Posts Tagged ‘biodegradable’

It’s Time To “Bag” Plastic Bags Thursday, September 17th, 2009 Although many of us tote around some great reusable cloth bags and there are countless anti-plastic campaigns for us to partake in, we still need to put pressure on the plastic bag industry.  World plastic bag consumption takes millions of barrels of oil and masses of natural gas to produce these convenient bags.   Convenience has its price.  I can go on and on, as there are a zillion sites that spew out frightening facts about the expense, dangers and wastefulness of these plastic bags.  Fortunately, many of these sites provide fabulous ideas on how to cut down on plastic consumption.  One of my favorite blogs I follow is Fake Plastic Fish (which I reviewed on July 1st).  Beth Terry, founder of FakePlasticFish, is a down to earth eco-blogger who decided to widen her horizons and do some research about what her options were to reduce plastic consumption.  You should definitely check out Fake Plastic Fish and read about Terry’s anti-plastic adventures.   Last week, I received an update on Beth Terry’s surprise interview with Reel Thing Productions.   They are in the process of creating a feature length documentary film, Bag It, directed by Suzan Beraza about plastic.   “BagIT chronicles the global production, use, and disposal of plastic bags and other plastics. The film will document the environmental consequences of these products, including the effects of plastics on a wide range of species, lands, waterways and oceans. The film will also identify smart alternatives and solutions.” From just viewing the trailer, I cannot see how one would not be inspired to truly think twice about their daily plastic consumption and wanting to make their voices heard in the hallways of corporations around the world. Be sure to watch the trailer for BagIt which is a work in progress. Tags: Bag it, Beth Terry, biodegradable, bottle caps, carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, compost, decompose, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-blogger, eco-friendly, energy, environment, environmental, environmental footprint, environmental issues, Fake Plastic Fish, fakeplasticfish, global warming, green, green changes, green future, green hour, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, nature, organic, plastic, plastic bags, recycle, reduce, Reel Thing Productions, reuse, Suzan Beraza, zero-waste Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

BioBags Put To The Test Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 I was very excited when my BioBag Lawn & Leaf Bags arrived in the mail.  Perfect timing as my hedges needed to be trimmed back a bit.  Usually, I use the thick, black lawn bags to collect my shrubbery trimmings.  Even with these heavy duty ones, twigs do poke through. Although on the site  they say the BioBag Lawn & Leaf bags can hold up to 33 gallons, I must say, this claim made me a bit wary: the bags felt quite delicate.  How were my thorny branches going to remain in the bag?  I decided to cut the twigs into smaller pieces than I usually do and this definitely helped.  A few poked out, but I was able to tie the bag closed. (On the website, it mentions that the bags “even come with a removable tear-strip at the top of each bag for easy tying.”  Mine didn’t have this tear strip, but I had no problem closing up the bags).    The mere fact that these bags are biodegradable is just fantastic.  Whether you have your own compost or your local waste management separately picks up lawn clippings, you can feel good that one less plastic bag will take thousands of years to decompose.   I was also privy to receive one of BioBags newer products.  It was one of their BioBag Shopping Bags.  Adorned with fresh looking apples and the BioBag logo, the double handled bag will be added to my ever-growing cloth bag collection.  The best part?  It can eventually be used to collect compostable scraps (or lawn clippings!) and tossed into the compost bin.  The BioBag Shopping Bags  can be made with your store logo and are “For supermarket chains, health-food stores, etc., who wish to contribute to a better environment as well as enhance their environmental profile, the BioShop bag is an excellent choice.” This is, no doubt, one Earth Promise I will be adding: purchase BioBags in lieu of plastic garbage bags. Tags: biobag, biodegradable, biodegradable bags, carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, compost, decompose, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, energy, environment, environmental, environmental footprint, environmental issues, global warming, green, green changes, green future, green hour, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, landfills, Martha Stewart, nature, Oprah, organic, outdoor, plastic bags, polyethene, reuse, whole foods Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

Think Twice About That Pizza Box Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 When people see me at birthday parties or holiday gatherings, they think I’m watching their every move when it comes to recycling.  (OK, maybe I do cringe a little when they have a stack of Styrofoam cups on the counter).  It is a delicate balancing act between educating and being too preachy.  My friends feel quite proud of themselves when they leave their empty pizza boxes stacked in their recycling bins.  I mean, why not? The boxes often do have the chasing arrows symbol on the box (showing that the box has been made from recycled materials), but unfortunately the grease from the pizza contaminates the cardboard rendering it unrecyclable.  And not just the box becomes unrecyclable, but the other paper that sits with it waiting to be recycled becomes ruined. Earth911 has a great post detailing the pizza box saga:   “Grease from pizza boxes causes oil to form at the top of the slurry, and paper fibers cannot separate from oils during the pulping process. Essentially, this contaminant causes the entire batch to be ruined. This is the reason that other food related items are non-recyclable (used paper plates, used napkins, used paper towels, etc).” To read the post in its entirety, click here. As long as there is no food or grease on the box, feel free to toss it in with your other recyclables.  You just may have to rip off the top of the box (assuming it is food remnant free!) Tags: biodegradable, bottle caps, carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, compost, decompose, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-blogger, eco-friendly, energy, environment, environmental, environmental footprint, environmental issues, fakeplasticfish, global warming, grease, green, green changes, green future, green hour, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, nature, organic, pizza, pizza box, pizza grease, plastic, plastic bags, recycle, reduce, reuse Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

The Journey to Plastic Alternatives Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 I was updating my status on Facebook and being the voyeur that I am, (hey aren’t we all on Facebook?) I checked out my friend’s flagged alert that she became a fan of FakePlasticFish.  That looked interesting.  And indeed it is!  The website’s mission statement says it all, “Living life with less plastic and moving towards Zero-Waste.” Beth Terry, founder of FakePlasticFish, is a down to earth eco-blogger who decided to widen her horizons and do some research about what her options were to reduce plastic consumption.  Before FakePlasticFish, Terry dipped her toes into various activism roles (Clean Water Action, Feminism, AIDS).  It wasn’t until she came across a photo of an albatross carcass filled with plastic bottle caps and other plastic pieces that Terry’s mindset changed.  Without being preachy, she made major changes in her home (making her own cleaning solutions and storing them in glass bottles), altered how she shopped (bringing small cloth bags to hold bulk bin products) and now totes around reusables (bottles, containers, utensils and even a glass drinking straw) on a daily basis.   Then her plastic reduction mission expanded: “…starting a campaign to urge Brita to take back and recycle its filter cartridges; sending back unwanted plastic packaging to manufacturers; writing letters to companies asking for less plastic; joining with environmental group Green Sangha to promote healthy alternatives to plastic; connecting with other bloggers, such as the women of the Green Moms Carnival … and urging other bloggers to take on the No Plastic challenge.” FakePlasticFish is filled with great information about reducing the use of plastic from your life.  Terry candidly photographs her weekly consumption of plastic and tracks it on a graph.  She invites us to photograph our weekly plastic usage as well.  Beth Terry’s crusade is truly from the heart.  Watch her compassionate video addressed to Oprah.  If anyone can reach a wide audience, no doubt Oprah can.  Help Terry spread her plastic reduction awareness. Tags: Beth Terry, biodegradable, bottle caps, carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, compost, decompose, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-blogger, eco-friendly, energy, environment, environmental, environmental footprint, environmental issues, fakeplasticfish, global warming, green, green changes, green future, green hour, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, nature, Oprah, organic, plastic, plastic bags, recycle, reduce, reuse, zero-waste Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Viable Alternative: Bags That Decompose Monday, June 29th, 2009 In an earlier blog post, I wrote about composting. “If you are a bit squeamish, keep in mind that compost is proven to be the best mulch and soil enrichment; it’s a fantastic way of reducing the amount of waste going to the landfills and it saves you money by reducing your fertilizer and landscaping bills.” For the neophyte composter, like myself, storing food scraps before tossing them into a compost bin is not all that enticing, (although it is the ecologically right thing to do).  Regular plastic bags are not an option since they do not decompose over time.  I came across a company, based in my old stomping ground, Palm Harbor, Florida, that manufactures the ultimate solution: BioBag Food Waste bags .   “BioBag kitchen waste bags are primarily used for the collection of food scraps and other biodegradable waste for home or community composting.”   The thin bags are made from corn and will decompose within 10-45 days once they hit the landfill or compost pile.  The bags even lessen the overbearing odor that often comes with composting.  This is perfect, then: collect your compostable food scraps in the Biobag and once it’s filled, just pitch the sealed bag into your compost bin!   BioBags has a variety of bags to choose from: • 3 gallon food waste bags • 13 gallon tall kitchen bags • 33 gallon lawn and leaf bags • Dog waste bags • Cat pan liners   You must visit the BioBags website and read about their certifications and technologies behind their products.  And kudos to BioBag: they are even recommended by Oprah and Martha Stewart! So where do you purchase BioBags?  There are many online retailers like Amazon or drugstore.com  that sell it as well as most natural food stores like Whole Foods. Although I bring my own bags to the store when I shop, I must admit, I sometimes accept the polyethylene plastic bags to use for my trash cans.  I know they can take thousands of years to degrade.  It’s a convenience issue.  Ok, then, this is my new earth promise: to use 100% biodegradable bags such as BioBags.  Not only will it will reduce the amount of plastic that goes into the landfills, but you will know you are reducing the production of these lethal polluters that contribute to air pollution and energy consumption. Tags: biodegradable, biodegradable bags, carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, compost, decompose, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, energy, environment, environmental, environmental footprint, environmental issues, global warming, green, green changes, green future, green hour, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, landfills, Martha Stewart, nature, Oprah, organic, outdoor, plastic bags, polyethene, reuse, whole foods Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Cargo Bins Are Not Just For Cargo Anymore Friday, May 8th, 2009 Recycled cargo containers, container homes, repurposed bulk-containers, steel shipping container architecture—no matter what lingo is used, this is the moderately new green alternative for an affordable and nearly indestructible home or office.  The skyrocketing cost of constructing/designing residential and office spaces has forced architects to think differently.  They need to not only alter their thinking about the design process, but the technique by which the project is constructed. Actually, cargo container dwellings are not a relatively new concept around ports in developing countries.  After much research on these zero-waste modular livable spaces, I realized that many people have been using these containers, supposedly for temporary housing, for over 20 years.  People from Gyumri, Armenia were provided with these steel shipping containers as short-term housing after the devastating earthquake in 1988.  Container housing could prove to be ideal for emergency shelters after natural disasters, such as Katrina. Vacant steel shipping containers sit taking up ample space at ports. Believe it or not, it is more expensive to ship these empty containers back to their country of origin.  Instead, new ones are purchased from Asia; thus there is an excess supply of cargo containers.  There is no financial incentive to ship the containers back.  With the recycling initiative in mind, reusing our resources puts these idle pieces to use. According to the Web Urbanist, Whether it’s a single-family home, small or large apartment, school or community center or even an office complex, cargo containers allow for fast construction and long term sustainable use.  There are many advantages: they are plentiful, they are easily transported, they’re stackable, relatively inexpensive (as little as $900 for a used container), they can be prefabricated, and they’re extremely durable. Here are some educational cargo container sites: In 2001, Container City was born.  Urban Space Management, a design company based in England, came up with a cost effective and environmentally friendly architectural model using unused steel cargo containers. Architect Peter DeMaria, is one of the renowned Americans involved in re-designing the cargo containers.  To view some of his projects, click here to see his freight container based projects. To view some examples of cargo architectural designs based in Zurich, Asia and London, visit the Web Urbanist site The Daily Green  has a great slideshow of shipping containers transformed into ultra-hip livable spaces. Container Homes Info provides a detailed history of the cargo shipping container and elaborates on the correct terminology of these containers: inter-modal steel building units (ISBUs). Container4Home  is a site that promotes their book that includes “everything you need to design and bulid a very cool home.”  Be sure to watch this video clip from History Channel’s “Modern Marvels” about London’s Container City – a project which uses shipping containers into livable architecture. Check out other areas areas of Earth Promise to help the environment. Tags: biodegradable, carbon footprint, cargo, change, changes, climate change, conservation, container city, container homes, containers, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, education, emergency shelter, energy, energy efficient, environment, environmental, environmental issues, environmentally friendly, freight, freight containers, global warming, green, green changes, green future, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, grocery manufacturers association, inter-modual steel building units, ISBU, organic, peter demaria, recycled cargo containers, recycling, repurposed bulk containers, reuse, reusing, save money, short-term housing, steel shipping container, waste Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

How Green is Your Grocery Purchasing Thought Process? Monday, May 4th, 2009 Think about it: you are grocery shopping and are deciding between your conventional-brand detergent and an environmentally friendly brand. The eco-product’s packaging reveals that its contents are biodegradable or petroleum-free and is kind to our waterways.  How many of you will opt for the sustainability produced product?   According to a recent study conducted by Grocery Manufacturers Association and Deloitte, Even as shoppers continue to hold back on spending, the evidence that they’re thinking greener than ever continues to pile up. The latest is a study which reports that 54% of grocery shoppers say they “actively consider” a brand’s sustainability characteristics before tossing them in the basket. To read this article in its entirety click here. Don’t forget to visit Earth Promise  and begin creating your own personalized Earth Promise list. Earth Promise Interviews: Starting Next Week, Our Green Interviews Return!  First Interview…Ed Begley Jr. Tags: biodegradable, carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, conservation, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, education, energy, energy efficient, environment, environmental, environmental issues, environmentally friendly, global warming, green, green changes, green future, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, grocery, grocery manufacturers association, organic, recycling, save money, waste Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Inspiring Green Picnic Ideas Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 After watching a back episode of the AMC drama, Mad Men, where the Draper family picnics in the park, it was astonishing to watch the amount of waste and littering they innocently took part in.  The series authentically portrays the sign of the times—car idling with the door open, radio blaring, their car was the source of entertainment; Don strappingly throws his empty beer can into the woods; while shaking the checkered picnic blanket, Betty not only provides crumbs for the park critters, but all the paper/plastic products tumble onto the grass. (Was there a garbage can in sight?) Our thought process is a bit more earth friendly, now, wouldn’t you say?   It is second nature to want to reduce the waste we generate.  A great way to start is to pack all of your food in a picnic basket.  PicnicBasket.com has an array of baskets and accessories that can fit into anyone’s budget. Of course, be sure to pack the food in reusable containers.  Instead of plastic cups (and I shudder to say, Styrofoam?!) and utensils that end up in the trashcan at the park/beach, bring your own glasses and cutlery. Be sure to pack cloth napkins in lieu of paper ones. If you have your own compost at home, there are an assortment of sites that provide biodegradable products: • Treecycle has biodegradable plates made from cane fibers • Real Goods has 100 percent tree- and petroleum-free, made from plastic based on potato starch cutlery that will decompose in a compost pile • Eco Products sells cups and straws made from a corn-based plastic If you have your own tips to contribute, be sure to create an Earth Promise Tags: biodegradable, carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, cloth napkins, compost, conservation, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, education, energy, energy efficient, environment, environmental, environmental issues, global warming, green, green changes, green interviews, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, picnic, reusable containers Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »