Just say no to plastic

Fake Plastic Fish blog is the blog I wish I were doing. Blogger Beth Terry is trying to lower her plastic usage. Her blog is an outstanding resource for ways to avoid plastic. For example, she recently purchased a soy milk machine to avoid the plastic caps that comes with every brand of soy milk on the market.

Reflecting on all the plastic in the world makes one realize that it is pretty near impossible to live life plastic free in our society today. Plastic is everywhere, animals are choking on it and our landfills are comprised of stinking piles of leeching toxic plastics. So little is recycled.

I have a container I am filling with plastic caps from various bottles. I'm thinking I can do a wall mosaic with them some day. I've stopped buying any kind of plastic wrap or bags except for trash bags. Too many plastic bags come into my house without invitation, even though I'm using cloth bags for shopping all the time. They are foisted upon us without thought and we take them mindlessly home. Produce, pasta, bulk foods, even socks and underwear come in plastic bags. It takes determination to find ways to purchase goods without the attendant plastic.

At Fake Plastic Fish, I learned that most tin cans these days are lined with plastic. And glass jars come with lids that also contain plastic . You just can't win, when trying to avoid the stuff. What I admire most about this blogger's project is that she mails back packaging that she cannot recycle to the manufacturer with a request they switch to something biodegradable.

If I were young and just starting out in life, I'd be trying to invent compostable packaging that can be manufactured sustainably. Whenever I travel along Kenmore Boulevard, I imagine all the store fronts and small buildings filled with green businesses based upon sound environmental science and sustainable practices. Imagining a Kenmore Boulevard in a society that does not move in this direction is too horrifying to handle.

Back on track//New Green Issues

Welcome to April at the Village Green. It's a glorious sunny day here: the lilacs are displaying green shoots and purple tips and birds are busy courting.

March was a long hard slog of a month, work-wise. Happily, the latest big production came off with style and flair and at least one good review (biased it may be, but we'll take it anyway!) Spring break is just four work days away. I've got a basket of pansies ready to plant and a list of house-hold improvements to tackle.

Please note the new Green Links section on the Village Green. I have spent more time reading other blogs this weekend than thinking up posts for this one. No Impact Man is inspiring reading, as it makes us uncomfortably aware of how much negative impact our daily mindless actions have upon our environment.

Some sensational news from San Francisco -- they've taken a stand against plastic bags! No more petroleum-based bags at grocery stores:

"The San Francisco Department of the Environment estimates that currently about 180 million plastic shopping bags are distributed in San Francisco each year. About 774,000 gallons of oil are used to produce this number of shopping bags."

Instead grocery stores and eventually the big chain pharmacies will use recyclable bags that can go into the compost bins. SF citizens can now recycle compostables in city-issued compost bins:

"A handy side benefit of the compostable bags is that they can be recycled in the City’s green food compost bins, which will hopefully make it more convenient and appealing for residents to compost their food scraps. (Incidentally, compostable bags are also available for sale at many local retailers. The San Francisco Department of Environment's compostable bags webpage gives a list of stores in San Francisco where you can purchase the bags).

The Plastic Bag Reduction Ordinance, sponsored by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, is one of a number of initiatives intended to advance the City’s goal of diverting 75 percent of its solid waste from landfills by 2010."

How to get Akron on the fast track toward a similar goal? The sad irony is that one day everybody will have to take such measures because there will be no room left in Ohio landfills -- unless we all want to live with landfills crowding our borders.

Meanwhile, check out the list of sources for compostable bags given above the in the story from WorldChanging's web site. Creative people are inventing new solutions for many of the problems brought about by the push for convenience at the expense of the environment.

Recycle your plastic bags!

As you know, we like to keep our Village Green neat and tidy and we especially don't like to see plastic shopping bags stuck in trees and shrubs or floating in ponds and rivers.

Some members of Akron's Freecycle Cafe answered my call out for collection bin sightings in the Akron area. A member of the Yahoo group wanted to know if it was OK to put recyclables in bags other than blue into the new Akron recycle bins.

Here's what I posted:

In answer to your plastic bag question, I found the following on the City of Akron's official web site in a letter from the Mayor:

"How Does the New Trash/Recycle Service Work?*

On your regular collection day, place your household trash (all bagged) in your new cart and place your recycle materials (bagged in blue or clear bags) in your new, blue cart. These carts must be placed at the curb by no later than 4:30 a.m. on your normal collection day.

All bagged trash must be placed inside of the trash cart; if not, it will not be collected."

One would think that any plastic shopping bag would work fine, but the above indicates not. Also note that Akron's recycling program does not include plastic bags. The only plastics they will take are #1 and #2.

I am waging a personal war against plastic shopping bags that litter our landscapes and choke sea creatures. (Sea turtles think they the bags are jelly fish, try to eat them and then die.) Plastic shopping bags are a petroleum product and do not break down in to harmless substances. They are very toxic.

I take my own personal cloth bags with me whenever I go grocery shopping and say no to bags. This is the only way to shop at Acme, as they don't give out blue bags and refuse to provide a recycling box for used plastic bags. I have heard that some Giant Eagle and Walmart stores
provide plastic bag recycling containers. If anyone knows which stores do that, I would love to hear from you.

And here are the responses:

"Giant Eagle on Home/ Howe Ave ( Cuyahoga Falls ) has a HUGE recycle bin in front of their store for those pesky bags! The wally world in Stow used to have one but I haven't been over that way in a while."

"The Giant Eagle on Howe Ave...formerly Tops....has a HUGE receptacle for recycling plastic grocery bags out front. I use the canvas bag I got years ago when I lived on the west coast from Safeway still. It is so unfortunate that mainstream society feels the need to use plastic bags. From a business standpoint, it's cheaper and to make environmentalist "happy" they don't take any trees (the whole reason they were introduced). Shoppers like them because they have handles and are easier to carry. I shop frequently at West Point Market...they still use paper, and lovely LARGE bags they are with HANDLES."

So NE Akronites and folks in the Falls, you've got a collection point for your plastic bags. Still looking for a recycle bin closer to Kenmore and/or West Akron.

The Akron Freecycle Cafe is a Yahoo group that shares resource tips and comments about the main group, Akron Freecycle. Freecyclers are folks who use email to recycle items to keep them out of landfills. People recycle clothing, computer parts, books, electronics, furniture, baby formula coupons and so on. Follow the links to learn more about each group. Freecycle may be in your area. Check the global organization here.

UPDATE:

This just in via The Akron Freecycle Cafe: Giant Eagle on Waterloo Rd. recycles plastic bags.