Besides the Prius, what do you do to reduce, reuse, recycle?

Good on you. Plastic bags are a scourge like. I wish we'd do that here. A lot of groceries add a small charge, but most people don't notice. We bring our own reusable bags and they've pretty much paid for themselves already.

 

I don't know about Ireland, but other European countries have a tradition of bringing your own bags for shopping. There was no 24/7 shopping either. I remember visiting my grandparents as a child and they always used string and cloth bags. The grocery was closed evenings and weekends so you really had to plan your shopping. My Aunt didn't have anything like our refrigerators; she had something really small, so she shopped almost every day.

So going back to string, cloth bags isn't that big of an adjustment. In the U.S. we have no recent tradition of using our own bags so tacking on a tax might reduce use, but not by 94%.

I'm going to have to buy more bags. I used to have half a dozen string bags in all different colors, plus a rainbow colored one. The rainbow one eventually fell apart but the others have just "disappeared" over time.

My favorite are the Ecobags classic string market bags.

They also have a book called the National Green Pages with 'green' businesses for shopping for all sorts of things. (Anyone have this book?)

 

We use no plastic bags and bring a rather raggeddy collection of cloth carry bags we have collected over the years with us to the store...we get stared at ...
i heard on NPR the other day that sacred cows in India are dying due to eating plastic bags caused by food residue/smells so we really are killing the sacred cow..
we also:
have two rainbbls for dog and garden watering
4 solar panels
battery lawn mower
three composters
and at the end of the month a segway for around town
square foot garden next year

Froley

 

We live in a very energy efficient home (Energy Efficiency Index ≤ 1.0), have a large organic, drip-irrigated garden and we make use of horse manure from a nearby stable. All kitchen refuse goes into the garden. We harvest and share the harvest with others once each week. Drought tolerant native plant front yard (no irrigation). We only put out a recycling container once each week, virtually no refuse. I have started a major recycling program at my place of work. We try to support local businesses and farmers.

 

Just ordered my Newton mower/weedeater.
No more gas for mowing my yard!

 

No. *WE* aren't. Lazy Indians who are throwing their plastic bags on the ground where the cows can get them rather than putting them in the trash (or recycling them if there *is* such a program in India) are killing their own cows. If they consider them that sacred, they'll protect their cows and stop throwing plastic bags in the streets.

 

Yes quite right
I supposed i meant we as in the human species.
You are quite correct in that the individuals throwing this material into the streets are killing the sacred cow...
I often have a difficult time understanding why things we do not need, and that from the start problems are known---such as bottled water---are pushed through so to say.
The plastic shopping bag tangled in a wire fence or wrapped to a tree branch in New Mexico is called the state flower==unfortunately.

by the by the battery lawn mower i have is a newton and it is excellent! works beautifully..
regards
Froley

 

Don't go to those new light bulbs, they are full of mercury.

 

My wife drives the Prius; I commute to my job by bicycle most days. Baltimore has become a more bike-friendly town than it used to be. I did notice that there have been quite a few more bikes on the road the last few weeks -- a combination of warm weather and high gas prices is probably responsible. There are days when I WON'T ride -- last February I got caught in a snowstorm, and after I peddled and slid my way up a hill I saw a person on the other side of the road on cross-country skis. Clearly one of us was using the wrong mode of transporation!

 

Urban myth!!! CFL bulbs do indeed have mercury in them, but, there is a robust recycling effort for them so as to keep the mercury our of the land fill. The amount of mercury in a CFL pales by comparison to the amount of mercury saved (from coal plants especially) by not having to generate so much!

Do your home work!

Icarus

 

CFLS, solar preheated hot water with demand tankless for backup. Turn off un-used lights. Wear sweaters, ceiling fans, no ac, Cloth grocery bags, local food, native plantings, minimum of lawn. Garden, orchard, compost, dry/freeze. Combine trips, planted 100's of trees, passive solar heat, with wood from the property back up, major upgraded insulation for a 120 year old house. Insulated window quilts. Buy as little as possible, used when it makes sense. Utilitarian cloths, no fashion upgrades, unplug electronics while off, hi-ef appliances. Biggest luxury is the hot tub. Currently building a PV array to offset it's use, mostly feel good, but what the heck. Small PV array (hard to justify with our little use, 40+ year payback, but it is fun to play).Reuse what we can, recycle almost everything else. (I keep a bucket going in the shop for tiny scrap metal, nails, bolt etc, and recycle them as well). Try to buy without packaging if possible. (Are you listening Costco!) Use shop waste in the stove for heat, both the house and the shops. Recycle oil, batteries and toxics. Try to avoid air travel, but it's hard when time is a factor. Coast to coast on the train takes ~ 5 days one way, makes it kinda hard to fit into a week or two.

Most of all don't buy it in the first place, and then if we do buy quality!

Buy local, buy sustainable, but live well!

Icarus

PS Cloth napkins, cold water laundry, air dry, chickens, was and re-use zippy bags, make yogurt, reuse food containers. When you think about it, it is a lot. We generate 1 can of garbage a month, small one at that, and most of that is shop trash, oil bottles etc. I see the neighbors with their huge containers every week! Its not like our lifestyle is hard to do, you just have to think a bit.

 

I did do my homework CFL Bulbs Have One Hitch: Toxic Mercury : NPR
The recycling only works if the bulbs get to the recycler. What do you think that percentege is? Stock up on the old fashioned bulbs and steer clear of those death bulbs

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/b...tml?_r=2&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

It's getting easier to recycle. Death bulbs????

 

Every Home Depot will recycle CFl. Those using CFl in the first place are the most likely to recycle them....along with everything else.

And they are not FULL of mercury. The contain a small amount.

How much tuna do you eat a year? Multiply that by how many years a CFl lasts. Then compare the amount of mercury in each.

 

If you had done your homework your would have read, in your own citation :"She says that even though fluorescent bulbs contain mercury, using them contributes less mercury to the environment than using regular incandescent bulbs". That's because they use less electricity — and coal-fired power plants are the biggest source of mercury emissions in the air." This is even if they are not recycled! If you recycle them they win hands down!

Even if YOU don't like CFL's for some reason PLEASE don't spread misinformation!

Icarus

 

-- Road cycle about 4K miles/year...to the post office and beyond!

-- Insulated all exterior mounted power outlets and switches, landscaped to improve heat rejection.

-- Got a thermostat with recirculate feature, saved 5% heat/cool alone.

-- Went completely organic lawn and garden, uses less water than chemically treated yards. Also changed irrigation system to more efficient design.

-- Do the cloth grocery bags, never got plastic bottles.

-- New workstation, monitor, scanner, printer and phone system that use much less electricity than the old setup, saving about $100/year too.

-- Took culinary classes and do most cooking at home using locally grown whenever possible.

-- Looking into an instant hot water heater now...

 

Interesting reading, good way to share ideas!

We compost, use cloth grocery bags, and a Brita for water. Never did get into the plastic bottles of water thing, so didn't have to stop that one. We have CFL lights through out the house, they last so long.

Our city just stared a new program as of June 1: No bins, no Barrels. If you don't have your recycling bins out, they will not take our trash barrels. There was a bit of upset when that passed, but it seems to have worked. Our recycling bins are always full and then some, and our trash is half of one barrel each week. We have 2 recycling bins: green for paper; blue for metal, plastic, glass. We've been using them right along, so we weren't concerned about the new law.

I have a programmable thermostat set for auto set back at night for the heat in winter.

There is likely more, just can't think of it at the moment.

I have 14 rescued pets; each of them was a "throw away," scheduled for euthanasia, and I took them in. Does that count?

 

Our city went to the "special" bins years ago when they reduced the work force for trash pickup and got new trucks that had to have the new barrels to empty. You can't put anything out except in the special containers. There is a black for trash and a blue for recycling. Everything that can be recycled goes in the blue. They sort it out later. I put in paper, cardboard, glass, metal (including clean empty food cans) and plastic. They provide a list of the plastics they'll take. Almost everything you can't get money for, like milk containers. You can put your soda bottles and alum. cans in there, but there are plenty of places you can take them and get money back, so I usually do that.

The only thing I am NOT happy about is....no green recycling. We used to be able to put yard greens out in clear plastic bags and a special truck would collect it for they composting program at the landfill. No more. Now I have to bag it and take it there myself, then empty the bags as you can't leave them there, only the greens. If you do this, you do get unlimited mulch and compost. All you can shovel. Bring your own shovel and containers.

The blue recycling bins are emptied every two weeks. I manage to fill mine up every two weeks with everything I can find to recycle. I've become a lot more aggressive at it. The only New Year's resolution I kept and stuck with.

So far I'm going well with my Wormtopia so that may be New Year's Resolution #2.

 

nothing as none of those reduce the $ I save in fuel. Its the economy (gas prices) thats driving folks to 'green', but its the dollar green that we are interested in. If it gives others a warm fuzzy for the econazi thing, then I guess thats good for you. Cheers.

 

In my house I now only buy Energy star appliances. Even my 40" LCD tv has 3 energy saving settings with it set on High it reduces the power consumption by about 50 %. We only wash full loads of clothes. I replaced all the bulbs in our house with the CFL's about 3 years ago when I ran into a deal at the Home Depot where you could buy 6 of them for only $10. I was surprised when my electric bill went down $10 a month instantly. To me one of the biggest wastes I see many people do is leave their PC on 24/7 and even worse if you are going to do that at least set the settings to at least turn the monitor off after 10 minutes of no use.

I recycle what I can easily but I don't go crazy about it. I have seen on TV that they predict that in the near future that mining landfills for natural resources and metals will be a huge business.