I wanted to write about some interesting things you can make out of old things.  I knew of some great ways they reuse old items, but I wanted to find out what else they can make out of old things.

1.  Sweater Totes:  Everyone has old sweaters that either get holey, or worn out.  This would be a great way to make something that would otherwise get thrown away, into something usable again.

2.  Cork Trivet and Cork Board:  I really liked the idea of making a bulletin board out of cork.  I think that this has a unique look, and is definitely something people will ask about.  I am collecting corks from old wine bottles, however we mostly get boxed wine, so this may take a while.

3.  Tennis Shoes:  This is an interesting video on how Nike reuses all of the components of old tennis shoes for different athletic surfaces.  I know in Fargo, there are collection sites for old shoes for this purpose.

4.  Flip Flops:  This is an amazing article on how the beaches of Africa are cleaned up; large amounts of flip flops are turned into beautiful art by local artisans.  What a great way to kill two birds with one stone; as the article says.

5.  Plastic Bags:  I see that many people make reusable bags out of plastic bags.  This website gives you patterns to making beautiful bags out of something that may take a lot of time and energy to recycle.

I know there are also many other interesting ways companies take in old products/clothing and make them into other usable things.  Please leave us a comment if you have any interesting ways to reuse common items.

I noticed Ben came home with another plastic bag today. It only had one small item in it. I don’t want to nag too much about this topic, because I honestly think he doesn’t even realize it. When I told him he had a plastic bag in his hand, he truly looked surprised. I am writing this blog to go over some creative ways to remember to not take a plastic bag.

1. Wear a large button on your coat/sweater that says “Don’t Give Me A Plastic Bag.” Ben was proud he thought of that one.

2. Buy a canvas bag you really want to carry.

3. Put a large sign on your steering wheel to remind you before you go in.

4. Don’t be afraid to unpack your merchandise if they have already bagged it. I am getting better at saying, “I don’t need a bag,” right when it’s my turn to check out.

5. Carry a bag in your purse, or in Ben’s case in his pocket. They sell pocket size reusable bags at The Container Store and reusablebags.com.

6. Fold one into a cool wrist band. Then you have it on you when ever you need it. Not sure if they even make these, another one of Ben’s creative ideas.

7. Think of something really bad when you go into a store. Maybe imagine marine animals chocking on the plastic bags that fly into our oceans. Gruesome thought, but maybe it will help to remember to not take a bag.

8. Go shopping with someone who will help you remember your reusable bag. In our case, I rarely forget my bag. Maybe if we can’t win this battle, I will have to do all of the shopping.

9. Guys can purchase this grenade looking reusable bag. It will definitely be a conversation starter.

10. You can buy a reminder kit that does all of the hard work. In our case we would have to buy the deluxe pack with the door hanger and steering wheel wrap.

11. Write “remember grocery bags” at the top of your shopping list.

With all of these ideas to help us remember, maybe we can adopt one and apply it to our lives. We will keep you up to date on Ben’s progress and if you have any additional comments please leave them in the section below.

The bag was just there

This week’s green challenge was to avoid using plastic bags and it has been a difficult one for me.  For those just joining us, I have a new green task to complete over the course of a year.  My green wife chooses what they are and my un-green self must research and act.  I have had some successes and also some failures this week, but am glad that Ashley gave me this task and will continue to work on training my brain to say no to plastic bags.  Although this task has been somewhat challenging for me, I have certainly learned quite a bit and think I am in the process of making a change along the way.

I learned that the world consumes an unbelievable number of plastic bags (500,000,000,000), a good amount of natural resources are needed to create these plastic bags, only a very small percentage of plastic bags are recycled and finally that plastic bags kill animals.  Overall, the production of the bags and waste produced is harmful to our environment and to the planet.  That being said, I need to minimize my use of these bags.

Even though I know that these things are bad for the environment, I learned that it was difficult for me to minimize my use.  It was not difficult to choose whether to take a plastic bag or not, but it was difficult to remember to say no.  Too often this week, I walked out of a store and realized, after the fact, that I had a bag.  As a consumer, I have been trained to go through the shopping process and take a bag without thinking about it.  I recognized this problem early on and have taken steps to retrain my brain.

First, I wrote “No Plastic” on my hand in ink.  OK, this might be a bit silly and a little dramatic, but I was slightly upset with myself for not being able to kick the plastic habit.  This made me look at “No Plastic” before I grab a bag.  I also placed one of our canvas bags in my car so that I can bring this into the store if I have to shop.  These steps, along with my wife’s help, have led to a few successful scenarios where I did not take a bag.

It has certainly been an interesting week and will continue to work on un-training my brain.  Even though I may not have completed the task to a Tee, I have recognized that a big part of being green is daily habits.  These habits and daily decisions can have a big impact on the long term environment.  Let me know any of your plastic bag tips in the area below and stay tuned for this week’s task coming up shortly!

As my week of conserving plastic bags winds down, I wanted write a bit about a part of this task that is not widely publicized…. plastic garbage bags.  There are many alternatives to shopping bags, but it does not seem like there are many alternatives for garbage bags.  Well, I think there are some great alternatives out there and possibly you can help me find some more.

green garbage bags

One thing that we have started doing around our house is using bags that will go into the garbage and use those as the garbage receptacles.  For example, we have numerous pets and they generate bag waste.   The kind of kitty litter and dog food we use comes in bags and we have started using them as garbage bags.  It has been working great.

There is a wide variety of compostable and biodegradable bags on the market that may be more appropriate for you.  These are also great options and any additional effort we can make to make a difference help.  Also, depending on your community’s rules, you may be able to place garbage right into the garbage can that goes outside.  If you do this, I would recommend frequent cleaning to keep the stink down.

Ever since we made a large commitment to reduce food waste, our garbage output has gone down dramatically.  In fact, we have not needed to put our garbage on the curb for over a month.   We used to bring our garbage out every week.  Besides the food waste, making small changes like not using traditional garbage bags has helped.   Please let me know any ideas you have or what you do at home in the comment area below.

Paper or plastic?  You get that anywhere you shop.  I don’t ever hear anyone ask, “Paper, plastic or canvas bag?”  Actually, that is beside the point of this post today.  I am actually going to go through the pro’s and con’s of paper and plastic, since we haven’t even brought up yet how bad environmentally paper bags are.

The pro’s of plastic bags:

• they are cheap for the store, less cost passed along to us as consumers
• they are convenient because all stores have them, not all have paper or canvas
• they require less resources to produce than paper bags
• they can be reused as disposal bags
• keeps your goods dry in case of inclement weather
• they weigh less which saves transportation costs
• doesn’t require cutting down trees to produce
• can be recycled into composites or like wood products
• plastic bags use about 4 percent of the water required to make pulp into paper
• they take up less space in landfills

The con’s of plastic bags:

• even if recycled, the process uses considerable energy, which pollutes the air.
• made of synthetic materials so they don’t biodegrade easily
• wildlife die by ingesting plastic bags thinking it’s food
• made of polyethylene which is derived from non-renewable resources
• they come with a suffocation warning
• they clog roadside drains, which could cause the flooding of the street
• even though they are recyclable, the recycled plastic is of lesser quality than of virgin plastic

The pro’s of paper bags:

• they are recyclable and biodegradable
• they stand upright and make great recycling organizers
• they are great for wrapping text books (required in high school)
• holds more than a plastic bag
• cats love to play in them
• can be reused for wrapping paper

The con’s of paper bags:

• washing the pulp to get ready for production uses a lot of water
• they require the cutting of forests to make, which will increase CO2 edmissions
• to produce paper bags produces 70 percent more pollution than the production of plastic bags and requires 4 times as much energy
• it takes about 91 percent more energy to recycle a pound of paper than a pound of plastic
• if they get wet they are deemed worthless

Other statistics:

• plastic bags create fewer airborne emissions and require less energy
• plastic creates 9.1 cubic pounds of solid waste vs. 45.8 cubic pounds for paper
• plastic creates 17.9 pounds of atmospheric emissions vs. 64.2 pounds for paper
• plastic creates 1.8 pounds of waterborne waste vs. 31.2 pounds for paper

Even though they now make compostable plastic bags, the time for them to decompose is still beyond our lifetime.  The only option here then is to start collecting those canvas bags.  If you have any other facts or information about plastic versus paper, please leave a comment below.

Here I thought this would be an easy green challenge and in theory, it is.  So far, however, I think I am failing in my quest to stop using plastic bags.  On two different occasions I left someplace and realized that I had a plastic bag in my hands.  It is not that I really wanted to take those plastic bags, but in my zombie consumer like state, they just ended up in my possession.  I think that the key to this week’s task is to untrain my brain.  I need your help.

How do I need your help?  I need help figuring out ways to train myself to think about the bags before I take one.  This seems to be a very easy way to help reduce my footprint on the earth, but I just have not been able to catch on.  Possibly, one of you could give me a hint on a way that might work for me.

So, in one of the cases, we were at my in-law’s house and they were kind enough to give us a few garden onions and garlic.  It was in a flash! I picked up the bag, walked out the door and started driving home.  Half way home I was telling Ashley how nice her folks were for giving us a bag of onions and… bag.  Oh pooh!  I realized I took a bag.

In the other instance, I ran into the store to grab some butter and cream.  I went in thinking that I need to make sure not to take a bag.  Somehow, when I got back to the car I had a bag.   As soon as I opened the car door, Ashley realized I had a bag and made sure to let me know.  ARRRGH!  So, that is two times where I could have refused a plastic bag, but failed.

Today, I wrote on my hand “No Plastic” in the hopes that I will see it when I pull out my wallet, but I am not sure that will be enough.  Readers and internet, please let me know what mind tricks you know to untrain your own behavior.  Any advice you can provide in the comments area below would be greatly appreciated.

Reducing the amount of plastic bags we use from our daily lives is one of my more recent green changes.  After learning out how long it takes for a plastic bag to break down in the landfill, it made me change my ways.  I started collecting canvas bags where ever I go, simply because you can always use one more.

News surrounding this topic also caught my attention.  I started hearing about companies charging for using plastic bags as an incentive for people to bring in their own canvas bags.  IKEA started charging for plastic bags in all its stores in March 2007.   A 50% plastic bags usage reduction was projected in US and Canada stores, a 95% reduction result was achieved in UK stores.  Also, just by having the option of purchasing reusable bags help companies reduce plastic bag usage. 

Other news that excites me is that several countries and cities are actually banning use of plastic bags.  San Francisco and Oakland California are leading the efforts in plastic bag bans.  In fact, , San Francisco became the first city to ban common plastic shopping bags.  Other cities considering the ban are Boston, Portland and Phoenix. 

I also see that several companies are starting to give you credit for bringing in your canvas bags instead of using paper or plastic.  Locally, the grocery store we shop at gives us 5 cents for every tote you bring in.  Target, I have recently noticed, is also jumping on the bandwagon.  I think it is great to see that major retailers are trying to do their part in saving natural resources.  I also am curious to see what else retail giant Wal-Mart will be doing in the future to reduce waste.  If you have any other news regarding plastic bag usage please leave a comment below.

I did some looking on YouTube for some information on plastic bags and I found the videos below.  ENJOY!

Animal Planet PSA:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBZdUA8zxJ0

A look at San Fransisco’s ban on plastic bags:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uv4Q1oLjGs

The sad life of a plastic bag:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNsDxRytmXQ

It seems that a good way to motivate myself for my weekly challenges is to research why I should be concerned with the topic at hand.  This week’s challenge is to eliminate plastic bag usage and I thought it would be good to take a look at some statistics surrounding plastic bags.  What I found will make me think twice before I take another plastic bag.

• Worldwide, we consume about 500,000,000,000 plastic bags per year
• Of the 100 Billion polyethylene plastic bags thrown away by Americans, only .6 percent are recycled. 
• Approximately 60 – 100 million barrels of oil are required to make the world’s plastic bags each year.
• Plastic entanglement is responsible for 100,000 marine animal deaths every year.
• Sea Turtles apparently mistake plastic bags for food, ingest them and die.
• The cost of plastic bags to US retailers is $4 Billion per year.  Guess who this gets passed on to?
• Most plastic bags take over 400 years to biodegrade, while some figures indicate it could take up to 1000 years for bags to break down.
• If the US throws away 99 Billion (non recycling) bags every year and  it takes up to 150,000 bags to create a ton of waste… the United States throws away 660,000 TONS of just bags every year.
• If there are about 300 million people in the US and as a whole we throw away 99 billion bags per year, that means that every man, woman and child is responsible for throwing away 330 bags every year.  If each bag is 5g (just an estimate), that equates to about 3.5 pounds per person.  Over a lifetime, we use over 250 pounds of plastic bags that will not break down for several hundred years.

To me, this seems like a no brainer for making decisions in my daily life.   I often have a choice as to whether I need a bag and most often I do not.  If I am at a store where I know I am going, I can choose to bring my own bags.  Obviously, paper is not a good choice either, but BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag) is the way to go. I am learning that the small daily decisions I make every day can have a huge impact on the environment.  Often, it is just as easy to NOT take a plastic bag as it is to take one.  It almost goes beyond mere convenience and borders on gluttony to take a plastic bag. 

I hope these statistics I found are interesting to you and please let me know any of your plastic bag stories in the comments area below.

Since this week’s task is to talk about plastic bags and removing plastic bags, I thought it would be a good week to post some links to cloth/green bags for sale.  I am sure you can find some locally, but thought I would give a shout out to these various vendors:

Ecobags offers a variety of environmentally friendly bags for any occasion.

Textiles4you makes some really neat bags made out of old CapriSun pouches.  This is a cool way to reuse stuff that would otherwise end up in the landfills.  She also does custom orders!

At this store on Etsy, you can personalize your shopping bag to match your family.

This person sells bags that are made out of discarded plastic bags.

I hope this might help you to think about buying a green bag or possibly buy one today.  Please let me know in the comments area below if you have any places where you love to buy your green bags.