to buy and expensive when you do find them for sale. Sometimes we will write BLUE BAGS on the shopping list in big letters and do a shopping without our cloth bags. But mostly we just collect other people’s grocery bags. All my co-workers know that I’ll gladly take blue bags after they’ve used them to bring lunch, etc. Try putting the word out to your friends who are having trouble getting into the real-bag habit.
For trash cans, in most rooms you can leave them unlined and just wash them a couple of times a year. Where you do use a bag, dump it into the bigger bag/can several times before you change the bag lining the trash can.
Becca, thanks for the comment and the link. I have not tried the Diva cup, but I know a number of people who prefer them.