Use Cloth Instead: throwing in the towels…

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Hola!

How is everyone?!

Hope you enjoyed the Meatless Monday post.

If you haven’t shared your veggie recipe yet; don’t fret because there’s always next Monday!

Recently, I wrote about becoming the  “the bag-less lady” and so far everything is going well…

With all this discussion about giving up plastic and doing  “one less thing“  a post on giving up the infamous Bounty rolls is LONG overdue! Yes, folks… we kicked the paper towel habit to the curb, a little over a year ago. We’d made an attempt in early 2008 but it didn’t stick until late last Spring. Maybe, it’s the Spring cleaning mood prompting the ditching efforts. Whatever it is…  it’s all trail by fire!

Throwing OUT  the PAPER Towels and tossing IN the CLOTH!

In the beginning, it pretty much feels bare without paper towels and as though life cannot go on without them. It is much more threatening than giving up garbage bags, in my opinion. Looking back and realizing how often we’d reach for a paper towels; using cloth certainly proves, paper towels are a huge waste of  natural resources.

Simple spills would get wiped up with multiple paper towels and get thrown away and were used too often  for drying hands off with. Which was a huge pet peeve in of mine. Now, we just grab a towel and usually one kitchen towel will clean up the mess. When the spills get bigger and yuckier, the kitchen towels are spared and old white t-shirts or newspaper take their place.

The feeling of being wasteful has slowly started turned into positive creativity which leads eventually leads to more baby steps in the eco direction. Since it seemed like such a  barrier between cloth and paper… as if cloth could not replace the “quicker picker upper” the realization of having to wipe up spills and other ooey gooey’s not capable of being tossed away, was hard to get over initially, but once you’re over the hump it’s becomes routine.

Getting over the hamper

After figuring out just how easy it is to get a system started it doesn’t take long to start reaching for cloth instead of paper towels. Lucky, for us, we happened to unconsciously build a kitchen towel stash and had oodles of them to go around for our new journey. I think maybe, a few trips to Costco pre-kids allowed this to happen. *wink, wink* In any case, don’t go off buying a whole bunch of brand new kitchen towels just for the cause.

TIPS & TRICKS

* Start by using old white t-shirts and the kitchen towels already on hand and begin building  a so called “stash”.  Having plenty around makes it easy to keep a continuous supply even when others are soiled or happen to be in the wash.

* Have newspaper or junk mail ads handy to pick up any icky spills you may not want to wash out. This will happen a lot in the beginning as you gage your ICK factor. LOL!

* Invest in Skoy clothes or other reusable sponges.

* It helps to have a spot to dry your rags or place them after use.  For example, using a drying rack helps keep them organized. (still trying to get the hubby to install a wire string over our sink to hang wet rags and soiled towel… but no such luck… yet!).

* Cut white t-shirts into cloth wipe size for quick spills and wipes. If you have a baby wipe container reuse it for cloth wipe storage. We do this with old white tees since they’re thin and light.

* If possible designate a drawer in the kitchen to keep your cloth towels and sponges handy. 

*  Kill two birds with one stone- add towel laundry in with your cloth bag laundry to make a large load if you run out of towels (something I’ve done numerous times).

* Hang dry towels whenever possible to kill icky bacterias with a good soak in the sun!

* Try to keep the washer clear for times when you have to pick up a spill and need to toss the rags or towels right in.

*Designate a hamper for cloth towels, just in case, you they’re soiled with gunk and you don’t want them touching clean laundry.

TRIALS & TRIBULATIONS

We still own the paper towel holder, it’s resting in peace underneath the sink. Taking steps to further our sustainable journey is easier said than done.

Most of the time, it’s not hard for me, personally, to look back once a green switch has been made. My husband on the other hand does not have such a hardcore mentality. Therefore, at the start of our journey,our kitchen saw a few more paper towel rolls even after we signed ourselves up for the paperless option at every company selling “absorbent paper”.  Now, it’s not even an issue.

We also went through the phase of only purchasing recycled paper towels just before going cold towel-ky! (pun intended)

Paper napkins were never part of our grocery list since we always used the paper towels by folding them in half in ripping them apart.We use a kitchen towels in replace of napkins to date since we don’t own any purty cloth napkins. I’m hoping to sew up a batch in the near future or get some used at a thrift shop.

Paper towels might be convenient at times but overall they’re a huge WASTE. Unfortunately, paper towels are packaged in plastic, costly, and fill trash cans with paper debris, not to mention, the plastic packaging contributes to the litter in our landfills and oceans.

My advice;  try to go paperless in the  kitchen for a week, maybe even a month and see how it works. Baby steps, then bigger steps …then who knows …maybe you’ll be paper towel less for GOOD. In the long run, it saves time and money + good for the environment. When Tristan was born, learning to deal with cloth diaper and cloth wipe laundry was just the same so taking this step seemed natural and fitting.  It may seem like a struggle to get over a first but they are plenty of reasons why you may want to reconsider your paper towel habit.

Reusable Relief to the Rescue

Two words. People Towels. What are PeopleTowels?

100% organic cotton, reusable personal hand towels that make living a sustainable lifestyle as easy as drying your hands.

Switch from paper towels to PeopleTowels to dry your hands in public facilities to saves trees and reduce waste.

That’s right ladies & gents a portable way to clean your hands on the go!

The use of disposable paper towels is having a devastating impact on the environment.

Facts about paper towel consumption and its impact are:

To make one ton of paper towels, 17 trees and 20,000 gallons of water are polluted.

Every day, over 3,000 tons of paper towel waste is produced in the US alone.

Decomposing paper towels produce methane gas, a leading cause of global warming.

The average person uses 2,400 – 3,000 paper towels at work, in a given year.

The facts are discouraging but taking action can create a HUGE impact.

Would you be willing to give up the paper towels???

The next step on this paperless path is giving up TP!!

Which means you’ll have to stick around for more paperless to zero waste adventures .

Oh! and before I forget, for a head start on giving up paper towels and or napkins enter to win these... I did!

Have you recently had thoughts about making the switch or using a recycled brand?

Spur of the moment green act.. going bagless!

The inside of our trash can after it was dumped – DAY 4, NO TRASH BAGS!

TRASH TALKIN’

Almost a week ago, Friday,  I headed out to Trader Joe’s to pick up a few things. It’s actually been awhile since we’ve done any real grocery shopping. Between our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) sign up, becoming vegetarians and doing our best to eliminate processed foods we don’t have much waste to throw away anymore.

{Anyhoo}

After TJ’s, I was planning on driving  across the street to Target for garbage bags. I always purchase the recycled brands and usually end up with a brand called GoodSense. Instead of driving across the street- I walked the boys over to Bed, Bath & Beyond  which was in the same strip mall as TJ’s and headed in hoping I’d find a brand of recycled trash bags.

Luckily, as I walked in a salesperson was walking our direction and was able to guided us over to the aisle  with trash bags. The first thing I saw was a row of PLASTIC covers. I was so unimpressed… it was like they were foreign objects or something…it was not what I was looking for or HOPING for nor was I going to buy them just because I was there and  needed them. Plastic in plastic… great!!

What happened to paper boxes? The only paper box they had with trash bags inside was $17.00 for like, a 70 count but don’t quote me, please! It was expensive nonetheless.  No way, no how!  Considering you can find them much cheaper elsewhere and with twice as many. Sheesh!

The boys and I walked away empty handed and I was discouraged.

Oh! RUBBISH!

The wheels began to turn and I asked myself…now what? Then the QUESTION became clear…  do we really need to use/buy trash bags??

I’ve actually pondered the question before but never took the leap to stop using them all together until now.  Between the composting, worms, and recycling … we don’t have much gunky trash which means it’s mostly dry.  Our goal is zero waste!

We only have one  trash bin which allows use for actual tie up bags anyway. The  other trash can with a liner is our bathroom trash and we reuse plastic grocery bags for that purpose and only when we have them. Otherwise, it’s just our kitchen trash.

After 4 days of going bagless, my trash container started to stink a little and was ready to be washed out. Which took all of 10 minutes, maybe less to do. Big Whoopie!  In my opinion, trash bags are  just another needless expense that I’m not going to buy into anymore (pun intended).

If, Beth Terry, can do it… we can too! Furthermore, I always find it a challenge to purchase recycled brands and at this point we aren’t in the right financial situation to order online consistently. Since we aren’t consuming meat this will also make it easier to keep our container clean. I know, this might sound crazy to some of you… but for us, it’s all about conserving and this is a great motivator to see how long we can make it without trash bags and it will help us get more creative with our trash through composting, recycling, etc.

Quit Making Excuses!

There’s plenty of  facts about why to avoid plastic grocery bags so you gotta figure the damage from plastic trash bags is right up there with em’.  I know going bagless may not work out for everybody as most aren’t composting, recycling or verimicomposting for that matter. It’s all about talking baby steps and seeing what works. We’ve always lined our trash can and had Bed, Bath & Beyond carried a recycled version I would of bought them. So, I’m truly thankful for the experience because it helped me to remember and realize it’s one less piece of plastic junk we need in our lives. Plus, a little extra dollar savings can’t hurt.

Plastic trash bags are just another convenience item ; and  convenience items don’t really living up to there names in the long run anyway because they will end up doing more damage to this planet than good.  After seeing a bird suck down an entire plastic grocery bag… the realization sunk in like no other.  For me, it becomes more and more clear, were ruining this planet one plastic bag at a time.

Quick facts:

* Each year, Americans throw away some 100 billion polyethylene plastic bags. (Only 0.6 percent of plastic bags are recycled.)

* The first plastic “baggies” for bread, sandwiches, fruits, and vegetables were introduced in the United States in 1957. Plastic trash bags started appearing in homes and along curb sides around the world by the late 1960s.

Oscar the Grouch Style

As of right now, there is NO stench and NO bag!! We need to work on keeping the lid closed to keep the stench at bay and most importantly to keep the critters/fly’s out! I washed the container out on Tuesday in our driveway, let it air dry and somehow life still seemed to press on without a bag! lol! When I brought the container back in I sprinkled in some baking soda to eliminate any nasty odors.

This morning, we emptied the trash can out again and the inside passed with flying colors.  There was no visible residue or any leftover slime from anything (see pic above) so it was safe to bring back inside. I again, sprinkled in some baking soda shut the lid and walked away. I suppose if you really wanted, you could always make up a batch of deodorizer and add in a few drops of your favorite essential oil…

reuse old baking soda can + poke holes in top + add in essential oil = easy peasy, trash can deodorizer recipe 

I don’t want to spoil our spur of the moment eco decision by allowing  it to turn into a yucky stressful one, so we are happily rockin’ it, Oscar the Grouch style! Besides, Oscar’s trash can wasn’t  lined with pesky plastic either AND from what I remember he supported recycling too!

This household don’t need no stinkin’ garbage bags…

what about YOU?

Do you purchase recycled plastic trash bags?

Would you be willing to bag the bags, altogether?

What do you do in your home to minimize trash?

Stay tuned for an upcoming post on composting!

Our Today IS Forever!

Please watch this heart-wrenching video … it will show you the truths of PLASTIC.

Reminds me of why myself and so many others are sticklers about it!!

Please avoid plastic at all costs!

* BYOB- bring your own bags, grocery shopping;

* Ditch the water bottles and invest in a reusable one;

* Avoid buying individually wrapped items… etc;

* Avoid using Ziploc bags and find other portable containers that are plastic free;

* Visit FakePlasticFish.com for more ideas and alternatives to plastic!

This video gave me chills to the bone.  PLASTIC IS FOREVER!!!

What did you think?

How do you avoid plastic????

Captain Charles Moore on David Letterman 3/15/10

I was not able to watch this last night (fell asleep) but woke up this morning and found it on You Tube.

I wanted to share it with you all.

Captain, Charles Moore, was the first to navigate through the plastic mess in the Pacific Gyre (Plastic Garbage Patch).

Listen in as he talks about how plastic is affecting our oceans, soil,  and sea life.

Sorry it ended where it did… “plastic is a lubricant of globalization….”

anyway…

I enjoyed watching most of the interview. Hope you did too!

If you watched last night and know how Captian, Charles Moore summed up his interview…

do tell! 

Update!

Catch the full version here!!!! ( thanks, Beth!)

Remember…

refuse plastic!

Do You Organize Your Recyclables?

I seem to go around daily collecting odds and ends that belong in the recyclables pile. I call it a pile because I don’t have much of an organized system. We have a spot in our home that we have claimed as the “recycling center” and all of recyclables manage to make it there. Sometimes it’s tidy and other times it’s a mess.

We started out having two trash cans that we’d place plastic and aluminum into. Within the last 6  mos. my husband stopped drinking soda so it eliminated much of our aluminum waste. Not to mention, since we’ve kicked the water bottle habit we rarely have a water bottle. Overall, the waste baskets hardly get used in that manner anymore. We still end up with plastic crap to recycle…such a milk jugs and food containers and other misc. plastic recyclables though. Before, they were separate, one would fill up with water bottles and the other with cans. It’s a heap of miscellaneous recyclables now.

A lot times I’ll grab a paper bag from a forgotten B.Y.O.B. trip and fill it with recyclables throughout the week then toss it directly into the city recycling bin. It’s amazing to me how many recyclables there are at the end of the week. Our recycle bin fills up before the regular trash can that what I call amazing.  It always feels so good to empty the recyclables container because I know it’s going to be re purposed in some way.

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